COVENANTS AND THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES
47
Angels may still be ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of salvation, but `angels and
authorities and powers' are subject unto the ascended Lord. When we come to the dispensation of the Mystery,
angelic ministry is entirely absent; instead of saying, `angels to beckon me', we sing in the language of one of the
hymns used at the Chapel of the Opened Book, London:
`Angels will stand aside,
No one, but Christ beside
Can be our heavenly Guide,
Father, to Thee'
`This day have I begotten Thee'
While angels are called `sons of God', a title endorsed by the translation of Psalm 97:7 `Worship Him, all ye
gods', by `let all the angels of God worship Him' (Heb. 1:6) and other places, no angel has or ever could be called
`The Only Begotten Son of God'.
`For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee?' (Heb. 1:5).
A number of commentators see in this passage a reference to `the eternal generation of the Son', a term that
defies explanation, and such are also obliged to interpret `this day' as of eternity. Such an interpretation savours too
much of an attempt to bolster up a creed rather than to give an honest exposition of the terms, and arises mainly out
of the disastrous error of taking the title `Son' back into eternity instead of using the title `Word' as John does in
John 1:1, and reserving the title `Son' for the incarnation when `the Word was made flesh'. In Hebrews 11:17 Isaac
too is called `the only begotten son' of Abraham, and it would be strange if this title could be used in so essentially
different ways. The verb gennao is used in Matthew in such passages as `Abraham begat Isaac', `Of whom was
born Jesus', `That which is conceived in her', `When Jesus was born in Bethlehem'. In the epistle to the Hebrews
itself it occurs four times, thus:
`This day have I begotten Thee'.
`To day have I begotten Thee'.
`Therefore sprang there even of one'.
`By faith Moses, when he was born' (Heb. 1:5; 5:5; 11:12,23).
John, in his first epistle, has no hesitation in intertwining references to those who have been `born' or `begotten'
of God, and the Saviour Who was `born' or `begotten' of God (1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18). While therefore we
can discover no warrant from Scripture usage to project this `begetting' back before time begum, we are warned by
the selfsame usage of Scripture not to limit this term to the Incarnation. `This day' have I begotten Thee, cannot
refer to the birth at Bethlehem for this is a quotation from Psalm 2:
`Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto Me, Thou
art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee' (Psa. 2:6,7).
On either side of this quotation from Psalm 2, Paul, in Acts 13:33-37, stresses the resurrection of Christ:
`He hath raised up Jesus again' (Quotation follows from Psalm 2:7).
`And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead' (Quotation follows from Isaiah 55:3).
This begetting at the Resurrection differed from that at the Incarnation, the one being the entrance into a life of
flesh and blood through the overshadowing of the Virgin by the Spirit of God; the other being the quickening power
of the selfsame Spirit of that body which was laid in the sepulchre, yet which saw no corruption. This second `birth'
was by `decree'. The reader should have no difficulty in believing this twofold `begetting', for that is also true, in
its limited way, of every believer. All men are `born' by natural processes gennao, and the believer is `born again',
gennao and anothen (John 3:3) and anagennao (1 Pet. 1:23). If the believer therefore can be said to have been
begotten at his natural birth, and to have been begotten again at conversion, there should be no difficulty in believing
the double references to the Saviour. In Colossians the title given the Lord in this connection is prototokos
`Firstborn of all creation', `Firstborn from the dead' (Col. 1:15,18). Again a double use of the same title. This word
prototokos is found in Hebrews 1:6: