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that it meant anything more than dignity and inheritance. It is illuminating, so far as the
usage of the word is concerned, to know that the Rabbins spoke of God as "The
firstborn of the world", and Paul's usage, "the firstborn of every creature", is parallel. In
Col. 1: 16 the apostle shows what he intended by the title by commencing the verse with
the word "for". Christ is the firstborn of every creature for He is the Creator. To say that
Christ was the firstborn of His own creation is absurd.
As to the invisible God . . . . . Christ is the IMAGE.
As to the old creation . . . . . Christ is the FIRSTBORN.
As to the new creation . . . . . Christ is the FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD.
and in both creations He is pre-eminent.
God has Spoken in Son.
Let us now turn to Heb. 1: 1-3, our third passage. You will find here an opportunity
for observing the presence and the absence of the Greek article.
God in times past spake to the Fathers . . . . .
by the prophets.
God in these last days has spoken to us . . . . .
in Son.
A.--"In Son"! that does not seem good sense.
B.--It is hardly good English perhaps, but a profound truth in here. "The prophets" were
messengers used by God, but when Christ walked the earth He was not merely another
and greater messenger. It was God now speaking "in Son", God manifest in the flesh.
To the prophet the word "came"; Christ however was the Word Himself.
A.--May we not translate the words "in a Son"?
B.--No, I think not, because the idiom is found in the Hebrew and would be known to
the readers of the epistle. Will you turn to Exod. 6: 3.
A.--(Reads).--"And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name
of God Almighty."
B.--The Hebrew reads B'EL SHADDAI, literally "in God Almighty". To these
patriarchs God appeared "in God Almighty", to their N.T. descendants He appeared "in
Son". The one invisible God remains the same, whether for His purposes He is known as
the Almighty God, or The Son. This will be more easily understood when we have
considered the meaning of the words, "the form of God", as used in Phil. 2: 6. Let us
notice what is said of the Son in Heb. 1::--
"Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and
upholding all things by the word of His power" (Heb. 1: 3).
The R.V. reads:--
"Who being the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance."