Christ humbled Himself lower than angels by becoming a man and living the life of a human. Christ suffered death, out of obedience to God, and was rewarded with the glory and honor first bestowed to Adam, meaning that Christ has inherited the earth to rule over it. It is through experiencing his suffering of obedience that we can join Him in sharing His inheritance.
After establishing that God made the earth for man to rule over, and man failed to live up to the responsibility, the Pauline Author points out that Jesus came down from Heaven and became a man: But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus (v 9).
This is connected to the previous section, which quoted from Psalm 8, which notes that God originally “crowned” humans with the “glory and honor” of having authority to rule over the earth, even though humans are inferior creatures to angels (Hebrews 2:5-7). It ended by noting (in a vast understatement) that we currently do not see humans ruling over the earth in harmony with God, nature and one another, as was intended (Hebrews 2:8).
We do not see humans filling the role they were designed for, to reign over the earth in service to God. But what we do see is Jesus, who was crowned with glory and honor (v 9). This phrase crowned with glory and honor is similar to Hebrews 2:7, which (quoting Psalm 8:5) says “you have crowned him with glory and honor” where “him” refers to humanity. We do not see humanity “crowned” with the “glory and honor” of reigning over the earth in service to God, and in harmony with Him and one another. But we do see Jesus who is crowned with glory and honor.
Jesus has restored the right of humans to reign in the earth. This is a theme that is referenced many times in the New Testament. Some examples follow:
- After raising from the dead, “…Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth’” (Matthew 28:18b).
- “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:8-10).
- “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:16-17).
- “He who overcomes, I [Jesus] will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Revelation 3:21)
- “And they sang a new song, saying,
‘Worthy are You [Jesus] to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
‘You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth’” (Revelation 5:9-10).
- “These will wage war against the Lamb [Jesus], and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).
By suffering death, Jesus was crowned by God with the authority of having rulership over the earth, as a human:
Because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone (v 9).
Jesus was crowned by God with the glory and honor of being given all authority over the earth because of the suffering of death. Jesus learned obedience, even to death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). It was because of His obedience that He was given this immense reward. He is our example, and we should follow His example.
By the grace of God Jesus died for everyone and was rewarded with the inheritance of ruling the earth. The word translated grace here is the Greek word “charis” which means “favor.” We don’t typically think of tasting death for everyone as being an assignment that would show us God’s favor (grace). But the Apostle Paul understood this, and applied it to himself. He considered the immense sufferings he endured (2 Corinthians 11:22-29) to be nothing as compared to the “eternal weight of glory” in store for those who follow Jesus’s example and share in His sufferings (2 Corinthians 4:17).
That Jesus tasted death for everyone emphasizes that Jesus died for every person on earth. Every sin was nailed to the cross with Him (Colossians 2:14). That means that whoever is willing can receive the free gift of eternal life. All that is necessary to receive this free gift is to have enough faith to look, hoping to be healed from the venomous poison of sin (John 3:14-15).
Then, each person who has died with Christ also has the opportunity to reign with Him. If we die with Him, we will be with Him in eternity; even if we are faithless He is faithful to keep us as His child—to reject us would be to reject Himself, because we are in Him. However, in order to reign with Christ, we must endure in faithful obedience (2 Timothy 2:11-13). Therefore just as it was God’s favor (grace) to appoint Jesus to suffer unto death, it is God’s favor upon each believer to provide them the opportunity to die to self, and be raised up to walk in obedience to Christ.
The Son of God had to be born a man, and live with a human body, to complete His Father’s will by dying on the cross (Philippians 2:7). As a result, the earth was given to Him as an inheritance, making Him king of the entire world. By this suffering, as a man, He was crowned with glory and honor—which means He was given authority over the entire earth.
This phrase crowned with glory and honor refers back to Psalm 8, previously quoted in verses 5–8, where humanity is said to have been crowned with glory and honor because God appointed humanity to rule over the earth. Christ has now been appointed to the place God originally designed for humanity. Thus, if we join Jesus through following Him in faithful obedience, we can experience the great benefit of being delivered from the adverse effect of the Fall, which caused us to fall from living in our original (good) design.
What Adam squandered, Jesus restored; He proved that He was willing to walk in faithful obedience, and the honor of being called “Son” was awarded to Him. In the next section, we will learn that we have the incredible opportunity to experience the great benefit of this “salvation” (which saves us from failing to live out our design to reign over the earth in harmony with God). But it requires that we do not “neglect” it by failing to walk in faithful obedience to Christ (Hebrews 2:3).
Biblical Text
9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
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