Title: First-Born
Author: Gary Witcher

Jesus: First-Born

     Occasionally there are in the Scriptures terms that might cause misunderstanding if we are not careful to apply to them the definitions given by the Bible itself.  One such word is "first-born," which is sometimes used in an attempt to prove that Jesus is not deity but rather a created being.  Yes, this term is applied to the Lord.  And, no, it does not imply in any way a level of inferiority for the Christ.  How can we be sure?
     First of all, "first-born" is frequently used not in reference to an order of birth but rather to an order of importance.	  
     "Reuben, you are my first-born; My might and the beginning of my strength," Jacob says in Genesis 49:3, "Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power." 
     In addition, this term is often used to signify the primary force or the origin.  According to Adam Clark, author of a well-known Bible commentary, the Jews referred to Jehovah as "the first-born of all the world, or all creation, to signify His having created or produced all things."
     This is exactly how the term is applied to Jesus in a passage that is often used in an attempt to demonstrate His inferiority.
     "And He is the image of the invisible God," Colossians 1:15 states of Jesus, "the first-born of all creation."
     But we don't have to turn to Adam Clark to understand the intention of this passage.  All we have to do is read the very next verses.
     "For by Him all things were created," Colossians 1:16 explains, "{both} in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created by Him and for Him. 
     "And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." 
     The writer of the book of Hebrews also calls Jesus the "first-born" in an obvious statement of the superiority of the Christ.
     "For to which of the angels did He ever say, 'Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee?'" we read in Hebrews 1:5-6.  "And again, 'I will be a Father to Him, and He shall be a Son to Me?' 
     "And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He says, 'and let all the angels of God worship Him.'"
     Jesus is the first-born of creation.  But this does not imply in any way that He was created.  In fact, it stresses His involvement in the creation. 
     "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," we are informed in John 1:1-3. 
     "He was in the beginning with God. 
     "All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." 
     The true meaning of "first-born" becomes clearer when we understand that it is related to terms such as "Alpha and Omega."  "Alpha" is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and "Omega" the last.  So this phrase simply means the "first and the last" or the "beginning and the end."  When God applies this to Himself, no one takes it as an indication that He was created or had a beginning of some kind.
     "Who has performed and accomplished {it,} calling forth the generations from the beginning?" God asks in Isaiah 41:4.  "I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He." 
     "Thus says the Lord," we read in Isaiah 44:6, "the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me." 
     "Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called," God says in Isaiah 48:12-13; "I am He, I am the first, I am also the last. 
     "Surely My hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; When I call to them, they stand together." 
     "'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty,'" we read in Revelation 1:8.
     "And He said to me," John reveals in Revelation 21:6, "'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.'"
     But the speaker is Jesus when this title is claimed in the last chapter of Revelation.      
     "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end," Jesus states.
     "Yet for us there is {but} one God, the Father, from whom are all things, " Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 8:6," and we {exist} for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we {exist} through Him." 

     Jesus is the first-born of creation.  The Bible also refers to Him as the first-born of the dead.
     "He is also head of the body, the church;" Paul writes in Colossians 1:18, "and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything." 
     "And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness," John observes in Revelation 1:5, "the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood." 
     Does being "first-born of the dead" mean that Jesus is the first person to be raised from the tomb?  No, there are a couple of examples in the Old Testament of people being raised from the dead, and Jesus Himself raises three people.  Once again, the term "first-born" is used to stress preeminence.  Jesus is the only one to conquer the tomb by His own power.
     "That the Christ was to suffer, {and} that by reason of {His} resurrection from the dead He should be the first to proclaim light both to the {Jewish} people and to the Gentiles," Acts 26:23 informs us.
     "But now Christ has been raised from the dead," 1 Corinthians 15:20 states, "the first fruits of those who are asleep." 
     "But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming," verse 23 says in reference to the second coming. 
     Just how important is Christ's conquering of the grave?  Paul claims in the first several verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that there is nothing else more important.
     "Now I make known to you, brethren," Paul expresses, "the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 
     "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve."
     "Now if Christ is preached," Paul continues with verse 12, "that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 
     "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 
     "Moreover we are even found {to be} false witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 
     "For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 
     "Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 
     "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied." 
     Paul continues to discuss the resurrection throughout the chapter, concluding with the powerful words of verses 54-57.
     "But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality," Paul says, "then will come about the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 
     "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 
     "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
     Christ's position as first-born from the dead is of primary importance.  So also is our association with His death through baptism.
     "May it never be!" Paul responds to an accusation in Romans 6:2.  "How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 
     "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?" the apostle continues. 
     "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 
     "For if we have become united with {Him} in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also {in the likeness} of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with {Him,} that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. 
     "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 
     "For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 
     "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." 
     "I have been crucified with Christ," Paul states in Galatians 2:20; "and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the {life} which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me." 
     Jesus is the first-born of creation.  He is the first-born of the dead.  And, fortunately for us, He is the first-born among many brethren.  He has done everything in order to offer to us the opportunity to share in the blessings.
     "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined {to become} conformed to the image of His Son," we find in Romans 8:29, "that He might be the first-born among many brethren." 
     "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God," Paul has already stated in verses 14-17. 
     "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' 
     "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with {Him} in order that we may also be glorified with {Him.}" 
     Jesus is the first-born among many brethren.  He offers to us the chance to be associated with Him in the church of the first-born.
     "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels," Hebrews 12:22-23 says, "to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect." 
     This is a wonderful opportunity made available to us by the first-born of creation and the first-born of the dead.  All we have to do is obey the truth He has given us and He will set us free.
      
Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."