7 i.e. Tn the Perſon of Chriſt alone God-man, deputed of his Father to die for our Salvation, As 4. 12. & 20. 25, ſ AS we are in him, made meet, verſe 12. t Wehave eternal deliverance, Heb. 9. 12. effeted by a tull ranſom paid, 1 Cor. 6. 20. & 7. 23: x Pet. 1. 18, 19. for the freeing us indeed out of a ſtate of fin-and miſery, Fokn 8.36. or eternal death the wages of fin, Rom. 6. 23- & 16. 20. ſo that by Redemption here is not meant barely laying down the price, Luke 2. 33. nor conſu nmate Redemption at the laſt, Fph. 1. 14- & 4. 30. but efficacious Redemption. Upon the account of Chriſt's offering himſelf an expiatory Sacrifice to God, without which is no remiſſion, Heb. g. 22. Rev 5- 9. effu-. fion of his Blood by a Synecdoche takes in his humiliation to the death of the Croſs, and the pains of the ſecond Death he under- went for us, Iſa. 53.5, 6. Aifts 2. 24, Cal. 3. 13. Phil. 2. 8. x Plenary remiſhon of offences, is by appoſition to, or follows redemption as a neceſſary effet , chap. 2. 13. Luke 1. 77. As 10. 42+ by a Metonymie transferring the cauſe to the eftett.
See more on Eph. 1. 7.
15 Who x is * the image y of the inviſible God z. the * firſt-born of every creature 2.
x Having touch'd on the Benefit of Chriſt's Sacrific* wich im-\
plies his humane nature, he doth here riſe higher to r forth #12 dignity of his Perſon (which made it fatisfattory) both wth re- ſpe to his Father and the Creature. As to the former he irvies him his Image, y Which is not to be underſtood of an artificial, accidental or imperfet Image, as that of the King on his Coin, or as Man was the feeble Image of God, Gen. g. 6. 1 Cor, 11.7. ol 3. 10. for the Apoſtle's arguing Chrift's Dignity to redeem, would have no force in it, if Chrift were no more than a meer Man ; but of a natural, ſubſtantial and perfe& Image, as Serh was the natural Image of his Father Adq:m, of the ſame ſubſtance with him, Gen. 5. 3. fo Chriſt the eternal word, the only begetten Son of God by nature, Foh. 1. 1,13. See on Phil. 2. 6. very God of very God, Fobn 17. 3, 5. doth exaaly reſemble, perfe&ly and adequately repreſent his Father, of whoſe Perſon he is the ex- preſs Charader, eb. 1. 3. or perfed Tmage; yet more diftinaly Chriſt is the Image of God. Either (1) as he is the ſecond Per- fon in the blefſed Trinity, from an intrinficat Relation to the Fa- ther, in regard of the ſame eſſence with him by eternal Genera- tion before the World was made. He heing eternally in the Fa- ther, and the Father in him, Fohy 14. 10. ſo he is in reſpett of his Father, his efſential Tmage, and in that regard to us as inviſible as the Father himſelt; no Creature could be the eternal Image of the Creator, as that Son of the only true God, the living God was, and is, Mair. 16. 16. Fohn 6. 69. in reſpect of his Father. (2.) As he is God-man in whom the fulneſs of the Godhead dwells bo- dily, chap. 2. 9g. whereby he doth infinitely exceed and ſurpaſs Angels and Wan at firſt, Zeb. 1.5. 6. & 2.5, The Apoſtle in this place doth not ſay ſimply Chrift the Tmage of God, but of the inviſible God (conſidered perſonally) 7. e. the Father 5 be- cauſe the Father cannot be known to us, but in his Son, as in an Image, in Which he would repreſent or manitelt himſelf to be ſen or known, Fohy 1. 14, 1$. & 14. $, 9. 2 Cor. 4.4. Andin this latter reſpe& (which imports the maniteſtative, not efſential Image) is Chriſt the Image of his invifible Father uro vs; unto whom in all his Offices and works of mediation, the Attributes, Affections and Excellencies of God clearly ſhine forth, they being otherwiſe incompreheniible and inviſible by a Creature : but Chrift is the compleat Tmage of them, in a tranſcendent way for as they are in him, they are incommunicable to any meer Creature, and theretore he is the Tmage of the viſible God, 3 In that he makes him viſible unto us. God 1s a pure Spirit, without Body, or bodily parts, but yet.was dearly manifeſted in Chriſt tabernacling amongſt us, Fohy 1. 14. 1 Tim. 3. 16. he re- prelents him to us in his underſtanding and wiſdom, Prov. $. I4, 15. almightin2ſs, and eternity, Jſz. g. 6. Fohn 1. 1. & 8. £3. permaneacy and unchangeableneſs, Z:b. 1. 11, 12. & 13. 8. onmpreience and omniſciency, Fohn 2. 24, 25. & 13. 18. Kev. 2.13. Not (as the Luth-rans ſtrangely imagine) that Chriſt is OM Potent With the oinnipotency of the divine nature, or omni-
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uſe the Attributes of the Godhead ; but ſuch Perfe&io really inherent in, and appettaining to the Manhood b po w_ of izs union with the Divine Nature in the ſecond Perſon oF. Trinity , that though they are vaſtly ſhort of the Ain. 4 which are eſſential to the Godhead, yet they are the complenres Image of them, and ſuch as no meer Creature is cavadle of Hence *tis ſaid, Ie beheld his glory, the glory of the only begortes Pom of God, who did further repreſent and manifeſt his Father to ay in the Works of Creation and Preſervation which he did Fol, I. 3. & 5. 19. Heb. 1.195. Hence the Apoſtle in this Verſe Gr. ſiders the Dignity of Chriſt, with reſpe& to the Creature Adding to the forementioned Intrinſick, an extrinſick Royalt which a learned Man would render, P-gotten before all the Cn or Born betore every Creature, which is an Zcbrew Phraſe, The Greek Scholiaſt, and ſeveral of the Greek Fathers go this way _ as if the ineffable Generation of Chrift had any beginning = ſome falſly conceited Chrift to be made in time, juſt in the as. ning before the World, by whom as an Inſtrument all the ard were created ; but the Apoſtle doth not fay he was firſt made, gr firſt created ; but verſe 17. was, or did exift before all things belides: as Foha Baptiſt ſaid, Je was before me, John 1. 15.) and there- fore none of the rank of all them, but of another, viz. equal with his Father whoſe Image he was, above all that was made, or cre- ated z he was not created at all, though firſt-bory, or firſt beoqe. ten, yet not firſt created (being diſtinguiſhed here from created,
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'as the cauſe from the effe&) as it refers to him that begets, { i