§8. He further very appositely expounds the meaning of the term “Only-Begotten,” and of the term “First born,” four times used by the Apostle.

The mighty Paul, knowing that the Only-begotten God, Who has the pre-eminence in all things273    Cf. Col. i. 18, is the author and cause of all good, bears witness to Him that not only was the creation of all existent things wrought by Him, but that when the original creation of man had decayed and vanished away274    Cf. Heb. viii. 13, whence the phrase is apparently adapted., to use his own language, and another new creation was wrought in Christ, in this too no other than He took the lead, but He is Himself the first-born of all that new creation of men which is effected by the Gospel. And that our view about this may be made clearer let us thus divide our argument. The inspired apostle on four occasions employs this term, once as here, calling Him, “first-born of all creation275    Col. i. 15.,” another time, “the first-born among many brethren276    Rom. viii. 29.,” again, “first-born from the dead277    Col. i. 18 (cf. Rev. i. 5).,” and on another occasion he employs the term absolutely, without combining it with other words, saying, “But when again He bringeth the first-born into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him278    Heb. i. 6..” Accordingly whatever view we entertain concerning this title in the other combinations, the same we shall in consistency apply to the phrase “first-born of all creation.” For since the title is one and the same it must needs be that the meaning conveyed is also one. In what sense then does He become “the first-born among many brethren?” in what sense does He become “the first-born from the dead?” Assuredly this is plain, that because we are by birth flesh and blood, as the Scripture saith, “He Who for our sakes was born among us and was partaker of flesh and blood279    Cf. Heb. i. 14,” purposing to change us from corruption to incorruption by the birth from above, the birth by water and the Spirit, Himself led the way in this birth, drawing down upon the water, by His own baptism, the Holy Spirit; so that in all things He became the first-born of those who are spiritually born again, and gave the name of brethren to those who partook in a birth like to His own by water and the Spirit. But since it was also meet that He should implant in our nature the power of rising again from the dead, He becomes the “first-fruits of them that slept280    1 Cor. xv. 20.” and the “first-born from the dead281    Col. i. 18.,” in that He first by His own act loosed the pains of death282    Cf. Acts ii. 24. See note 2, p. 104, supra., so that His new birth from the dead was made a way for us also, since the pains of death, wherein we were held, were loosed by the resurrection of the Lord. Thus, just as by having shared in the washing of regeneration283    The phrase is not verbally the same as in Tit. iii. 5. He became “the first-born among many brethren,” and again by having made Himself the first-fruits of the resurrection, He obtains the name of the “first-born from the dead,” so having in all things the pre-eminence, after that “all old things,” as the apostle says, “have passed away284    Cf. 2 Cor. v. 17,” He becomes the first-born of the new creation of men in Christ by the two-fold regeneration, alike that by Holy Baptism and that which is the consequence of the resurrection from the dead, becoming for us in both alike the Prince of Life285    Cf. Acts iii. 15, the first-fruits, the first-born. This first-born, then, hath also brethren, concerning whom He speaks to Mary, saying, “Go and tell My brethren, I go to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God286    Cf. S. John xx. 17: the quotation is not verbal..” In these words He sums up the whole aim of His dispensation as Man. For men revolted from God, and “served them which by nature were no gods287    Cf. Gal. iv. 8,” and though being the children of God became attached to an evil father falsely so called. For this cause the mediator between God and man288    Cf. 1 Tim. ii. 5 having assumed the first-fruits of all human nature289    The Humanity of Christ being regarded as this “first-fruits:” unless this phrase is to be understood of the Resurrection, rather than of the Incarnation, in which case the first-fruits will be His Body, and ἀναλαβὼν should be rendered by “having resumed.”, sends to His brethren the announcement of Himself not in His divine character, but in that which He shares with us, saying, “I am departing in order to make by My own self that true Father, from whom you were separated, to be your Father, and by My own self to make that true God from whom you had revolted to be your God, for by that first-fruits which I have assumed, I am in Myself presenting all humanity to its God and Father.”

Since, then, the first-fruits made the true God to be its God, and the good Father to be its Father, the blessing is secured for human nature as a whole, and by means of the first-fruits the true God and Father becomes Father and God of all men. Now “if the first-fruits be holy, the lump also is holy290    Rom. ix. 16. The reference next following may be to S. John xii. 26, or xiv. 3; or to Col. iii. 3..” But where the first-fruits, Christ, is (and the first-fruits is none other than Christ), there also are they that are Christ’s, as the apostle says. In those passages therefore where he makes mention of the “first-born” in connexion with other words, he suggests that we should understand the phrase in the way which I have indicated: but where, without any such addition, he says, “When again He bringeth the first-born into the world291    Heb. i. 6.,” the addition of “again” asserts that manifestation of the Lord of all which shall take place at the last day. For as “at the name of Jesus every knee doth bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth292    Phil. ii. 10, 11.,” although the human name does not belong to the Son in that He is above every name, even so He says that the First-born, Who was so named for our sakes, is worshipped by all the supramundane creation, on His coming again into the world, when He “shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with equity293    Cf. Ps. xcviii. 10..” Thus the several meanings of the titles “First-born” and “Only begotten” are kept distinct by the word of godliness, its respective significance being secured for each name. But how can he who refers the name of “first-born” to the pre-temporal existence of the Son preserve the proper sense of the term “Only-begotten”? Let the discerning reader consider whether these things agree with one another, when the term “first-born” necessarily implies brethren, and the term “Only-begotten” as necessarily excludes the notion of brethren. For when the Scripture says, “In the beginning was the Word294    S. John i. 1,” we understand the Only-begotten to be meant, and when it adds “the Word was made flesh295    S. John i. 14” we thereby receive in our minds the idea of the first-born, and so the word of godliness remains without confusion, preserving to each name its natural significance, so that in “Only-begotten” we regard the pre-temporal, and by “the first-born of creation” the manifestation of the pre-temporal in the flesh.

Ὁ μέγας Παῦλος εἰδὼς ὅτι παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ ἀρχηγός τε καὶ αἴτιος ὁ μονογενής ἐστι θεὸς ὁ ἐν πᾶσι πρωτεύων, προσμαρτυρεῖ αὐτῷ τὸ μὴ μόνον τὴν τῶν ὄντων κτίσιν δι' ἐκείνου γενέσθαι, ἀλλ' ὅτι τῆς ἀρχαίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων κτίσεως παλαιωθείσης τε καὶ ἀφανισθείσης, καθὼς αὐτὸς ὀνομάζει, ἄλλης δὲ καινῆς κτίσεως ἐν Χριστῷ γενομένης, οὐδὲ ταύτης ἄλλος τις καθηγήσατο, ἀλλὰ πάσης τῆς διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τῶν ἀνθρώπων γενομένης κτίσεως αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ πρωτότοκος. καὶ ὡς ἂν σαφέστερον γένοιτο τὸ περὶ τούτου νόημα, οὑτωσὶ τὸν λόγον διαληψόμεθα. τετράκις τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης μέμνηται ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος, ἅπαξ μὲν οὕτως εἰπὼν ὅτι πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως, πάλιν δὲ ὅτι πρωτότοκος ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, ἐκ τρίτου δὲ ὅτι πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ ἀπόλυτόν τε καὶ ἀσυζυγῆ τὴν φωνὴν παρατίθεται εἰπών: Ὅταν δὲ πάλιν εἰσαγάγῃ τὸν πρωτότοκον εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην, λέγει Καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι θεοῦ. οὐκοῦν ἥνπερ ἂν διάνοιαν ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων συζυγιῶν τοῦ ὀνόματος τούτου κατανοήσωμεν, ἀκολούθως τὴν αὐτὴν καὶ τῷ πρωτοτόκῳ τῆς κτίσεως ἐφαρμόσομεν. μιᾶς γὰρ καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς οὔσης φωνῆς, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα μίαν εἶναι καὶ τὴν σημαινομένην διάνοιαν. πῶς γίνεται τοίνυν πρωτότοκος ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς; πῶς δὲ ἐκ νεκρῶν πρωτότοκος; ἢ τοῦτο πάντως ἐστὶ δῆλον, ὅτι διὰ τὸ γενέσθαι ἡμᾶς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα, καθώς φησιν ἡ γραφή, ὁ δι' ἡμᾶς γενόμενος καθ' ἡμᾶς καὶ σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος κοινωνήσας, μέλλων ἡμᾶς μεταποιεῖν ἐκ τοῦ φθαρτοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἄφθαρτον διὰ τῆς ἄνωθεν γεννήσεως τῆς δι' ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος αὐτὸς τοῦ τοιούτου τόκου καθηγήσατο, διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου βαπτίσματος τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐπὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐπισπασάμενος, ὥστε πάντων τῶν πνευματικῶς ἀναγεννωμένων πρωτότοκον αὐτὸν γενέσθαι καὶ ἀδελφοὺς ὀνομάσαι τοὺς τῆς ὁμοίας αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος μετεσχηκότας γεννήσεως. ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως ἔδει αὐτὸν ἐναποθέσθαι τῇ φύσει τὴν δύναμιν, πάλιν γίνεται ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων καὶ πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν ὁ πρῶτος δι' ἑαυτοῦ λύσας τὰς ὠδῖνας τοῦ θανάτου, ὥστε καὶ ἡμῖν ὁδοποιηθῆναι τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου παλιγγενεσίαν, διὰ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου ἀναστάσεως τῆς ὠδῖνος τοῦ θανάτου λυθείσης, ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα. ὥσπερ οὖν μετασχὼν τῆς διὰ τοῦ λουτροῦ ἀναγεννήσεως ἀδελφῶν πρωτότοκος γίνεται, καὶ πάλιν ἀπαρχὴν τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὑτὸν ποιήσας πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν ὀνομάζεται, οὕτως ἐν πᾶσι πρωτεύων μετὰ τὸ παρελθεῖν τὰ ἀρχαῖα πάντα, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, τῆς καινῆς ἐν Χριστῷ κτίσεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρωτότοκος γίνεται, διὰ τῆς διπλῆς παλιγγενεσίας, τῆς τε κατὰ τὸ ἅγιον βάπτισμα καὶ τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως, ἀρχηγὸς τῆς ζωῆς καθ' ἑκάτερον ἡμῖν γενόμενος καὶ ἀπαρχὴ καὶ πρωτότοκος. οὗτος οὖν ὁ πρωτότοκος καὶ ἀδελφοὺς ἔχει, περὶ ὧν φησι πρὸς τὴν Μαρίαν ὅτι Πορεύθητι καὶ εἰπὲ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου καὶ πατέρα ὑμῶν καὶ θεόν μου καὶ θεὸν ὑμῶν. ὅλον γὰρ τῆς κατὰ ἄνθρωπον οἰκονομίας ἀνακεφαλαιοῦται τὸν σκοπὸν διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων. ἀποστάντες γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἐδούλευσαν τοῖς φύσει μὴ οὖσι θεοῖς, καὶ ὄντες τέκνα θεοῦ τῷ πονηρῷ τε καὶ ψευδωνύμῳ πατρὶ προσῳκειώθησαν. διὰ τοῦτο ὁ μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων πάσης τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως τὴν ἀπαρχὴν ἀναλαβὼν οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ θείου προσώπου, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ ἡμετέρου πέμπει τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἑαυτοῦ τὰ δηλώματα, λέγων ὅτι: πορεύομαι δι' ἐμαυτοῦ ποιῆσαι ὑμῶν πατέρα τὸν ἀληθινὸν πατέρα, οὗ ἐχωρίσθητε, καὶ ποιῆσαι δι' ἐμαυτοῦ θεὸν ὑμῶν τὸν ἀληθινὸν θεόν, οὗ ἀπέστητε: διὰ γὰρ τῆς ἀπαρχῆς, ἣν ἀνέλαβον, προσάγω ἅπαν τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ ἐν ἐμαυτῷ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον.
Τῆς οὖν ἀπαρχῆς θεὸν ἑαυτῆς ποιησαμένης τὸν ὄντα θεὸν καὶ πατέρα τὸν ἀγαθὸν πατέρα, πάσῃ κατορθοῦται τῇ φύσει τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ πάντων ἀνθρώπων γίνεται διὰ τῆς ἀπαρχῆς πατὴρ καὶ θεός. εἰ δὲ ἡ ἀπαρχὴ ἁγία, φησί, καὶ τὸ φύραμα. ὅπου δὲ ἡ ἀπαρχή [Χριστός], Χριστὸς δὲ ἡ ἀπαρχή, ἐκεῖ καὶ οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος. ἐν οἷς οὖν διὰ συζυγίας τὴν μνήμην τοῦ πρωτοτόκου πεποίηται νεκρῶν τε καὶ κτίσεως καὶ ἀδελφῶν μνημονεύσας, ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα νοεῖν ὑποτίθεται: ὅπου δὲ δίχα τῆς τοιαύτης προσθήκης φησὶν Ὅταν δὲ πάλιν εἰσαγάγῃ τὸν πρωτότοκον εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην, λέγει, ἡ τοῦ πάλιν προσθήκη τὴν ἐπὶ τέλει γενησομένην τοῦ δεσπότου τῶν ὅλων ἐμφάνειαν προσαγορεύει. ὡς γὰρ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμπτει, ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, καίτοι ὁ υἱὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ὄνομα οὐκ ἔχει τῷ ὑπὲρ πᾶν εἶναι ὄνομα, οὕτως παρὰ πάσης τῆς ὑπερκοσμίου κτίσεως προσκυνεῖσθαι τὸν πρωτότοκον λέγει τὸν δι' ἡμᾶς οὕτως ὠνομασμένον, πάλιν εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην εἰσιόντα, ὅταν κρίνῃ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ λαοὺς ἐν εὐθύτητι. οὕτω διακρίνεται παρὰ τοῦ λόγου τῆς εὐσεβείας τό τε τοῦ πρωτοτόκου καὶ τὸ τοῦ μονογενοῦς σημαινόμενον, ἑκατέρῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων τῆς καταλλήλου σημασίας φυλασσομένης: ὁ δὲ εἰς τὴν προαιώνιον ὕπαρξιν ἀνάγων τοῦ πρωτοτόκου τὸ ὄνομα πῶς διασῴζει τὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἔννοιαν; ὁ συνετὸς ἀκροατὴς ἐπισκεψάσθω, εἰ συμβαίνει ταῦτα πρὸς ἄλληλα, μήτε τοῦ πρωτοτόκου χωρὶς ἀδελφῶν νοουμένου μήτε τοῦ μονογενοῦς μετὰ ἀδελφῶν. ὅταν μὲν γὰρ εἴπῃ ὅτι Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, διὰ τούτου τὸν μονογενῆ ἐνοήσαμεν: ὅταν δὲ ἐπαγάγῃ ὅτι Ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, διὰ τούτου τὸν πρωτότοκον τῇ διανοίᾳ παρεδεξάμεθα: καὶ οὕτως ἀσύγχυτος μένει τῆς εὐσεβείας ὁ λόγος, φυλάσσων ἑκατέρῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων τὰς προσφυεῖς σημασίας, ὡς ἐν μὲν τῷ μονογενεῖ βλέπειν τὸ προαιώνιον, διὰ δὲ τοῦ πρωτοτόκου τῆς κτίσεως τὴν διὰ σαρκὸς τοῦ προαιωνίου φανέρωσιν.