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.
Behold a Greater than all of them is here
62-0715 §62
Now as I said last night... And we all know that every prophecy has a compound meaning. Compound, it repeats itself. Did you ever read over there in Matthew 3, where it said, "Out of Egypt I've called my son," that it might be fulfilled when Jesus went into Egypt? Run your reference on there, and see if it don't mean Jacob. But Jacob was his son. And so was Jesus his son. See, it's got a... Each time it repeats itself, like history. God's Word's eternal. It just keeps going.
Paradox
61-1210 §148
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, born of a virgin, conceived, God in a womb, a tabernacle in which He would dwell in. I believe that in Christ He is the incarnate God. He is God made flesh. When the Father God came into Jesus Christ, He was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Him dwells all the fullness. God the Father spoke the words. Jesus said, "It's not me that speaketh, but my Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the speaking." Therefore upon that basis, Him being made flesh so He c...
Revelation, Chapter 4b Twenty-Four Elders
61-0101 §56
There John stood and seen Him sitting on the throne, and He looked like jasper and sardine stone. Now, all things and every word has a meaning in the Bible. Now, "jasper and sardine stone." Now, if you'll notice, it compares with the rest of the Scripture. In the back parts of the Scripture, He was Alpha, Omega. He was the beginning and the ending, He was the first and the last. He was Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He was ... all in all was bundled in Him. Matthew 17 shows that up in the Mt. Transfiguration it was a...
Go wake Jesus
63-1103 §20
And this big job laid between Him and the next day, and He knowed this. And so while the ship crossed the sea, He took the opportunity for a little rest. Now the brother pastor, here, and the other ministers, knows what it means between the morning meeting and the afternoon meeting. Many times, especially when you get a few rough miles like I have, you'd like to lay down and rest a few minutes, you know. It's just ... it's ... tired. And remember, Jesus was human--so much human He could die, so much human He could...
Identification
63-0123 §22
there must be something save this creation, and nothing could save it, because the high species of his creation had fallen; and everything under it fell with it, because it fell. There was only one thing left that did not fall, and that was God, the heavens. So something of the heavens had to come down to redeem this creation, because there was nothing here that could create it. And God's own love for the world created the character expressed in Christ. He was God's character. He was God's expressed image. In Him w...