Jesus: God, prophet or teacher?
Was Jesus actually God or just a good teacher? Maybe just a prophet?
I’ve been studying Colossians 1–2 and I think it’s gives one of the clearest pictures of who Jesus was.
Paul does not describe Jesus as merely a good teacher, a prophet, a spiritual guide, or even just the Messiah.
He describes Him in ways that would’ve sounded shocking, even dangerous to both Jews and Romans listening at the time.
Colossians 1:15 says “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”
The Greek word for image is eikōn, it means exact representation, visible manifestation, perfect revelation. So Paul was saying Jesus perfectly reveals the Father. Jesus also said in John 14:9 “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” And Hebrews 1:3 says “the exact imprint of His nature.” This cancels the idea that Jesus could have been merely a good teacher. He is God made visible.
When we read “firstborn” through a Western lens we immediately assume “first created.” But biblically and historically, that isn’t necessarily what the term meant.
The Greek term is prōtotokos pasēs ktiseōs In the ancient Jewish world, “firstborn” most often referred to supremacy, inheritance, authority, or rulership. For example Psalms 89:27 says about David “I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” But David was literally the youngest son of Jesse. That alone destroys the idea that “firstborn” MUST mean first created. Israel was called God’s “firstborn” in Exodus 4:22 despite not being the first nation. God is talking about covenant position and chosen status. The firstborn was the heir the one holding authority and status. Context always matters.
Paul immediately explains what he means in the next verse.
“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.” (Colossians 1:16)
Let’s think about the weight of that statement for a second.
Paul is saying, all things were created THROUGH Him, all things were created FOR Him, and all things continue existing IN Him.
Then verse 17 “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Jesus is eternal, preexistent, sustaining reality itself. The universe is not self sustaining. Christ actively holds creation together.
This is not the type of language that describes a good teacher or prophet. This is language of divine identity. Paul is placing Jesus outside the category of creation itself.
At that time Paul was fighting against false teachings. The early church was battling ideas that diminished Christ. Mystical spirituality, obsession with angels and spiritual intermediaries, human philosophy, legalism, asceticism, and teachings that treated Jesus as something less than fully divine. People were already trying to make Jesus lesser. Unfortunately some things never change.
Paul warns us in Colossians 2:8 “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”
And then Paul says one of the boldest clearest statements about Jesus’s divinity.
“For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Colossians 2:9 He didn’t say partially or symbolically or metaphorically. He said the fullness of DEITY dwells bodily in Christ.
Groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses argue Jesus was a created being, and their New World Translation inserts the word “other” into Colossians 1 multiple times “by means of him all OTHER things were created.” But the word “other” does not appear in the original Greek text at all! It was inserted because without it, Paul’s argument is very clear. It naturally reads as Christ standing outside creation itself as Creator.
For me this then raises a much deeper question. Why is humanity generally more comfortable with “Jesus the good teacher” than “Jesus the eternal God in flesh”?
I think it’s because a good teacher can be admired without surrender. A teacher can be quoted while we still go on living however we want. A teacher only gives inspiration. But if Jesus is truly God in flesh then that changes everything. That means that truth is not self defined, morality is not flexible, repentance is necessary, we are accountable, and our lives belong to Someone greater than ourselves. A teacher can be placed alongside other voices. But God demands authority over EVERY part of our lives. I think maybe that’s why every generation seems tempted to reshape Jesus into something smaller, safer, and easier to accept. A philosopher, a revolutionary, a spiritual guide, a symbol of love, anything except Lord. But the reality is the apostles didn’t describe someone who just taught truth. They described Someone who created reality itself, holds it together at every moment, rules above every spiritual power, and contains the fullness of deity bodily.
Colossians isn’t the only place we see this. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus forgave sins, accepted worship, called Himself the “I AM,” claimed oneness with the Father, said that seeing Him was seeing the Father, existed before Abraham, and repeatedly spoke and acted with authority that belonged to God alone.
The deeper I study Scripture, the harder it becomes to reduce Jesus into merely “a good person” or “moral teacher.” The Jesus described by the apostles is far bigger, and far more glorious than that.
Jesus was fully God and fully human. That is either blasphemy or the most important truth humanity will ever face.
So who is Jesus to you? 💜🤟✝️