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by Katie Erickson

“It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified:
‘What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
a son of man that you care for him?
You made them a little lower than the angels;
you crowned them with glory and honor
and put everything under their feet.’
In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” -Hebrews 2:5-9

In Hebrews 2:1-4 (last week), we looked at the salvation that we receive through the work of Jesus Christ and how central that teaching is to all of our faith as Christians. This salvation brings us life in the world to come after the end of this world that we live in.

Today’s passage of Hebrew 2:5-9 begins by specifying that this world to come is not for the angels, but it is for mankind. This eternal life we receive through the salvation of Jesus is for us! The word used in verse 5 for “the world” is not the word typically used to refer to the entire created world, but rather it’s a term that generally means land that is inhabited. This inhabited land that is to come is for those of us who believe in the saving work of Jesus Christ.

Next, in verses 6-8a, the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 8:4-6: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet.” For more on the context and content of Psalm 8, check out this post.

One interesting thing about this Scripture quotation is that it’s introduced with the word “testified.” This is unusual for when the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, and this particular word has a meaning of a solemn testimony. These words that follow are to be taken very seriously. This makes it odd that the author makes the quotation vague in that he says “a place where someone has testified.” This is likely because the author of Hebrew is putting the emphasis on these words coming from God and not from their human author.

In this quote from Psalm 8, the author is continuing the theme of referencing the angels and their place in relation to Jesus and to mankind. It is first implied that mankind is not worthy of God’s attention as we are so small and insignificant. But that’s not the case! God made us “a little lower than the angels” - we as humans are the pinnacle of God’s earthly creation, just a little lower than the heavenly beings that He created. We are “crowned with glory and honor.” This shows our splendor and the special way in which God created humans to glorify Him and bear His image. We are honored as being in the supreme place of all that God created.

This place of honor is further shown by the fact that God has put everything under humanity’s feet. We have supremacy and rule over all the created things of this world, and that authority has been given to us only by God, our Creator. However, that is not the way we really see the world functioning. The last part of verse 8 says, “Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.” Even though God created mankind to perfectly rule over all the earth, because of mankind’s fall into sin, that is not how the world works at this time. Although this was God’s original intent, this is not our current reality. We have limitations in this world, and we have pain and suffering as we interact with God’s creation because of our sinfulness.

But, there is good news for us in Jesus! Jesus was “made lower than the angels for a little while” (verse 9), meaning that He became a human and lived this human life with us for a time. Because of what Jesus accomplished while living fully as a human (while also fully God), He is “now crowned with glory and honor.” He suffered through a torturous human death, and He really did taste death even though He was raised again on the third day. This was all by the grace of God; out of God’s supreme love for all of humanity, Jesus was willing to subject His human body to all that torture and physical pain so that we would not have to receive the eternal punishment that we deserve for our disobedience to God.

This passage encompasses the story of salvation. God created us in perfection, but we messed that up and now live in this fallen world. But Jesus, who was and is fully God, joined us in this sinful world in a human body so that He could accomplish the work of salvation, dying for our sins. But He did not stay that way; instead, He is now to be glorified and receive all honor for what He accomplished. We are to give Him glory and honor because of that work and because of its effect for us - that we might receive God’s grace instead of the punishment that we deserve.

How are you giving Jesus all glory and honor in your life? If you are His follower and believe by faith that Jesus accomplished this work for your salvation, what are you doing in your life to live that out today?

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