The Son Made Lower than Angels
a“What is man that You are mindful of him,
Or the son of man that You take care of him?
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
1And set him over the works of Your hands.
Bringing Many Sons to Glory
a“I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”
a“I will put My trust in Him.” And again:
b“Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”
| << Hebrews 2:4 | Hebrews 2:6 >> |
What Does Hebrews 2:5 Mean?
Hebrews 2:5-8
As Paul writes in I Corinthians 2:9, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." At the resurrection, we will be given the very nature of God and crowned with glory and power. The apostle John confirms in I John 3:2 that "when He is revealed, we shall be like Him." Thus, when our glorification comes, we will have an incorruptible, heavenly body (see I Corinthians 15:50-54). God will give us our inheritance, and it is no small thing—indeed, the author of Hebrews says it will be everything! We will go from nothing—less than nothing—to having "all things put under [us]"! Without a doubt, the incredible human potential in God's plan is the ultimate "rags to riches" story!
The huge gulf—that massive chasm between God's awesome greatness and our shameful insignificance—will be bridged. We will be full-fledged sons and daughters of God, presented "holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight" (Colossians 1:22). We will be one with God, never to be sundered by sin and death from God the Father and His Son.
Understanding this fact of our astounding potential, combined with the humility to recognize our current inadequacy, should motivate us to do as Hebrews 12:14-15 urges: "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord; looking carefully, lest anyone should fall short of the grace of God. . . ." In addition, Hebrews 2:1 advises us, "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away." Clearly, we could fail to reach the goal that God has set before us, so we cannot simply rely on God's mercy and grace to allow us to slip across the finish line. Notice that the apostle uses such action words as "pursue," "look . . . carefully," and "give . . . earnest heed."
Jesus gives us a template of godly virtues in Matthew 5, known as "The Beatitudes." They are each made up of two clauses, the first being a blessing on one who exhibits a certain virtue, and the second, a reward that results from the virtue. Each virtue contains an element of humility, whereas each reward is part of our glorification. Our Savior, in showing us the way, emphasizes first humility, then glorification. This principle is reflected elsewhere. Proverbs 15:33 reads, "The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility." The apostle Peter writes, "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (I Peter 5:6). Notice the Beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3-10)
He ends where He began, with the promise of inheriting God's Kingdom. If we want to live and rule with God for eternity, we need to develop these holy, righteous character traits, and we start with knowing where we stand in relation to Him: We are nothing, and He is everything (see Colossians 3:11). Once we have this firmly, unshakably anchored in our minds, then with God's help, we can begin building the character necessary to live as He does. In Hebrews 6:1, the apostle calls this challenging and life-consuming work "go[ing] on to perfection" (see also Romans 12:1-2). This is the period of our sanctification—our being made holy.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Unique Greatness of Our God (Part Six)
Hebrews 2:5-10
Now, since we are co-heirs with Christ, we are co-heirs with Him of all things—everything that God made through Jesus Christ: the universe and everything that is in it! Are we, in the rush of life, forgetting who we are? Are we neglecting the fact that God will turn the governance of the things He has made—this awesome universe—over into our hands? When that happens, we will not be as poor and pitifully weak as we are now.
But we should not undervalue what we are. If we do, we will not take Passover in the right attitude, because what Passover represents was done for us so that we would be in a position to inherit all things. We do not have to feel like we just crawled from under a rock! We have been blessed beyond our wildest imaginations, but for now in God's plan, we are a little lower than Elohim. Yet, what a future lies before us!
Even now, we are the "apple of God's eye," the focus of His attention. We are so important to Him that His Son died for us. Truly, He died for the whole world, but right now, before He calls and converts the whole world, it is for you and me that the Creator died so that we could become co-heirs with Him. He wants to share what He made with us because He likes what He made. It is beautiful and has awesome potential, and just as any artist who makes something beautiful wants to share his creation with others, so does Jesus Christ, so that we can appreciate it and emulate it in our own works.
John W. Ritenbaugh
A Pre-Passover Look
Hebrews 2:5-8
Ultimately, it is God's purpose to put resurrected Christians in charge of the entirety of the universe! We will be ruling over all of God's creation as members of the God Family throughout all eternity! The idea that a Christian's reward is "going to heaven" is far short of the reality of our true reward. God has promised us an eternal, abundant life of challenge, creativity, and achievement that excels man's limited ability to comprehend!
Earl L. Henn
Basic Doctrines: The Reward of the Saved
Hebrews 2:5-9
Most Bibles capitalize pronouns that refer to Deity, yet here, the translators have not capitalized the many occurrences of the pronoun “him”! Notice that “son of man” in verse 6, unlike its many appearances in the gospels referring to Jesus, is also not capitalized. Why not here? The answer is simple: Paul does not intend us to understand this prophecy to be referring only to Jesus Christ but to “man”!
David and the author of Hebrews understood exactly what God was saying. The psalm has humans in mind, not just Jesus. Some commentators believe that Paul describes Christ alone in verses 6-8, but a close reading shows that he follows David's broader description of human potential until verse 9. There, he begins with “but,” a contrasting conjunction that ties two distinct thoughts together.
While the book of Hebrews begins by showing Jesus Christ's superiority over angels, by this passage in chapter 2, the author is including the elect of God, those who will inherit salvation, in the picture alongside their Savior and King. Like Christ, those God chooses as His heirs will have all things placed under them. They will sit at the Father's right hand with Jesus Christ on His throne (Revelation 2:26; 3:21 5:10; see Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:29-30; I Corinthians 6:2)!
Like Christ, we, the heirs of salvation, have been made a little lower than the angels. As human beings, we are inferior to them in just about every way. But God is working with us in a similar way as He did with Jesus so we can receive the same inheritance that He has. God is preparing us to live and work side by side with Him, always at His right hand, “crowned . . . with glory and honor”!
Paul writes in Hebrews 2:5, “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.” No, the world to come will be ruled by glorified human beings, beginning with the greatest Son of Man, Jesus Christ. Now God is training His elect to rule His Kingdom with Him.
The psalmist writes in Psalm 139:6, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.” Like Job came to realize (see Job 42:2-6), he understood God's greatness compared to weak and puny man, and it boggled his mind that God would pay any attention to such lowly creatures. Even so, it is what God reveals in His Book.
Should we not, then, “give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard [the truth from Scripture], lest we drift away”? In the world's current situation—with viruses, war, forecasts of food shortages, and inept leadership on everyone's mind—a state of fear exists. Some people are afraid to leave their houses. Some have a bunker mentality, ready to go to ground at the slightest disturbance in society. Are we among those who are letting fear rule their lives?
Fear divides, makes one self-centered, and can destroy faith. Of all people, we need not fear because we are the ones whom Almighty God is focused on (see Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalm 17:8; Zechariah 2:8). He provides for His elect children “exceedingly abundantly above all that [they] ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). He has sent those same angels who stopped the mouths of lions, the great angelic host that surrounded Elisha, the same mighty spirit beings who formed the hedge around Job, to watch over His inheritance, His heirs of salvation.
Ronny H. Graham
Heirs of Salvation
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Hebrews 2:5:
Genesis 1:26
Matthew 28:19
1 Corinthians 12:13
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The world to come will not be ruled by angels but by glorified human beings, beginning with the greatest Son of Man, Jesus Christ. Paul, drawing on David's psalm, describes human potential, not Jesus alone; the uncapitalized "him" and "son of man" in verse 6 point to mankind. Like Christ, the heirs of salvation, though made a little lower than the angels, will have all things placed under them and sit at the Father's right hand. God trains His elect now to rule His Kingdom. As co-heirs with Christ, they will govern the entire universe. This world to come stands distinct from the world that was and the present world dominated by Satan; it is God's world, the Kingdom of God.