Who is the image— Adam is said to have been made in the image of God, and dominion given him over the creatures of the earth; by which he became Lord of this lower world. St. Paul, in Philippians 2:6 tells us, that Christ was in the form of God, which gave him dominion over the works of nature, which had their being from, and owe their preservation to his power. Moses gives us an account how Adam fell from the dignity in which he was created, and entailed misery upon his descendants, through his disobedience and vain ambition. St. Paul says, that Christ, through obedience and submission to the will of his Father, has made an atonement, and has set us an example, by which, if the same mind be in us, through his grace, we may recover what is lost. Moses tells us, that Adam was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit, upon the hopes which the tempter gave him, that it would make him like to God. He thought it such an advantageous proposal, that he catched at the opportunity, and eagerly embraced the offer. St. Paul's account is, that Christ, who had a right by nature to appear in the majesty and glory of God, yet voluntarily laid it aside, and lived and died upon earth, in fashion as a man. What Adam got by his bold attempt, we all know; but Christ, for a recompence of his obedience, was highly exalted in his glorified humanity. Adam was, at best, a faint image of God; but Christ was a true, faithful, and infinitely complete image of the wisdom, power, and goodness of his Father. Adam was such an image of God, as the reflection of the sun is, when seen in the water; but Christ was such an image of the sun, as another sun would be, adorned with equal lustre and radiance. The Apostle describes our Redeemer in this and the following verses, in such lofty terms, as evidently bespeak him to be a Divine Person, truly and really God; and consequently the fittest, the only person to undertake so great and glorious a work as the redemption of a perishing world. The Father is always represented in the New Testament as invisible: but Christ is represented as visible; since he actually took upon him flesh, and was seen in the world. Indeed, his being called the image of God, in this place, and 2 Corinthians 4:4 implies his being visible, and that the perfections of the whole Godhead do most eminently shine in him. It is remarkable how expressly Philo, the Jew, in more places than one, calls the Logos, or Word, of which he speaks, the image of God.
Dr. Hammond observes, that the word πρωτοτοκος, besides the ordinary notion of first-born, is used sometimes in scripture for a Lord, or person in power; who hath the privilege of the first-born, dominion over all his brethren; and according to this notion it is used commonly in scripture for a prince, or principal person; (see Psalms 68:27.) and among the civilians, the heir and the lord are synonimous terms. That this is the true sense ofthe word in this place, appears probable, for the following reasons:
1. Because the Apostle immediately adds, for by him were all things created; so that the creation of all things by him is given as a reason for his being πρωτοτοκος, or the first-born. Now it is not a good argument, that, because he created all things, he was therefore himself produced before them; it is sufficient for that purpose, that he had almighty power, and was before them: but it is a very good argument, that, because he created all things, he should therefore be Lord, or Heir of all things. 2nd, Because the same Apostle, Hebrews 1:2 hath stiled the same person Heir of all things; and probably alluded to the same reason, when he added, by whom also he made the worlds. Thirdly, Because the prophesy in Psalms 89:26-27 confirms this interpretation, and shews the true meaning of the word. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation; also I will make him my first-born,— (in the 70: πρωτοτοκος,) higher than the kings of the earth; but, according to the Arian notion, this should have been, He is or was my first-born. See Hebrews 1:6. Revelation 3:14. It may not be amiss to observe, that the word πρωτοτοκος hath yet another signification; and is applied by Homer, Il. P. to an animal that hath brought forth its first young; in which sense it might be applied, without any great impropriety, to the Creator of all things; to Him, who, as it were at the first birth, by the exertion of his creating power, brought forth all things. The words πασης κτισεως, so naturally signifying the whole creation, [as they are translated in Romans 8:22.] (a version which gives a much nobler and more determinate sense than every creature), at least render this interpretation very remarkable. Some translate it the first-born before, or born before all the creation. See Blackwall, S.C. vol. ii, p. 173. Sherlock, vol. 4: dis. 1. Scott's Christian Life, vol. 3: p. 559. Wallis's Sermon on the Resurrection,Tillotson, vol. 1: serm. 43 and "The Doctrine of the Trinity," &c. p. 16.
According to the Arians, the first-born of the whole creation, is the first-made creature. But the reason advanced to prove the Son the first-born of the whole creation, overturns that sense of this passage. For surely the Son's creating all things, does not prove him to be the first-made creature, unless his power of creating all things originated from his being the first-made creature; which no one I think will affirm. As little does the Son's creating all things, prove that he first of all created himself. Yet these absurdities will be established by the Apostle's reasoning, if the first-born of the whole creation signifies the first-made creature.