Does John 1:3 contradict Isaiah 44:24?

Please reconcile John 1:3 with Isaiah 44:24?

"...apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

"Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you in the womb, I, the Lord am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens BY MYSELF, And spreading out the earth ALL ALONE."

It seems some have trouble reading the actual words we are given. Intent on joining the dots in a pre-determined pattern, they miss the intended and simple meaning.

There is no complication or contradiction or reconciliation needed when one reads the words without a presupposed theology.

There is no 'HE' in John 1:1-3. This is a literary device at best to simulate the logos' intimate connection with God - which is 'divine' and 'with' God. (anything with God is not God) There is no 'person' called the logos - this is a fabricated dogma to help support a pre-existing Jesus.

This is confirmed in 1 John 1:1-2 concerning the logos...

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have gazed upon and touched with our own hands—this is the Word of life. 2And this is the life that was revealed; we have seen it and testified to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.

So the logos is not a person, but the presence, power and life of God in His word. This understanding of the logos is expressed repeatedly though the NT. The disciples understood what Jesus came from - they could now touch and proclaim God's means of giving life - the logos - now made flesh. Now, in this new age and the age to come, Jesus is the source of new life - even raising the dead with his word. John 5:29

This word, or will or purpose of God (translated as statement, story, news and many others) was made into a man - Jesus ~4BC. That which, as 1 J 1 shows, represents a most basic expression of God - His word - is now a man. Not 'fully God', but filled with the fullness of God - bearing His image, likeness and holy nature.

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form Col 2:9

Deity dwells in him. He is not deity, but the fullest expression of this one God.

For the word (logos) of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even as far as the division of soul and spirit... Heb 4:12

No person here either. Just as is in no other 'logos' verse in the NT.

The Isaiah 44:24 reference indicates ONE God who created. Well, everyone knows that if they read the OT for a few minutes. Jesus confirmed this fact with his statement-

Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. John 17:3

Every NT writer confirmed this too - none broke ranks to introduce a new fancy God with 3 parts (1 Cor 8:6) And none making Jesus also God - except for a few precious 'proof-texts' that are heavily read-into, terribly altering their intended message.

John says God creates by His word. The logos isn't the maker - it's a word! Just as God's spirit is not a separate entity apart from God, God's logos is not independent either - it is what God "says".

• God says let there be light - and so it is. Did the 'says' make light? Not on its own, if God didn't say it it wouldn't be.
• John needed to explain God’s logos as that which Jesus came from and isn’t just another ‘son of God’. This information is critical to the whole NT plan of salvation!

The insistence on a 'person' called the logos is a futile attempt to create a necessary 'pre-existent Jesus' to fit traditional dogma - superseding the Apostolic Church Fathers inspired writings - and inventing a new gospel.

We were warned!

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The OP originally had a Colossians reference also suggesting that Jesus made everything. This is nonsense, and again, is simply remedied by reading in context and not making stuff up.

because in Him were created all things in the heavens and upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and unto Him. Col 1:16

• IN him - not BY him.
• things IN heaven - not THE heavens.
• things ON earth - not THE earth.
• Through him, for him - not BY him

From the Gr. δι' (di') often meaning 'because of', 'by reason of'- "through" is not about the method of creating, but the purpose of creating. Thus all things have their ultimate purpose in Christ. For without Christ as redeemer, there is nothing of Godly value in all His earthly creation. All things are made to have their meaning and potential in Christ - this was the plan from the beginning. Only in Christ are we in the image of God. Rom 8:29

The plainly spoken words reveal a truth which is consistently mis-read and mis-represented. The new creation, of the church centred on the coming kingdom, and its presence in Christ already, is the topic here, not a Genesis creation.

Further confirmed by the context of the continuing Colossians passage-

...He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. More here.

So Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation. Being the firstborn of the Genesis creation is unscriptural and ignoring immediate context and all NT narratives.

• how can Jesus 'come to have first place in everything', if he made everything?
• being 'firstborn of the dead' is the first to change from mortal flesh to immortal flesh - having life by the spirit instead of the blood. Jesus was never immortal to begin with - scripture readily bears his out.

To be perfectly clear - Jesus did not exist before he was conceived. He was only a plan, a prophecy and a promise. The logos is not a pre-existing Jesus. Anything other than this is derived not from scripture.

Paul has joined the dots for us without equivocation - stating the plain truth and confirming the nature of Jesus quite consistently. It is this Jesus Paul speaks of, who most certainly did not make the heavens and the earth as he wasn't born yet.

The KJV renders John 1:1-3 as:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

From the point of view that Jesus is a created being, this rendering of the scripture supports that nothing was made without "the Word" Jesus. This is inline with the ideas in Colossians 1:15-17 (KJV):

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

From the point of view that Jesus is a created being these verses support eachother and support (at least not contradict) the following ideas

1. Jesus is a separate being from God (“with God” & “image of the invisible God”).
2. Jesus was the first creation by which all other things were made (“In the beginning”… (God almighty did not have a beginning) & “firstborn of every creature” (Col 1:15).

Maybe more important: it is interesting to notice that the earliest available Greek manuscripts of the John 1:3,4 there is no punctuation between the verses 3 and 4. This causes different possible renderings & translations. A common class of renderings is that similar as in the KJV. But for example Nestle and Aland place the punctuation different and there the last part of verse 3, is the start of the sentence of verse 4. This would lead to different meaning and translation obviously. Due to this uncertainty in the data from the oldest manuscripts there is little justification about being very dogmatic about any particular translation, interpretation and conclusions derived from these verses of John 1:3,4.

Your consternation appears to lie in the confusion between things created and things that are Eternal. There are two realms, the Material and The Spiritual. The material realm consists of our world and and all other things in space. The Spiritual realm consists of all things which have no beginning and no end