Hebrews 2:5-9

Made a Little Lower than the Angels

God chose to put Christ in charge of restoring man to his lost dominion over the world, rather than using the angels for restoration. The world spoken of in this place is apparently the world in which we now live. Its true meaning would be the "habitable world," as Milligan writes (2:5). Psalms 8:4, which is quoted in Hebrews 2:6, is a case of parallelism in Hebrew poetry. The psalmist, and seemingly the writer, is awed by the blessings God has given man. James D. Bales writes, " Psalms 8:1-9 and Hebrews 2:6, shows that Christ has identified himself with humanity and makes possible for us what sin made impossible. He accomplished this through his incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, reign and work as high priest” (2:7-18).

Continuing to quote from Psalms 8:5-7, the writer shows man's rank in the universe. All things were put under man's authority. Though he may now be frustrated in this, he will some day see it come to pass. In fact, Christians see the beginning of that fulfillment in Jesus. He was crowned with "glory and honor" after He tasted death. When Jesus tasted death, He did it for every man. 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 shows Jesus died for our sins. It is through that death that we will live again. The new life we have in Him will be unlike this existence. We will have an incorruptible body and a specially prepared place to live. Christ will not keep death from us the first time (9:27). However, He will keep us from the second death which is described in Revelation 20:14. Jesus took the rank of man for a time so we could avoid that death (Hebrews 2:7-9).