ALL THINGS PUT UNDER THE FEET OF MAN

ALL THINGS PUT UNDER THE FEET OF MAN

Let us now consider the passages which speak of the dominion of man, and of the union of the church with Christ in that dominion.⁺ It clearly results, from the terms in which they are worded, that their accomplishment has not yet taken place. All these passages rest on Psalm 8. There the Holy Ghost says, “Thou hast ... crowned him” (man, the Son of man) “with glory and honour, ... thou hast put all things under his feet”; then He tells us (Hebrews 2: 7, 8, 9) that this is not seen as yet, but that Jesus has been “crowned with glory and honour,” that He might be pointed out to the church as the one who, as man, is to have all things put under His feet. Meanwhile, and until the purposes of God are accomplished, until the enemies of Christ, who hold the power in unrighteousness, are made to be His footstool — in a word, during the period of the present dispensation — Christ is seated on the right hand of the Majesty on high; He sits, as having overcome, at the right hand of God the Father. It is thus that He will grant to him that overcometh, to sit on His own throne (Revelation 3: 21), when He takes possession of it and reigns.

Ephesians 1: 17 to 2: 7 shews us the church united to Christ in all these circumstances, according to the working of the might by which Christ was raised from the dead; chapter 2: 7 points out the cause, the glorious motive of it. In chapter 1: 22 we find again the quotation of Psalm 8: “And hath put all things under his feet.” The apostle adds: “And gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

⁺Note to translation. — The association with Christ, we must remember, is more blessed than the dominion which flows from it.

^[p. 270] Thus, therefore, the church is united to Christ, as a body of which He is the Head, and under whose feet God has put all things. “Christ is head over all things to the church, which is his body.” See the Greek. As to this character, it is as having been raised from the dead that He possesses it, as the passage itself clearly establishes. But this last point is treated in a special way in 1 Corinthians 15, in which we find again the quotation from Psalm 8.

“Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom [that which He possesses as being risen, which is the subject of the chapter] to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet: But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject [always as last Adam, as risen man; for it is always in this character that He is spoken of in this chapter] unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all,”⁺ 1 Corinthians 15: 21-28.

Christ, in His character of risen man, reigns therefore over a kingdom which He will deliver up, that God may be all in all. All this administration, and this human dominion, which is brought out in Psalm 8, comes to an end, that the glory of God, simply, may be universal. As to the way in which these things are accomplished other passages present it to us.

⁺God, but not Christ, considered under the aspect of His mediatorial character. It is not said, “that the Father may be all in all”; because, although Christ delivers up the kingdom as Man-mediator, He is none the less God over all things, blessed eternally with the Father and the Holy Ghost.