--- title: Colossians 1:15-17 url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/colossians-1-16/ markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/colossians-1-16.md type: verse perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching reference: Colossians 1:15-17 testament: NT section: Letters index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt --- # Colossians 1:15-17 ## Text (Berean Standard Bible) > **15** The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. > > **16** For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. > > **17** He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase - NWT (1984 edition): ""all [other] things" (brackets)" - NWT (2013 revision): ""all other things" (brackets removed but word kept)" ## JW Usage JWs cite "firstborn of all creation" to argue Jesus was the first thing created. NWT adds "other" four times to make Jesus part of creation. ## Protestant Usage Prototokos means "heir/preeminent one" (cf. Psalm 89:27, David called firstborn). The text says "all things were created through him" — no "other" in the Greek. Jesus is the creator, not a creature. ## NWT Issue NWT inserts "other" four times in brackets: "all [other] things." This word does not appear in any Greek manuscript. It changes Jesus from creator of all things to creator of all other things. ## Arguments Using This Verse - [Jesus' Eternality](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm102-hebrews1.md) — Psalm 102 → Hebrews 1 [Deity of Christ] - [Colossians 1 — Inserted 'Other'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/colossians1-other.md) — The NWT adds a word that changes everything [NWT Translation] - [Monogenes — 'Only Begotten' Means Unique](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john3-16-monogenes.md) — John 3:16 [Deity of Christ] - [The New World Translation — Anonymous and Unqualified](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/nwt-reliability.md) — Can you trust a Bible translated by unnamed, untrained scholars? [NWT Translation] - [The Holy Spirit Is a Person, Not a Force](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/holy-spirit-personhood.md) — "He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13) [Holy Spirit] - [Jehovah Created Alone — So Jesus Must Be Jehovah](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/isaiah44-creator.md) — Isaiah 44:24 [Deity of Christ] - [The Bible Has Not Been Corrupted](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/bible-reliability.md) — 5,800 Manuscripts Can't All Be Wrong [Authority] - [The NWT's One-Way Mirror](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/nwt-unidirectional-bias.md) — Every Change Points the Same Direction [NWT Translation] - [Spirit of Christ — Restructured Away](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/spirit-of-christ.md) — 1 Peter 1:11 — The NWT Breaks the Genitive to Hide Pre-Existence [NWT Translation] - [The Angel from Heaven](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/angel-from-heaven.md) — Galatians 1:8 — Three-Way Angel Parallel [Deity of Christ] - [Let Us Make Man — The Isaiah 44:24 Trap](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/genesis1-26-let-us.md) — Genesis 1:26 / Isaiah 44:24 / Job 33:4 [Deity of Christ] - [Hebrews 1:6 Quotes a Jehovah-Worship Text — And Applies It to Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/deut3243-hebrews16-worship.md) — Deuteronomy 32:43 LXX / Hebrews 1:6 / Dead Sea Scrolls [Deity of Christ] - [Gods Who Die and God to Pharaoh Don't Parallel Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm82-exodus71-gods-parallel.md) — Psalm 82:6-7 / Exodus 7:1 / John 10:34-36 [Deity of Christ] - [The Christian Shema — Paul Splits the Shema to Include Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/christian-shema.md) — 1 Corinthians 8:6 / Deuteronomy 6:4 / Isaiah 44:24 [Deity of Christ] - [All Things Exist For and Through Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/hebrews2-all-things-subject.md) — Hebrews 2:5-10 [Deity of Christ] - [King of Kings and Lord of Lords](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/king-of-kings.md) — Revelation 19:16 — A title shared with Jehovah [Deity of Christ] - [Arianism Is Not New — JW Christology Was Rejected in AD 325](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/arianism-not-new.md) — Council of Nicaea / Arius / Athanasius [Authority] - [Images Are Not the Problem — Worship Is](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/images-in-worship-protestant-response.md) — Numbers 21:8 / 2 Kings 18:4 / Exodus 25:18 [Practice] - [Theotokos Is About Jesus, Not About Mary](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/mary-theotokos-christological-fence.md) — Luke 1:43 / John 1:14 / Colossians 2:9 [Deity of Christ] - [When 'Is' Becomes 'Means'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/is-to-means-broader-pattern.md) — The NWT's Pattern of Paraphrasing the Greek Copula [NWT Translation] - [Whoever Denies the Son Does Not Have the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1john2-23-deny-son-deny-father.md) — 1 John 2:22-23 [Deity of Christ] - [You Can't Cite a Bible You Say Is Corrupted](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/consistency-corrupt-bible-self-defeat.md) — The Selective-Appeal Inconsistency [Authority] - [I Live Because of the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john-6-57-i-live-because.md) — John 6:57 — incarnation context, not pre-existent origin [Deity of Christ] - [Two Verbs, Two Categories](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/en-vs-egeneto-john-1-tense.md) — John 1 — the Word 'was' (ēn), creation 'came to be' (egeneto) [Deity of Christ] - [A First-Century Parallel to JW Christology](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/colossian-heresy-jw-parallel.md) — Colossians 1:15-20 — Paul Addressed a Christology Structurally Like the Watchtower's [Deity of Christ] - [Two Matches, One Candle — How Three Persons Create as One](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/trinity-causal-overdetermination.md) — Causal overdetermination and opera ad extra sunt indivisa [Deity of Christ] - [You're Already a Trinitarian — The Watchtower's Eternal Logos Problem](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/watchtower-eternal-logos-tu-quoque.md) — If two persons existed before creation, where's the "one"? [Deity of Christ] - [Have You Read That Yourself? — Surfacing Watchtower-Mediated Reading](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/read-your-own-bible-exposure.md) — A gentle, repeated question that exposes secondhand belief [Authority] - [When Scholars Write Back — The Watchtower's Quote-Mining Pattern](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/watchtower-quote-mining-tactic.md) — Julius Mantey's 1974 letter, plus Westcott, Robertson, Alford, Harner, Barclay [Authority] - [Sharing a Role Is Not Sharing Who God Is](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/god-alone-shared-or-identity.md) — Isaiah 44:24 / 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 / Job 38:7 — when 'God alone' texts allow others in, and when they don't [Deity of Christ]