The Puritan Exegesis Project: John Owen on Hebrews 2:6

Last time we caught a glimpse of the heavenly host in Revelation 11. William Cowper’s exposition crossed over to an impressive meditation and exhortation in concert with modern standards and future rewards. Having been impressed with the beatific vision which peeks behind the infinite vale of moon, stars, and sky, we marvel with the Psalmist, the Apostle, John Owen, Blaise Pascal, and Samuel Terrien: ‘What is man, that thou art mindful of him?’

Psalm 8 is a “Hymn to the Marvel of the Name,” says Terrien (Eerdmans Critical Commentary, 2003), rejoicing in the “unfolding of the theology” of God’s name as creator and re-creator. The prelude (vs. 1) and postlude (vs. 10) encapsulate the greatness and fragility of humankind contrasted with the greatness and perfection of the person and work of God. At the center of the comparison is the paradox of suffering, the enigma that God cares for his world, transcends it, yet allows catastrophic natural events to occur throughout history. Terrien summarizes the Psalm’s paradox of God’s exultation in human weakness (vs. 2) citing Pascal’s view of man as a novelty, monster, chaos, and contradiction: When human beings forget their creatureliness, writes Terrien, they move toward self-destruction.

Where Terrien’s organization is brief and concise, highlighting variants with good judgment in short space, Owen is exhaustive. Yet for all the details, citations, and Ramist subsections, the telos of the passage is more firmly comprehended in Owen than in the NIGTC. All the sources agree that Christ fulfils the dominion ascribed to ‘the son of man’ comprehended in Psalm 8, including the ‘world to come’ which is exclusive of fallen man. The whole world groans for bondage, writes Owen, and hence, “by our own observation, may easily discern that [Psalm 8]” does not respect human dominion over the earth, but Christ’s dominion over all things.” The apostle wrote “We do not yet see everything in subjection to him (ESV)” (vs. 8) but thanks to St. John’s Revelation 11:15 and some small thanks to William Cowper and Dr. Beale, our understanding and imagination have a little more foothold on what this is.

“The apostle doth not merely take it for granted that Jesus was for a little while made lower than the angels, but asserts it as proved in the testimony insisted on [Ps. 8] … And, indeed, we have here the sum of the gospel and doctrine of it, concerning the person and work of the Messiah: [1] That the salvation and deliverance that God had promised and intended to accomplish by the Messiah was spiritual and eternal from sin, death, Satan, and hell, ending in everlasting glory; not temporal and carnal, with respect unto the world and the concomitants of it in this life … [2] That this salvation could be no otherwise wrought nor brought about but by the incarnation, suffering, and death of the Messiah; not in especial by arms, war, and mighty power, as the people were of old led into Canaan under the conduct of Joshua, the captain of that salvation, as some expected yet to be saved and delivered by the Messiah.” (Owen, XIX, 356)

Owen reminds us that with a view into the theology of God’s name deep humility is required as both a required spiritual exercise and a step towards communion with God.