"firstborn from the dead" = the first who died?

[Ben C. Smith]

What are you even talking about? And why are you reading what I suggested anyway? You already know everything, so it is going to be a waste of your time (and of mine).

There are reasons to think that the Jesus hymn has to do with preexistence; I should know, since that has been my position for a very long time. It was only recently — extremely recently — that someone (Talbert) presented the opposite viewpoint to me in a way that I might find persuasive. I have not decided yet.

So, as I said, there are reasons to find preexistence in the hymn: but the kenosis is not one of them (it is all too easily understood as a reference to death; it is only when we have decided upon preexistence on other grounds that the kenosis becomes interesting in a christological sense); nor is the bestowing of the name (names being so commonly representative in antiquity of the granting of high honors). You are not even dealing with the parts of the hymn that could very well be pointing to a preexistence. It is bizarre!