A53678:984
A continuation of the exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the…
A continuation of the exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews viz, on the sixth, seventh, eight, ninth, and tenth chapters : wherein together with the explication of the text and context, the priesthood of Christ ... are declared, explained and confirmed : as also, the pleas of the Jews for the continuance and perpetuity of their legal worship, with the doctrine of the principal writers of the Socinians about these things, are examined and disproved / by J. Owen ...
London: printed for Nathaniel Ponder, 1680
Exegesis of chapter 7 › Exegesis of verses 1, 2, 3: Ver. 1, 2, 3.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. As it is Distinctive it respects other gods, not in Truth and Reality, but in Reputation. For so there were then Lords many, and Gods many in the World. So they were esteemed by them that made them, and Worshipped them: [Greek or Hebrew] as our Apostle speaks, such as were called gods, 1 Cor. 8. 5. but by Nature were not gods, Gal. 4. 8. They were all Earthly, and though some of them had their Being above, as the Sun, Moon, and Host of Heaven, yet they had all their Deity from beneath; nor ever had it any Existence but in the deluded Imaginations of the Sons of Men. In Opposition unto them, with Distinction from them, God is called the most High God. The World was at that time fallen into all manner of Idolatry. Every Country, every City, every Family almost had made new gods unto themselves. The most general Veneration, as I have elsewhere showed, was then given unto the Sun, and that because he appeared to them on High, or the Highest Being they could apprehend. Hence had he the Name of [Greek or Hebrew] among the Greeks, from [Greek or Hebrew] the High one. In Opposition unto all these gods, and Renunciation of them, Melchizedek professed himself the Priest of the most High God; as Paul Preached at Athens the unknown God in Opposition unto all their known [Greek or Hebrew], or Idols whom they supposed themselves acquainted withal. And whereas God had not yet Revealed himself by any especial Name, as he did afterwards on sundry occasions; (the first he made of that kind being Ell Shaddai, or God Almighty, Gen. 17. 1. as himself Declares, Exod. 6. 3.) Those that feared him made Use of this Title as most comprehensive, as most suited unto their present Faith and Profession. So Abraham Expounds this Title, ver. 22. The most High God, Possessor of Heaven and Earth, which he gives as a Reason why he would not take ought of the King of Sodom, seeing he was the Servant of that God who disposed of all things in Heaven and Earth, and so had no need of Supplies from him: His God could make him Rich without the help of the King of Sodom. Wherefore God under this Consideration of the most High God was the principal Object of the Faith of Believers in those Days.