2:5 For he didn’t subject the world to come, of which we speak, to angels.
Having completed his detour into the consequences of neglecting the truths which he is teaching, the writer now returns to his previous argument, that in every way Christ is vastly superior to the angels. Previously he has presented Christ as the rightful King, now he turns to the other side of that truth. A king is still king, regardless of whether or not his subjects are truly in subjection to him. However, the time is coming when all will acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, and bow the knee before Him. (Philippians 2:9-11)
God has not done this for any angel. There has never been a time when God has made man subject to the rule of angels. Even though, through the fall, man effectively handed the rule of earth over to a fallen angel, satan, this was never God’s purpose.
the world to come
Many commentators see this as referring to the Church, but surely the Church is only the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s plans. He tolerates insubordination in the world at the present time, waiting for the full number of those who will willingly submit their lives to Christ to come in; but the time is coming when the choices will be final, and the rebellious will be driven out from His presence.
v. 6But one has somewhere testified, saying,
“What is man, that you think of him?
Or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels.
You crowned him with glory and honor.
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”
Uncomfortable though it seems to us in the western world, trained as we have been to quote our sources carefully, the almost off-handed way in which the writer refers to the source of this quote (“someone”, “somewhere”) was quite common in the ancient world. He expected that his readers, well schooled in the Hebrew Scriptures, would have no difficulty in recognizing the quote, which is from Psalm 8:4-6.
what is man
The Hebrew is much richer at this point than the Greek, and the word used for man means “weak, wretched or miserable” man. As the Psalmist looked at himself and the world around him he recognized his own weak, sinful nature, and that of the rest of mankind, and wondered why a God big enough to create the vastness of the heavens would bother Himself with such a failing and insignificant creature.
You made him a little lower than the angels
The Psalmist then answered his own question: God had regard for man because He had made him a little lower than the angels. The word used for angels in the Hebrew is “elohim”, which may be applied to either God or the angels, and because of this some people have suggested that this verse should be read “You have made him a little lower than God.” However, the writer to the Hebrews clearly translates it as “angels”, and on the principle that we should always interpret Scripture by Scripture, this is how we must understand it.
“A little lower” may mean either lower in position, or lower for a little while. To me, it seems that the two meanings can stand together: in creating man, God gave him a kind of “probationary” status in which, for a period, he would be in a position lower than that of the heavenly beings. This was still an incredibly high position, in rank, in power, and in authority. What’s more, God who knew the end from the beginning knew that it was always His intention to ultimately seat man “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6) from which he would judge the angels. (1 Corinthians 6:3) Clearly it was not God’s intention that man would forever remain in a position lower than that of the angels. He was placed there for a time, to test his obedience and to prepare him for the rulership to come. It is also clear that the angels to whom man was “made a little lower” were the holy angels of God, not the fallen angels, satan and his hordes.
Even in that probationary state, man had been crowned with glory and honor. He was made in God’s likeness, to be just like Him. When the rest of the earthly creation looked at man, they would see something of the glory of God, and they were to honor him as God’s representative, God’s vice-regent, on the earth.
In making man His vice-regent, God placed him over all the earthly creation. He was to subdue the world and rule over it: to make sure that every sentient creature on earth was subject to him, and indeed that even the earth itself obeyed his commands. When Jesus spoke of one with faith being able to cast a mountain into the sea, He was giving a glimpse of the kind of authority and power that was originally given to man. Everything on the planet was to be in subjection to him.
Verse 8b. For in that he subjected all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we don’t see all things subjected to him, yet.
Having completed the quote, the writer re-states the final line for emphasis. All means all. There was nothing on the planet that God did not make subject to Adam.
What he doesn’t say, but we need to understand, is that included the serpent. Satan had already fallen and been cast down to earth, where it was God’s intention that he should come under the authority of the man whom He had created to rule in His place.
Unless we understand that, we will not fully understand the great chasm that exists between the first sentence of this verse and the second. God’s intention was that all things should be under man’s feet, but when we look at the world around us, it seems that more often than not all things are on top of man. What happened? Very simply, man failed to take the position of authority he had been given over the fallen angel who had been placed under him. Instead, he listened to satan’s lies and effectively brought the creation into subjection to him. So now, instead of the world being subject to man, it is subject to the devil and the demonic forces. God never intended for the world to be ruled even by the elect angels, yet because of man’s rebellion it came to be ruled by fallen angels!
Verse 9. But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone.
But we see Jesus… what a triumphant statement! Man’s rebellion and disobedience was not the end. Satan’s unauthorized rule over the planet was not to continue. God had a plan! Where man had failed, another Man would come who would not fail.
God could not undo what man had done; only man could. Thus it was necessary for another Man to come in the same position as the original man, with the same mandate and the same authority, and to endure the same test. Therefore the One who created the angels became, for a little while, lower in position than them. This was not His natural position, nor was it His eternal position. Rather, it was a temporary, voluntary stepping down in order to lift man up. It seems there were those at the time who considered Christ to be less than the angels, firstly because He was human and secondly because He died. How could a man, whom God’s Word said He had made “a little lower than the angels” be above them? How could One who died be superior to those who could not die? The very ordinariness of Jesus in His earthly life made it difficult for many to accept Who He was.
So the writer quickly points out two things: Firstly, this was for a purpose, the suffering of death. As God, the Son could not suffer death, for God cannot die. Even had He come as an angel, He would not have been able to die. Only as man could He do the one thing most necessary to reconcile man with God. Secondly, we see Him not merely as a man dying on a cross, but crowned with glory and honor. The abasement was only temporary, a necessity to fulfill God’s purposes; the glory will continue forever.
that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone.
Just as His humanity was necessary in order for Jesus to be able to identify with mankind, and thus become the sin bearer, His divinity was necessary for the scope of that sacrifice. Had He been only man, even in His sinlessness He would only have been able to die for one other person. One human life is worth one human life. Only because He was God, and therefore infinite, was He able to represent the vast number of people who have lived and will live throughout the history of the world. One infinite life is worth an infinite number of human lives.
His resurrection and glorification are the evidence that salvation has indeed been accomplished for all mankind.