Did God create Jesus?

Response

“The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten” (The Athanasian Creed, verse 22). According to the Bible and the ancient creeds of Christianity, the Son of God is eternal. There was never a time when He did not exist. God did not create Jesus.

John 1:1–3 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” This passage echoes the wording of Genesis 1:1 but provides further insight into the God who created everything. The Word in this verse refers to the Son of God before He took on human form and came to earth. Colossians 2:9 affirms, “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.” Therefore, the Son, later known as Jesus, already existed in the divine form, as a part of the triune Godhead. He was not created because God is uncreated.

Philippians 2:6–8 describes the events when Jesus arrived on earth:

“Though he was in the form of God,

[he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but emptied himself

by taking the form of a servant,

being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross!”

When the Son came to earth, He assumed human nature and a human body. His body was “prepared” for Him to offer the perfect sacrifice for sin «Therefore, when he comes into the world, he says, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;”», (Hebrews 10:5). The Holy Spirit overshadowed a virgin, and she conceived (Luke 1:26-38). Jesus was then born into the world. As a part of humbling Himself, Jesus set aside His rights and privileges as God and took on the limitations and weaknesses of a baby. The pre-existent Christ was not created at the Incarnation, and His divine nature remained intact; the change, at that particular point in human history, was that the eternal Son of God took on human flesh. He had already existed as God, but He humbled Himself in order to become a man. From that point on, the uncreated Son is both truly God and truly man.

Jesus had to be fully human in order to bear the penalty for our sins “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”, (2 Corinthians 5:21). He lived the life we live, yet without sin “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”, (Hebrews 4:15). He lived in complete harmony with His heavenly Father “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”, (John 8:29) and in complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14; John 14:10). No created being could have borne the weight of the world’s sins. All sacrificial animals used before Christ were merely symbols of the coming Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”, (John 1:29). Only God HimselfCould fulfill the criteria for an adequate replacement, and Jesus is divine. Individuals who believe in Him are promised everlasting life (John 3:16-18;6:37;10:28).