and salvation to the elect. A faithful witness, because He con- firmed by miracles the truth which He taught in words. A faithful witness, because He denied not, even in death, the Fa- ther’s testimony to Himself. A faithful witness, because He will give testimony in the day of judgment concerning the works of the good and of the evil.”
The first-begotten of the dead (0 mpwrdroxos ex TaY veEK- pov). Rev., the jirst-born. The best texts omit é« from. Compare Col. i. 18. The risen Christ regarded in His relation to the dead in Christ. He was not the first who rose from the dead, but the first who so rose that death was thenceforth im- possible for Him (Rom. vi. 9) ; rose with that resurrection-life in which He will finally bring with Him those who sleep in Him (1 Thess. iv. 14). Some interpreters, rendering jirst-born, find in the phrase the metaphor of death as the womb which bare Him (see on Acts ii. 24). Others, holding by the render- ing jirst-begotten, connect the passage with Ps. ii. 7, which by Paul is connected with the resurrection of Christ (Acts xiii. 32, 33). Paul also says that Jesus “ was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead ” (Rom. i. 4). The verb tixtw which is one of the components of mpwrd- toxos first-begotten or born, is everywhere in the New Testa- ment used in the sense of to bear or to bring forth, and has no- where the meaning beget, unless Jas. i. 15 be an exception, on which see note. In classical Greek the meaning beget is com- mon.
The Ruler of the kings of the earth (6 dpywv Tav Bacih- éov THs ys). Through resurrection He passes to glory and dominion (Philip. ii. 9). The comparison with the kings of the earth is suggested by Ps. ii. 2. Compare Ps. Ixxxix. 27; Isa. lii. 15; 1 Tim. vi. 15; and see Apoe. vi. 15; xvii. 45 xix. 16.
Unto Him that loved (76 dyar7joavtt). The true reading is ayarravrs that loveth. So Rev. Christ’s love is ever present. See John xiii. 1.