'First' in the Bible

On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul began to speak to the people, and because he intended to leave the next day, he extended his message until midnight.

When they arrived, he said to them, "You yourselves know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia,

but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance.

that the Christ was to suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, to proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles."

But the centurion, wanting to save Paul's life, prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,

First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

There will be affliction and distress on everyone who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek,

but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek.

Actually, there are many advantages. First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

But again I ask, didn't Israel understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger."

If the first portion of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches.

Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him?

Also greet the church in their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

For in the first place, when you come together as a church I hear there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

A person should examine himself first, and in this way let him eat the bread and drink of the cup.

And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues.

For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received -- that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,

So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living person"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.

The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.

On the first day of the week, each of you should set aside some income and save it to the extent that God has blessed you, so that a collection will not have to be made when I come.

Now, brothers and sisters, you know about the household of Stephanus, that as the first converts of Achaia, they devoted themselves to ministry for the saints. I urge you

And with this confidence I intended to come to you first so that you would get a second opportunity to see us,

And they did this not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

For we were not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach as far as you, because we were the first to reach as far as you with the gospel about Christ.

But you know it was because of a physical illness that I first proclaimed the gospel to you,

so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory.

"Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely,

because of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.

that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people,

For Adam was formed first and then Eve.

And these also must be tested first and then let them serve as deacons if they are found blameless.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should first learn to fulfill their duty toward their own household and so repay their parents what is owed them. For this is what pleases God.

I recall your sincere faith that was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am sure is in you.

The farmer who works hard ought to have the first share of the crops.

At my first defense no one appeared in my support; instead they all deserted me -- may they not be held accountable for it.

how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,

To him also Abraham apportioned a tithe of everything. His name first means king of righteousness, then king of Salem, that is, king of peace.

He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one.

When he speaks of a new covenant, he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.

Now the first covenant, in fact, had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary.

And so he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant.

So even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood.

then he says, "Here I am: I have come to do your will." He does away with the first to establish the second.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical.

For if after they have escaped the filthy things of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again get entangled in them and succumb to them, their last state has become worse for them than their first.

We love because he loved us first.

I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not acknowledge us.

When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last,

But I have this against you: You have departed from your first love!

Therefore, remember from what high state you have fallen and repent! Do the deeds you did at the first; if not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place -- that is, if you do not repent.

"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who is the first and the last, the one who was dead, but came to life:

After these things I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said: "Come up here so that I can show you what must happen after these things."

The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like a man's, and the fourth creature looked like an eagle flying.

The first angel blew his trumpet, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was thrown at the earth so that a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

The first woe has passed, but two woes are still coming after these things!

He exercised all the ruling authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed.

The second beast was empowered to give life to the image of the first beast so that it could speak, and could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

A second angel followed the first, declaring: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city! She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion."

A third angel followed the first two, declaring in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and takes the mark on his forehead or his hand,

So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth. Then ugly and painful sores appeared on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.

(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished.) This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is the one who takes part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more.

The foundations of the city's wall are decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end!)