In his summary of Psalm 8, Theodore Beza (1519–1605) intertwines the teaching that the God of creation is the God of redemption with the doctrine of Christ’s two natures in the unity of his person. Beza demonstrates another example of a Christocentric hermeneutic in which the “exaltation” of humankind receives its meaning through the unity of Christ’s person such that those who believe in him are reestablished in the mission and ministry that God created human beings for.
Beza was a French Protestant of many talents. He made an early name for himself as a poet in Latin, then wrote the first work of French drama before becoming a disciple of Calvin and then a noted theologian and biblical scholar.
This psalm gives thanks to God for two excellent benefits bestowed on humankind: creation in Adam and restoration in Christ. Although that man, Adam, by his own fault tarnished that preeminence in which he was created, still vestiges of that dignity survive [in that] he is preeminent over all beasts and has a certain power of life and death over them, and also in that special providence by which God embraces humankind. But in that second state, the eternal Son of God has exalted human nature—having been assumed in the unity of his person—after all human infirmity had been laid on him, so that he would make all believers partakers of his dignity. To them alone he grants that in this life they should have the light of true wisdom and that they may enjoy all created things in this world with good conscience. That is the true goal of this psalm, as interpreted by the Holy Spirit himself.
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