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Abasement and Glory in the Letter to the Hebrews

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How does the interpretation in Psalm 8 referenced in Hebrews 2:6-8 relate to the evevation of Jesus above the angels?

Does the life of Adam and Eve offer any assistance?

According to Hebrews, where does Jesus present his atoning offering?

What verse would reference this matter.

Thanks.

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Solution Summary

Chapters one and two of the letter to the Hebrews speak very much about the glory of the Son. In the first chapter we have numerous quotations from the Old Testament that illustrate the divine glory of Jesus and his supremacy above the angels as confirmations of the content of the said chapter. Chapter two wants to prove that redemption did not come through the angels but through the Son of God made man. Since Psalm 8 speaks of abasement and exaltation, of being lower than the angels and being crowned with glory and honour, it suits well that aspect of Jesus' life, his passion, death and resurrection. Little evidence, though, shows that Jewish literature understood this Psalm in the messianic way. The letter to the Hebrews evidently reads the passage with a Christological key. This solution explains the Christological views of the first two chapters of Letter to the Hebrews and its relation to Psalm 8.

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The first two chapters of the letter to the Hebrews speak very much about the glory of the Son. In the first chapter we have a number of Old Testament quotations that illustrate the divine glory of Jesus and his supremacy above the angels. Chapter two wants to prove that redemption did not come through the angels but through the Son of God made man. Heb 2:5 speaks of the world to come, that is the world into which the Son has entered. The world in which the Lord has begun to reign. Actually Psalm 8 in the MT (Masoretic Text = Hebrew Text) states: Who is man ... that you made him lower than Elohim (God or gods), while LXX (Septuaginta = Greek translation of the Hebrew text) states: ...lower than the angels. LXX chose to solve the ambiguity produced by the Hebrew text by changing the Elohim to angels i.e. understanding the term as referring to heavenly beings. The Psalm celebrates the exalted position of human begins in the created order (Koester C.R., Hebrews, 2001:214). Little evidence shows that Jewish literature understood this Psalm in the messianic way. The letter to the Hebrews evidently reads the passage with a Christological key. V.9 which is the explanation of the Psalm quoted states: ...for a little while lower than the angel, we see him now elevated. This could be understood in a spatial sense i.e. in a level that is lower than that of the angels or in a temporal sense i.e. for some time. In the first sense he became man and came down to the world and in ...

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