My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
| 148 |
| FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATION |
| Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. |
| Let us remember the ancient meaning of the term “firstborn” as mentioned earlier in our posts. The term rose from a chronological setting in a family to become one to describe priority, preeminence, and authority. Small snippets of modern culture retain this idea, in that the oldest sibling is to be the one that leads, that is the one who is thought of as more responsible. In this particular verse, we are not talking of a nuclear family, or a tribe, even of a country, but of all creation, seen and unseen. He is the firstborn of all creation! As you can read in the verse, Paul taught that Jesus was God, and then introduced the name we are considering. It would seem ridiculous for any to think Paul equated Jesus with God and then “demoted” Him somehow by including Jesus as amongst those created. His position is of firstborn, of the One responsible for and having authority over all creation. He is the Creator and as Paul teaches a bit later, the sustainer of all creation. Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. There may be some who would use this passage to teach Jesus is less than God, but the reasoning seems weak, and the context of the passage fights against the idea. He is the Firstborn of all creation, as as such should be worshipped and not denigrated to a mere part of creation. He took on a created body as part of His mission for our salvation, but that is an expression of His compassion for us, not of His inclusion in the created order. |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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