In Acts 13:32-39 we see Christ as the Firstborn of God, who was promised to the fathers and was begotten by God in resurrection to be His Firstborn. As the Firstborn of God, He is the holy and faithful things of David. Through such a One, forgiveness of sins is announced, and whoever believes in Him is justified from all things.
In Acts 13:32-33 Paul says, “We announce to you the gospel of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fully fulfilled this promise to us their children in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; this day have I begotten You.’” Here we see that Christ as the Firstborn of God was promised to the fathers, and God fulfilled this promise to their children in raising up Jesus. Resurrection was a birth to the man Jesus. He was begotten by God in His resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God among many brothers (Rom. 8:29). He was the only begotten Son of God from eternity (John 1:18; 3:16). After incarnation, through resurrection, He was begotten by God in His humanity to be God’s firstborn Son.
Paul was able to see the Lord’s resurrection in the word in Psalm 2: “You are My Son; / Today I have begotten You” (v. 7). Paul applied the word today to the day of the Lord’s resurrection. This means that Christ’s resurrection was His birth as the firstborn Son of God. Jesus, the Son of Man, was born to be the Son of God through being raised up from the dead. Therefore, God’s raising up of Jesus from the dead was His begetting of Him to be His firstborn Son. We need to realize that the Lord’s resurrection was His birth.
The Lord Jesus had two births. First, He was born of Mary to be the Son of Man. Then thirty-three and a half years later He was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. Through resurrection He had a second birth, for as a man He was born in His resurrection to be the Son of God. Therefore, in His first birth He was born of Mary to be the Son of Man, and in His second birth He was born in resurrection to be the Son of God.
In His second birth the Lord Jesus was born to be the firstborn Son of God. According to the New Testament, He is the Son of God in two aspects. First, He was God’s only begotten Son; second, He is now God’s firstborn Son. The words only begotten indicate that God has only one Son. John 1:18 and 3:16 speak of the only begotten Son of God. Eternally speaking, Christ is the only begotten Son of God. This is His eternal status. But through resurrection He, as a man, was born to be the firstborn Son of God. The word firstborn indicates that God now has many sons (Heb. 2:10). Romans 8:29 and Hebrews 1:6 both speak of Christ as the Firstborn. We who believe in Christ are the many sons of God and the many brothers of the Lord, the many brothers of the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29).
As the only begotten Son of God, the Lord is the embodiment of the divine life. The Gospel of John emphasizes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that as the Son of God He is the embodiment of the divine life (1:4). Through resurrection Christ became the firstborn Son of God as the life-dispenser for the propagation of life. First, He was the only begotten Son as the embodiment of life; now He is the firstborn Son for the propagation of life. Through His becoming the firstborn Son of God in resurrection, the divine life has been dispensed into all of His believers to bring forth the propagation of the life which is embodied in Him.
Here in Acts 13 Paul was not preaching Christ as the only begotten Son of God, as the Gospel of John does. Rather, here Paul was preaching Christ as the firstborn Son of God for propagation. For this reason, he preached the resurrection of the Lord Jesus as His second birth. Through His second birth, His birth in resurrection, Christ became the firstborn Son of God for the propagation of the divine life.