V1. n.2. Gems from the Commentaries

Col. 1:16. The opening words of this verse as translated in many versions give the impression that Jesus was the creator of the universe in Gen. 1:1. But note: “The Greek ‘en auto’ does not mean ‘by Him’” (Expositors Greek Commentary on Colossians, p. 504).

Meyer, Ellicott, Moulton/Milligan give the word a causal sense: “Because of Jesus” all things were created. This, of course, is a very “different story.” The creation performed by the One God of Israel, the God and Father of Jesus, was with Jesus in mind as the purpose for the creation. Jesus, we might say, was the occasion for the creation. But Jesus himself was the prophesied Son of God (2 Sam. 7:16), the Messiah. He came into existence as Son of God through the miracle of the New Creation wrought in the womb of his mother (Luke 1:35): It was “precisely because of” (dio kai) the virginal conception that Jesus was the Son of God. The causal link is most clear. “Because of” his special creation in Mary, Jesus is called the Son of God. Luke was not an adherent of much later post-biblical creeds which said something quite different. Nov. 1998