Preeminent
Preeminent - I really like that word. We don’t use it much anymore, but it really is a great word. It is one of those flowing off the tongue words. It sounds like it means.
pre·em·i·nent - surpassing all others; very distinguished in some way
Something or someone who is preeminent is above all, better than anything or anyone else ever will be. Preeminence is reached by completely and totally destroying anyone else's hope of ever attaining equality with you. Our understanding of preeminence is limited by physical lifetime. We qualify preeminence based on time so that we can have individuals that surpass others while they are alive and able to perform their preeminent actions.
However, in truth, we do not have preeminence in our midst these days. In fact, humanity has not seen preeminence for thousands of years. You need to go all the way back to when B.C. became A.D. to see preeminent on this earth. Paul put it like this in his letter to the Colossians, “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” As you may know, Paul was a pretty outstanding individual that wrote most of the content in the Bible’s New Testament.
In the verse mentioned, Paul was referring to Jesus Christ. There may be confusion on his statement “firstborn of the dead”, but I am not covering that topic, so I encourage you to do some digging on Google to get clarification on that one. Simply put Jesus is God’s only Son, risen from the dead so that many may be adopted as children of God.
Now back to preeminent - according to Paul, Jesus is preeminent in “everything”. In this statement Paul means so much more than better than everyone else. His meaning goes way beyond our understanding of preeminence used to describe a basketball player or a scientist. His meaning actually eclipses even the definition we have given to preeminent. Paul’s reference to Jesus’ preeminence points to Jesus being the reason for everything else. Jesus does not simply surpass everything else. His preeminence means that everything else exists.
In other words, Jesus’ existence , or the fact that Jesus lived, is the reason why everything else exists.
In verse 17 of the same letter, Paul further supports this truth by stating “And he [Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Without Jesus, everything that you know, everything that you see, everything that you are would not be.
“I think therefore I am” - rubbish. You are not because you think. You think because Jesus is.
Our very existence was and is dependent on the existence of Jesus Christ. That is preeminent. That surpasses everything and everyone else in a manner that makes our preeminence void and of no consequence. Jesus is preeminently above preeminence because He surpasses the surpassing of all others.