Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. This means that in creation Christ is the first. Christ as God is the Creator. However, as man, sharing the created blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14), He is part of the creation. “Firstborn of all creation” refers to Christ’s preeminence in all creation, since from this verse through verse 18 of Colossians 1 Paul emphasizes the first place of Christ in all things. This verse reveals that Christ is not only the Creator but also the first among all created things, the first among all creatures.
Some insist that Christ is only the Creator, not a creature. But the Bible reveals that Christ is both the Creator and a creature, for He is both God and man. As God Christ is the Creator, but as man He is a creature. How could He have man’s flesh, blood, and bones if He were not a creature? It is heretical to not believe that Christ truly became a man. Our Christ is God, has always been God, and always will be God. But through incarnation He became a man. Otherwise, He could not have shed His blood on the cross for our sins. It is a basic truth that our Christ is both God and man, both the Creator and a creature.
As God Christ is eternal and did not need to be born. But in Colossians 1:15 He is called the Firstborn of all creation. Anything that requires birth must be a creature, a part of creation. If Christ were only God and not man, He could not have been born, for God is infinite and eternal, without beginning or ending. But as a man Christ had to be born. Isaiah 9:6 says, “Unto us a child is born,...and his name shall be called...The mighty God.” As the mighty God Christ is eternal, but as the child He had to be born. Some argue that Christ was born but not created. According to the Bible, birth is the carrying out of creation. To be born is to be created.
Some may wonder how Christ could be the Firstborn of all creation since He was born less than two thousand years ago, not at the very beginning of creation. For this, we need to realize that there is no time element with God. For example, according to our estimate of time, Christ was crucified about two thousand years ago. But Revelation 13:8 says that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. Both are right. However, God’s reckoning is much more important than ours. In the sight of God, Christ was crucified from the foundation of the world. In eternity God foresaw the fall of man. Therefore, also in eternity, He made preparation for the accomplishment of redemption.
We may apply this matter of the different ways of reckoning time to Christ as the Firstborn of all creation. According to our sense of time, Christ was born in Bethlehem approximately two thousand years ago. But in the sight of God, Christ was born before the foundation of the world. If He was slain from the foundation of the world, certainly He must have been born before then. Therefore, according to God’s perspective in eternity, according to God’s viewpoint, Christ has always been the first of all creatures. God foresaw the day that Christ would be born in Bethlehem. Because Christ is the first among the creatures, we can say that as the all-inclusive One He is both the Creator and a creature, a part of creation.
Christ is the Creator, the means of creation, and the first among the creatures. However, because Arius in the fourth century used Colossians 1:15 to teach heresy concerning Christ, many theologians want to avoid saying that Christ is the first among all creatures. One writer has said that although Colossians 1:15 indicates that Christ is the first in creation, we should not say this, lest we be condemned by fundamental Christians for following the heretical teachings of Arius.
Arius taught that Christ’s divinity was incomplete and that He came into being through the union of the Logos and the human body. Therefore, according to Arius, Christ cannot compare with God, but is merely the most outstanding, the noblest, and the highest among the creatures. Arius taught that the Word is not God, who is uncreated, but is instead the chief of all creation. He asserted that Christ was created by God before the ages, preceding all created things. This means that there was a time when Christ did not exist. Arius further affirmed that because Christ died without sin, He could be resurrected, ascend to the heavens, and thus become God.
The false doctrine of Arius is contrary to the revelation of the Scriptures. The Bible says clearly that the Word, Christ, was God (John 1:1), yet Arius asserted that the Word is not the self-existent God, and he therefore maintained that Christ’s divinity is imperfect and cannot compare with that of God. This is truly a great heresy. The Bible says that Christ is the very God, who exists from the beginning and who is self-existent and without beginning. However, Arius said that there was a time when Christ did not exist and that He became God only after His resurrection and ascension. This kind of teaching is a great insult to Christ’s divine person, and we utterly repudiate it.
In saying that Christ, the Creator and the means of creation, is the first among the creatures, we are simply following the pure Word of God. Colossians 1:15 indicates clearly that with respect to His humanity Christ was created. The Greek word rendered “Firstborn” is prototokos, composed of two words: proto, which means the first one or the beginning, and tokos, which means born, produced. Hence, prototokos means the first one born, the first one produced in the beginning; it can thus be translated “the firstborn.” That Christ is the Firstborn of all creation means that He is the first, the Chief, of all creation. This does not mean that He is before all creation and is therefore not to be included in creation.
Colossians 1:15-18 says twice that Christ is the Firstborn. Verse 15 says that He is the Firstborn of all creation, and verse 18 says that He is the “Firstborn from among the dead.” As the Firstborn from among the dead Christ is the first among the resurrected, whereas His being the Firstborn of all creation means that He is first among the created. This means that among the created ones and the resurrected ones Christ is the Firstborn and occupies the first place. The central thought here is that Christ has the preeminence in all things. If He were not the Firstborn of all creation and thereby the first among the creatures, He could not have the preeminence in creation.
As God the Creator Christ is without beginning. But as the Firstborn of all creation He does not come into being by Himself; rather, He has a beginning in creation. As to His being the Firstborn of all creation, He has the created human nature. Regarding the created human nature, He, the Firstborn of all creation, surely is not without beginning nor is He self-existing, but instead begins from creation. This means that as the Creator He is the uncreated, self-existing One, but as a creature, even the Firstborn of the created ones, He has a beginning.
Christ is called the Firstborn of all creation because even before creation God ordained that He should become a created man. Concerning this, Brother Watchman Nee says, “In creation, the Son is ‘the Firstborn of all creation.’ He is also the beginning (the First One) of the creation of God (Rev. 3:14). For in His eternal plan, before the foundation of the world, God ordained that the Son should become flesh to accomplish redemption (1 Pet. 1:20). Therefore, in God’s plan the Son is the First One among the creatures” (p. 97, The Present Testimony, No. 34, published in March-April, 1934).
This certainly is not in accordance with Arius’ assertion that Christ was created before the foundation of the world. Such an assertion is without scriptural basis. The Bible reveals that before the foundation of the world, even before anything was created, God had ordained that Christ become a created man in order to accomplish His purpose. Hence, in God’s plan and in His eternal view, Christ is the first One created, the Firstborn of all creation, the Head of all created ones. Therefore, to say that with respect to His humanity Christ is created and is the Firstborn of all creation is altogether in agreement with the scriptural revelation and is founded on scriptural ground.
According to the revelation of the Bible, Christ is both the Creator and a creature, because He is God and also man. He is God who creates, and He is also a man, who is created. As to His being God, He is the uncreated Creator, the great I Am who is without beginning. But as to His being a man, He is created; He is the Firstborn with a beginning.
We need to know these two aspects of Christ. We need to see that He is both God the Creator and also man, a creature. He is the great I Am and also the Firstborn. He is without beginning and also with a beginning. The Bible clearly reveals that Christ is the Creator and that He became a creature, just as He is God and became a man. If we confess only that Christ is the Creator but deny that He is a creature, we are in principle the same as those who deny heretically that Christ came in the flesh (1 John 4:2-3). We should never deny the created aspect of Christ. He is the uncreated God, and He is also a created man. He is the Lord of creation, and He is also a creature, even the Firstborn of all creation.