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.
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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.
The great warrior Joshua
55-0119 §12
You see, after he had been... He was getting his position then. He was to be the greatest military man that's ever been on the face of the earth. There's never been a general like Joshua, no time, no age, nowhere has ever been compared with Joshua. The word Joshua comes from the word of "Jesus," means "Jesus" or "Saviour, deliverer." And so when he seen this man, what was it? It was the captain, in other words, the leader of the host of Israel. And that leader was none other than Christ, Himself. And what was He fi...
A Secondhand Robe
56-1125M §17
Today, in a type, I would think that we've got a lot of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostals, and everything else, all mixed together, and one fighting against the other. And we don't need to oust the whole thing and do away with it; we need another handful of meal. Keep the same church. The meal was from the house of the school there, which was the meal offering that the people had brought in. And the first fruits of the harvest which was grounded a certain burr that made every grain of meal...
Daniel 9: Gabriel's instructions to Daniel
61-0730M §64
There's an old Pentecostal generation that raised up forty years ago---"old fighters," they was called. They organized, and beat, and fussed all down through Mount Horeb and Nebo, all through there, but finally we're at the river now. He's going to raise up a new one, with a Joshua to take them over. The law failed. Moses went with it, Moses failed. Joshua took them over. We find out that the organizations has failed, but the Spirit of God (Joshua, the word Joshua means "Jesus our Saviour") ... that the Holy Spirit...
When Divine Love projects, Grace takes its place
57-0126E §61
If God so thought of a poor old mother possum, how much more does He love you? "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son..." You say, "Brother Branham, what would it mean if I raised my hand?" It's the difference between life and death for you. "Oh, it's just a little thing." I know. So is John 3:16. But it's the difference between life and death. That's what it means. Jesus said in Saint John 5:24, "He that heareth My words and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not c...
Adoption, part 1: Ephesians parallels Joshua
60-0515E §41
Our Ephesians, our Joshua, which is the Holy Spirit... Joshua means "Jesus, Saviour." Joshua---meaning the Holy Spirit, representing it in the spiritual as that was in the natural, that He is our great warrior. He's our great leader. As God was with Joshua, so is God (in the Holy Spirit) moving us about. And when sin comes in the camp, the Holy Spirit demands a halt. "What's wrong here in this church? Something's wrong." Oh, can't you see how we got too many sons of Kish now? Too many Sauls coming from seminaries a...