Prototokos - It's Meaning and Usage in the New Testament

“Contextual Considerations”

The context of Colossians 1:15, and the phrase in which we encounter “prototokos” should weigh heavily in our interpretation of the word. Many would disagree with the interpretation and above definition due to the connection of “prototokos” with “pases ktiseos.”

These would interpret this phrase as being a partitive genitive, making the “prototokos” a part of creation, a created thing, rather than superior over all things. It is admitted that this could be construed as a partitive genitive, but “this is excluded by the context, which sharply distinguishes between the Son and “ta panta,” and for this idea Paul would probably have used “protoktistos.””(18) The well-known scholar, A. T. Robertson, wrote:

The use of this word does not show what Arius argued that Paul regarded Christ as a creature like “all creation (“pases ktiseos”...) It is rather the comparative (superlative) force of “protos” that is used ... Paul is here refuting the Gnostics who pictured Christ as one of the aeons by placing Him before “all creation” (angels and men) ... Paul takes both words to help express the deity of Jesus Christ in his relation to the Father as “eikon” (Image) and to the universe as “prototokos” (First-born).(19)

It does sound strange to the mind accustomed to reading Paul to imagine him thinking of the One Whom he called “kurios,” Lord, as a creature - a mere creation. For no matter how exalted or glorified a creature might be, it is still as far removed from the glory of God Almighty as can be imagined.

One of the most telling contextual clues to Paul’s use of “prototokos” is the ascription of the creation of all things to Christ in the following two verses. The phrase used in these verse, “ta panta,” is quite revealing. Paul used this term as a synonym for the universe and all it contains. It has been well said, “In Him “ta panta” were created. From this it follows that the Son cannot be a creature, for creation is exhausted by the “all things” which were created in Him.”(20)

Hence it is seen that the great majority of modern scholarship sees “prototokos” in the New Testament pointing to the superiority of the Christ above and over all creation. This is not only the background of the word from the Old Testament, but it is also demanded by the contexts in which it is found. Only Colossians 1:15 could be seen to allow any other kind of interpretation whatsoever, and this passage safeguards itself through the immediate context, by ascribing to the “prototokos” all creation.