divinam illius naturam indigitaii Jesa. xliv. 6. JBgo, inquit, prir, verbis ^oternitatem designatam etiam Messiam sic vocant ')•
The natme of God necessarily transcends defini- tion, but ' the First and the Last ' and the parallel titles are endeavours to suggest such conceptions of God iis men can comprehend. It -would not be enou<'li to say that ' the First and the Last ' is the equivalent of ' the Eternal.' The title recalls the old covenant name of God, Jehovah (Jahweh), and its interpretation in Ex 3". It seems jjlainly to be an expansion of tliat name, of which ' the Eternal ' is not a satisfactory rendering. Ex 3" ('I am what I am,' or, more accui'ately, ' I will be what I will be') does not give to nin- an abstract meaning. n-n is ylyvoixai., not ei/Jil. It does not mean to be essentially, but phenomenally. The idea of nm- is not of abstract existence, but of active being; manifestation in history. Jehovah is not a God who barely exists, but One who asserts His being, and enters into an historical relation with humanity. Not being determined by anything external to (before or after) Himself, He is consistent vnth Himself, true to His promises, and unchangeable in His purposes. He will not fail or disappoint His servants. He wOl approve Himself. What He will be is left undefined, or defined only in terms of Himself, for the very reason that His providential dealings with His people in their ever- varvin" needs are inexhaustible— are more than
can be numbei-ed or fxiiresso
l(s,.
Driver on ' The
Tetragrararaaton,' St^n'n, I:
hii',,
(Jxf. 1885 ; and
A. B. Davidson in Hastmus
/>/:
V ol. ii. pp. 199^
845-).
Thisinten^-.'tx'"" - '-■ "'■ '
- ;n,,l.UrR-(l in tllC
iirophels. HvIh -• i ^h I 1 1 • Divine name .1. i ^
ili.^ iLLri.ninj; of tlie 1 1(1 ihr Lord, tlie
first, and will, :, In ; '
. ih i- i;.>.l as the
i.r I:^m'; and on
the Church, the new spiritual creation— He is absolutely prior and sovereign, because there too He is the source of life. His Resurrection is the ground of His headship of the Church (Rev 1". See Lightfoot and Meyer on Col l""-" ; cf. Eph l'», Ph
■29. 10. 11).
It is interesting to trace the same underlying tliought about the nature of God in Rev. and in the Fourth Gospel. A connexion has been pointed out between iyd ei'/it 6 Trpuros xai 6 l(7x<'-'''o^ of Rev. and the similar phrases of Is 41-' 48'- and the explanation of the Divine name Jehovah in Ex 3". There seems to be a correspondence between the evii ei/ii of the LXX in these and other passages (Is 43"-", Dt 32») and the iydi ei>i of Jn S"-^'-™ (cf. also 13"). In all these passages the words have a pregnant meaning. In Jn 8, Christ presents Himself to the Jews not simply as the Messiah, but as One who has ' life in Himself as being the spring of life. He is infinitely, as God is. He shares the being of God. Therefore He claims supreme control not only of the seen and the finite, but of the unseen and the infinite (see Westcott, ad loc).
Cheyne (on Is 41^) thinks that the iyw di^i, of Jn 18" is intended in the same sense, and finds this view confirmed by the superaatural effect of the sounds described in v.'K
All existiMKi' is iirc.'ssarily relative to Him who is 'the I'ii-t .umI \\n- Last.' Nothing can enter into the liii.il Miniiiiim u|i of all things, or jiartake of eternity, wliidi ilnis not receive life from Him and is not conformed to His purpose. When Christ claims this title for Himself, it is plainly announced that the revelation of God in Christ, in what He was and what He did, is the key to the issues of human life. Christianity is final. See also art. ALPHA AND Omega. A. E. Ro.ss.
FIRSTBORN.—
. MH .1 tiM in.i.hi mental ideas with regard to Jeliovali in early I I H I « I'.tlLil .il His being owner of tlie land, and consequently 1 1,1 ,1 " .if ill thai the land tironghtfortli and of all that lived
(Speakers Com.). The prophets emphasize tlie expression of Hu- moral unchangeableness of God in the name Jehovah (see esp. Is 26A « 41'', Hos 125. 6, Mai 38).
It mav be .said, then, tliat the title ' the First and the Last,' as applied to Christ in Rev., recalls, and attaches to Him, all that the OT writers had realized of the nature of God. How much more it contains for a writer who uses it in tlie light of the Incarnation may be gathered from Col 1"-=^", a pas- sage related as resting upon the same Christological basis of faitli, and which is indeed the 6 irpSros rai 6 liTxaros of Rev. written nut at full )r-iiL4b. Botli authors alike cl.-iiiii ii IV Clni-t :ili-i'!ui'' -ii|ii'Mii.m y in relation to the I'liixc'i -r. ilic ii.iniml i i.-:!! mpm. and in relation to the I'liunli, ih.- m-w \l<ii,il Creation, iVa yhrjTai 4v Trdau' ai'ros TrpojTtui^f. Im)! both Christ is tpwtotokos Trdarii Kricreus,— prior to all creation and sovereign o\or all creation. He is the source of life to the llnivcrse, the centre of all its developments, the mainspring of all its motions — iv avrifi (KTlad-q to. Travra (cf. Jn l"* 8 yiyovfv iv avri} fwT) ^v). And as all things had their origin in Him (the First), so all things return to Him as linn -ol :m,,1 .unsmumation (the Last) — tA TTdi/Tn ■ < , ...TO.' ^KTiarai (cf. Ro IP',