Hebrews 2:5 - Meaning and Application

The apostle has just shown the great honor of Christ above the angels, and now he returns to that subject again and develops it further. He says, “For he has not put the world to come, of which we speak, under the angels” (Hebrews 2:5). The gospel age, which he calls “the world to come,” is not placed under angelic rule, but under the special care and direction of the Redeemer himself.

This includes both the present condition of the church and its fuller future state, when the prince of this world is cast out and the kingdoms of the earth become the kingdom of Christ. That work is not left to angels. Jesus Christ will take his great power and reign. He does not use angels to bring the gospel in the same way he used them to give the law, which belonged to the old and passing order.

This new order is entrusted to Christ alone in all spiritual and eternal matters. He governs the gospel church, and that shows both Christ’s honor and the church’s safety and happiness. The church’s beginning, its growth and order, and its final judgment and perfection are not given to angels, but to Christ. God would not place so great a trust in even his holy ones, because angels were too weak for such a charge.

The apostle then turns to Scripture to show who this blessed Jesus is, to whom the gospel world is made subject. He quotes Psalm 8:4-6: “What is man, that you are mindful of him? Or the son of man, that you care for him?” These words can be understood in relation to humanity in general, and also as pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Taken first in relation to mankind, the words express a thankful wonder at God’s kindness to the sons of men. God remembers people, even when they existed only in his loving purpose and plan. All his gifts to us rise from his eternal thoughts of mercy, just as our proper response rises from remembering him. He is always mindful of us, and we should never be forgetful of him.

God also visits people. His purpose to bless us leads to gracious visits, as he comes to see our condition, our needs, our dangers, and the troubles we face. By his care and presence, our spirit is preserved. Since he remembers us, we should in return draw near to him daily in obedient worship.

God also made man the head of the creatures in this lower world. He set him as the top stone of the building, the chief work of his earthly creation, only a little lower than the angels in position and dignity in this life. At the resurrection of the righteous, believers will be like the angels and equal to them in that respect (Luke 20:36). God also crowned man with glory and honor by giving him noble powers of soul and excellent parts of the body, so that he belongs to both worlds. He can serve the interests of both and enjoy the happiness of both. God gave him a right to rule over the lower creatures, as long as he remained faithful and obedient to God.

But these words fit the Lord Jesus Christ even more fully, and the whole passage applies to him in Hebrews 2:8-9. Here we see the cause of all the kindness God shows to people in giving Christ for them and to them, and that cause is God’s grace. “What is man?” The wonder is at free grace.

We also see the results of that free grace in the gift of Christ. God was mindful of Christ for our sake in the covenant of redemption, the agreement between the Father and the Son for the saving of sinners. God visited Christ on our behalf, and it was arranged that in the fullness of time he would come into the world as the great sacrifice. God made him a little lower than the angels by making him truly man, so that he could suffer and humble himself even to death.

God crowned Christ’s human nature with glory and honor. He gave him perfect holiness, the Spirit without measure, and an unmatched union with the divine nature, so that the fullness of God lived in him bodily. Through his sufferings he made satisfaction for sin, tasting death for every man, truly feeling and enduring the bitter pain, shame, and curse of death on the cross. In this way he brought all mankind into a new state of testing.

Then, as the reward of his humiliation and death, Christ was crowned with glory and honor. He was lifted to the highest dignity in heaven and given absolute rule over all things. Thus this ancient Scripture is fulfilled in Christ in a way it never was, and never could be, in any mere man who ever lived on earth.