FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN

Few portions of scripture state the blessedness of believers so clearly. Assisted by the special influences of the Spirit in prayer, we also read that all things are so ordered by the will of God as to contribute to the present and ultimate good of those who love Him. Immediately, however, Paul indicates that our love for God is not the beginning of the matter, rather His eternal foreknowledge and foreordination (RV) of His elect to be conformed to the image of His Son. And what is His ultimate purpose? ‘That he might be the firstborn among many brethren’.

Our Lord is designated ‘firstborn’ five times in the New Testament. He is firstborn in relation to creation, Col. 1. 15, 18; firstborn from the dead and head of the new creation, Rev. 1. 5; here, in Romans chapter 8, in relation to the redeemed family; and, finally, so described in the context of His second coming, Heb. 1. 6. In each passage, the term refers not to priority of birth but rather to distinction and pre-eminence. As surely as God said it was not good for the man to be alone, Gen. 2.18, He has determined that our blessed Lord should not be alone in enjoying the privileges of sonship, but that He should be the head of a multitude of brothers - even those who through Him have become the sons of God by adoption.

W. E. Vine wrote: ‘that Christ is spoken of as ?the firstborn among many brethren”ù indicates that He is the pattern, or type, to which they are to be conformed in a relationship in which, since He is the only begotten Son, He stands in priority and superiority to them, and, being the firstborn, He stands in His glorified position as pre-eminent over them’. On the one hand we have the pre-eminence of Christ; on the other, the fact that He shares His privileges with His brethren. We do well to recognise both truths; cf. John 20.17.

So what are the implications for us? Whilst our eternal blessings are in the foreground of this passage, we are reminded that all God’s counsels focus on honouring His Son. Our foreordination is not so much to a place as to complete moral conformity to the Son of God. May we allow this divine objective to master and mould our ambitions even now.