The Watchtower teaches that Jesus is a created being, the first and greatest creation of Jehovah God. To support this, one of their proof texts is Colossians 1:15-20. Here is the passage in their own translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT):
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All other things have been created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist, 18 and he is the head of the body, the congregation. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might become the one who is first in all things; 19 because God was pleased to have all fullness to dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all other things by making peace through the blood he shed on the torture stake, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens. (NWT, 2013)
Much is made by the Watchtower of the word, “firstborn” here. The Watchtower says this word always means the first one born. Usually it does mean that. Luke 2:7 tells us Jesus was Mary’s firstborn son. But, the Watchtower says it means Jesus was the first one born of creation according to Col. 1:15-20:
The only-begotten Son of God, the only Son produced by Jehovah alone. This Son is the firstborn of all creation. By means of him all other things in heaven and on earth were created. He is the second-greatest personage in the universe. (Reasoning from the Scriptures, p. 209, WTBTS, 1985)
What matters here on the point about “firstborn” is that “firstborn” doesn’t always mean the first one born in Scripture. Look at Genesis 48:14:
However, Israel put out his right hand and placed it on Eʹphra·im’s head, although he was the younger, and he placed his left hand on Ma·nasʹseh’s head. He purposely laid his hands this way, since Ma·nasʹseh was the firstborn. (NWT, 2013)
So, according to Genesis 48:14, Manasseh was Joseph’s firstborn and Ephraim was his younger son. But, in Jeremiah 31:9, Ephraim becomes the “firstborn”:
They will come weeping. I will lead them as they beg for favor. I will guide them to streams* of water, On a level path that will not make them stumble. For I am a Father to Israel, and Eʹphra·im is my firstborn.” (NWT, 2013)
1 Samuel 16:11-13 tells us that David was not only the first son born to Jesse but actually the youngest. Yet, David is called the “firstborn” in Psalm 89:20-27. The Watchtower even acknowledges this is true but claim it is prophetic to get out of their strict definition of “firstborn” as the first one born:
In Psalm 89, Jehovah refers to “David my servant” and reviews the covenant for the kingdom that was made with him. In the midst of this is the statement:
“I myself shall place him as firstborn, the most high of the kings of the earth.” (Psalm 89:20,27) David was not a firstborn son. (1Ch 2:13-15) So it seems that Jehovah was referring prophetically to the one foreshadowed by David, God’s own “firstborn” Son in heaven upon whom He confers kingship more exalted than that of any human ruler.—Compare Eze 34:24 where Messiah is spoken of as “my servant David.” (Insight on the Scriptures vol. 1 p. 836, WTBTS, 1988)
So, “firstborn” doesn’t always mean the first one born. What “firstborn” does mean is the pre-eminent one. We can see this in the Colossians passage. Verse 18 says “… so that he might become the one who is first in all things” A more honest translation expresses it this way: “…,that in everything he might be preeminent.” You see, the whole point of the Colossians passage is the preeminence of Jesus.
Now, on to the words added to this passage by the Watchtower translators. Here is the passage in a more honest translation:
Colossians
1:15-20 (English Standard Version)
15 He
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created,
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 And he is before all things, and in
him all things hold together. 18 And
he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God
was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to
reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by
the blood of his cross.
Words Added by the Watchtower
Notice anything missing in this translation? The word “other” is not in the English Standard Version (ESV). Why? Because it’s not in the original Greek. It doesn’t appear in any other modern English translation either. The Watchtower has inserted it here five times in order to change the meaning of the passage. If Jesus is before all “other” things, that makes Him one of the things created. If He is before all things, as the original says, He is the Creator. Colossians 1:15-20 is one of the most obvious passages teaching the deity of Christ. For the Watchtower to protect their false teaching that Jesus is not God, they needed to change this passage of Scripture, so they did.
It is true that some earlier versions of the NWT had brackets around the word “other”, but they have now (as of 1984) seen fit to remove those brackets and insert the word “other” as if it were supposed to be there. Placing brackets around the word in some earlier versions of the NWT is still not justification for changing the meaning of the passage.
To be fair, most translations insert words into the text in order to complete a thought. Most English translations indicate this by putting the word in italics. For instance, the KJV translates part of Colossians 1:18 this way: “…,that in all things he might have the preeminence.” The word “things” is not in the original and could be left out to read, “…, that in all, he might have the preeminence.” Both mean the same thing. The KJV translators inserted “things” to help the flow of the sentence without changing its meaning, but they indicated that the word was inserted by italicizing it. The NWT hasn’t done that.
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