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Heb_2:8. Πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ ] All things didst Thou put in subjection under His feet. In the psalm these words refer to the dominion which God has conferred upon man over the earth, and indeed specially (comp. Psa_8:8-9 [7, 8]) over the whole animal world. The author of the epistle, on the other hand, taking πάντα in the absolute sense, understands them of the dominion over the universe which has been conferred upon Christ, the Son of man. Comp. Mat_28:18.
With ἐν γὰρ τῷ ὑποτάξαι … ἀνυπόακτον the author still dwells on the closing words of the citation: πάντα ὑπέταξας κ . τ . λ ., in order by way of elucidation to unfold its contents, and thus to place in clearer light the truth of the main thought expressed Heb_2:5-8. γάρ consequently refers back to that which immediately precedes, and the supposition of Tholuck—that ἐν γὰρ τῷ ὑποτάξαι κ . τ . λ ., as the clause which affords the proof, is parenthetically preposed to the νῦν δὲ κ . τ . λ ., as the clause which is to be proved, so that the connection would be: “but now we see not yet all things made subject to Him; for, according to the declaration of the psalm, all things without exception are subject to Him”—is to be rejected as entirely unnecessary; quite apart from the fact that no instance of such parenthetical preposing of an elucidatory clause with γάρ is to be found anywhere in the N. T. (not in Joh_4:44-45 either), although not rare with classical writers (comp. Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 467; Kühner, Gramm. II. p. 454). Nor does γάρ stand for οὖν (Heinrichs, Stengel), but is the explicative namely. The subject in ὑποτάξαι , further, is not David, the singer of the psalm (Heinrichs), but God; and the emphasis rests upon the opposition between τὰ πάντα and οὐδέν . The threefold αὐτᾷ , finally, relates not to man in general (Beza [Piscator: the believers], Schlichting, Grotius, Owen, Whitby, Storr, Kuinoel, Ebrard, Delitzsch, Alford, Moll, Hofmann, Woerner, and others), but to the Son of man, and that not merely as regards its signification (Masch, Bleek, de Wette), but—as is shown by the Ἰησοῦν , only incidentally added, Heb_2:9—to the Son of man as He appeared in Christ as an historical person (Calvin, Gerhard, Calov, Seb. Schmidt, Wittich, Peirce, Schulz, Tholuck, Klee, Stuart, Conybeare, Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 364; Kurtz, Ewald, al.). The sense is accordingly: by the fact, namely, that God made all things subject to Christ, the Son of man, He left nothing that is not subjected unto Him; it is thus also—this natural inference the author leaves to the readers themselves to make—to Him, the Son of man, and not to the angels, that ἡ οἰκουμένη ἡ μέλλουσα (Heb_2:5), which is only a part of that τὰ πάντα , is subjected; nay, the angels themselves, seeing that all things have been put in subjection under Him, are themselves subject to Him.
With νῦν δὲ οὔπω ὁρῶμεν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ὑποτεταγμένα the author limits the immediately preceding declaration by an admission, by which, however, as is then further shown, Heb_2:9, the correctness of the former assertion as to the actual state of the matter suffers no infringement: now, however,—that must be conceded,—we see not yet all things subjected unto Him. For we are as yet in the condition of the earthly body; as yet the kingdom of God is only partially established; as yet it has to wage warfare with many enemies (comp. Heb_10:12-13; 1Co_15:24-27). We shall see that all things have been made subject to Christ by God the Father only when Christ shall have returned for the consummation of the kingdom of God.