Was Jesus created, or has He always existed?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Jesus was not created but has always existed as fully God, the eternal Word who was with the Father before the world began. God is self-existent and eternal, and the New Testament reveals that Jesus was present at creation, forgives sins, and receives worship, confirming His deity. Because Jesus is eternal and uncreated, His promises, salvation, and power are absolute and reliable for all who trust Him. Understanding Jesus’ eternal nature calls us to anchor our faith in Him, live with confidence in His sovereignty, and rely on His unchanging character in every circumstance.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• The absolute necessity of God's eternal nature is explicit in the way He revealed Himself. When God revealed Himself to Moses and Moses asked God for His name, God replied, "I AM WHO I AM," which means that He will not be defined by anyone other than Himself; He is the Self-Existent One (Exodus 3:14).
• God is the everlasting God, meaning that He has always existed (Isaiah 40:28).

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• God does not derive or receive life from anyone or anything but has life in Himself and gives life to all things (John 5:26; Acts 17:25; 1 Timothy 6:13; Revelation 4:10).
• Jesus is God. John 1:1–4, 14, 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 any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus, who is the Word who has become flesh, was both with God and IS God. This along with the fact that the Holy Spirit is also God forms the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity. God is one in essence and three in persons.
• Jesus claimed the name of God Himself: "'Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.' So the Jews said to him, 'You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?' Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.' So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple" (John 8:56–58). In this passage, Jesus is not only claiming to have existed before Abraham, but He is claiming to be God. For this perceived blasphemy, the Jews attempted to stone Him.
• The Father and Jesus are one (John 10:30). This affirms His unity with the Father in both essence and purpose, declaring His full deity as part of the one God in three persons. In context, Jesus was equating His power to give eternal life with the Father’s authority, which the Jewish leaders understood as a claim to be God Himself.
• Jesus said that if someone had seen Him they had seen the Father (John 14:8–11).
• Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). He is God in bodily form, the second person of the Trinity. As the Nicene Creed states, Jesus is "begotten and not made." Jesus was with the Father before the creation of the world and enjoyed the eternal fellowship of both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
• Several other Scriptures attest to the deity of Jesus Christ. Jesus forgave sins (Matthew 9:6) and received worship (John 20:28), both of which are the exclusive power and privilege of God.
• All things were created through Jesus and for Jesus (Colossians 1:16). God is the Creator therefore Jesus is God.
• Paul makes reference to Jesus as God over all (Romans 9:5) and states that all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Jesus (Colossians 1:19; 2:9).
• Paul also referred to Jesus as "our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). Peter used this same description (2 Peter 1:1).
• The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus, "But of the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom'" (Hebrews 1:8).
• God is the Alpha and the Omega, meaning that He is the beginning and the end, the eternal One who exists before all things and will remain after all things (Revelation 1:8), and Jesus is also described as the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 22:13). Jesus is God.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

God was not created.

Jesus is God.

Therefore, Jesus was not created.

The above syllogism is valid and proves the conclusion that Jesus was not created, so long as both premises are true.

Premise one states that God was not created. Most people would agree with the statement that God was not created. By definition God must be uncreated/eternal or else something greater than God could be imagined (such as an uncreated God) and then that would be God. In fact, God's aseity (self-existence) and eternality are prerequisites for the existence of anything that has come into existence. Everything that has a beginning requires a cause. Infinite regress can never bring us to a beginning. Without a beginning, nothing could now exist. However, something does exist. Therefore, there must be something that has always been. Something that is eternal, self-existent and omnipotent, and that is God.

Jesus is God. When we turn to Jesus for salvation, forgiveness, or guidance, we are approaching the eternal, unchanging God who has the authority and power over all things. His eternal nature assures us that His promises are absolute and that His sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to cover all sin because it came from One who is infinite and is not created.

Knowing that Jesus has always existed reminds us that our faith rests on Someone who is beyond change, beyond creation, and fully capable of sustaining us through every circumstance. It challenges us to anchor our hope in who He is as the eternal God.

UNDERSTAND

• Jesus has always existed as fully God and was not created.
• Scripture affirms Jesus’ deity, unity with the Father, and role in creation.
• Jesus’ eternal nature makes His promises, salvation, and power completely reliable.

REFLECT

• How does knowing that Jesus has always existed as fully God the way you trust Him in your daily life?
• In what areas of your life do you need to rely more on Jesus’ eternal power and unchanging promises?
• How does Jesus’ uncreated, eternal nature affect the way you view His sacrifice and salvation for you?

ENGAGE

• How does Jesus’ eternal existence shape our understanding of His authority over creation and life?
• How does acknowledging Jesus as fully God challenge common misconceptions about His humanity and divinity?
• How can we encourage one another to anchor our faith in Jesus’ eternal, unchanging nature in practical ways?