Hebrews: What is Man or the Son of Man?
Hebrews 2:5-8; Psalm 8:3-8 - Jesus became the Son of Man (He is not an angel) to bring the Gospel to men so that they can give it to other humans.
“For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying,
“What is man, that You remember him?
Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him?
You have made him for a little while lower than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
And have appointed him over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
Hebrews 2:5-8 NASB1995
Hebrews 2 returns to the subject of the Son of Man and comparing Him to angels. In Chapter 1, we read how the Christ, the Son of God, is higher than the angels and is God. Now we see that even when Christ was incarnated as the perfect, sinless Man He was only for a little while lower than the angels, but ascended back to glory to be in charge of all things and all works.
The angels are not in charge of our future. The “world to come”, in verse 5, is thought to be our future new Heaven and Earth by some commentators (amillennialists) or the millennial period of time by others (pre-millennialists). And who did God give dominion to on this Earth? Humans! We are the ones who learn the Gospel, repent, believe and tell others about the Good News! Angels are not involved in the Great Commission or if they are, it is as ministering spirits behind the scenes (as noted in Hebrews 1). Here’s what Enduring Word says about this passage:
He has not put the world to come…in subjection to angels: God never gave angels the kind of dominion man originally had over the earth (Genesis 1:26-30). Angels do not have dominion over this world or the world to come.
“The divine purpose for the world is that man, not angels, is to rule in the future.” (Griffith Thomas)
What is man: The quotation from Psalm 8:4-6 shows both the smallness of man in relation to the God of creation, and the dominion God gave to man, even though he is a little lower than the angels.
You have made him a little lower than the angels: In chapter one, the writer to the Hebrews brilliantly demonstrated from the Scriptures the deity of Jesus and His superiority over all angels. Now he demonstrates the humanity of Jesus from the Scriptures and applies the implications of Jesus’ humanity.
It is Biblically wrong to think of Jesus as merely God or merely man. It is wrong to think of Him as half God and half man (or any other percentage split). It is wrong to think of Him as “man on the outside” and “God on the inside.” The Bible teaches Jesus is fully God and fully man, that a human nature was added to His divine nature, and both natures existed in one Person, Jesus Christ.
Significantly, the first false teaching about Jesus in the days of the early church did not deny that He was God, but it denied that He was really human and said He only seemed to be human. The heresy was called Docetism, coming from the ancient Greek word “to seem,” and was taught by Cerinthus, who opposed the apostle John in the city of Ephesus and whose teaching is probably the focus of 1 John 4:2 and 1 John 5:6.
He left nothing that is not put under him: The writer emphasizes the point that God put all things (not some things) under subjection to human beings. This shows that Jesus must be human, because God gave this dominion to humans and Jesus exercises this authority.
Such good commentary! We make a mistake to think that Jesus is less than God or is only partially human. It is also not Biblical to think that Jesus was an angel.
So let’s look at Psalm 8:
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen,
And also the beasts of the field,
The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.”
Psalms 8:3-8 NASB1995
This is, of course, one of the most well-known and beautiful Psalms in the entire book of Psalms. We are insignificant, but we are significant. God came down as Man to redeem us because He loves us so much! Jesus was fully Man and fully God.
Humans herd sheep and cattle, not the other way around. Humans have some degree of dominion, which we should embrace with compassion and caring, just like He cares for us. But because we are fallen, we do not have full dominion over everything (like the weather or natural disasters).
For more great commentary, here is what Charles Spurgeon says about this passage, from his exposition on Hebrews, found on Precept Austin:
God has not made angels to be the preachers of the gospel. Doubtless they derive some happiness from it, if only from the sight of those converted under it; but it is in no sense under the government of angels.
We are the preachers of it,— not the angels; and the great Author and Finisher of our faith is the Man Christ Jesus,— not an angel. We have not now the ministry of angels, but the ministry of men, by whom the Lord of the angels sends his messages to their fellows.
We have no angelic preachers; we sometimes speak of “the seraphic doctor;” but no seraph ever was a preacher of the gospel of the grace of God; that honor has been reserved for a lower order of beings.
God speaks to men by men. He has made them to be the choice and chosen instruments of his wondrous works of grace upon earth. Oh, what a solemn thing it is to be a preacher of the everlasting gospel! It is an office so high that an angel might covet it, but one that is so responsible that even an angel might tremble to undertake it. Brethren, pray for us who preach, not merely to a few, but to many of our fellow-creatures, that we may be the means, in the hand of God, of blessing to our hearers.
It is so, in a measure, in the natural world. Man is made to be the master of it, and the ox and the horse, with all their strength, must bow their necks to man; and the lion and the tiger, with all their ferocity, must still be cowed in the presence of their master. Yet this is not a perfect kingdom which we see in the natural world. But, in the spiritual world, man is still to be supreme for the present, and therefore Christ becomes, not an angel, but a man. He takes upon him that nature which God intends to be dominant in this world and in that which is to come.
This was the original status of man. God made him to be his vicegerent on earth; and he would still hold that position were it not that, since he has rebelled against his own Sovereign, even the beasts of the field take liberty to be rebellious against him. Man is not now in his original estate, and therefore he rules not now; and we see many men who are very far from being royal beings, for they are mean and grovelling. Yet the glory of man is not all lost, as we shall see.
It was so with Adam in his measure. Before he fell, through his disobedience, all the animals which God had made were inferior to him, and owned him as their lord and master. It is infinitely more so in that second Adam who has restored to humanity its lost dignity, and, in his own person, has elevated man again to the head of creation: “Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.”
We see not yet man the master of everything, not even Christ, the model man, the Head of all men. While he was here below, he was not a ruling Lord, but a suffering servant. He said to his disciples, “I am among you as he that serveth.” Yet it is in him that the dominion once given to man is to be seen most clearly displayed.
Man does not yet rule the world. Wild beasts defy him. Storms vanquish him. There are a thousand things not at present submissive to his control.
What incredible insight! And for those curious about the word vicegerent, here’s one of the definitions from the Cambridge English Dictionary:
a person who is chosen to represent a ruler or other person with authority:
When someone tells you how insignificant humans are when compared to the vastness of the universe (what I call the “Carl Sagan syndrome”*), you can tell them that the infinitely more vast God who created that universe has entrusted humans, created in His image, with His creation and the spread of the Gospel. He chose to become human to save the crown jewel of His creation from sin and death. What endless love!
[*The late astronomer and science popularizer (and atheist) Carl Sagan delivered a famous speech about our insignificance when viewing a photo taken by one of the Voyager spacecraft of a tiny blue dot that is the Earth. The link goes to the full speech archived on the Planetary Society website].
My next devotional examines Hebrews 2:9-10 - Jesus was humbled.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I am humbled that you have chosen me to be one of the humans that tries to tell the world about the Good News of the Gospel. May I always be discerning in my words and studies. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Enduring Word commentary by David Guzik is used with written permission. Minor formatting changes have been made to improve readability.
Precept Austin was accessed on 10/16/2025 to review commentary for Hebrews 2:5-8.