Arian polemicist Greg Stafford has made it a chief aim of his mission to do all he can to pervert the explicit biblical witness to the Son’s uncreated, eternal nature and existence. Yet in his misguided zeal he often makes claims that end up refuting him since his points actually prove that Christ is not a creature whom God brought into being.
An example of this is what he writes in regards to 1 Corinthians 8:6, which states that the Father is the one God out of or from whom all things came into existence. Stafford employs this text to argue that not only is the Son not that one God but that he also isn’t the Source of creation, since he is simply the Agent through whom the one God created.
Here’s the verse in question, taken from the New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (NWT):
“there is actually to us one God, the Father, from whom ALL THINGS are (ex hou ta panta) and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom ALL THINGS are (di’ hou ta panta) and we through him.”
Stafford does admit that the preposition dia can have a causal sense, but denies that it has this meaning in reference to the Son’s role in creation:
“… but dia can have a causal sense, which fits perfectly with other biblical texts that present the Father as the source of creation. This does not mean, however, that all of a sudden the intermediary role of Jesus in creation (also conveyed by dia) becomes causal[sic] just like the Father! Indeed, as I will discuss further below, Colossians 1:16 uses the passive verb form for ‘create’ in reference to what someone else (God) did ‘through’ the ‘firstborn’ of all creation.’ This, too, shows that the causal sense for dia should not be associated with the role of the Logos in creation, at least not in the same sense in which the Bible clearly presents the Father as the source or first cause of all things[sic].” (Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended: An Answer to Scholars and Critics (Third Edition) [Elihu Books, Huntington Beach, CA 2009], p. 380)
My purpose here is not to provide a lengthy refutation to this egregious claim, since I’ve done so elsewhere and will provide the link to the article at the conclusion of this reply.
What I want to focus on is Stafford’s candid admission that 1 Cor. 8:6 refers to God creating ALL (not some or most) things, meaning all creation, through the agency of the Son.
Note what Stafford writes in this respect. All emphasis will be mine:
“… The angels were certainly present during this time (Job 38:7), so for them to be included in the ‘us’ and the ‘our’ here in Gen 1:26 need not imply anything more than that they had a share in the making of man in some sense DIFFERENT from how the Father AND JESUS were involved IN THE CREATION OF ‘ALL THINGS’ (1 Co 8:6)…” (Ibid., p. 189, fn 102)
“To further illustrate this point about the Father’s supreme will, in the Bible the Father is the source of ‘all things’ while the Son is the one ‘through whom’ the Father created (1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16). But being God’s agent does not change the fact that it was ‘because of your [the Father’s] will [creations] existed and were created’ (Revelation 4:11)…”
“… In view of the distinction made in 1 Corinthians 8:6 between God the Father as the source of ALL THINGS and the Son as his intermediary, it is better to translate dia in John 1:3 (as well as Colossians 1:16 and Hebrews 1:2) as ‘through’ to express the Son’s biblical role in creation…” (Ibid, p. 381)
After citing from Origen to show that the Son’s role in creation is lesser than that of the Father’s, Stafford writes:
“While Origen chooses to make the distinction in terms of the two Greek prepositions dia and hypo, rather than dia and ek as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 8:6, the point is basically the same: God Father is the cause and source of ALL CREATION, and the Son is the one ‘through whom’ God created. Exactly in what sense the creative acts of God were mediated through the Son no one can say for sure, that is, based on what we have good reasons to believe according to the Bible…” (Ibid, p. 382)
“… I noted in that same discussion that 1 Corinthians 8:6 clearly distinguishes between the Father as the source of ‘all things’ and Jesus as the one ‘through whom’ THESE SAME THINGS came…” (Ibid., p. 397)
“The Bible teaches us that Jah is the Creator of all things (Isaiah 40:27-28; 42:5; 45:18; 1 Corinthians 8:6). It is he who decreed the capacities of individuals (spirits and humans [Genesis 1:26]) who were made in his image. It is he who created the spheres of existence (the heavens and the earth [Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 10:6]) in which the personally expressive capacities of those made in his image can make choices…” (Ibid., p. 477)
Herein lies the dilemma for Stafford.
Since he admits that the “all things” in 1 Cor. 8:6 refer to all creation, and since he also acknowledges that God created all things through the Son, Stafford has basically proven that the Son is not a part of creation but separate and distinct from it!
Notice how this plays out logically:
- According to 1 Cor. 8:6, God created all creation from himself.
- This means that God exists before all creation and therefore cannot be a creature.
- 1 Cor. 8:6 also teaches that God created all things through Jesus, which makes Jesus the intermediary through whom all creation came into being.
- This means that Jesus also exists before all creation, and therefore cannot be a creature any more than the Father can be one.
The only way for Stafford to deny the inevitable conclusion of his own argument is to claim that Jesus is the Agent of his own creation, that God used his Son to bring him into existence, an obviously absurd and illogical position to hold.
Therefore, Stafford is now stuck with Christ being the uncreated, eternal Son of God, which leads to the further conclusion that the Son is just as much the one God YHWH as the Father!
After all, the Hebrew Bible is emphatically clear that YHWH alone is uncreated since he alone precedes the entire creation:
“You alone are Jehovah; you made the heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens and all their army, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. And you preserve all of them alive, and the army of the heavens are bowing down to you.” Nehemiah 9:6 NWT
“A prayer of Moses, the man of the true God. O Jehovah, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born Or you brought forth the earth and the productive land, From everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” Psalm 90:1-2 NWT
“Are you not from everlasting, O Jehovah? O my God, my Holy One, you do not die. O Jehovah, you appointed them to execute judgment; My Rock, you established them for punishment.” Habakkuk 1:12 NWT
Moreover, Jesus being identified as YHWH Incarnate also refutes Stafford’s further assertion that the Son is not the Source of all creation.
This means that the use of different prepositions in reference to the roles that the Father and the Son took in creation isn’t intended to depict the Son as a passive instrument that the Father used. Rather the differing prepositions are only meant to highlight the point of the Father and Son not being the same divine Person, but are in fact one and the same God.
So much for Stafford’s crusade against the uncreated, eternal Person and nature of God’s beloved Son, YHWH Jesus Christ Almighty.
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