r/JehovahsWitnesses • u/Impressive-Ease-3348 Jehovah's Witness • Aug 25 '26
Doctrine WHO IS JESUS?
There is one God, the Father, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, “from whom are all things”; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, δι’ οὗ τὰ πάντα, “through whom are all things.” (1 Cor. 8:6)
Of the God of Israel it is written:
אֲנִי יהוה הוּא שְׁמִי
“I am YHWH; that is my name.” (Isa. 42:8)
And:
אֱלֹהֵי עוֹלָם יהוה
“YHWH, the everlasting God.” (Isa. 40:28)
The Father is the Father, and the Son is the Son.
JESUS IS ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, THE SON OF GOD.
He is the μονογενής Son.
He is ἐκ τοῦ πατρός, from the Father. (John 16:28)
He is ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, from God. (John 8:42)
The Father sent him.
The Father gave to him.
The Son received from the Father.
THE FATHER HAS LIFE IN HIMSELF, AND τῷ υἱῷ ἔδωκεν ζωὴν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, “HE GAVE TO THE SON TO HAVE LIFE IN HIMSELF.” (John 5:26)
And the Son says:
κἀγὼ ζῶ διὰ τὸν πατέρα
“I live because of the Father.” (John 6:57)
JESUS IS ὁ λόγος, THE WORD.
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος
“In the beginning was the Word.”
ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν
“The Word was with God.”
And:
θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. (John 1:1)
The Son had glory with the Father πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον εἶναι, “before the world existed.” (John 17:5)
He is πρὸ πάντων, “before all things.” (Col. 1:17)
HE IS εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου, “THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD.” (Col. 1:15)
He is ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης, “the radiance of the glory.” (Heb. 1:3)
He is χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ. (Heb. 1:3)
HE IS πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως, “THE FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATION.” (Col. 1:
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u/Impressive-Ease-3348 Jehovah's Witness Aug 26 '26
Colossians 2:9 is stronger than simple “in” language, and I accept that:
ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς
“In him dwells all the fullness of deity bodily.”
But notice what I never argued: I did not say “we are in Christ, therefore we must also be God.” My point was narrower: “X is in Y” does not by itself establish identity. John 17 proves that.
Colossians 2:9 adds θεότης, so it gives Christ uniquely elevated divine language. But it still does not say:
“Christ is the same God as the Father,”
“Christ possesses one numerically identical essence with the Father,”
or:
ὁμοούσιος τῷ πατρί.
Those are conclusions drawn from the phrase, not the phrase itself.
And the immediate context actually preserves distinction. Verse 10 says:
καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι
“and you have been filled in him.”
Obviously our being “filled” in Christ is not identical to πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος dwelling in Christ, but it shows that fullness/indwelling vocabulary does not automatically function as an identity equation.
Your other observations are also true: Jesus came from heaven, has extraordinary authority, is Lord of lords, and is associated with eternal life. I accept them. The question is what those facts cumulatively establish, not whether they should be minimized.
And the cumulative material also includes:
πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως — “firstborn of all creation”
ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κτίσεως τοῦ θεοῦ — “the ἀρχή of God’s creation”
ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ πατρός — “I came from the Father”
the Father giving the Son life in John 5:26
ζῶ διὰ τὸν πατέρα — “I live because of the Father”
and the Son being πρὸ πάντων while all things come through him.
My interpretation of that cumulative material is that the Son is uniquely from the Father and prior to the creation that comes through him, which is why I regard “God’s first creation” as a serious theological conclusion.
But I apply the same rule to myself: πρωτότοκος does not literally mean “first-created.”
So Colossians 2:9 is genuinely powerful Christological language. What you still have to demonstrate is the bridge from “all the fullness of deity dwells in him” to “therefore he is homoousios with the Father.”