Daily Bread – December 29, 2022 (The Fifth Day – Genesis 1:20-23) Colossians 1:15 – Whose image is that of the invisible God, first-born of all Creation. To understand the meaning of “firstborn of all Creation”, we must understand it in light of other doctrines clearly established in Scripture. The most important is that Jesus is the Eternal God Who has no beginning and no end (John 1:1, 17:5; Isaiah 9:6; Titus 2:13). As God, the Word, Jesus was the Creator Who created everything in the Universe – a distinction Paul is careful to make in the next verse (Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2; John 1:3; Ephesians 3:9; 1 Corinthians 8:6). Jesus may be understood as the firstborn in the sense of His priority and superiority over all things. Yet more importantly, God, the Word, became the firstborn and only begotten Son of God when He was incarnated and born of a virgin named Mary (John 1:18, 3:16,18; Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5, 5:5; 1 John 4:9). He is the firstborn among many brethren because He was begotten of God as a Son so that now we, too, may be begotten of God and made sons (John 1:12-13; Philippians 2:15; Romans 8:14; James 1:18; Galatians 4:4-6; and 1 John 3:1, 2, 9, 4:7, 5:1,4,18). Because of the redemption in Christ Jesus, we are also born of God and became sons of God and brethren to the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:11; Romans 8:29; John 20:17; Matthew 12:50). Paul calls Jesus the firstborn among many brethren and the firstborn from the dead (Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:18). Jesus is the firstborn of all Creation because through Him, all Creation was redeemed (Colossians 1:20; Acts 4:12; Ephesians 1:10; Romans 11:36; Galatians 3:20; Hebrews 3:3). He is the firstborn from among the dead because He was the first to be raised from the dead; and as a result, we shall be raised up in the likeness of His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23; Romans 6:5; 1 John 3:2) Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
Daily Bread 12/29/2022
