Expert: John Fields - 5/5/2010

Question
Clarification for Hebrews 2:5-8
Question:    I keep reading this and trying to get a picture in my mind, spiritually as well as intellectually that will tie all three together:

What is the relationship between man, Son of man, and the Angels?

Thank you in advance for your answer.

Answer
This has also been something which I have struggled with some over the years. I don't KNOW the answer, but I'll speculate some possibilities.

Revelation 4:11 " Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."

This scripture shows us that God created ALL things. This means that He created angels in addition to having created man. What was the difference between men and angels? We don't know all of the differences, but one angel wiped out more than 185,000 Assyrians when one of their commanders mocked Israel and God. The strength and power of angels is incredible.

Hebrews 2:5-8 has a context from Psalms 8. It seems to be referring to the dominion that man has been given and apparently will have in the world to come over creation. It says in

Psalm 8:1 O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! 2 From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease. 3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 7 All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, 8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

So man, though much weaker than the angels, has been given a dominion they did not have over the earth and the things in it. Given that there were some who were given over to what amounted to angel worship, the writer of Hebrews was attempting to show the superiority of Jesus over the angels. Here is the line of thought.

Jesus created all, man and angels. Men, were given a dominion even the powerful angels were not. When Jesus became a man, He had a two-fold dominion as both a SON of man that was superior to the angels as a human and as Creator. Jesus lowered Himself temporarily by becoming a man and was STILL superior to the angels. So the angels serve Jesus and do His service and are there to serve and minister to men in some spiritual capacities.

Why the angels serve men when they are so majestic in power I do not know. Someday I'd like to ask. I fear this will not go very far or far enough in what you want to know, but you are not alone in scratching your head.