leolaia . . . but you cannot have it both ways. You cannot perform an exegesis of Colossians 1:15 as if you were an apologist for orthodoxy (or trinitarianism) and at the same time claim to be treating it as a critical scholar would. Colossians 1:15 is an embarassment for trinitarians, and this is why they must go to great lengths to prove that prototokos ("firstborn") is there used metaphorically. The meaning is not a natural one in that context. One might compare this attempt to that of Roman Catholic apologists who, since the time of Jerome, have been saying that adelphoi ("brothers") actually means cousins when applied to Jesus' relatives because the word may have that meaning at times in the LXX. Certainly, in Colossians, "firstborn of all creation" is parallel with "firstborn of the dead." Jesus was the first to be born from among the dead (in an eschatological sense), and he was first to be born in creation.
The argument that "firstborn" is here used something like an honorary title sounds like it may have first arisen in the fourth century in an anti-Arian context. That fourth century conflict, though, while it should not be read back into the NT documents, may shed some light on our problem. What was of paramount importance in the Arian controversy is that the orthodox - over against the Arian position - claimed that the pre-existent Logos (who become incarnate as Jesus) had been begotten of the Father rather than created out of nothing. This is an all-important distinction which is implicit in the JW vs. Trinity conflict now current, but it is not now made explicit as it was in the fourth century. A begotten Logos is one who is generated out of the essence of God, and so shares the divinity of the Father. It is "Light from Light." A created Logos would be one who has a purely creaturely status like the created world. In Colossians Paul does not make this distinction, but uses terminology which is mixed - "firstborn" for the Logos and "creation" for the world. Both have their origin in God, but Paul does not press that there may be a difference in the manner of their origin. Later trinitarian theology, in an attempt to avoid all subordination, would claim that the relationship between the Father and the Son is an eternal one - hence an eternal generation or begetting.
A third text which may be used by Arians, if it is accepted that "Wisdom" in the Proverbs is a designation for the pre-incarnate Christ (and both parties in the fourth century accepted this), is Proverbs 8:22ff: "The Lord made me the beginning of his ways for his works." (LXX) This text uses both ektise ("made" or "created") and genna ("begets" - verse 23). When commenting on this text, Justin Martyr chose to emphasize the latter rather than the former. We could consider this parallel to the situation in Colossians, where the original author has chosen not to emphasize the difference in terms, but the emerging Church found it necessary to make such a distinction.
