...Excerpts from Clement snipped...
>Could 'PRWTOKTISTOS' be considered a related word to 'PRWTOTOKOS',
>perhaps even a synonym in the vocabulary of Clement of
>Alexandria.?
Dear Larry,
Your question is quite proper. In the following quotation I use capital
letters for emphasis. Please do not construe this as "shouting."
Clement of Alexandria was one of the first to use the term
"first-created" in reference to the Son of God. He lived from 153 - 217
C.E.
In his book "Clement of Alexandria" (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and
Sons, 1914; pp. 103, 104) John Patrick tells us:
Clement repeatedly identifies the Word with the Wisdom of God, and yet he
refers to Wisdom as the first-created of God;2 while in one passage he
attaches the epithet "First-created,"3 and in another "First-begotten,"
to the Word.4 But this seems to be rather a question of language rather
than a question of doctrine. AT A LATER DATE A SHARP DISTINCTION WAS
DRAWN between "first-created" and "first-born" or "first-begotten."5 But
NO SUCH DISTINCTION WAS DRAWN IN THE TIME OF CLEMENT, who with the
Septuagint rendering of a passage in Proverbs before him could have no
misgiving as to the use of these terms.6 ...Str., 5.14 Ex. Theod., c.20.
Str., vi.7. See Suicer's Thesaurus on PROTOKTISTOS KURIOS EKTISEN ME
ARCHEN hODON AUTOU. [Lord (Jehovah) created me first of work of his] Prov
8:22 ... Zahn [in "Supplementum Clementinum: pages 141-147] ... points to
the fact the CLEMENT MAKES A SHARP DISTINCTION between the SON and the
Word who was BEGOTTEN OR CREATED BEFORE THE REST OF CREATION and the
ALONE UNBEGOTTEN GOD AND FATHER.
So there was no need for Paul to use a different word the PROTOTOKOS at
Col 1:15.
Respectfully,
Mitchell Andrews
Centennial Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses