Nor can the Lord Christ (which is affirmed in the last place) be called the Son of God and the First-born, because in him was that holiness which is required in the new covenant; for both all believers under the old testament had that holiness and likeness unto God in their degrees, and that holiness consists principally in regeneration, or being born again by the Word and Spirit out of a corrupted estate of death and sin, which the Lord Christ was not capable of. Yea, the truth is, the holiness and image of God in Christ was, in the kind of it, that which was required under the first covenant,—a holiness of perfect innocency and perfect righte- ousness in obedience. So that this last invention hath no better success than the former.
It appeareth, then, that the Lord Christ is not called “ the first- begotten,” or the “first-born,” with any such respect unto others as should include him and them in the same kind of filiation.
To give, therefore, a direct account of this appellation of Christ, we may observe, that indeed the Lord Christ is never absolutely _ealled the “first-begotten” or “first-born” with respect either to his eternal generation or to the conception and nativity of his human nature. In respect of the former he is called “the Son,” and “the only-begotten Son of God,” but nowhere “ the first-born,” or “ first-begotten ;” and in respect of the latter, indeed, he is called the “first-born son” of the virgin, because she had none before him, but not absolutely “the first-born” or “ first-begotten,” which title is here and elsewhere ascribed unto him in the Scripture. It is not, therefore, the thing itself of being the first-born, but the dignity and privilege that attended it, which are designed in this appella- tion. So Col. i. 15, he is said to be apwréroxog aeons uricews, “the first-born of the creation;” which is no more but that he hath power and authority over all the creatures of God.
The word which the apostle intends to express is 4123, which oft- times is used in the sense now pleaded for, namely, to denote not the birth in the first place, but the privilege that belonged there- unto, So Ps, lxxxix. 27, God is said to make David his 33, his “ first-born ;” which is expounded in the next words, “ Higher than the kings of the earth.” So that the Lord Christ being the first- born is but the same which we have insisted on, of his being heir of all, which was the privilege of the first-born; and this privilege was sometimes transmitted unto others that were not the first-born, although the natural course of their nativity could not be changed, Gen xxi. 10, xlix. 3, 4, 8. The Lord Christ, then, by the appoint- ment of the Father, being intrusted with the whole inheritance of heaven and earth, and authority to dispose of it, that he might give out portions to all the rest of God’s family, is and is called “ the first- born” thereof.
160 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. I.
There remains now but one word more to be considered for the opening of this introduction of the ensuing testimony, and that is réyer, “he saith ;” that.is, ‘God himself saith.” They are his words which shall be produced. Whatever is spoken in the Scripture in his name, it is his speaking; and he continueth to speak it unto this day. He speaks in the Scripture unto the end of the world. This is the foundation of our faith, that which it riseth from, and that which it is resolved into, ‘God speaketh;’ and I suppose we need no interposition of church or tradition to give authority or credit unto what he says or speaks.
This, then, is the sum of these words of the apostle: ‘ Again, in
another place, where the Holy Ghost foretells the bringing forth into the world and amongst men him that is the Lord and Heir of all, to undertake his work, and to enter into his kingdom and glory, the Lord speaks to this purpose, Let all the angels of God worship him,’ To manifest this testimony to be apposite unto the confirmation of the apostle’s assertion, three things are required:—1. That it is the Son who is intended and spoken of in the place from whence the words are taken, and so designed as the person to be worshipped. 2. That they are angels that are spoken unto, and commanded to worship him. 8. That on these suppositions the words prove the pre-eminence of Christ above the angels.
For the two former, with them that acknowledge the divine autho- rity of this epistle, it is sufficient in general, to give them satisfaction, to observe that the place is applied unto Christ, and this passage unto the ministering angels, by the same Spirit who first wrote that Scripture. But yet there is room left for our inquiry how these things may be evidenced, whereby the strength of the apostle’s reasonings, with them who were not yet convinced of the infallibi- lity of his assertions, any further than they were confirmed by tes- timonies out of the Old Testament and the faith of the ancient church of the Hebrews in this matter, may be made to appear; as also a check given to their boldness who, upon pretence of the im- propriety of these allegations, have questioned the authority of the whole epistle.