passages in the New Testament where creation is ascribed to Christ, are the

three passages where we have the title, 'Word', 'Image' and 'Express Image',

namely in John 1, Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1.  The one passage where Christ

is seen as originally existing in the 'Form' of God, the application to Him

of the words of Isaiah 45:23,24, have already been considered.

Before we attempt any further explanation, let us frankly face the fact

that it must of necessity be beyond the ability of man to comprehend the

essential nature of God.  We speak of the 'Being' of God as 'Absolute' and

'Unconditioned' but, if we are honest, we shall agree that we might as well

use the symbol x -- the unknown quantity.  God has condescended to limit

Himself to the capacity of our understanding, to employ terms that are within

our cognizance, and above all to tell us that all we can hope to know of

Himself during the present life, will be learned as we see His glory in the

face of Jesus Christ.  In all our acquisition of knowledge, the mind is

comparing, contrasting, labelling and drawing conclusions.  Into what

category must we place God?  He is Spirit.  What do we Know of the conditions

and modes of a life that pertain to pure Spirit?  Just nothing.  An infant on

its mother's knee, could more readily be expected to grasp the meaning of

the fourth dimension than a man can be expected to understand the nature of

Infinite Being.  God has no Compeer, therefore there is nothing with which we

may Compare Him.  We are halted at the start.  He has no equal:

'To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye  compare unto

Him?' (Isa. 40:18).

'To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy

One' (Isa. 40:25).

'To whom will ye liken Me, and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we

may be like?' (Isa. 46:5).

'For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the

sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?' (Psa. 89:6).

Whenever a comparison is instituted between things, there must follow:

Either absolute equality in every particular will be established.

But this is a contradiction in terms, for wherever there is absolute

equality in every particular, there is identity.

Or there will be manifested differences.  Now one may differ from

another because one is inferior or because one is superior.

Consequently when the prophet places together as synonymous statements: 'To

whom will ye liken Me?' and 'Make Me equal?' it is evident that he does not

admit the possibility of either comparison or equality.  We may take it,

therefore, as a settled truth, God can have no equal.  The Hebrew word

shavah, 'to be equal' means to be even, to level, and so 'to countervail' or

be equivalent (Esther 7:4), and while it is used as a synonym by Isaiah for

the word 'compare', which is the Hebrew mashal, yet comparison is not to be

excluded altogether from the concept of equality as the translation given in

Proverbs 3:15 and 8:11 will show.  It is evident that the only answer to the

question of Isaiah 46:5, 'With whom ... will ye make Me equal?' is 'With

None'.  God is and must be incomparable.  There is, however, the testimony of

the New Testament to be considered before this great question can be

considered as closed.  The Greek word translated 'equal' is the word isos or

its derivatives (apart from the word used in Galatians 1:14 which means an

equal in age).  The basic meaning of isos seems to be equivalence, 'the same

as', for example the statement concerning the heavenly Jerusalem that 'the

length and the breadth and the height of it are equal' (Rev. 21:16).  In