What Does It Mean That Jesus Is the "firstborn of All Creation"?
1) Direct answer
“Firstborn of all creation” means Jesus holds the place of preeminence and heirship over everything God made. It does not mean He is a created being. He is the visible image of the invisible God, and all things were made by Him, through Him, and for Him.
2) Scriptural explanation
- The Bible says, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things created… and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:15–17). If all things were created by Him and He is before all things, He cannot be one of the created things.
- It also says He is “the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18). So “firstborn” speaks of rank and preeminence—He is Head over creation and Head of the new creation by resurrection.
- God calls the king “My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth” (Psalm 89:27). “Firstborn” there clearly means highest place, not first one to exist.
- “God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). The body is the Son; the Life in Him is God. As to the flesh, Sonship began in time (Luke 1:35). As to the Life, He is the Word by whom all things were made (John 1:1–3,14).
- He is also called “the beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation 3:14)—the One in whom creation has its start and the One who begins the new creation by rising from the dead.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- If He created all things, He is not a creature. Creator and creation are not the same.
- “Firstborn” in Scripture often means the heir with preeminence. Israel was called God’s “firstborn” (Exodus 4:22) as a position, not because it was the first nation.
- So “firstborn of all creation” means He is the supreme Heir over it, and “firstborn from the dead” means He is the first to rise in immortality, bringing in the new creation and taking the Headship.
4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice… it’s not three persons. One God was manifested in flesh. The Son is the body God used, and in that body He took the rights of the Firstborn over all creation and, by resurrection, became the Firstborn of the new creation. That’s the mystery—preeminence, not creaturehood.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
God's gifts always find their places
63-1222 §34
Now, therefore, God created Himself a body. He was the creator, and created His own creation, that by this creation He might save them that were lost in His creation (that's you and I, creatures of time.) His Word exactly showed that... He and His works proved that He was nothing less than the creator. He took a piece of bread and broke it, and kept breaking that one piece of bread, and fed five thousand people out of it; and took up seven basketfuls of pieces left over, and everybody there had a complete filling o...
The Identified Masterpiece of God
64-1205 §66
...put him behind the Word. When He made his second masterpiece, He was the Word. Amen! He was the Word. Not behind the Word; but He was the Word. God never changes his plan. That's exactly what He started off to do his first church with: the Word. Now, God, the Word, in the beginning He was independent from all other ... everything else, all other people. Now I don't mean to say this to be different. God is a segregationist. Do you know that? You talk about integration---God's a segregationist. He certainly does. He...
Sir, we would see Jesus
62-0724 §47
Now, remember. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Is that right? All right. "Not me," said Jesus, "doeth the works: but my Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." Now, if you're putting Scriptures down, St. John 5:19, Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing in himself, but what he sees the Father doing: that doeth the Son likewise." Now remember, not what He hears the Father saying, but what He sees the Father doing. Therefore, Jesus never did nothing until God...
Things that are to be
65-1205 §24
Now, then if it was, Jesus was the fullness of God manifested. He was the fullness of the Godhead bodily; therefore, when He came to the earth and was manifested in flesh, you were here in Him then, because He was the Word. In the beginning was the Word, ... the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, ... The Word was made flesh; therefore, you walked with Him. You were in Him when He was on earth. You suffered with Him, and you died with Him; you was buried with Him...
What shall we do with this Jesus called Christ?
64-0126 §16
Notice what happened. He'd been clearly identified, and fulfilled the office that God said He would fulfill as Messiah. There was no question about it---for He was born the way God said He'd be born, He was rejected the way God said He'd be rejected, He had proven Himself to be the Messiah, because the Messiah was God. Messiah means "anointed One." And He was anointed with the fullness of the Godhead bodily, dwelt in Him. He wasn't just a prophet, yet He was a prophet. But He was more than a prophet. He was the God...