Author: Christian Nuesa

Date: 10/11/08
Title: Those who are in Christ.

Pasage

Rom. 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image
of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Rom. 8:30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also
justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Rom. 8:31 ¶ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
Rom. 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not
also with Him freely give us all things?
Rom. 8:33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
Rom. 8:34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was
raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Review

We studied conformity.

The the complete conformity to the image of the Son of God would make people in Christ to
be real brothers of Christ.

They are literally sons of God.

Again, Literally!
Actually!
In reality, brothers to Christ!

And this was achieved through: Adoption.

Rom. 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Rom. 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have
received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Adoption - “huiothesia” –
Compound word:
1. Huios – A son
2. And a derivative of “tithemi” – To place

“huiothesia” – The placing as a son

Translated in English as adoption.

However in Greek form, adoption is not to be the best word to describe the meaning of “placing
as sons”.

Because adopted child is not actaully a real child but legal child. Basically children in papers.

How did God produce real brothers to Christ?

How did God placed them as sons.
i. First, by conception
a. They were foreknown and predestined to be brothers of Christ.
i. Romans 8:29
 b. The sons of God begun in the mind of God.
c. Before God created them He conceived them in His mind.
ii. Second, by birth – that is spiritual birth.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born
again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:4 ¶ Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time
into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit.

Jesus in John 3 there are people who were born by the Holy Spirit. They are sons of
God, John 1:12
So the Holy Spirit is the mother that birth the sons of God.
This is not a physical birth but a spiritual birth.
We know this is birthing is by regeneration/or recreation.

iii. Third, raising them to maturity

a. Through sanctification -The process of becoming more and more holy or
mature into the measure of Christ.
b. This is God’s way of rearing a son, or bringing up a son to adulthood or maturity.

[mention the points again]

Therefore a complete conformity in Christ has given us Rom 8:14-17

1. Father and son relationship with the God – He is our Abba Father
2. Status – In the nature of sonship, like the sonship of Christ.
3. Dignity – Inheritance and glory as literal sons
4. Experience – Sufferings in accordance to Christ’s sufferings
5. Mindset – Renewed mind in Christ
6. Holiness – As Christ
7. Perfection – As Chrst
8. A never ending life – As Christ will live forever
To sum up: the people who are in Christ (8:1) were exalted to the true nature and dignity of
sons of God.

Therefore, adoption may be the English translation to “huiothesia”, but what God did exceeded
the meaning of the English word “adoption”, because these are literal children of God, and not
just mere adopted children.

That’s how God experience them, see them, treat them, and love them.

To further prove that:

READ
Heb 2:10For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in
bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
Heb. 2:11 For both He who sanctifies [CHRIST] and those who are sanctified [SONS OF GOD]
are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren [BECAUSE
THEY ARE HIS BROTHERS GIVEN BY GOD],
Heb. 2:12 saying,
 “I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN,
IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE.”
Heb. 2:13 And again,
“I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM.”
And again,
“BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME.”

In view of eternity: these children of God are not outsiders, but they came from God Himself.

Therefore, the sons of God are from God birth by God for God.

Just a last note:

Among the children of God, there is one Son who has NO beginning, the rest of His brothers are
sons with beginning.

Christ remains to be God, we are not and never will be.

However it does not negate the fact that we are real children of God, and not merely adopted.

[pause]

Tonight we shall study the word Firstborn here.

First born
First born
First in the order of birth
The point is: being the First.

Similarly:

First fruits
First agricultural produce of the harvest
The point is: it is the first.

Usages

First Fruit in the bible is use either literally or metaphorically.

Metaphor

Believers are first fruit:

Household of Stephanas, that they were the first fruits of Achaia.

1 Corinthians 16:14-16
Other references
James 1:18
Revelation 14:4

Christ is also the firstfruits

1 Corinthians 15:23

In all cases it does not mean they are literal fruits but the first is what is being conveyed.
The same is true with Firstborn, it is used metaphorically. But also, in some cases, First born is
used literally.
- The firstborn son of Mary - Luke 2:6-8
- The death of Egypt’s firstborn sons - Exodus 11:5
There are 3 Firstborns applied to Christ metaphorically and literally.

We shall look at each of them and understand its meaning when it is applied to Christ.

Firstborn of Christ
1. He is the Firstborn of all creation
2. He is the Firstborn of the dead
3. He is the Firstborn among many brethren

Privileges of First Born

The first born son holds the first rank in the family.

Being the first rank:

1. Precedence in the Family, ex. Gen 48:13-14

2. Authority over the younger children, Gen 27:29
3. Special blessing by the father, Gen 27:4
4. The Father’s title and power, 2 Chr. 21:3
5. Greater inheritance, Deut 21:17

- All of the above are applied to Jesus Christ, that is why Firstborn is best to describe Christ
in terms of being the first rank.

Therefore, usage of firstborn in Christ is not to teach beginning, that Christ has a beginning.

John 1 disproves this idea because John chapter 1 teaches that Christ was already existing
before He was born.

So the title: Christ the Firstborn; has nothing to do with being born, or birthrights, or origin, but
greateness and priviledges of being the first.

Let us examine all 3:

1. The firstborn of all creation

a. Col. 1:15 ¶ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
i. If you stop at this verse, you may get some weird idea.
ii. We gotta read on…
b. Col. 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things
have been created through Him and for Him.
c. Col. 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Mormon or some other cultic religion.

- I was told that Jesus is “the first born of all creation” suggesting that Jesus has a
beginning and therefore a created being.
- Of course, a complete LIE, coming from the mouth of the devil, himself.
 Preceded by “He is the image of invisible God”

For: Reason or Justification of this claim that He is the image of God.

d. Jesus Christ created all things
e. Jesus Christ is before all things
f. All things were created through Him and for Him.
g. Jesus Christ holds all things together
To put simply:
h. Only God is the creator of all creation
i. Only God is the sustainer of all creation
j. Only God is the consumer of all creation
Therefore, Jesus is the image invisible God. In otherwords, The invisible God was made
visible in Jesus.

Followed by: the firstborn of all creation

- He is part of creation (for sure)
- How can then the creator of all things be part of creation?
- Because he was born in creation.
Human Form
He became a human being
• The word became flesh, John 1:14
• He partook of the same flesh and blood, Heb. 2:14
• He is in the likeness of man, Philippians 2:7
• He has real parents, Luke 2
• Under the lineage of David, Romans 1:3
• Even after ressurection, Christ remains to be a man, John 20:27-28

Since Christ became a man, He is therefore part of creation.

He was born into creation through a virgin.
Yet he pre-existed all creation.

That is crystal clear!

Firstborn here is a metaphor for being the greatest in creation.

Firstborn of all creation is a beautiful title!

• The greatest in status and authority and power and excellence and
achievement is…
• Jesus Christ the creator who is…
o IN creation,
o From creation,
o BELONGING to creation
• Therefore
o Jesus Christ is greater than the Heavens and the earth
o Jesus Christ is greater than things visible and invisible.
 o His throne is greater than every throne
o His dominion is greater than every dominion
o His authority is greater than every authority
o No matter how much creation improves itself, Christ is still greater.
o And if there is anything else in creation that we do not know about,
Jesus Christ is still greater.
• And the greatest is also the first
o He is before all creation, which mean He preexisted all things.
o And being part of creation, He then is the first in all creation.

The firstborn of all creation is the greatest and the first in all creation.

Conformity of the brethren

Back to conformity a little bit:

Philippians 3:21 – We shall have a body like His own body; a human body.

Contrary to some popular belief somewhere out there, we shall not become gods.

It is impossible for God to create a god because God is not created, nor God intends
to make creatures to be in the position of worship. Only God is worship.

What God wants is sons. Literal sons in the image of His only begotten son IN THE
FLESH

As you can see, the sons of God resembles the Eternal Son. We shall resemble Christ
the Man and Son of God. Christ as a human being.

Christ Himself became a MAN, and He remains to be a MAN forever!

God and Man at same time. And we shall resemble Christ, the man and the Eternal Son
in the Flesh.

2. The firstborn of the dead

k. Rev. 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and
the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins
by His blood—
i. Christ is one of the dead.
ii. His blood was mentioned, which refers to His shedding of blood: His
DEATH.
iii. Therefore Christ has a literal death.
iv. And He is the first one who rise from the dead.
l. Acts 26:23 that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from
the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to
the Gentiles.”
m. Firstborn of the dead is metaphor to refers to His resurrection being the first
resurrection.
i. But Christ is not the first to ressurrect technically
1. Lazarous was ressurected
2. The little child was ressurected
 3. Believers were ressurrected when Christ died on the cross
a. All these resurrection are people coming to life in the same
body, therefore they died again.
ii. On the other hand, Christ is the first one who was ressurrected in a
glorified state
1. This makes Him the first among many people who will be
resurrected in eternal life.
iii. Since then He is the first
1. He is the first to proclaim light
2. He is the greatest proclaimer because His proclamation of life reach
the Gentile world as well.

3. The firstborn in the children of God

Finally we arrive to our Romans 8:29’s first born.

Read v29

This is not a metaphor.

Because before creation God desired His only begotten Son to become a firstborn into His
family. From only begotten to firstborn.

To make this possible he had to be given literal brothers.

Which make, firstborn in Romans 8:29 to be a literal firstborn.

Follow me:
- Christ was the one and only Son of God in eternity, before the foundation of the
world.
o The one and only Son of God was begotten, and it was the only
begotten of God.
 Psalm 2:7 - I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said
to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
 When Jesus Christ was begotten He was already a son.
• “You are my son” – His identity as Son, His sonship is
eternal.
• “Today I have begotten you” – The begotten part is not
eternal because it has a beginning.
• The point is Christ is was Begotten.
• Begotten is - Generated by procreation. But this is
NOT generated by procreation, BUT generated by
revealation. The son of God was revealed.

- The one and only Eternal Son of God was Begotten and it was the first
begotten of God.
o After Christ, God placed additional children in His family. They were
also begotten – by God, specifically by the Holy Spirit.
o So then, Christ being the only begotten became the First begotten.
o Thus we have the Firstborn.

- Therefore, Christ being the Firstborn

o It is literal. And it is not symbolic at all.
 o He is really the Eldest Son of God.
o Since Christ is the literal Eldest Son of God. Then the coming children
of God are also literal brothers of Christ.
 They are not fake sons of God
 They are not like a son of God
 They are not second class sons of God.
• BUT
o They are literal sons of God having Christ to be
their literal Eldest Brother.
• BECAUSE
o They were “PLACEd AS SONS IN GOD’S
FAMILY”
 Christ was begotten
 So were they
• HOW
o By Conception, through foreknowledge and
predestination
o By Spiritual Birth, through the birthing of the
Holy Spirit
o By Rearing them or caring them to maturity, in
process of sanctification
 Threfore, they were conceived by God
and born of Holy Spirit, and personally
reared by the Father to become
brothers to Christ.

[Pause]

So God changed the status of Christ from Only Begotten to Firstborn!

First coming
John 3:16 ¶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Second coming
Heb. 1:6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “AND LET ALL THE
ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM.”

No longer called the only begotten but the Firstborn.

He is no longer the only begotten son, there are now many begotten sons. Among whom
Christ is the Eldest, the First place in the family of God.

Why are we here?

- All of us exist, because of this very reason: to become literal brothers of Christ,
so that He could be the Firstborn.
- If God did not intend to make Christ Firstborn, God would have not created the
world.
- There would not be any good reason for God to create the world! He would not
create humanity for the sake of humanity, but only for His Eternal Son.

[Pause]
Christ, the Elder brother

Fristborn, comes with priviledges.

1. Precedence in the Family
a. Rev. 22:3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God
and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants [brethren] will
serve Him;
2. Authority over the younger children, Rev. 22:3
a. Eph. 1:21 [Christ is] far above all rule and authority and power and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but
also in the one to come. Eph. 1:22 And He put all things in subjection
under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
3. Special blessing by the father, Rev. 22:3
i. He will be a king
4. The Father’s title and power, Rev. 22:3
i. Supreme rulership
5. Greater inheritance, Rev. 22:3
i. The kingdom of God.

Let us go back to Mr. and Mrs. Smith example.

- Mr. Smith looked at his Son and said. Johnny NEEDS a brother.
- And then the Mrs. Smith said “Okay honey, let’s have another child.
- Is it really like that?
- NO.
- God did not look at His son in eternity and said He needs a brother.
- In fact many brothers.
o Christ was perfectly happy with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
o He was satisfied with no needs to be met.
o Christ never lack anything in eternity.

But the Father wants to glorify His Son.

And part of that glory is the glory of the Firstborn.

What is that glory?

Firstborn Son

Summary: the usage of Firstborn in relation to Chris, has th idea of being brought forth as the
first and the greatest.

AND being the first born comes priviledges.

The Firstborn has all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities, and one who enjoys a special
relationship with God.

We see that in..

The Highest King

Or the Supreme King
Psa. 89:27 “I also shall make him My firstborn,
The highest of the kings of the earth.
Psa. 89:28 “My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever,
 And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.

To put Christ the highest is to create a hierarchy.

Kingship is given to the Firstborn.

Rev. 19:16 He is the “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Psalm describes this King to be glorious.

Psa. 24:7 ¶ Lift up your heads, O gates,
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Psa. 24:8 Who is the King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
The LORD mighty in battle.
Psa. 24:9 Lift up your heads, O gates,
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Psa. 24:10 Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
He is the King of glory.

1Cor. 2:8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had
understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

James 2:1 ¶ My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an
attitude of personal favoritism.

Christ being the Firstborn was put to the supreme rank by which he excels these other
sons

A King to be the first place in everything

Col. 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

In everything that is worthy of praise, honor, glory, and adoration, Christ is to be that!

So that in Heaven: Jesus Christ is praised, honored, gloriyfied, and adored.

The only one worthy of that.

Rebuke:

This is the WILL of God to put Christ first place in everything.

Yet

This world does not put Chris first place.

This world is a thief. Instead of giving glory to the creator, Jesus Christ, they gave His glory to
creation. Rom 1

Christ is mostly dishonored in this world.

This world deserves punishment.
This world deserves to be rejected.
This world deserves to be destroyed.

The biggest crime out there is not wrong things done to creation but wrong things done to the
creator.

[Pause]

Now its even more hainous if Christ is not the first place in the church! His very own brothers
and sisters.

[Pause]

So then let us examin our selves:

- If Christ is not first in our lives, we are oppose to the will of God.
- Let me put it in another word: we are in direct violation of what God wants for His
Eternal Son.
- Consider our Firstborn, His first place in everything, that includes believers, especially
believers.