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Eunom. iv., Migne, Patr. Gr. xlv. p. 634; comp. c. Eunom. ii., id. p. 504.)

The advantage of taking pavlin as ‘on the other hand’ is that the words then bring into one category the many preparatory introductions of the ‘firstborn’ into the world together with the final one. But one main object of the Epistle is to meet a feeling of present disappointment. The first introduction of the Son into the world, described in Heb. 1:2, had not issued in an open triumph and satisfied men's desires, so that there was good reason why the writer should point forward specially to the Return in which Messiah's work was to be consummated. On the whole therefore the connexion of pavlin with eijsagavgh/ seems to be the more likely construction. In any case the o{tan eijsagavgh/ must refer to this.
o{tan ... eijsagavgh/ ] The Latin rendering cum introducit ( inducit ), which has deeply coloured the Western interpretation of the phrase, is wholly untenable. In other places the construction is rightly rendered by the fut. exact., e.g. Matt. 5:11 cum male dixerint; 19:28 cum sederit & c., and so in 1 Cor. 15:26 many authorities read cum dixerit.

The construction of o{tan with aor. subj. admits of two senses. It may describe a series of events reaching into an indefinite future, each occurrence being seen in its completeness (Matt. 5:11; 10:19; Mark 4:15; Luke 6:22; James 1:2); or it may describe the indefiniteness of a single event in the future seen also in its completeness (John 16:4; Acts 24:22; 1 Cor. 15:28). (The difference between the pres. subj. and the aor. subj. with o{tan is well seen in John 7:27, 31; 16:21.)

In other words o{tan ... eijsagavgh/ must look forward to an event (or events) in the future regarded as fulfilled at a time (or times) as yet undetermined. It cannot describe an event or a series of events, already completed in the past. We may, that is, when we render the phrase exactly ‘whenever he shall have introduced,’ contemplate each partial and successive introduction of the Son into the world leading up to and crowned by the one final revelation of His glory, or this final manifestation alone (comp. Col. 3:4; 2 Thess. 1:10).

If, as seems most likely, the pavlin is joined with eijsagavgh/ , then the second interpretation must be taken.

It follows that all interpretations which refer this second introduction of the Son into the world to the Incarnation are untenable, as, for example, that of Primasius: Ipsam assumptionem carnis appellat alterum introitum; dum enim qui invisibilis erat humanis aspectibus (John 1:10) assumpta carne visibilem se probavit quasi iterum introductus est.

Nor indeed was the Incarnation in this connexion the first introduction of Christ into the world. We must look for that rather in the Resurrection when for a brief space He was revealed in the fulness of His Manhood triumphant over death and free from the limitations of earth, having victoriously fulfilled the destiny of humanity. For the present He has been withdrawn from hJ oijkoumevnh , the limited scene of man's present labours; but at the Return He will enter it once more with sovereign triumph (Acts 1:11).
to;n prwtovtokon ] Vulg. primogenitum. The word is used absolutely of Christ here only (comp. Ps. 89:28 (88:28), LXX.). Its usage in other passages,

Rom. 8:29 pr. ejn polloi'" ajdelfoi'" , comp. Col. 1:15 pr. pavsh" ktivsew" , Apoc. 1:5 oJ pr. tw'n nekrw'n ,


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