---
title: Psalms 89:27
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-89-27/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-89-27.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Psalms 89:27
testament: OT
section: Poetry
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Psalms 89:27

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> I will indeed appoint him as My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

## JW Usage

JWs cite Psalm 89:27 alongside Colossians 1:15 ("firstborn of all creation") to argue that Jesus is Jehovah's first creation. Because David was called "firstborn" and was not literally the first-born son of Jesse, JWs acknowledge the title carries the sense of pre-eminence — but they maintain that in Jesus' case "firstborn" still implies a point of origin within creation. He is the highest-ranking creature, but a creature nonetheless.

## Protestant Usage

Psalm 89:27 is the interpretive key to "firstborn" language throughout Scripture. God says he will make David "firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth" — yet David was not the first king of Israel (Saul was) and was not even the firstborn son of Jesse. "Firstborn" here means supreme rank, not chronological origin. Athanasius addressed this exact verse in his Contra Arianos, demonstrating that the Greek prototokos ("firstborn") denotes rank and pre-eminence, not sequence of creation. JW Christology — that Jesus is the first and greatest created being — is a revival of fourth-century Arianism that the entire undivided church examined and rejected at Nicaea in AD 325. When Colossians 1:15 calls Jesus "firstborn of all creation," the next verse explains the reason: "for by him all things were created." The "firstborn" holds that rank because he is the creator, not because he was created first.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Colossians 1 — Inserted 'Other'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/colossians1-other.md) — The NWT adds a word that changes everything [NWT Translation]
- [Hebrews 1:6 Quotes a Jehovah-Worship Text — And Applies It to Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/deut3243-hebrews16-worship.md) — Deuteronomy 32:43 LXX / Hebrews 1:6 / Dead Sea Scrolls [Deity of Christ]
- [Arianism Is Not New — JW Christology Was Rejected in AD 325](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/arianism-not-new.md) — Council of Nicaea / Arius / Athanasius [Authority]
- [A First-Century Parallel to JW Christology](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/colossian-heresy-jw-parallel.md) — Colossians 1:15-20 — Paul Addressed a Christology Structurally Like the Watchtower's [Deity of Christ]