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.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 8:E-22
Oh, how beautiful are those words. How majestic is even the sound of them. How thrilling to think that all those attributes can be applied to one person. Who would dare to say such things about himself but Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory? I believe the key to interpreting exactly what each of these wonderfully descriptive phrases means is found in verse 9, "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy fe...
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...
The deity of Jesus Christ
49-1225 §21
And God in the beginning made His first man. He made him out of spirit. And spirit is the invisible part of man that you don't see. Now, God made man in His Own image. Are you listening to me? [Congregation says, "Amen.".] All right. God made man in His Own image. "And God is a Spirit," says the Bible. And the first man that was made had the government over all the creation, just like the Holy Spirit has government over the Church today. He led the creation. He led the animals. But there was no man to till the soil...
Identification
64-0216 §36
When you receive eternal life (is only one form of eternal life, that's the Greek word "Zoe." Is that right, brother? Zoe, God's own life), so you---being a son---you become part of that life. So the life that's in you never did begin, and it never can end. Think of it. It can't end, because anything that's eternal never began. The life that's in you never did begin, that is, if you've got eternal life. And that's God, for you was in his thoughts on the eternal. And now it's expressed here in a human being for his...
The Mighty God unveiled before us
64-0629 §32
So God, in the beginning, was life, the Eternal One. In Him was attributes, and those attributes became words, and the Word became flesh. Jesus was a redeemer. And to redeem means "to bring back." And if it has to bring it back, it had to be somewhere to be brought back to. So, you see, all people will never be able to see it, because all people wasn't in the beginning in God's thoughts, see.