Why do some people have more power than others?

Why do kings pass on their power to their oldest sons?

What makes one person more eligible to be in charge than another person?

And does power always corrupt?

We are beginning a new theme study here on the podcast.

It's a theme we're calling the first born.

And it's really a theme about, well, who gets to be in charge, who gets to have power,

and how will they use it?

The idea appears in the first pages of the Bible connected to the phrase, image of God.

You could argue this is one of the dominant themes of Genesis.

In terms of the New Testament, the first born is a title ascribed to Jesus, multiple places

in the New Testament, in the letters of Paul, two times, in the letter to the Hebrews,

and in the last book of the Christian Bible, the Revelation.

So it goes from end to end, and it's kind of like once you see how the theme works,

then you can't unsee it.

You just start to see it everywhere.

I'm a first born child in my family, and while I got to do a lot of things first among

my siblings, I wasn't really given a special position or privilege in my family because

of birth order.

But in the ancient world, being the first born son was extremely special.

The first born was meant to carry on the family legacy to receive a double portion of inheritance.

They're given the unique authority and power of the family.

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