He is eternal

Our Lord is also the firstborn of every creature. The word “firstborn” is from a Greek word that had a certain technical use in the first century. It is difficult to bring out all its content of meaning in a translation. It implied priority to all creation. Our Lord was not the first created thing to be brought into existence. The word declares the absolute pre-existence of the Son. He existed before any created thing was brought into existence. Therefore He is not created, and being uncreated, He is eternal. Paul in the next verse says, “For by him were all things created.” Instead of being the first in order of created things, He is their Creator. That is what our Lord has reference to in Revelation 3:14 when He speaks of Himself as “the beginning of the creation of God.” The word “beginning” in the Greek has two meanings, “the first in a series,” and “the originator” of something. Our Lord was the originator of the created universe in that He was its Creator. Thus the Greek word translated “firstborn” implies here “priority to all creation.” Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 17 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 83–84.

Furnished by Rick Livermore Webmaster220 San Juan Capistrano California –  https://rick-livermore-on-blogger.blogspot.com/