FIRST-BORN (בְּכֹר, H1147, πρωτότοκος, G4758, meaning first in sequence to be born or, fig., first in rank, preeminent).

Normally the word means the oldest son (Exod 6:14; 11:5). He enjoyed prerogatives over his brothers, like receiving the father’s blessing (Gen 27:1-4, 35-37), preferential treatment by the father (43:33), respect as leader among the brothers (37:22), and a double portion of the inheritance, twice what any other son received (Deut 21:17). The first-born might barter away his rights, as Esau (Gen 25:29-34), or forfeit them for misconduct, as Reuben by incest (35:22; 49:3, 4; 1 Chron 5:1). The Lord claimed first-born of men and animals for Himself (Exod 13:1-16). Such animals were sacrificed and such sons redeemed, since God did not tolerate child sacrifice as in heathen customs (13:11-15). Levites as a group were designated for special service to the Lord in lieu of the first-born (Num 3:12, 13; 8:16-18). In the NT, Jesus is called the first-born son of Mary (Luke 2:7), who was a virgin before His birth, but who had other sons after Him (Mark 6:3; cf. John 7:5).

Sometimes the meaning is fig., denoting priority or supremacy. Israel was God’s “first-born” (Exod 4:22; Jer 31:9). As the first-born son had special priority, Israel was privileged over other nations. Christ is the “first-born” of the Father (Heb 1:6), having preeminent position over others in relation to Him. He is “first-born among many brethren” (Rom 8:29) as one sovereign above those related to Him in the new creation. He is “first-born of all creation” (Col 1:15), a statement misunderstood by Arians of the 4th cent. and modernday Jehovah’s Witnesses who make Him a created being and not God. The proper meaning is that Christ, truly God, stands in a relationship of priority or sovereignty over all creation (Lightfoot). This meaning is correct because: (1) He is Himself creator of all (v. 16); (2) He is prior to all, having existed before it (v. 17), and also supreme over it; (3) only this view that He is God would combat the Gnostic error Paul answers, for they made Christ only a created emanation from God and such a concession by Paul would play into their hands; (4) rabbis called God Himself “first-born” as the supreme being, the “first-born of the world” (R. Bechai on Pentateuch, cited by Lightfoot, p. 47); (5) Paul claims the fullness of deity for Christ elsewhere (2:9; Titus 2:13). Paul further says (Col 1:18), and John also (Rev 1:5), that Christ is “first-born from the dead.” Certain others arose before Him but later died again. He is first to rise bodily from the grave to immortality, and also the one supreme over those in this class. He is the “first fruits” of resurrection (1 Cor 15:20). See Family.

Bibliography J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (1900); R. deVaux, Ancient Israel (1961), 41, 42.