Bruce Collins, Evangelist

Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

In the Bible, the firstborn son got a double portion of his father’s inheritance and became the leader of the clan when the father died. The firstborn in a family wasn’t always the first to be born since this became a title of honor and respect and that honor could be lost. In 1 Chronicles 5:1, we are told that Reuben’s title as the firstborn was given to Joseph because of immorality on the part of Reuben. We know that Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew in Genesis 25:33. As a result, Jacob became the firstborn in that family even though he was born second. Since I was born fourth in our family, I never did like the idea that privileges in many families were given based on birth order. But of course if you aren‘t the first born, while you might not be the preeminent child, neither do you have the responsibilities of the first born son. You don’t have to learn your father’s trade, you don’t have to take care of your unmarried sisters or your mother should she be widowed, and you don’t have to be the clan boss.

The Lord is the firstborn in the Bible. That means He is the preeminent one. He is the one who leads the family of God that we become a part of by the new birth. His responsibilities included creation as well as redemption. He made us and then bought us back when we were sold into sin. In this way He provided for the rest of us. As the firstborn of creation, He did the creating. And all of creation was for his pleasure (Revelation 4:11). He is the firstborn of the dead, that is, He is the first one to be raised from the dead never to die again. Others were raised from the dead but all of those before Christ died again. He is the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). He is the preeminent Son in the family of God.

Many of us have a problem with thinking we are preeminent while the Bible says that Christ is preeminent or most important. We make decisions by asking what is in it for us. And the Lord wants us to ask what is in it for the Lord. Many are told to go to the church of their choice when we should be asking where the Lord would have us to go. Often we hear that doctrine is divisive and so we should avoid any doctrine that is controversial. The Lord says that we should continue steadfastly in the apostles doctrine since that is how we learn Who Christ is and how to be pleasing to Him. I often hear that it really doesn’t matter as to whether and how one is baptized. God says it does since this is one way we honor His firstborn. And again, we were created for His pleasure not for ours. The Lord should have the preeminent place in our hearts and in our families and in our congregational gatherings. Instead of us being “me” oriented, we should be “Him” oriented. Instead of taking so much to each other, we should spend more time talking to His Father about Him.

We often act like two year olds who think that everything revolves around them. In fact everything should revolve around the Lord. He created us and He redeemed us when we failed. So He owns us twice. He deserves to be first.

Bruce Collins