Evidence · Case 11 · Mormonism
Colossians 1:16-17, New American Standard Bible
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
The passage says that “by him all things were created,” in heaven and on earth, and that in him all things hold together. Something that made all created things is not itself one of the created things.
Sources
Objections & responses
- Latter-day Saints affirm that Jesus created the world, as the Jehovah of the Old Testament, under the Father’s direction, and that he is fully divine. Doesn’t this claim fail to distinguish LDS from orthodox belief?
An important correction: LDS Christology does affirm Jesus as creator and as the Jehovah of the Old Testament. The difference is whether he is uncreated and of the same essence as the Father, or a spirit child of the Father who attained godhood; and whether the Father himself is uncreated. The real point of difference is the Creator-creature distinction as applied to the Father and Son together, not whether Jesus created. Verse 15’s firstborn of all creation is where the readings part: the same reply given in the Trinity and Jehovah’s Witnesses cases applies, that firstborn denotes rank and heirship and verse 16 explains the title by his relation to creation, not his membership in it.