Being made a “little lower than the angels” and taking on a body eternally did not in any way diminish the deity of Christ. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Jesus’ death and resurrection changes everything. Ling. IV. And at the same time, by no other of His glorious manifestations has God more illustriously declared those attributes which distinguish His name than in the scheme of redemption, of which this economy forms such an important and essential feature. See the notes at Hebrews 2:7. glory and honour—are the attributes of royal dignity (Ps 21:5; 45:3). That phrase “a little lower than the angels” is fascinating, not least because it is not the only possible meaning. - For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels; rather, thou hast made him but a little lower than God (אלהים).There is no place in the Old Testament where Elohim means "angels;" and, though the LXX. It shows His majesty and power. Hebrews 2:5-8 talking about Christ’s superiority to angels quotes Psalm 8 saying, “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, or a son of man[a] that you should care for him?7 Yet for a little while you made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. Secondly, Paul states that in the New Creation, we will have authority to judge angels. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. However, I also want to suggest that there are other implications. God uses angels to manifest himself to Abraham. Because in the biblical mode of conception the angels are so closely connected with God as the nearest creaturely effulgence of His nature, it is really possible that in מאלהים David may have thought of God including the angels. This may mean (1) for a short time, or (2) more likely, a little lower in rank. Compared to any spirit beings (i.e. The Israelites understood this then to be a reference to the majesty, power and grandeur of God. The gift of life brings responsibilities. But when God says: "let us make man in our image after our likeness," He there connects Himself with the angels. "a little [lower than the angels] / lower than the angels [for a little while]" - for a short time. We should read, however, instead of âfor thou,â âand thou hast made,â &c. The Authorised Version follows the LXX. Many are frozen in time, glossy snapshots of dances and vacations and new cars. The authority, however, of the Aramaic, the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, would seem sufficient to show that that meaning may be attached to the word here with propriety, and that somehow that idea was naturally suggested in the passage itself. —Literally, thou makest him want but a little from God: i.e., hast made him little less than Divine. In a modified sense, in his present fallen state, man is still invested with some remains of this original dominion. That version was adopted in his quotation by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 2:6-7). Does this mean that He is essentially little somehow than angels, hence He is perfected?, Or He was made for a while little than angels? Such is its obvious sense in Psalm 8:1-9, from which this is quoted. And hast crowned him with glory and honor - With exalted honor. This means that prior to Christ, the Covenants were mediated by angels. We recognise that immediately as one of the titles used to describe God. "The last enemy, death," through fear of which, man, in his present estate, is "all his lifetime in bondage" [Heb 2:15], "shall be destroyed" [1Co 15:26]. To be “equal unto the angels” is to be unable to physically die. Since man is in the image of God, he is at the same time in the likeness of an angel, and since he is only a little less than divine, he is also only a little less than angelic. We recognise that immediately as one of the titles used to describe God. Thou madest him a little lower than the angels - a little lower in nature, since they are immortal, and but a little, because time is short; and when that is over, saints are no longer lower than the angels. TLB. LEB. (Sealed with the Holy Spirit 7), Reading the Psalms (part 2) – looking at the detail. The meaming is, "Thou hast caused him to want but little;" that is, he was but little interior. Not only did God create us to be just a little lower than Him, but He also crowned us with … We should find pleasure in our work as we seek to glorify God. A Sermon on Psalms 8:4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Even Jesus Christ was once a little while lower than the angels. That phrase “a little lower than the angels” is fascinating, not least because it is not the only possible meaning. Man in Eden had the full command of all creatures and they came before him to receive their names as an act of homage to him as the vicegerent of God to them. And yet you have made him only a little lower than the angels and placed a crown of glory and honor upon his head. This view, so far from being alien from the scope of the passage, is more consistent than any other; for man as a race cannot well be conceived to have a higher honor put upon him than to be thus exalted in the person and destiny of Jesus of Nazareth. Obviously referring to Christ taking on our human nature. MSG. So Tholuck renders it, "nur um wenig unter Gott." I want to suggest two examples of this. So Gesenius renders it, "Thou hast caused him to want but little of God; that is, thou hast made him but little lower than God." More than that, when he came as a man,* he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, yes, death on a torture stake. A little lower - The Hebrew word used here - חסר châsêr, means to want, to lack - and then, to be in want, to be diminished. Jesus is exalted above all angels, and some day every knee will bow at His name and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9–11). However we are in Christ and so raised up with him. Adam Clarke Commentary. Psalm 8:5 "For thou hast made him a little lower than THE ANGELS, and hast crowned him with glory and honour." ), is equivalent to paullum numinis Deorum. There are always thousands. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Ecclesiastes 4:8). This led to sin in the Garden of Eden. (i) "et deficere facies" ("vel facisti", Pagninus) "eum paululum a Deo", Montanus; "destitui quidem eum voluisti paululum a Deo", Michaelis; "carere eum fecisti Deo parumper", Gejerus. הוד והדר, Psalm 96:6, or also הדר כּבור הוד ה, Psalm 145:5, is the appellation of the divine doxa, with the image of which man is adorned as with a regal crown. thou makest him want but a little from God: i.e., Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels â, And hast crowned him with glory and honour â. Hebrews 2:9 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓] Hebrews 2:9, NIV: "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." The position assigned man is that described (Ge 1:26-28) as belonging to Adam, in his original condition, the terms employed in detailing the subjects of man's dominion corresponding with those there used. Work, study, art, caring for the environment are all part of that creation mandate and so have renewed meaning and value for God’s people. And this being in consequence of his sufferings, after he had run the race, and endured a fight of afflictions; and because of the greatness of his glory and honour, with which he was as it were on all sides surrounded, he is said to be "crowned" with it; who a little before was crowned with thorns, and encompassed with the terrors of death and hell. The Greek may here mean a little inferior in rank, or inferior for a little time. This Jesus, who fulfills the purpose of man as outlined in Psalm 8, is for a little while made lower than angels (Heb. So, which is the correct translation in Psalm 8? There is no single memory of a loved one who dies. The idea that the angels as spirit beings were somehow greater than Adam depends on a Gnostic understanding of the relationship between spirit and matter. and hast crowned him with glory and honour; by raising him from the dead, and setting him at his own right hand, committing all judgment to him; and requiring all creatures, angels and men, to give worship and adoration to him. "A little lower than the angels" implies that we are created with a substance that is intrinsically lower in rank or quality than angels. A Little Lower than the Angels. Man, in the person and glorious destiny of Jesus of Nazareth, the second Adam, the head and representative of the race, will not only be restored to his original position, but exalted far beyond it. חסּר מן signifies to cause to be short of, wanting in something, to deprive any one of something (cf. Well what If the answer is “both”? The Redeemer is represented as submitting to be humbled -- "made a little lower than the angels," for the sake or with a view to the glory that was to be the recompense of his sufferings. The position, somewhat exalted above the angels, which he occupies by being the bond between all created things, in so far as mind and matter are united in him, is here left out of consideration. Angels marvel at the Incarnation and desire to look into the gospel (1 Peter 1:12). Jesus then became a little lower than the angels when sent to earth as a man and died. bracu (bracuV) adv. These Psalms and Hebrews verses refer to Jesus as incarnate, as man. The dominion that God has bestowed on man is a great glory and honour to him; for all dominion is honour, and the highest is that which wears the crown. Undoubtedly the word Elohim, being used to express a class of supernatural beings, includes angels as well as the Divine being (1Samuel 28:13; Zechariah 12:8). My aunt left behind so many images of this kind. If man has been made a little lower than God, and as we have seen one version says lower than ONLY God then Jesus being made lower than the angels means that the man Jesus was made lower than man. This respects his mediatorial glory. But here there is nothing in the context to suggest limitation to one part of that class. As you can see, the KJV's translation uses the third definition, but even then it's a bit of a stretch. consec. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. At the point of creation, man’s special role and his intimate day by day relationship with God does not suggest that he is made lower than the angels. This is the מעט in which whatever is wanting to him to make him a divine being is concentrated. But the psalmist looks beyond the bright worlds to a higher kinship with God Himself. Jesus never ceased to be God; He simply showed the meekness and condescension of God. The KJB reading is also the one found in the Greek Septuagint and Lamsa's translation of the Syriac Peshitta. God made us a little lower than angels. Let none of us permit the possession of any earthly creature to be a snare to us, but let us remember that we are to reign over them, and not to allow them to reign over us. I want to suggest that it was after the Fall that we were made a little lower than the angels. The first implication points us to the goodness of the Gospel. We're just a little below A little lower than the angels And I can't fly I won't fly away. This is the more natural construction, and this would convey an idea conformable to the course of thought in the psalm, though it has been usually supposed that the word used here - אלהים 'Elohiym - may be applied to angels, or even men, as in Psalm 82:1; Psalm 97:7; Psalm 138:1; Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8-9. “‘a little lower’. Verse 5. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. There are still times though when the word could be translated plurally to refer to gods. Can I lose the fullness of the Holy Spirit? כּבוד is the manifestation of glory described from the side of its weightiness and fulness; הוד (cf. Thou madest him a little lower than the angels - Margin, "A little while inferior to." There is no limit to the "all things" mentioned, God only excepted, who "puts all things under." The result of sin is that our status is diminished. 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea. The preceding fut. When Adam sinned, God allowed his body to be subject to physical death. Under our feet we must keep the world, and we must shun that base spirit which is content to let worldly cares and pleasures sway the empire of the immortal soul. wiser than the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the heaven, For thou hast made him a little lower than the, For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, thou hast made him but a little lower than God, And hast crowned him with glory and honour, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. Jesus never ceased to be God; He simply showed the meekness and condescension of God. After the Incarnation, He was the God-man. As noted above, a temporal sense may apply "a little while [lower]", so TNIV. So DeWette, "nur wenig unter Gott." Being made a “little lower than the angels” and taking on a body eternally did not in any way diminish the deity of Christ. But it is nothing more than מעט. The writer has only this one thing in his mind, that man is inferior to God, who is רוּח, and to the angels who are רוּחות (Isaiah 31:3; Hebrews 1:14) in this respect, that he is a material being, and on this very account a finite and mortal being; as Theodoret well and briefly observes: τῷ θνητῷ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἠλάττωται. Angels are used as the primary messengers bringing God’s message of hope (Mary, Joseph, Zechariah). Life from God brings six gifts. What in fact we see is that mankind are restored to their original position as God’s image bearers and vice-regents on earth, ruling over it, subduing it and filling it However, all of this is only true and possible in so far as we are in Christ and he in us through the Holy Spirit. - That is, as a man, or when on earth. First of all, this description applies to Christ. III. One way of getting us to do that might be to use a word that causes us to stop and take a double take. These versions of the Bible also have the inspired writer of Hebrews changing or at least misquoting the word of God. But the probable meaning is, that it refers to inferiority of rank. (See Note in New Testament Commentary.) thou hast made him, for a while, a little lower than angels The Bible Book of Hebrews- chapter 2. Lower than the angels: less than perfect sentence: The employees in Raj’s firm are lower than angels as they are seldom motivated to perform their duties. The assertion in Psalm 8:6 refers to the fact of the nature of man being in the image of God, and especially to the spirit breathed into him from God; Psalm 8:6, to his godlike position as ruler in accordance with this his participation in the divine nature: honore ac decore coronasti eum. compared to God or to angels) we human beings currently have enormous limitations. However, the majority of modern versions tell us that we were made a little lower than God himself. We were made to rule over creation but under God, accountable to him and dependent upon him for life. First of all, with Pentecost comes the fulfilment of the promise that we will dream dreams and see visions. Conclusion. In order of dignity, man stood next to the angels, and a little lower than they; in the Lord Jesus this was accomplished, for he was made a little lower than the angels by the suffering of death. In Philippians 2:7, 8 it states : No, but he emptied himself and took a slave’s form and became human. The Hebrew word translated “angels” in many Bibles and in the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Old Testament) is Elohim. He is the one exalted as king over creation to rule over it. In the Incarnation, Christ was made temporarily lower than the angels because it opens up the possibility of death, something which angels do not suffer. Psalm 8:5 KJV For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. After the Incarnation, He was the God-man. Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels - The original is certainly very emphatic: מאלהים מעט ותחסרחו vattechasserchu meat meelohim, Thou hast lessened him for a little time from God.Or, Thou hast made him less than God for a little time. in a translation suggested doubtlessly by the desire to tone down an expression about the Deity that seemed too bold. The KJB tells us that God made us a little lower than angels. 2:7). 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