350 Bible 21 – Firstborn Of or Firstborn Over? (Translating Colossians 1.15)

Colossians 1.15 presents an interesting test case to examine translation bias.  Well-meaning Bible students have taken this text in at least three different ways.  However, some translators, motivated by a fear that readers might see Christ as a member of creation, have increasingly pushed for translating this text so that it says Christ is superior to all creation and thus on the creator side of the creator-creature divide.  In what follows I examine several popular translations and discuss the two main issues in this verse.

—— Books ——

• A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition (BDAG)
• Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Daniel Wallace
• Truth in Translation by Jason David BeDuhn

—— Links ——

• Colossians 1.15-20: Preexistence or Preeminence by William Wachtel (paper)
• Christ the Firstborn Head of the Universe by Nathan Crowder (paper)
• Explanation of Colossians 1.15 -20 by John Schoenheit (from One God & One Lord)
• Resurrection Impact by Sean Finnegan (audio sermon on Colossians 1.15-20 as ascension theology)
• Debate: Patrick Navas vs. James White on Chris Date’s Theopologetics Podcast (part 2 addresses Colossians 1)
• Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible
• See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed)
• If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here.
• Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library