Pagan gets two articles first (7)
I believe the answer is:
atheist
'pagan' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'two articles first' is the wordplay.
'two articles' can mean two substitutions for 'articles'.
'articles' says to put letters next to each other.
'articles' becomes 'a the' ('a' and 'the', indefinite and definite articles).
'first' becomes 'ist' (ist resembles 1st).
'athe' put next to 'ist' is 'ATHEIST'.
'gets' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for atheist that I've seen before include "Someone who denies the existence fo God" , "I don't believe" , "One disbelieving in the existence of God or gods" , "One who disbelieves the existence of gods" , "One doesn't believe" .)