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

“Patristic Usage”

Another clear clue as to the meaning of “prototokos” in the days of the New Testament is the manner in which the early church Fathers used and interpreted it. Since these Fathers spoke and read Greek, and lived in the same culture to which Paul and the Apostles wrote their letters, their interpretation and understanding of “prototokos” is important. How did they understand the Pauline passage at Colossians 1:15? Justin Martyr, in his “Dialogue with Trypho,” wrote, “... so that we know Him to be the first-begotten of God, and to be before all creatures:”(21) Notice that Justin was very careful to make sure that his readers knew that Christ was “before all creatures.” It should also be recalled that at this early time, the Fathers were not exceedingly interested in discussing the relationship between the Father and the Son, due to the absence of a great deal of Christological heresy in the Church. The most complete discussion of “prototokos” in the early Fathers comes a number of years after Justin, in the writings of Tertullian as he battled the early heretic Marcion. Here are his comments:

If Christ is not “the first-begotten before every creature,” as that “Word of God by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made;” if “all things were” not “in Him created, whether in heaven or on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers;” if “all things were” not “created by Him and for Him” (for these truths Marcion ought not to allow concerning Him), then the apostle could not have so positively laid it down, that “He is before all.” For how is He before all, if He is not before all things? How, again, is He before all things, if He is not “the first-born of every creature” - if He is not the Word of the Creator?(22)