On Christ’s Humiliation

October 6, 2006 at 2:09 pm (Hebrews, Quotes)

Hebrews 2:7 (quoting Psalm Psalm 8): “You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor.” This passage is very interesting in its interpretation of Psalm 8. The original Hebrew indicates something more like this: “You made him a little (bit) lower than the angels.” The Greek, however, reads more like this: “You made for a little while lower than the angels.” The Hebrew is a question of degree, whereas the Greek is a question of time. That is how Paul interprets Psalm 8 here in Hebrews. Here is a great quotation from Thomas Long’s commentary on the passage (page 36): “The Preacher does not wish to argue that Jesus was just a tiny bit lower than the angels in the hierarchy of creation, that he came just to the edge of human life and dipped his little toe into the pool of suffering. Rather, he wants to claim that, for a brief moment in time, the eternal and exalted Son purposefully and redemptively plummeted to the depths of human suffering and weakness.”

Post a Comment