First-Born First-Begotten
First-Born First-Begotten
(; Vulgate primogenitus in the NT except in Heb 11:28; Heb 12:23)
1. The privilege of the first-born: the birthright ( , Vulgate primitiva) is spoken of once in the NT, in Heb 12:16, which refers to Esaus act in selling it (Gen 25:33); the act was profanity, for the sacred privilege was despised. The firstborn was the heir to the headship of the family, and received a double portion of his fathers property (Deu 21:17); this was always the case unless for some special cause the birthright was taken from him, as in the cases of Esau, Reuben (1Ch 5:1), and Manasseh (Gen 48:14-19). Ishmael, the eldest son of Abraham, had not the birthright because he was the son of a slave woman (Gen 21:10), though he was not, according to Hebrew ideas, a slave (see Roman Law).
2. Usage in the NT.-The word firstborn is used in the NT both literally and figuratively. In Luk 2:7 our Lord is spoken of as Marys firstborn; in Mat 1:25 the word, though found in CD and some versions, is clearly an interpolation. It implies in Lk. the privilege of the birthright; but neither there nor in the OT does it necessarily imply other children, and therefore it has no bearing on the identity of the brethren of our Lord. Another, and still more important, deduction from this fact is that there is no contradiction between Only-begotten and Firstborn applied to the preexistent Christ (see below). The latter title does not imply that there are other sons in the same Divine sense.-For the redemption of the first-born at the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple see Dict. of Christ and the Gospels i. 596f. The word . (Vulgate primitiva) is used literally in lie 11:28, of men and animals, with reference to the Egyptians.
The title Firstborn is given figuratively to our Lord in three different aspects.-(a) It refers to His pre-existence in Col 1:15 (firstborn of all creation, ; see Lightfoots exhaustive note in Colossians3, 1879, p. 144), and in Heb 1:6, where it is used absolutely: the Firstborn. This interpretation of Col 1:15 is required by the context: the image () of the invisible God in him were all things created all things have been created through him, and unto him, and he is before all things, and in him all things consist (cohere). This is also the exegesis of all the earlier Fathers; but, as the Arians used the text to show that our Lord was a creature, several (but not all) of the Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers interpreted it of the Incarnate Christ, while the later Greek Fathers went back to the earlier interpretation (see the references in Light-foot, p. 146:f.) The phrase denotes that the Son was before all creation; to the Arians it was pointed out that the word used is not , which would have had the meaning they assigned to . The phrase further denotes that He is the Lord of all creation, for He has the right of the Firstborn. The title Firstborn was used figuratively by the Jews of Messiah, from Psa 89:27 (which they generally interpreted in a Messianic sense), and of Israel in Exo 4:22; this paved the way for the NT usage. Lightfoot (p. 144) remarks also that both and were taken from the Alexandrian doctrine of the Logos (see also Only-Begotten).
(b) In Col 1:16 Jesus is called firstborn from the dead, because He was the first to rise; for Lazarus and others only rose to die again. So also in Rev 1:5 firstborn of the dead. The phrase is parallel with the firstfruits () of them that are asleep in 1Co 15:20.
(c) In Rom 8:29 the relation of the first-born to his brethren is spoken of. Here, as in Col 1:15, occurs, but it is the image of the Son, not of the Father: whom he foreknew (took note of), he also conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. The conformity of the Christian to the image of the Son is parallel with the fact that the Son is the image of the Father; and the result of it is that all Christians become members of the family of God the Father, in which Jesus is the First-born, and brother of them all (Heb 2:11).
The title is used in the plural of Christians in Heb 12:23 : the church of the firstborn (Vulgate primitivorum). Here we have an extension of the privilege; there is not only one first-born in the family, but many. We may, with Lightfoot, take the reference to be to all Christians as being firstborn because all are kings (Rev 1:6); the idea of ruling is so closely attached to the title that it can be thus extended, though the metaphor becomes confused-indeed, it was used by some Rabbis of God Himself (Lightfoot, p. 145). Some, however, interpret the phrase of the faithful departed who have gone before, and so are in a sense the firstborn of the dead (cf. Grimm, Lex. in libros NT, Leipzig, 1879, s.v. ). For some modification of these views see Westcott on Heb 12:23. In any case the firstborn are men, not angels, to whom the word would be inapplicable, and who could not be described as enrolled in heaven (Westcott).
A. J. Maclean.