IV. The last branch of this dominion of Christ consists in the residue of the creation of God,—heaven and earth, sea and land, — wind, trees, and fruits of the earth, and the creatures of sense. As ‘they are all put under his feet, Ps. viii. 6-8; Eph. i, 22; 1 Cor, xv. 27;
VER. 1, 2, EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 69
so the exercise of his power severally over them is known from the story of the gospel.
And thus we have glanced at this lordship of Christ in some of the general parts of it. And how small a portion of his glorious power are we able to comprehend or declare !
A? of nad rod¢ aidivag éroinoey,— By whom also he made the worlds.”
The apostle in these words gives further strength to his present argument, from another consideration of the person of the Messiah ; wherein he also discovers the foundation of the pre-eminence ascribed ~ unto him in the words last insisted on: “ By him the worlds were made;” so that they were “his own,” John i. 11, and it was meet that, in the new condition which he underwent, he should be the Lord of them all. Moreover, if all things be made by him, all dis- obedience unto him is certainly most unreasonable, and will be attended with inevitable ruin ; of the truth whereof the apostle aims to convince the Hebrews.
Now, whereas the assertion which presents itself at first view in these words is such as, if we rightly apprehend the meaning of the Holy Ghost in it, must needs determine the controversy that the apostle had with the Jews, and is of great use and importance unto the faith of the saints in all ages, I shall first free the words from false glosses and interpretations, and then explain the truth asserted in them, both absolutely and with relation to the present purpose of the apostle.
That which some men design in their wresting of this place, is to deface the illustrious testimony given in it unto the eternal deity of the Son of God; and to this purpose they proceed variously.
1. By 6? of, “by whom,” they say, 4/ 6, “ for whom,” is intended. And so the sense of the place is, that “ for Christ, for his sake, God made the world.” So Enjedinus. And Grotius embraceth his notion, adding in its confirmation that this was the opinion of the _ Jews, namely, that all things were made for the Messiah; and there- fore éoiyoe he renders by “ condiderat,” as signifying the time long since past, before the bringing forth of Christ into the world: as also that 4/ of is put for 67 év, in Rom. vi. 4, Rev. iv. 11, xiii. 14, and there- fore may be here so used. According to ¢his exposition of the words, we have in them an expression of the love of God towards the Messiah, in that for his sake he made the world; but not any thing of the excellency, power, and glory of the Messiah himself.
It is manifest that the whole strength of this interpretation lies in this, that 6/ of may be taken for é/ é,—“ by whom,” instead of “ for whom.” But neither is it proved that in any other place these ex- pressions are equipollent; nor, if that could be supposed, is there any reason offered why the one of them should in this place be put for the other; for,—
70 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. I. .
(1.) The places referred unto do no way prove that dé with a genitive doth ever denote the final cause, but the efficient only. With an accusative, for the most part, it is as much as “propter,” signifying the final cause of the thing spoken of; and rarely in the New Testament is it otherwise used. Reyv.iv. 11, Ar& 7d JéAqud oov, “At thy will” or “pleasure,” the efficient and disposing, not the final cause, seems to be denoted; and chap. xiii. 14, Ara r& onusia, “ By the signs that were given him to do,” the formal cause is signified. But that joined with a genitive case it anywhere signifies the final cause, doth not appear: Beza, whom Grotius cites, says on Rom. vi. 4, that ds& dd&ng Tarpés, “by the glory of the Father,” may be taken for cis d0&qy, “ unto the glory.” But the case is not the same where things as where persons are spoken of. 0% here relates unto a person, and yet is ds, joined with it, asserted to denote the end of the things spoken of; which is insolent. Besides, d0& Marpé¢ in that place is indeed the glorious power of the Father, the efficient of the resurrection of Christ treated of. So that whereas d:é is used six hundred times with a genitive case in the New Testament, no one instance can be given where it may be rendered “ propter,” “for;” and therefore cannot be so here.
(2.) On supposition that some such instance might be produced, yet, being contrary to the constant use of the word, some cogent reason from the text wherein it is used, or the thing treated of, must be urged to give that sense admittance; and nothing of that nature is or can be here pleaded.