Saturday notes 8/2/25 Traditional Trini Texts: Colossians 1

 Context:

• Another "hymn to Christ" by Paul, cp. Phil 2.5-12.

• The point is to stress the role of Messiah in the Church, e.g., to teach, encourage, and worship;

• Shows a so-called high Christology, yet rooted in unitary monotheism: i.e., He is the image of God as a result exalted by God, etc.

Trini Prooftext?

ESV Study Bible, Col. 1:15–17 Christ Is Lord of Creation. Jesus is the Lord, the maker and upholder of all things in the universe. Col. 1:16 by him all things were created. Jesus did not come into existence when he was born of the virgin Mary. He was the agent of creation through whom God made heaven and earth (John 1:3 and note; 1 Cor. 8:6). Jesus cannot be the first thing created (as the ancient Arian heresy claimed) since “all things” without exception were created by him.

• IF true it would overturn 50+ statements in both Testaments where the one God the Father, alone, unaccompanied, “by Myself” is Creator (Isa 44:24)!

• Heb. 1.1-2 shows the Son not visible, speaking in the OT!

• Overturn Jesus saying “God created the world,” Mark 13:19.

• And his use of the so-called divine passive, e.g., Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted," implying that God will provide the comfort to those who mourn, without directly stating "God will comfort them." Mark 2:5 "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven," meaning God is the one forgiving the sins through Jesus, without directly saying "God forgives your sins."

• More than 100 times in the Gospels: Mark c. 19x; Luke c. 34x; Matthew c. 40x; John c. 2x.

• Paul in Col 1:16a "all these things are now were created" i.e., by God at Genesis; 1:16b "all things are now stand created" AB comment:

Perfect passive tense of “create” with continuing results. The change of verb tense is striking and deliberate (see Turner, Grammatical Insights into the NT, p. 125: “They have been and are being created.”). The new creation is through Jesus and the earlier creation of authorities was “because of” of Jesus, “in him in intention,” certainly not “by him.”

Trini Concessions

• Mistranslations, Col 1:16: "For by Him all things were created..." KJV, NASB, etc. "For everything was created by Him," Holman; Paraphrases: "He created all things in heaven and on earth," God's Word.

• Some note this, Expositors Greek Testament: The Greek [en auto] does not mean “by him.”

• Turner, A Grammar of NT Greek: “We must render [en] ‘because of’ in Col. 1:16.”

• N.T. Wright, Colossians & Philemon: “the [divine] passive ‘were created’ indicates, in a typically Jewish fashion, the activity of God the Father. [To say ‘by’] could imply [that Christ] was alone responsible for creation.”

• Robert Bowman, Putting Jesus out of Place, admits “It’s true that the NT never says that all things are from (ek) the Son [dia].”

• From [ek] only for God the Father: Rom 11:36; 1Cor 8:6; 11:12; 2Cor 5:18!

Part of Creation

• Colossians 1:15–20 contains several words and phrases that place Christ clearly as part of creation — not as Creator;

• Firstborn of Creation: https://thehumanjesus.org/2025/01/02/firstborn-over-all-creation/

• In Col 1:15 “image” and some translations have “creature”: KJV, ASV;

• The divine passive "were created” “have been created,” i.e., by God.

• Instrumental agency language, "through" and "in him."

• "The firstborn from the dead," "the blood of his cross," however you define death God cannot do it! Cp. Resurrection order by rank in 1Cor 15:20, 23 "Christ, the firstfruits; then those who belong to Christ, at his coming."

• Col 1.19 "fullness of God in Christ," i.e., "God was in Christ," 2Cor 5.19; AB comment:

Note that the same language about “the fullness of God” is applicable to believers also in Eph. 3:19. Having the fullness of God, via His spirit, thus does not mean that a person is God!

• Col 1:20 “through him [Christ] to reconcile all things to Himself [God] by making peace through the blood of his [Christ] cross," humanity reconciles back to God because of His anointed human mediator, because "there is one God and one mediator between that one God and humanity, Messiah Jesus, who is himself human." 1Tim 2:5

What does Creation through, in the Son mean?

• The NT presents the Son primarily as the agent, instrument of God’s creation, not as THE Genesis Creator;

• Hay in his Abingdon NT Commentary onColossians, p. 57: “Jewish tradition had previously said that God created the universe through his wisdom (Prov 8:22-31; Wis 7:17-24; 9:9) or word [see Philo]. God created the world ‘for’ the Son, indicative of a divine eschatological purpose…Rabbi Jochanan [3rd AD] said the world was created ‘for the sake of the Messiah’ (b. Sanh. 98b).”

• The point is simply that Jesus was the purpose for the New Creation.

• So, it would be strange for God to have said: I have created all things for myself!

Addendum: other texts, 1Cor 8.6; Heb 1.2;

• While an ontological reading (refer to Genesis Creation) is possible, the context of 1 Corinthians 8 points to a practical, pastoral application. Paul is describing the new covenant reality that "all things" including what you eat, comes from the God, who's always the Father in the NT, and are mediated through His Messiah lord Jesus.

• In line with Paul's concern for Christian behavior and decision-making, particularly concerning food and pagan practices.

• This interpretation fits: the ethical context (idol food) and theological polemic (against pagan gods). For Paul both (idols/gods & their foods) are "nothing" (8:4, 8), they serve no purpose in the life of a NC Christian.

• Translation Alert: v.2 doesn't mean "universe," or "worlds" but ages, i.e., periods, epochs of time.

• In line with the ancient Jewish Biblical worldview of this world undergoing a series of changes hence, the present evil age vs the age to come.

• First: the world of Genesis underwent a change after the flood (2Pet. 3.3-6; Rev. 6.12-14; cp. Isa 34.4).

• Second: the present world when the Millennium is “founded” (2Pet 3.7-12; Heb 1.10; Rev. 20.7-15).

• Third: “when the thousand years expire” a further change will occur (Heb 1.11-12; cp. Rev 21).  

• The purpose is for all things, including the ages, for the Son to inherit them from the only one Creator God, the Father.

1 Enoch 48 vision of the Son of Man 6 "chosen and hidden before [Head of Days], before the creation of the world and forevermore. 7 The wisdom of the Lord of Spirits has revealed him to the holy and righteous; for he has preserved all of the righteous because they have hated and despised this world of unrighteousness, and have hated all its works and ways in the name of the Lord of Spirits: for in his name they are saved, and it has been according to his good pleasure in regard to their life.

Cp. Eph 1.1-10.

Saturday notes 7/26/25 Traditional Trini Texts: Philippians 2

 Philippians 2:1-18: READ

• Context is about Christians not being selfish and our example is Jesus, as always;

• V.5 the subject is the historical human Messiah Jesus not some preexistent Son, “being.”

Anthony NT Commentary: When Paul speaks of “Messiah Jesus” he means “the man Messiah Jesus” in his fundamental and easy creedal statement in 1Tim. 2:5. The man, the historical Messiah Jesus, was indeed in the image of God, and was the visible image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). Paul knew of no second Person of the Trinity who was alive before coming into existence in the womb of his mother Mary (Lk. 1:35). Mary is “the mother of my lord” (Lk. 1:43; cp. adoni, my lord, Ps. 110:1), certainly not “the mother of God.” “Mother of God” is a blasphemous title suggesting that the mother is somehow superior to GOD!

• NOTE translator's corruption of scripture in Phil 2.6!

• The NIV "being in very nature [morphe] God";
• He "always had the nature of God" (Today's English Version)
• "being essentially one with God" (Amplified Bible)
• "He was God” (Living Bible)

The meaning of morphe, "form":

• While on earth he had authority, power, and glory of God. Again, nothing about some “time before time.”

• The Gk. morphe simply means “form” in LXX, Septuagint: Isa 44.13LXX; Job 4.16a LXX; 4 Maccabbeans 15.4 LXX

• The human Jesus had the appearance of a normal male: see Isa 53:2 “nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance.”

• The human Jesus “emptied himself,” i.e., the context has to do with “selfish ambition, pride,” self-interest, etc.

• Although “existing in the form of God,” he didn’t misuse his authority, power, teachings that God the Father gave him! See v.8 “he humbled himself.”

• Cp. Amthony, Phil 2:17: Paul was being poured out, just as Jesus emptied himself. The reference is to Isa. 53:12: “poured himself out,” the selfless devotion of the suffering servant. Paul saw himself in the same category as the suffering servant, who is primarily the Messiah Jesus. Paul applied Isa. 42:6; 49:6 to himself and Barnabas in Acts 13:47.

Suffering Servant of Isaiah Allusions:

• TDNT notes the link between “emptied himself” (Phil. 2:7) as an exact translation of “his soul…he poured out” (Is. 53:12).

• Elsewhere, the Hebrew verb meaning “to lay bare, expose” or “to pour out” in the LXX and Hexapla versions usually render it by “emptying” LXX Gen. 24:20; 2 Chron. 24:11; Ps. 137:7.

• The use of Isa 53.12 shows that the expression [he emptied himself] implies the surrender of life, not the kenosis of the incarnation";

• Further similarities in language include: contrast between humiliation and exaltation; willingness to be humbled, and the mention of obedience unto death.

• Other NT allusions: the hymn to Christ in 1 Peter 2:22-25 as a short summary of Isaiah 53.

• The song of Simeon in Luke 2:29-32 takes up Isaiah 49:6 and refers this servant saying to Jesus.

• Paul's Point! The super-exaltation of the supreme servant of YHWH, God the Father: Phil 2:9; Isa 52:13.

Adam Christology Parallels: https://thehumanjesus.org/2022/01/13/adam-christology-philippians-2/

Saturday notes 7/12/25 Traditional Trini Texts

 Traditional Trini Texts, as I call them, are not persuasive for many reasons:

• “History written by the victors”;
• Most historians, Trini or not, admit that many Christians from earliest times read Christ back into OT narratives on every possible occasion.
• See the so-called church fathers from the 2nd century onward like Irenaeus, Tertullian, etc. https://thehumanjesus.org/2018/01/31/begotten-in-or-outside-the-womb/

• As a result, corruption of scripture, I.e., in manuscript copy tradition.

https://thehumanjesus.org/2022/02/25/church-fathers-corruption-of-scripture/

• Trini scholar Dr. Murray Harris, Jesus as God

“It’s a curious fact that each of the [disputed god texts] contains an interpretative problem of some description. Actually, most contain 2 or 3.”

• Punctuation problems: John 1:1c; Rom 9:5; 
• Textual, grammatical: John 1:18; 20:28; 2 Peter 1:1; 2Thess 1:12; Titus 2:13; 1Jn 5:20;
• Contextual: Heb. 1:8-9.
• Many admit the Trinity = Tritheism https://thehumanjesus.org/2024/04/02/scholars-admit-the-trinity-is-tritheism/

• Jesus as God article https://thehumanjesus.org/2019/02/22/jesus-is-god-proof-texts/
• Trini fallacies: http://youtu.be/CYB2x5DJux0

• Ask for any texts if not go to:

https://thehumanjesus.org/2023/04/11/traditional-trinitarian-texts-2/

Saturday study notes for 7/5/25 Hebrews 1

 Context is King!

• It's not about the original Genesis Creation but "the world to come," Heb 2:5;

• Cp. Hebrews 9:11 the writer speaks of “the good things to come” as the things “not of this creation.” That is the new, future creation (per Heb. 2:5).

• This is verified by Ps 102. “The prayer of an oppressed man,” NET Bible heading, “as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord.” Ending with a Messianic, future hope in Ps 102:13-28.

The speaker “He said” = God the Father!

• 5 To which angel did He say…quoting what God said in Ps 2:7;

• 6 And again, when He brought His first-begotten into the world He said…virgin procreation?

• 7 And of the angels He said….

• 8 But about the Son [He says, implied]…

• 10 And [He says, implied]…

• 13 Now to which of the angels ever did He say…

The pronoun and possessive pronouns (“Your”) refer to the Son:

• 9 "You love what is right…So God, your God, has anointed you, and set you above your companions."

• 8 But regarding the Son, “You, O God, you will rule forever on your throne.”

• 5 "You are my Son…Today I have begotten you."

Psalm 102: Hebrews Vs Greek

• The Hebrews writer using the LXX Ps 102 and not the Hebrew (e.g., today someone might quote the NIV instead of the KJV);

• The LXX has a different sense entirely in Psalm 102:23-25:

“He [God] answered him [the suppliant]…Tell me [God speaking to the suppliant]…You, lord [God addressing someone else called ‘lord’].”

But the Hebrew text has: “He [God] weakened me…I [the suppliant] say, ‘O my God…’”

• The LXX introduces a second lord who is addressed by God:

“At the beginning you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands” (v. 25).

• Again, in the LXX God is answering the one praying and addressing that person as “lord.”

AB Appendix 3, Jesus Was Not Trini:

"Ps. 102 is largely about the age to come and the restoration of Israel in the future Kingdom and so was entirely appropriate as a proof text for Hebrews 1 in regard to what the Son is destined to do in the future, indeed his role in the new, not the Genesis creation. This sense is reversed when it is made to support the unbiblical idea that Jesus was the Creator in Genesis!"

The Son as lord creator?

• Isaiah 51:16 prophesied how YHWH would empower His servant to be the agent of the age to come by planting, establishing, not creating anew, NOTE: NASB not NIV

"I have put My words in your mouth & have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, “You are My people.”

• Re: different translations: Word Biblical Commentary

“[The NIV translation] makes no sense if it refers to the original [Genesis] creation...In the other instances God acts alone, using no agent. Here the one he has hidden in the shadow of his hand is his agent.”

• The NET Bible, Isa 51:16:

“Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see Isa 65:17-18).”

• Cp. the commission of the prophet as builder, planter, Jer. 1:9-10.

• ‘To plant’ 'establish' as a metaphor for 'to begin anew' or ‘to set firmly in place’.

Messianic age “will perish, grow old and like a garment be rolled up” vv.11-12? 2 Peter 3:1-10

• Just like the original Genesis creation “perished in the flood” (2Peter 3:5-6), so “the present heaven and earth” will perish through fire (2Pet 3.7, 10);

• Rev 20:7-15 and then again the coming new creation (the age to come = the Millennium) will undergo a further change, renewal (Rev 20:7-15).

• And just as Noah and his family stepped out into a “new world,” so will we:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away…” Rev 21

NOTE: Tracy good article on separate matter, two resurrections, July 2025 Focus mag.

AB footnote v.11

"There will be a shaking of heaven and earth at the end of this age and a further change at the end of the millennium. A new heaven and earth will appear at the Parousia and a further renewal after the millennium."

For more https://focusonthekingdom.org/Hebrews110.pdf