Does Proverbs 8:22-31 Say That Jesus Was Created?
Proverbs 8:22-31 is one Bible passage that has engendered debates for ages. While some people believe the passage reveals that God brought our Lord Jesus into existence, making him have a beginning, the first of God’s creation, the vast majority of Bible scholars and commentators believe otherwise. They say the passage is nothing more than being a part of Solomon’s personification of wisdom, a poetical device which is common in the wisdom books. Personification is a literary device that gives human characteristics to nonhuman things or inanimate objects. It is used for the purpose of emphasis and impact, that is, to make a literary work more interesting and engaging.
Does the Bible have an answer for this seemingly difficult passage? I believe the Bible has given a very clear answer. The problem is that people have had their minds caged by the Trinitarian dogma, thus making them unwilling or unable to accept the plain truth laid out in this passage.
The passage reads:
[22] “The Lord created me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. [23] “From eternity I was established, From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. [24] “When there were no ocean depths, I was born, When there were no springs abounding with water. [25] “Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was born; [26] While He had not yet made the earth and the fields, Nor the first dust of the world. [27] “When He established the heavens, I was there; When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, [28] When He made firm the skies above, When the springs of the deep became fixed, [29] When He set a boundary for the sea So that the water would not violate His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth; [30] Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was His delight daily, Rejoicing always before Him, [31] Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of mankind.” (Prov. 8:22-31 NASB2020).
In this article, I want to show my readers that the passage goes beyond a mere personification of wisdom. In fact, it is a veiled allusion to Jesus Christ in his pre-incarnate existence. This is one of the Bible passages that effectively rubbishes the Trinitarian teaching that our Lord Jesus Christ was not created or made, making him coequal and coeternal with his God and Father. This passage, among others, have proven, beyond all doubts, that our Lord Jesus Christ was created by God. In other words, God brought him into existence by bringing him forth out of His own being.
In Prov. 8:22, Wisdom said, “The Lord created me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old.” (NASB2020). The NIV renders it as, ”The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old.” This means that the first thing God ever did was to bring His Son forth out of Himself. It stands to reason, therefore, that God pre-existed the Son, and the Son is not self-existent, as claimed by the Trinitarian dogma.
The Debate About Qanah or Kanah
The Hebrew word קָנָה (qanah or kanah) is used 85 times in the Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament. It is true that in most of the places, the word means to “purchase,” “possess,” or “own.” But it also has “creating” or “begetting” as part of its meaning. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB) defines qanah as follows:
- to get, acquire, create, buy, possess;
1a) (Qal);
1a1) to get, acquire, obtain;
1a1a) of God originating, creating, redeeming His people;
1a1a1) possessor;
1a1b) of Eve acquiring;
1a1c) of acquiring knowledge, wisdom;
1a2) to buy;
1b) (Niphal) to be bought;
1c) (Hiphil) to cause to possess.
Is there a single instance, in the Bible, in which the word can be interpreted as God creating someone or His people? Yes. Here in Prov. 8:22 and Deut. 32:6 which reads, “Is this what you do to the LORD, you foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father who has purchased you? He has made you and established you.” (Deut. 32:6 NASB2020, bold emphasis are mine throughout). The verb qanah is here translated as purchased. But we know that God did not purchase His people from anyone. Qanah in this place connotes the creation of the people by God the Father. The same is true of Gen. 4:1 which reads, ”Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth [qanah] a man.” (Genesis 4:1 NIV).
We see in these two verses that qanah does not always mean to purchase or possess or own something already in existence. It sometimes means bringing someone into existence.
Now coming to the passage under discussion, verse 22 says, “The Lord created me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old.” This is a clear revelation given by God about His only begotten Son. God brought him forth out of His own being. The Son was birthed by God Himself. The fact that God brought Jesus into existence out of Himself is the same thing as God creating him. The difference between the creation of Jesus and the other creatures of God is that the others were brought forth out of things that were non-existent, or out of nothing (Rom. 4:17b). But Jesus was brought forth out of the ever living God. The Bible has not told us what angels are made from. All we know about them is that they, too, have been in existence before the beginning when the universe was created (Job 38:4-7). If the creation marks the beginning of time, we can rightly say that both Jesus Christ and the angels were created before time came to be. We can rightly surmise that, as spirits, angels were not made with material things.
Proverbs 8:22 is not the only passage which says that Jesus was created by God. Sirach 24 says the same thing. A part of it reads:
[7] “I looked everywhere for a place to settle, some part of the world to make my home. [8] Then my Creator, who created the universe, told me where I was to live. ‘Make your home in Israel,’ he said. ‘The descendants of Jacob will be your people.’ [9] He created me in eternity, before time began, and I will exist for all eternity to come. [10] I served him in the sacred Tent and then made my home on Mount Zion. [11] He settled me in the Beloved City and gave me authority over Jerusalem. [12] I put down roots among an honoured people whom the LORD had chosen as his own.” (Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:7-12 GNBDK).
The creation of the only begotten Son of God is affirmed in the New Testament. I cite only two affirmations in this article.
”He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Col. 1:15 NASB2020).
The fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is here called the “firstborn of all creation” unquestionably means he is a part of God’s creation. No one can be the firstborn of a group or class of which he is not a member. It does not matter whether we use the preposition “of” or “over.” Whether the word is used in the sense of being the first to be born in a family, or in the figurative sense of being the preeminent one, any firstborn belongs to the group or class among whom he is the firstborn. When God called Israel His firstborn (Exod. 4:22), He was simply saying that among the nations of the world, Israel is the chosen one, the preeminent one. Israel could not have been the firstborn if it was not one of the nations of the world. Whether one is the firstborn child like Manasseh (Gen. 41:51) or the preeminent one like Ephraim (Gen. 48:17-19; Jer. 31:9), none can be called the firstborn unless he belongs to the group or class over which he is the firstborn.
The phrase “firstborn of [or over] all creation” used by Paul in the verse has quashed any argument that Jesus is not one of God’s creation. It was after his creation by God that he became the one described by Paul in verses 16-20. In Col. 1:15, Paul made us know that Jesus is the preeminent one among God’s creation. He then gave proof of what he wrote in verse 15 in the next five verses. But the indisputable fact is that the word “firstborn” (Greek: πρωτότοκος, prōtotokos) makes Jesus one of God’s creation.
The second affirmation was made by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. He told John, “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” (Rev. 3:14 NKJV).
The word “beginning” is translated from the Greek ἀρχὴ (archē) which is defined in The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB) as:
1. beginning, origin;
2. the person or thing that commences, the first person or thing in a series, the leader;
3. that by which anything begins to be, the origin, the active cause;
4. the extremity of a thing of the corners of a sail;
5. the first place, principality, rule, magistracy:
1. of angels and demons.
Here, definition 2 is the meaning of what Jesus Christ said. He is the first of God’s creation. It may interest us to know that the English prefix “arch” is derived from this Greek ἀρχὴ (archē). We all know that an archbishop is one among bishops; an archangel is a high ranking angel, one among the angels. So too, the word ἀρχὴ (archē, beginning) used here in relation to Christ means that he is the first of the creations of God. This is the meaning that harmonises with Prov. 8:22, Sira 24:9, and Col. 1:15.
A Brief Review of Proverbs 8:22-31
In verses 22-26 are phrases such as “the LORD created me” (v. 22), “I was born” (v. 24), “I was born” (v. 25). These phrases can only be used by a literal being. They couldn’t have been used by or for the attribute of God called wisdom. All of God’s attributes have eternally been in Him. God’s attributes can neither be created nor born. The only begotten Son of God, a distinct person, is the one who is said here to be created or born. He was created “as the first of God’s works” (v. 24 NIV). This took place before the creation of the universe (vv. 22-29).
It may interest us know that Prov. 8:22-25 is not the only passage where Wisdom said “she” was created or made by God the Father in the beginning. Honourable Wisdom made the same statement in Sirach 24:8-9 which reads:
[8] “Then the Creator of all things gave me a command, and my Creator chose the place for my tent. He said, ‘Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance.’ [9] Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me, and for all the ages I shall not cease to be.” (Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:8-9 NRSV-CI). Compare Rom. 1:3; 9:5.
We should not fail to observe Honourable Wisdom saying in Prov. 8:27-30, “When He established the heavens, I was there…then I was beside Him, as a master workman; and I was His delight daily.” This, no doubt, goes beyond mere personification of wisdom. This is a clear and direct picture of the Son of God during the creation (Gen. 1:3-2:3; John 1:1-3; Heb. 1;2; Col. 1:16-19). God’s attribute of wisdom cannot, in any sense, be beside God. It is an inseparable part of God. Neither has God’s attribute of wisdom come into the world to take up physical residence in Israel. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh and took up residence in Israel must be the Honourable Wisdom talking in Prov. 8:22-31 and Sira 24:7-12.
In Prov. 8:31, Honourable Wisdom said “she” was “rejoicing in the world, His earth, and having my delight in the sons of mankind.” Compare this with what Paul wrote about the Lord in the Book of Hebrews: ”For clearly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendants of Abraham [humankind].” (Heb. 2:16 NASB2020).
We should also not forget that the angels rejoiced when they saw what God created (Job 38:4-7). Therefore, the rejoicing of Wisdom here in verse 31 was much the same with that written about the angels. The angels are called “morning stars” (Job 38:7). Our Lord is called the “bright morning star” (Rev. 22:16). Thus, both Jesus and the angels are called the sons of God, the morning stars, who rejoiced when they beheld the beautiful and good creation of God. This connection between our Lord Jesus Christ and the angels is a proof that the one who rejoiced in Prov. 8:31 is the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is not God’s attribute of wisdom, which is an abstract thing.
In summary, Prov. 8:22-26 reveals to us that the Son of God was brought forth or begotten out of God’s own being. In other words, God gave birth to Him. This is affirmed in Col. 1:15 and Rev. 3:14. He did not self-exist. Only God the Father self-existed. The fact that he was begotten by God is the reason he can rightly be said to be created. God brought him into existence through his begettal by God.
It was after he was brought forth (NIV) or created (NASB2020) that he was beside God and worked as a master workman during the creation of the universe (Prov. 8:27-31). This is what John recorded in John 1:1-3, and Paul in Col. 1:15-20. When the two apostles said God created all things through Jesus Christ (John 1:3; Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2), they did not mean that he existed of himself or by himself. The books of Proverbs, Sirach, and Colossians clearly reveal that God first created our Lord Jesus Christ before He created the universe through him.
I am not a Jehovah’s Witness, but I am fully convinced that the Jehovah’s Witnesses got it right, that our Lord Jesus was first created by God before God created other things through him. The fact that Jesus was brought forth out of God’s own being is what made him have the same nature of God (Phil. 2;6; Col. 2:9). The unbroken law of God is that everything bears its own kind (Gen. 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25). Spirit gives birth to spirit (John 3:6b). This is true of God and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. It is the Father who brought the Son into existence. Therefore, it is perfectly right to say that God the Father created him.
What About Honourable Lady Wisdom?
Some have said that Wisdom is a female. Therefore, what is said about her cannot rightly apply to our Lord Jesus Christ, who was a male. They are wrong. The Hebrew language, like some other languages such as Greek, French, Russian, and Spanish, is a gendered language. In a gendered language, every noun, be it a person or an inanimate, abstract thing, is regarded as either masculine or feminine. Wisdom (Hebrew: חָכְמוֹת chokhmah; Greek: σοφία, sophia) is feminine in both Hebrew and Greek. But the gender is grammatical, not biological. Therefore, the fact that feminine pronouns are used for wisdom, according to the rules of gendered languages, does not mean that wisdom, an abstract thing, is really a female being. The fact that wisdom is personified as a female in Hebrew and Greek does not forbid what is written about “her” becoming applicable to our Lord Jesus Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24, 30; Col. 2:2-3). Many scholars, including the Trinitarians, know this. It amounts to misinformation when anyone argues that Wisdom is a female while Jesus is a male. In reality, wisdom is neither a female nor a male. It is a quality, an abstract thing.
Conclusion
Prov. 8:22-31, Sira 24:8-9, Col. 1:15, and Rev. 3:14 are some of the Bible passages that have revealed to us that our Lord, Jesus Christ, was brought into existence by God. The Bible says the creation of Jesus Christ was “the first of His [God’s] works.” This means that the first thing God ever did was to bring forth His only begotten Son out of Himself. This also means that God the Father pre-existed the Son. This further means that the Son is not self-existent, nor is he coequal and coeternal with the Father.
As revealed in the Bible, both Jesus and the angels were created before the beginning when the universe was created. Can anyone say that angels are coeval with God? No one will ever say that. We are forbidden by this fact from saying that Jesus Christ is coeval with God.
Apostle John and Paul’s statements in John 1:3 and Eph. 3:9 should not be interpreted to mean that Jesus was uncreated. If the Father was not the one who brought our Lord Jesus into existence, He couldn’t be called the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As already seen in this article, there are Bible passages which reveal that Jesus Christ was brought into existence by God. There is none that says Jesus Christ self-existed and that his existence was coeval with that of the Father. Thus, we can rightly say that the Trinitarian dogma is largely created out of human conjecture and unsound interpretation of the Bible.
Trinitarians are doing their best to twist the Bible and force it to accept their God-insulting dogma. Their doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son subtly deny that Jesus was begotten by God. They went into the etymology of μονογενής (monogenés) and began to argue that the word does not connote the begetting of an offspring. Coming to Prov. 8:22-31, they want us to accept that the passage is nothing more than a personification of wisdom. They know that if we should believe the clear revelation given by God in this place, the whole Trinitarian structure of falsehood that the Father, Son, and Spirit are coequaland coeternal collapses. I wonder how far Trinitarians will go to change the Bible and make it conform with their dogma which robs the Almighty God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of His Supremacy and Sovereignty.
Modern-day Trinitarians are acting like the Jews who refused to accept the truth that Jesus was the Son of God, the promised Messiah. Apostle John had this recorded about them: [24] The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” [25] Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. (John 10:24-25 NLT).
Jesus told them many times that God was his Father, and that he had been sent down to the Earth as the Messiah. But the teachings of men made them reject the truth whenever it was told. The same is applicable to many Christians today. The doctrines of men are making them reject the truth. That is why they’ll never accept that many Bible passages have already revealed that God brought our Lord Jesus Christ into existence – that God created him.
The main reason Trinitarians reject Prov. 8:22-31 as a clear revelation of the fact that wisdom was created or produced by God (and hence it teaches that Jesus had an origin) is because it contradicts the doctrine of the Trinity. However, the reality is that this text teaches us a fundamental idea that harmonises with the scriptures, that Jesus did have an origin, or was created. Trinitarians will reject, or crudely and recklessly misinterpret any word, phrase, or verse in the Bible that refutes the Trinitarian dogma.
Until the false doctrine of the Trinity is purged out of the minds of Trinitarians, they’ll continue to argue against the plain truth in the Bible – that the one God in the Bible is the Father alone, not a Trinity; and that Jesus Christ was created by the Father thus making him eternally less than and subordinate to the Father.
