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Romans 8:29 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The fact that "[we are] to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" is reinforced in Hebrews 2:10, "[Christ is the archegos] in bringing many sons to glory." Also consider Colossians 1:18: "He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He may have the pre-eminence." This adds something to Romans 8:29—that Jesus Christ experienced this birth by means of a resurrection. He is the firstborn from the dead. Through this resurrection He became glorified, transformed, or changed from physical and mortal like the humanity in whose image He was made. He became a man to become glorified as God! We can follow this same path. God has given us the natural and physical world to understand things of the spiritual world. He has given us these things so that we will not be in doubt of the process, God's great purpose, that He is working out. One of these physical processes that point to the spiritual is the human birth process. When a baby is born, is it any less human than its parents? It has less age, less authority, less knowledge, less skill, less development, but it is not less human! The Greek prefix in "firstborn" is proto, and it means "first, earliest, in front, beyond, ahead." Does it indicate pre-eminence? Certainly! In the entire Bible, the principle of the pre-eminence of the firstborn is clear. However, it also indicates that others will be following Him in birth as well. If there is a firstborn, there will be a second. The scripture guarantees it! He is the firstborn of many brethren, born by means of a resurrection. He is now God! He is the prototype! Others will follow the prototype in birth by resurrection. Are these, born just as the prototype was, any less than the parent? In this case, less God? Will they be any less than the Elder Brother? Yes, they will have less age, less authority, less skill, less development. They will never have the pre-eminence of the Father or their Elder Brother, the Son. But that does not make them any less God—just as a baby born to a human parent is no less human than his parents! Putting Romans 8:29 together with Hebrews 2:14, 17 we see that Christ was transformed, glorified through the resurrection from the dead. Even as Christ is shown to have fully shared in our human lot, we—His brethren, born by means of a resurrection—will fully share in His transformed and glorified nature! What an awesome thing!
John W. Ritenbaugh
We Shall Be God! (Part 2)
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