Jesus’ paradoxical nature as both fully human and fully divine confounds many Christians. Additionally, it has also led to heretical beliefs about Jesus’ divinity and humanity that have caused extreme division in the church. One of the greatest heresies in church history was Arianism, which denied Jesus’ full divinity, believing that the Son was a lower being than the Father. Though often not called by that name, this belief persists today.

Passages that call Jesus the “firstborn” seem to confirm Arianism. Jesus is called the “firstborn among many brethren” (Rom 8:29), the “firstborn of all creation” (Col 1:15), “the firstborn of/from the dead” (Col 1:18; Rev 1:5), or simply “the firstborn” (Heb 1:6). Arrians argue that these passages show that Jesus is a created being (not God) since he was “born”.

However, this position misunderstands what it means for Christ to be the “firstborn”. The word “firstborn” is prōtotoko (πρωτότοκος). The translation “firstborn” is taken from the word’s component parts prōtos (first) and tokos (offspring). However, breaking down words into their component parts can often mislead us, such as with the English word “butterfly” or Easter (from Germanic Ēostre, not the goddess Ishtar). Instead, we must look at how it is used.

The term “firstborn” describes the preeminent status of Jesus. Once the father died, the first-born male would be the one who inherited his father’s property and status as pater familias, which meant he was head of the household over his brothers. This term can describe someone’s status metaphorically in the case that they are not the first male born into the family. Israel is called the firstborn (Exod. 4:22), though it is by no means the first nation to exist nor is the nation literally “born”.

In conclusion, Christ’s status as the firstborn does not mean that he literally was born, but rather that he held the position of the firstborn, the preeminent one.