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The Word and The Image.--The Word deals with sound, the Image with light, and
most know enough of elementary physics to understand the difference. Even when John
writes: "No man hath seen God at any time", he does not continue: "The Only Begotten
Son hath made Him visible", but passing by the thought of invisibility, he adheres to the
figure that belongs to the Word--"hath declared Him".
The Only Begotten and The Firstborn.--Care must be exercised when dealing with
these different titles. The one, "the Firstborn", goes back to "the beginning"; the other,
"the Only Begotten", begins at Bethlehem.
Prototokes, "firstborn", occurs in Matt. 1: 25; Rom. 8: 29; Col. 1: 15, 18: Heb. 1: 6,
11: 28, and 12: 23.
Monogenes, "Only Begotten", occurs in Luke 7: 12; 8: 42, 9: 38; John 1: 14, 18,
3: 16, 18; Heb. 11: 17, and I John 4: 9.
Monogenes is limited to the flesh; Christ is never named "the only begotten Son"
until it is declared that "the Word became flesh".
Prototokes is, however, used with wider significance. In Heb. 11: 28 it has the
meaning of the first-born after the manner of men, but it is readily seen that a fuller
meaning attaches to it in Col. 1: 15, 18. If "Firstborn" in verse 15 is to mean that Christ
had no existence before He became the Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all
creation, how will this interpretation answer in verse 18? Had He no existence before
resurrection? The assumption is impossible and reveals the folly of the argument. Let
us adhere closely to the language of Scripture. Before Bethlehem, Christ is called
"The Word" and "The Image", but after, when He had become flesh, He is called
"The Only Begotten Son", "The Son of God", "The Son of man".
All things made and All things created.--There is a deeper significance in the word
"create" of Col. 1: than in the word "made" in John 1: In John, moreover, nothing is
specified: "He made all things"; "The world was made by Him." That is all that the
dispensational teaching of John necessitates. Colossians, however, is addressed to a
people who have a high calling, so high that it goes far above principalities and powers
into the highest heavens. Consequently Col. 1: gives a fuller enumeration concerning
creation, and emphasizes the heavenly and invisible side, where John emphasizes the
visible, earthly side:--
"For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all
things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all
things consists."
The language of II Cor. 3: 10 seems almost necessary as we compare these two
records.