Why is Jesus Called, “The Firstborn of Creation?”
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created
through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”
(Colossians 1:15-17)
Colossians 1:15 is sometimes cited as a supposed prooftext to refute the diety of Christ; to
assert that Jesus is a created being.
Why does Paul refer to Jesus in this way?
Did Paul believe that Jesus was a created being?
Has the Church been incorrect to proclaim Christ as God incarnate for the many centuries
of its existence?
In order to answer this question, let’s consider a few other passages of scripture.
We’ll begin with Genesis 41.
In verses 50–52, we read:
“Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the
daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.
Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, ‘For,’ he said, ‘God has made me forget all my
trouble and all my father's household.’
He named the second Ephraim, ‘For,’ he said, ‘God has made me fruitful in the land
of my affliction.’"
(Genesis 41:50-52)
This passage describes the birth of two of Joseph’s sons: Manasseh and Ephraim.
Verse 51 states that Manasseh was born first of the two children.
Thus, we see that the term, “firstborn,” is used with regard to its plain meaning.
With that on the table, let’s now turn to Jeremiah 31:9:
“With weeping they will come, And by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by
streams of waters, On a straight path in which they will not stumble; For I am a father to
Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn.”
(Jeremiah 31:9)
In contrast to Genesis 41, YHWH states here in Jeremiah that Ephraim is His firstborn.
The Hebrew word in both of these passages is the same: בְּכוֹר.
With this being the case, how do we reconcile these two passages?
The answer is that firstborn, in addition to its plain meaning, is also a term used
to describe preeminence – in other words, authority, power or rulership.
In Jeremiah 31, YHWH is foretelling of how He will reconstitute Israel.
Though it will appear to the other nations that Israel has been abandoned by God, this
prophecy tell us the opposite; Israel (Ephraim) is the firstborn among the nations to YHWH.
He is not saying that Israel is the oldest nation, He is saying that it is the preeminent
nation, because it is the one He has covenanted with.
When the Old Testament was translated into Greek, the translators used the word πρωτότοκός
to render בְּכוֹר.
This is the word that Paul uses in Colossians 1 to describe Jesus as the, “firstborn.”
By using this word, there are two possible things that Paul is attempting to say: 1)
Jesus was literally the first born (first created) being or 2) Jesus is the preeminent
Being over all creation.
How do we know which use Paul is appealing to?
The answer is context.
We must consider the rest of Paul’s statement in Colossians to properly interpret him.
He speaks of Jesus as the Creator of all things.
He also describes Christ as, “before all things” – in other words, He is eternal.
For Paul to describe Christ as the eternal Creator of all things rules out the possibility
that he believed Christ was a created being of some kind.
Thus, Paul’s use of πρωτότοκός (firstborn) is with respect to the preeminent
authority of Christ over all things as God–incarnate.