THREE FIRSTS OF JESUS: THE FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD

(Message by Tanny Keng)

1. Three Firsts Of Jesus

a) In Colossians 1:18, Paul proclaims three ways in which Jesus is first... "He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead... the first place in everything."

Colossians 1:18
18 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.

2. The Firstborn From The Dead

a) "...the firstborn from the dead..." (Colossians 1:18). Jesus is your forerunner.

b) Paul calls Jesus "the firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15). Some have interpreted “firstborn of all creation” to mean that he was the first created of all creatures. However we do not need anyone to interpret in what sense Jesus was the firstborn of all creation. We have Paul telling us exactly what is meant just two verses further on. "He is... the firstborn from the dead" (Colossians 1:18).

c) Jesus is "firstborn from the dead" —the first to be raised from the dead, ascend to heaven, and live forever. Nobody else has ever yet done that. One day, all who believe and obey him will follow in his steps. But he is our forerunner (Hebrews 6:20).

d) "As in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive; but each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at his coming" (1 Corinthians 15:22-23). That is the sense in which he was "the firstborn from the dead". 

The End ...