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and characteristics, ‘the Kingdom of God,’ or ‘the Kingdom of heaven,’ even the order which corresponds with the completed work of Christ. Compare Heb. 6:5 ( mevllwn aijwvn ), 13:14 ( hJ mevllousa [ povli" ]) notes. Is. 9:6. hJ oijkoumevnh ] The word is used for the world so far as it is ‘a seat of settled government,’ ‘the civilised world.’ Thus in Greek writers it is used characteristically for the countries occupied by Greeks, as distinguished from those occupied by ‘barbarians’ (Herod. 4.110; Dem. de Cor. p. 242; [ de Halonn. ] p. 85 f.), and at a later time for the Roman empire (Philo, Leg. ad Cai. § 45; 2.598 M.).

Hence it came to be used even of a limited district defined, as we should say, by a specific civilisation (Jos. Antt. 8.13, 4 peripevmya" kata; pa'san th;n oijkoumevnhn tou;" zhthvsonta" to;n profhvthn jHleivan ). Comp. Luke 2:1; Ex. 16:35 e{w" h\lqon eij" th;n oijkoumevnhn [Alex. gh'n oijk. ] ‘to the borders of the land of Canaan’: compare Euseb. H. E. 7.31, 2 ejk th'" Persw'n ejpi; th;n kaqj hJma'" oijkoumevnhn ...And on the other hand it was used to describe the whole world as occupied by man (Luke 4:5 [D tou' kovsmou ]; Matt. 24:14; Apoc. 16:14); and men as occupants of the world (Acts 17:31; 19:27; Apoc. 3:10; 12:9). Comp. Wisd. 1:7 pneu'ma kurivou peplhvrwke th;n oijkoumevnhn . It was therefore perfectly fitted to describe the Christian order under the aspect of a moral, organised system: comp. Heb. 1:6.

The word is found in St Paul only Rom. 10:18 (Ps. 19:5). peri; h|" lal. ] which is the subject of the whole writing. The thought has been already announced in Heb. 1:2 klhronovmon pavntwn .

Heb. 2:6-8 a. The promise. The promise of universal sovereignty was confirmed to man in a passage of Scripture (Ps. 8:5-7) which fully recognises his infirmity. His weakness is first confessed (Heb. 2:6); and then his triple divine endowment of nature, honour, dominion (2:7, 8 a).

Psalm 8 is referred to by the Lord Matt. 21:16 (comp. Matt. 11:25; 1 Cor. 1:27), and by St Paul 1 Cor. 15:27. Comp. Eph. 1:22.

It is not, and has never been accounted by the Jews to be, directly Messianic; but as expressing the true destiny of man it finds its accomplishment in the Son of Man and only through Him in man. It offers the ideal (Gen. 1:27-30) which was lost by Adam and then regained and realised by Christ.

Clement speaks of the application of the words of the Psalm to man by some: ouj ga;r ejpi; tou' kurivou ejkdevcontai th;n grafh;n kaivtoi kajkei'no" savrka e[feren : ejpi; de; tou' teleivou kai; gnwstikou', tw'/ crovnw/ kai; tw'/ ejnduvmati ejlattoumevnou para; tou;" ajggevlou" ( Strom. 4.3 § 8, p. 566).

And so Chrysostom: tau'ta eij kai; eij" th;n koinh;n ajnqrwpovthta ei[rhtai, ajllj o{mw" kuriwvteron aJrmovseien a]n tw'/ Cristw'/ kata; savrka ( Hom.
iv. § 2).

And Theodoret: to; de; tiv ejstin a[nqrwpo" ;’ ei[rhtai me;n peri; th'" koinh'" fuvsew", aJrmovttei de; th'/ ejx hJmw'n ajparch'/, wJ" oijkeioumevnh" ta; pavsh" th'" fuvsew" : ta; de; hJmevtera oijkeiouvmeno" stovma th'" fuvsew" gevgonen . aujto;" ga;r ta;" aJmartiva" hJmw'n e[labe kai; ta;" novsou" ejbavstase ( ad loc. ).

One peculiar difficulty meets us in the use made of the Psalm by the writer of the Epistle. The thought expressed in the original by the words rendered in the LXX. hjlavttwsa" aujto;n bracuv ti parj ajggevlou" is that of the nobility of man's nature which falls but little short of the divine. The words on


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