P. Derek Overfield PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

Before leaving the citation in Hebrews we should
note one further purpose that the psalm achieved for
the author:
it gave him scriptural warrant for his
understanding of Christ as the representative of
mankind. This will be of some significance in the
interpretation of Eph 1:23. 120
Turning to 1 Cor 15:27 we find that an
interpretation of the psalm which emphasises the
exaltation of Chris~
and, more explicitly, the future
subjection of all things to him.
No attempt is made
by exegetical method to show that this is how the
psalm is intended to be understood by the community.
Paul takes this interpretation of the psalm as his
starting point and then restricts his exposition to
an assessment of the .. a.
?to.v'ta. that are subj ect to
Christ.
The last thing to be subjected is death:
as a result of the exaltation of Christ death itself
will be destroyed because Christ was exalted from
death.
The fact that 1 Cor 15:27 uses as its
point of departure the understanding of Ps 8:6 that
is advanced by the author of Hebrews leads us to
conclude that, since on all counts Hebrews is later
than 1 Corinthians, the author of Hebrews uses in
his argument in 2:8b-9 a traditional understanding
of the LXX of Ps 8:6, while Paul in 1 Cor 15:27 uses
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