πρωτότοκος

A door-knocker arrives on a Tuesday morning with a Bible in his hand, opened to Colossians 1:15. He reads aloud: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Then he asks the question he was sent to ask. Doesn’t this prove that Jesus was created? He is the firstborn — the first of the created order. He cannot be the eternal God if He is the first thing God made.

The Jehovah’s Witness at your door has done his homework. The English does seem to say what he is saying. Firstborn of all creation sounds like a member of the creation, even if the first and highest member. The Watch Tower has trained an army of door-knockers to deploy this verse as one of the central proofs against the deity of Christ. Many Christians, faced with the argument, are not sure how to answer.

The answer is in the Greek — and behind the Greek, in the Hebrew Old Testament’s use of the same concept.

The Greek word is prōtotokos — firstborn. It carries two senses, and the New Testament uses both. The first sense is what most English readers assume: chronological priority, the one who is born first. The second sense — the one that matters for Colossians 1:15 — is status. The prōtotokos is the one who holds the rank of firstborn, the one who has preeminence, the one who is heir of the family. These two senses are not always the same person. In Israel’s history, the prōtotokos by status was sometimes not the prōtotokos by chronology. The Old Testament uses the word freely in both senses, and the New Testament’s Christological use leans heavily on the second.

This chapter is about that word.

The Word

The Greek word is πρωτότοκος (prōtotokos), pronounced in the Erasmian convention as prō-TOT-o-kos, with the accent on the second syllable. The word is a compound of prōtos (first) and tokos (one who has been born, from the verb tiktō, to bear or give birth). Literally: first-born.

The compound is straightforward in form but does substantial theological work in the New Testament because of the double sense it carries.

The word family is relatively compact:

Prōtos (πρῶτος) — first, in order or rank. The base adjective from which prōtotokos is formed. Used hundreds of times in the New Testament in both temporal senses (“first in time”) and status senses (“first in rank”). Christ is the prōtos and the eschatos (Revelation 1:17, 22:13) — the first and the last, in both temporal and status senses.

Tokos (τόκος) — birth, offspring, sometimes interest on a loan (an extended use, “offspring” of money). The base noun from the verb tiktō.

Tiktō (τίκτω) — to bear, give birth. The verb that produces both tokos and the compound prōtotokos.

Prōtotokia (πρωτοτόκια) — the right of the firstborn, the firstborn’s status. Used at Hebrews 12:16 — Esau “sold his birthright (prōtotokia) for a single meal.” The noun for the rights and status that belong to the firstborn.

The etymology runs back through Greek to compound formations that emphasized the temporal-and-status priority of the eldest child. In Greek culture, as in Hebrew, the firstborn son was the heir, the bearer of the family name, the one who would carry forward the family’s interests. The word carried social and legal weight, not just biological description.

The Septuagint and Old Testament background is critical. Prōtotokos in the LXX renders Hebrew bekōr (בְּכוֹר), the firstborn. The Old Testament uses bekōr in both senses noted above:

Chronological priority. Genesis 25:25 — Esau is the prōtotokos (firstborn) of Isaac because he was born before Jacob. Exodus 4:22 — Israel as “my firstborn son” in the sense of the people whom God has called first among the nations.

Status priority. This is the more theologically interesting sense, and the one Colossians 1:15 depends on. Psalm 89:27 (LXX 88:28) — God says of David, “I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” David was the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons (1 Samuel 16:10-13). He was not the prōtotokos by birth. Yet God makes him the prōtotokos — meaning, gives him the status, preeminence, and rank that belong to the firstborn.

This is the key. The word prōtotokos can name a status that is conferred rather than biologically derived. David is not chronologically firstborn; David is firstborn by divine appointment, because of the preeminence God gives him over the kings of the earth.

Genesis 48:13-20 — Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh. Manasseh is the older brother (chronological firstborn); Ephraim is younger. Jacob crosses his hands and gives the greater blessing to Ephraim, the younger. The narrative makes the point explicit: Ephraim, by divine appointment, becomes the prōtotokos of the two — though he was not chronologically first.

1 Chronicles 5:1-2 — Reuben was Israel’s actual firstborn but lost the prōtotokos rights because of his sin. The birthright passed to Joseph. The text notes the irregularity carefully: “Reuben was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel.”

In each case the lesson is the same. Prōtotokos in the Hebrew Scriptures and the LXX names a status that is not always tied to chronological birth-order. The status can be given. The status can be transferred. The status can belong to one who was not, in the natural order, born first.

This is the Old Testament background the New Testament inherits. When Paul calls Christ the “firstborn of all creation” at Colossians 1:15, he is not saying Christ was the first thing created. He is using the prōtotokos word in the sense Psalm 89:27 used it — the one who holds the rank of firstborn, the one who has preeminence over the creation. Christ is prōtotokos of all creation in the same sense David was prōtotokos of all kings: by divine appointment, with rank and preeminence, not by being the first chronologically.

Range of Meaning

Prōtotokos in the New Testament covers a range that follows directly from the Old Testament background:

Literal firstborn, chronologically first. Luke 2:7 — Mary “gave birth to her firstborn son” (Greek huion autēs ton prōtotokon). The chronological sense. Treated more fully below in the discussion of misreadings, since this verse has been the focus of historic debate about the perpetual virginity of Mary.

The literal firstborn of Egypt, struck in the tenth plague. Hebrews 11:28 — “By faith [Moses] kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.” The Exodus background.

Christ as the firstborn of all creation. Colossians 1:15. The theologically loaded Pauline use that anchors the chapter.

Christ as the firstborn from the dead. Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5. Christ as the first to rise to the resurrection life that the new humanity will share.

Christ as the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:29. Christ as the preeminent Son among the Father’s adopted children — sharing His Sonship with the believers who are in Him.

The firstborn in the heavenly assembly. Hebrews 12:23 — “the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.” Believers collectively as the firstborn — bearing Christ’s firstborn status by virtue of their union with Him.

The firstborn brought into the world. Hebrews 1:6 — “when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’” The angels’ worship of the incarnate firstborn at His coming into the world. The verse is contested as to its exact temporal reference (incarnation or second coming), but the prōtotokos sense is clear: Christ’s preeminent status as the One the angels worship.

The dominant New Testament uses are the second through sixth — the Christological uses. Prōtotokos applied to Christ runs through Colossians, Romans, Hebrews, and Revelation, and in each instance the title names His preeminent rank — His status as the heir, the head, the One who has priority over all that the term applies to.

Where You’ll Meet It

Colossians 1:15-18. The Pauline Christological hymn of Colossians, treating Christ as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (v. 15) and “the firstborn from the dead” (v. 18). The two uses of prōtotokos in four verses give the chapter its central structural pair.

The argument of Colossians 1:15-20 unfolds in a way that settles the question of how prōtotokos pasēs ktiseōs should be read. After calling Christ “the firstborn of all creation” in verse 15, Paul immediately explains in verse 16: “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him.” The reason Christ is prōtotokos of creation is that He is the agent of creation. He is the One through whom and for whom all things were made. He cannot be a member of the created order; He is the One by whom the created order exists.

The grammatical key: the genitive pasēs ktiseōs in verse 15 is best read as a genitive of subordination or genitive of rank, parallel to David’s “firstborn of the kings of the earth” in Psalm 89:27. Christ is firstborn over all creation, with all creation subject to His preeminence — not “first among the created things.” Paul’s expansion in verse 16 confirms the reading: Christ is the agent of creation, not a product of it.

Verse 18 picks up the prōtotokos term again: “He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” The English “preeminent” translates the Greek verb prōteuō, cognate to prōtos and prōtotokos. The whole passage circles around the preeminence theme: Christ is prōtotokos of all creation because He is the agent of it; He is prōtotokos from the dead because He inaugurates the resurrection; the purpose of both is that He might be prōteuōn — preeminent — in everything.

The Colossians passage is one of the most concentrated Christological texts in the New Testament. It treats Christ’s relation to creation, His relation to the church, His relation to the resurrection, and His relation to the cosmos — all under the rubric of His preeminence as prōtotokos.

Romans 8:29. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” The Greek: eis to einai auton prōtotokon en pollois adelphois. Here the prōtotokos title carries a strong relational dimension. Christ is preeminent — but among many brothers. He is the heir who shares His inheritance with His siblings (the adopted sons of God, Romans 8:14-17). His firstborn status is not lonely; it is communal. The believers conformed to His image are the brothers among whom He is preeminent.

This text is critical for understanding the believer’s relation to Christ. The believer is not Christ’s equal; Christ is prōtotokos, the firstborn, the heir. But the believer is Christ’s brother — sharing in the family of God by adoption. The arrangement is asymmetric in rank and symmetric in family. Christ is preeminent; we are siblings.

Hebrews 1:6. “And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’” The Greek: hotan de palin eisagagē ton prōtotokon eis tēn oikoumenēn. The author of Hebrews uses the prōtotokos title to assert Christ’s preeminence over the angels — a major argument of the early chapters of Hebrews. The angels worship Him. They are servants; He is Son and prōtotokos. The status differential is permanent and substantial.

Revelation 1:5. “Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.” Three titles in apposition. The middle one — prōtotokos tōn nekrōn, firstborn of the dead — names Christ’s preeminent status in resurrection. He is not the only one to have ever risen (Lazarus rose; the widow’s son rose; others), but His resurrection is qualitatively distinct: it inaugurates the new creation and pioneers the resurrection of all the dead at the last day. He is prōtotokos of the dead in the sense that He is preeminent and pioneering — the head of the new humanity that the resurrection will constitute.

Hebrews 12:23. “To the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.” Greek: ekklēsia prōtotokōn apogegrammenōn en ouranois. A plural, and a striking one. The believers are collectively prōtotokoi — firstborn ones. By virtue of their union with Christ the prōtotokos, they share His preeminent status before God. They are enrolled in heaven; they are the family that bears the firstborn’s name and inheritance.