Being of Jewish heritage himself, and trained in the Jewish thought and expectations of his day, Paul could anticipate some of the difficulties and objections that the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem might have to his statements about Jesus being better than the angels (1:4-14). The angelic intermediaries between God and man might seem to be superior to a mediatorial man (cf. I Tim. 2:5), for every Jewish person familiar with the Psalms would know that man was "lower than the angels" (Ps. 8:5). To begin with, human beings have some space/time limitations that angelic beings do not have, such as corporeality and temporality. In addition to such limitations of humanity, mankind has fallen into sin, whereas the angelic beings seem to be fixed in their function of serving God (the demonic beings, likewise fixed in their function of serving the Evil One).

Despite the fact that Paul had already asserted that Jesus, as the Son of God, was the "express image of God's essence" (1:3), establishing His deity (cf. 1:8) as the God-man, Paul knew that the Jewish mind-set of the Jerusalem Christians would still struggle, not only with the deity of Jesus, but with the humanity of Jesus being superior to angels. The humanity of Jesus was also what allowed Him to die, to be put to death, something that angels were not subject to, and herein was the greatest "stumbling-block" (I Cor. 1:23) to Jewish thinking, that the expected Messiah could, or would be allowed to, suffer the ignominious death of crucifixion on a cross. Jewish Messianic expectations of the first century were completely triumphalistic. To suffer death at the hands of the Roman authorities was an inconceivable failure for any Messianic candidate, and to die as a common criminal on a cross was regarded as a "curse" (Gal. 3:13), inconsistent with one who would be Messiah. How could such a one be superior to the angels?

Paul addresses what he knew would be these underlying concerns of the Palestinian Christians by quoting the obvious and familiar passage in the Eighth Psalm, contrasting man with angels, as it does in the Greek Septuagint version (LXX). Starting from the relative insignificance of man referent to God, the Psalm proceeds to explain the dignity and dominion of man. Using the same progression of thought, Paul explains that Jesus, in complete solidarity with man as a man, suffered the humiliation of death, taking such vicariously and substitutionally on behalf of all men, in order to facilitate the restoration of mankind to the dignity and dominion that God intended. Paul's objective was to demonstrate that it was the divine purpose of God to have His Son suffer humiliation and death in order to provide glorification of life for mankind.

As difficult as it might have been for the Jewish mind to understand, Paul was reiterating some of the basic foundations of Christian thought. The sin of mankind required death consequences as ordained by God (Gen. 2:17). If those death consequences were to be taken by Another, that One would have to be a man in order to die, for God cannot die (I Tim. 6:16). Thus, Jesus, the Son of God, became the God-man Savior in solidarity with humanity in order to take the remedial death consequences of sin and redeem humanity, and that for the purpose of restoring humanity with the divine presence of His life in man.

As paradoxical as it may have seemed to the original readers, the exaltation of mankind required the humiliation of a Man for man. The reinvestiture of God's life in man required the death of a Man for man. The only way for man to live as God intended was for a mediatorial Man (cf. I Tim. 2:5) to die for man. Jesus was that Man for man, who in solidarity with man, stood in our place, vicariously and substitutionally, to take the death that we deserved, the consequences of our sin (for He was without sin - cf. Heb. 4:15; 7:26), that we might partake of His life (cf. Heb. 3:14; 6:4), restored to the dominion that God intended for mankind. This life out of death, exaltation through humiliation (cf. Phil. 2:8-11) process is the divine will and way (cf. Isa. 55:8,9), which is always difficult for human thinking to understand. It is entirely consistent, though, with the Christus Victor theme that seems to underlay Paul's thinking as he emphasized the resurrection of Jesus (1:4-14) as the triumphant occasion and basis of life out of death.

The Jerusalem Christians needed to understand this was God's way, the divine purpose from the very beginning, even before the foundation of the world (cf. Eph. 1:4; I Pet. 1:20). There was no failure in the cross, rather the required means to God's victory in the restoration of mankind through the Son who became Man for man. In this way Paul seeks to demonstrate Jesus is better than the intermediary angels who allegedly went back and forth to a distant, transcendent and unapproachable God on man's behalf, for Jesus was the better Man for man mediator (cf. I Tim. 2:5), who, though fully God, in solidarity with man took the death consequences that we deserved that man might receive God's life in an immanent union with God Himself, thus exalted to the dominion that God intended when He created man.

Since this is God's way ­ exaltation out of humiliation, triumph out of trial, salvation out of suffering, dominion out of apparent defeat, life out of death ­ Paul may also have been seeking to indirectly encourage the Jerusalem Christians by explaining that they, too, in identification with Christ who lived in them, may for "a little while" (2:7,9) be tested, humiliated, and suffer defeat (especially with the volatile political situation that existed in Palestine at the time), but they could have the confident expectation of participating in Christ victory and life. This is God's way!

2:5 ­   Extending the thesis of Jesus being better than the angels (1:4-14), Paul turns the argument around to show that Jesus, as the Son of God, was not only superior to the angels, but His victory for man was won by His becoming lower than the angels, the representative Man for man who in solidarity with mankind could bring mankind into exaltation in identification with Himself. Continuing his prior argument (1:4-14), Paul declares, "For He (the sovereign God who does all the subjecting, subordinating and prioritizing) did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking."

So, what is it "concerning which we are speaking"? Paul has been referring to that "so great a salvation" (2:3) wherein the angels "render service to those inheriting salvation" (1:14) "in these last days" (1:2). The "world to come" is not a heavenly realm expected in the future. It is not a future "new heaven and new earth" (II Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1). The word Paul uses for "world" (as in 1:6) is not kosmos, but oikoumene, from which we get the English word "economy." The "coming economy" that God has ordained for man through His Son, Jesus Christ, is the Christian economy that has already come. It is the "day of salvation" (II Cor. 6:2) "in these last days" (Heb. 1:2) which has been inaugurated by the Eschatos Man, Jesus Christ (I Cor. 15:45). Christians, as partakers of the Spirit of Christ, already participate in this "age to come" (Heb. 6:5), the realized "heavenly places" (Eph. 1:3; 2:6), the "kingdom that cannot be shaken" (Heb. 12:28). In this new eschatological kingdom economy of living by Christ's "saving life" (Rom. 5:10), Christians are not subjected to angels (whether they be good or evil, God-serving or Satan-serving), but are subjected and subordinated only to Jesus Christ as Lord, reigning with "the righteous scepter of His kingdom" (1:8). The basis for this Lordship reign of the risen Lord Jesus in the lives of Christians, whereby we "reign in life" through Him (cf. Rom. 5:17), is that Jesus was identified in solidarity with man by becoming Man for man, and that in order that we might share in His victory, dominion and exaltation.

Why, then, Paul asks the Jerusalem Christians indirectly, would you even consider reverting to the secondary intermediaries of Jewish angelology, when Jesus Christ has secured intimate union with God Himself by becoming "the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5), to Whom Christians are now subjected as He serves as the triumphant Lord? You already participate in the "coming economy" that God promised (cf. II Cor. 1:20), dwelling in "heavenly places" (Eph. 1:3; 2:6), and having full privileges in the new covenant realities of the Lord Jesus.

2:6  ­  Paul introduces his extended quote of Psalm 8:4-6 by writing, "But one has testified somewhere, saying,..." Steeped as he was in the Old Testament Scriptures, Paul had not forgotten where this familiar passage was located or that David had written the Psalm. Rather, he makes an indirect rhetorical citation of the Psalm, recognizing that "one" of mankind, i.e. David, has questioned on behalf of all mankind concerning the purpose of mankind. The identity of the one posing the question is purposefully subdued or muted in order to emphasize the question posed of humanity in general.

"WHAT IS MAN, THAT THOU REMEMBEREST HIM?" This is a question that man has always asked concerning himself. Job asked, "What is man that Thou dost magnify him, and that Thou art concerned about him...?" (Job 7:17). The Psalmist David twice asked the question (Ps. 8:4; 144:3), "What is man that Thou dost take knowledge of him?" When man considers his creatureliness and limitations in reference to God and all that God has created (including angels), he reasonably recognizes his apparent insignificance. Why would the infinite Creator God be all that concerned about the finite creature, man?

"OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT THOU ART CONCERNED ABOUT HIM?" Who does "son of man" refer to? Is this to be interpreted anthropologically or Christologically? Is "son of man" a general reference to the offspring, descendants or progeny of mankind, the extended generations of humanity? The absence of the definite article, "the," in this citation seems to support such a general reference. When Psalm 8:4 is interpreted within its context in the Old Testament, the question of David almost certainly must be understood anthropologically. But we must ask whether Paul is taking an Old Testament text and applying it to Jesus Christ, as he has done previously in this epistle (1:5-13). Such a Christological interpretation would correspond with Jesus' own self-designation as "the Son of Man" (Matt. 8:20; 9:6; etc.) and with Stephen's statement of "the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56), which are regarded as Christological fulfillment of Daniel's vision of "a Son of Man coming,... given dominion, glory and a kingdom" (Daniel 7:13). Some have avoided making a determination of whether "son of man" refers to Jesus specifically or to mankind in general by suggesting that Paul meant it to be a purposefully ambiguous double entendre which allows the Son and the sons to merge as "brethren" (cf. 11,12) on the basis of the solidarity of Jesus Christ with humanity. Such an avoidance of specific interpretation seems to be an equivocation on the part of commentators unwilling to make difficult decisions. The preferred interpretation is the retention of the anthropological understanding of the text's original meaning, and this has been the predominant understanding of Christian commentators throughout Christian history. When the quotation retains its references to man and his descendants, Paul's argument of Jesus' solidarity with humanity is more clearly presented. In addition, the contrastual correspondence of the general pronouns "him", referring to humanity in verses 7 and 8, and the specific pronouns referring to "Him," Jesus, in verses 9 and 10, are made more contrastually apparent. We shall proceed, therefore, to interpret the remainder of the quotation from an anthropological perspective, noting the Christological interpretation as well.

2:7  ­  "THOU HAST MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS." In what sense has God made humanity lower than the angels? Before we answer that question we must note the textual basis of the quotation. In the Hebrew original of Psalm 8:5, David declares that God has made man a little lower than Elohim (a plural Hebrew designation of God). Almost all English translations that seek to directly translate the Hebrew of Psalm 8:5 translate that man was made "a little less than God" (cf. NASB, RSV, etc.). The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX), which Paul used among the Greek-speaking Gentiles, and from which he most often quotes in this epistle, translated the Hebrew word Elohim with the Greek word angellous, the plural for "messengers" or "angels," that despite the fact that the Hebrew word malak was the word for "messenger" or "angel". (Was this another example of Hebrew angelology being superimposed upon the Old Testament Scriptures?) Some English translations, such as the Authorized Version (KJV) and the Living Bible (LB) have utilized the Greek translation (LXX) rather than the original Hebrew and have translated "angels" in Psalm 8:5. Still others have translated that man is a little less than "heavenly beings" (NIV), or "a god" (NEB), or "the gods" (Dahood).

Since Paul quoted from the Greek Septuagint (LXX), what did he understand David to mean by stating that "God made man a little less than the angels"? Again, we must address another textual issue. Is man "made a little less than angels" in terms of extent or degree of functional capability? Or, is man "made for a little while lower than angels" in terms of a temporal brevity of time that looks to a termination of such subordination? The Greek text allows for either translation, but Paul's Christological reference to the same phrase in verse 9 seems to have a time reference, and it is therefore preferable to employ a temporal translation and interpretation in this verse also. How, then, is man made "for a little while lower than the angels"? Is this a reference to the temporality of corporeal, physical humanity as contrasted with angels who have a less restrictive time/space context? Or is it, as some have suggested, a reference to the temporal period of man's humiliation and suffering caused by the Fall into sin, the termination of which has been effected and made available in the redemptive and sanctifying activity of Jesus Christ? The former interpretation of the temporality of man's corporeal humanity is to be preferred because the latter suggestion makes God culpable for man's fall into sin.

The Christological interpretation of this phrase will be considered in verse 9 where Paul applies the words to Jesus Christ.

The Psalmist David recognized that corporeal humanity did not relegate man to insignificance. As the highest being in God's creation, David could declare, "THOU HAST CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAST APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF THY HANDS." From the initial creation of man, he was declared by God to have the dignity of being able to bear the image of God (Gen. 1:26,27), as his capability of spiritual function allowed the presence of the Spirit of God within (cf. Gen. 2:7) to manifest the invisible character of God visibly in the behavior of man. In so doing, man was to subdue the rest of creation and have dominion over other created orders (ex. non-living, plants, animals), ruling with an awareness of divine stewardship (cf. Gen. 1:28). Man was the "crown" of God's creation, with the capacity to honor and glorify God (cf. Isa. 43:7) as no other part of creation could because man alone had the spiritual functionality wherein he could receive God's Spirit (cf. Gen. 2:7) and be spiritually united with God Himself (cf. I Cor. 6:17). Functioning by the derived authority of God, man was appointed to have dominion over the rest of God's creation.

This portion of the Psalmist's statement will be Christologically applied in verse 9, when Paul will explain that Jesus' death on the cross facilitated His being "crowned with glory and honor" in order to restore mankind to their intended dignity and dominion.

2:8  ­  "THOU HAST PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET," the Psalmist continues. God's intent for mankind was that he should function in the receptivity of deriving all character and authority from God, manifesting the "image of God" in visible behavior to the glory of God. As man was subject to the indwelling dominion of God, man would serve authoritatively with external dominion over the created order.

When writing to the Corinthians Paul employed a Christological application of these words, explaining that the historical resurrection of Jesus assures the ultimate and eternal dominion of Christ when "He has put all things in subjection under His feet" (I Cor. 15:27).

Moving from quotation to personal comment, Paul writes, "For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him." It is the destiny of man to rule over God's creation, as no other part of the created order is capable of. This role of dominion is so comprehensive as to include "all things" including the angels (cf. 1:14). The only exclusion of subordination to man is, of course, God Himself, who is not part of the created order. Paul's argument is that man's dignity and dominion is restored in Jesus Christ, for Jesus, functioning as the better Man for man, allows mankind in identification with Himself to once again rule over creation. "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?", Paul asked the Corinthians (I Cor. 6:2).

"But now we do not yet see all things subject to him," Paul admits to the Christians in Jerusalem. Their response may well have been, "Amen, brother Paul, you can say that again!" Subjected, as they were, to Roman occupation and oppression, they did not see or perceive how all things were subject to man in the way God intended. But Paul wanted them to recognize the victory that was theirs in Christ Jesus, whereby they could now "reign in life through Christ Jesus" (Rom. 5:17) while awaiting the eventual subjection of all things to those "in Christ." As was true later for those to whom the Apostle John wrote in the Apocalypse, it was (and is) difficult for Christians, living in the "enigma of the interim" between the "finished work" of Christ (cf. John 19:30) and the final consummation of His work in the future, to see the results of the victory and triumph of Jesus Christ and how mankind will exercise dominion over the created order "in Him." Paul's objective was to assure the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem that Jesus' solidarity with man as the better Man for man was sufficient to eventually restore the dignity and dominion of man.

2:9  ­  It is here that the transition is made from general anthropological interpretation of Psalm 8:4-6 to the particular Christological interpretation that explains Jesus' identification with humanity. "Now we do not see all things subject to him (man), But we do see Him, Jesus, who has been made for a little while lower than the angels..." Conjoined in solidarity with mankind, Jesus emptied Himself of divine prerogatives of function and was made in the likeness of man as a man (cf. Phil. 2:7,8). The Son of God accepted and assumed corporeal humanity. The "Word was made flesh" (John 1:14) in the incarnation. Had Paul been quoting from the Hebrew text of Psalm 8:5 it is doubtful that he would have made this Christological interpretation for he would not have said that Jesus was "made for a little while lower than God." But in indicating that Jesus "was made for a little while lower than the angels," Paul identifies Jesus (whose name means "Jehovah saves" - Matt. 1:21) with mankind in the temporary assumption of physical humanity whereby He would function in subordination to God the Father. "For a little while" ­ for 33 years in time during His redemptive mission to earth, Jesus was temporarily made a physical being "lower than the angels" and functioned as a man dependently contingent upon God. Such theological tenets as the "eternal humanity" of Jesus and the "subsumption of humanity into the Being of God" seem to be denied by this verse.

The temporary assumption of physicality, being "made for a little while lower than the angels," allowed for the death of the human Jesus. Building upon that physical basis of mortality, Paul continues to note that we observe Jesus "because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor,..." This was the primary "stumbling-block" (cf. I Cor. 1:23) for the Jewish people. Their triumphalist expectations could not accommodate a suffering Savior, a crucified Christ, a dying deliverer, a murdered Messiah. The Jewish Christians to whom Paul was writing seem to have accepted the fact that Jesus, the Messiah, had been historically crucified, but were apparently struggling with the question of how the tragedy of Christ's death could lead to the triumph of man's dignity and dominion. How could the ignominy and horror of the cross provide for the crowning of glory and honor for Jesus and those identified with Him? How could the pathos of a humiliating crucifixion be the basis of an honorable glorification and exaltation of Jesus and all mankind? This is the logical dilemma that Christian theology has faced from its inception ­ the explanation of how the vicarious crucifixion of Jesus facilitates the victor's crown for Jesus and for receptive humanity. Later in this epistle, Paul explains that "for the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2). To the Philippians, Paul wrote that "as a man, Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, ...and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:8-11). The death of Jesus Christ was the necessary remedial action for "the triumph of the crucified"1 wherein "Christus Victor"2 assumes the stephanos crown of victory for Himself and for all mankind. It was only when Jesus was assured that the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection was set in motion, and that He "had accomplished the work that the Father had given Him to do," that He prayed, "Glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, ...with the glory I had with Thee before the world was" (John 17:4,5).

To further explain the redemptive death of Jesus as the necessary precursor to the restoration of life for all men, Paul states, "that by the grace of God He might taste death for every one." Some have suggested that this phrase is non sequitur in relation to the previous phrase, and might better be placed prior to the phrase that mentions Christ's being "crowned with glory and honor," but Paul seems to be emphasizing that the sequence of dying in order to live, suffering in order to sanctify (cf. 10,11) is indeed the gracious intent and grace activity of God. It was God's "predetermined plan" (Acts 2:23; 4:28) to "demonstrate His love" (Rom. 5:8) and grace toward man by delivering His Son unto death as the "propitiation of our sins" (I John 4:10). Jesus was not a victim of the circumstances as enacted by the collusion of the Jewish and Romans leaders who conspired to put Him to death ­ rather, this was what God ordained from "before the foundation of the world" (I Peter 1:20). Since the consequences of man's sin were death in its varied forms (cf. Gen. 2:17), the death consequences had to be taken by a man in order for the just consequences of the violation of God's character to be implemented. That Man who came to take those consequences of death for man and as man was the God-man, Jesus Christ. He "came to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28; I Tim. 2:6), i.e. "for every one" as Paul states it in this verse, "for all" (Rom. 8:32; II Cor. 5:14), for the entire human race. His death was to be the vicarious and substitutional death of the sinless representative Man which would "pay the price" (I Cor. 6:20; 7:3) to redeem (Eph. 1:7; Titus 2:14) mankind. On our behalf, and in our place, Jesus, the better Man for man, "tasted death", meaning that He experienced the painful reality of death to its utmost extreme, even to the extent of experiencing the absence of God's presence, causing Him to cry out, "My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (cf. Ps. 22:1; Matt. 27:46). This perhaps explains why there are some inferior Greek manuscripts that read that "apart from God Jesus tasted death for everyone." The sinless Jesus, undeserving of death, took the death consequences of sin which fallen mankind deserved, and that to elevate all mankind to the dignity and dominion that God intended for man by investing the life of God within man once again (cf. Gen. 2:7) through spiritual regeneration.

Paul wanted the Jerusalem Christians to be aware of the divine logic of the ways of God. Only then could they begin to understand how the crucified Christ was the better Man who was superior to all angels and elevated all men "in Him" to be higher than the angels. As an extension of his argument, Paul may have been advising the Christians in Jerusalem that those in whom Christ lives can expect the same divine logic of the ways of God in suffering that leads to sanctification (cf. 10,11), in humiliation that hopes for exaltation, in abasement that expects glorification, and in dying that is transformed into living, all in identification with Jesus. The political situation that existed in Palestine at the time of Paul's writing was such that his readers needed to be prepared for God's ways, and to be encouraged concerning Christ's victory.

2:10  ­  Recognizing that the natural thought processes of man do not regard such divine logic to be "fitting" or appropriate to the accomplishment of objectives, Paul wrote, "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things,..." Despite how unnatural, absurd or abhorrent it might be to the ways of man, it was "fitting", suitable and appropriate to the ways of God to express His grace in such a way that death was the precursor of life. Acting out of His own Being, in complete congruity with His character, God knew it was necessary and appropriate to His intent to restore mankind, to allow His own Son to bear the death consequences of sin for all mankind. Even though the Jewish people could not conceive of a "crucified Christ", this was God's way.

God does what He does because He is who He is. Consistent with His character of both justice and grace, it was "fitting" for God to send His Son and allow Him to die to assume the death consequences of sin for the whole human race. As God is the efficient and final cause of all things, He is the One who determines and controls the end and the means of His activity. God determined the teleological end and objective of His actions to be His own glory ("for whom are all things") through the restoration of human function by His Son. God effected the means or modality of His action by exercising the dynamic energizing of His grace ("through whom are all things") in offering His Son to die in order that man might live. Paul refers to God similarly as he did to the Romans: "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever" (Rom. 11:36).

The divine end and means are further explained in the next phrases. God's purposed end is stated: "in bringing many sons to glory." Since man was "created for His glory" (Isa. 43:7), God wanted to restore fallen mankind to their intended creative purpose. Who are these "many sons"? To the Galatians Paul wrote, "you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26). Though he had just indicated that Jesus "tasted death for everyone" (2:9), implying the universality of His redemptive death and His restorative life available to all humanity, the individual application in the "many sons" comes by the volitional receptivity of faith for those willing to receive "Christ in them, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). This does not restrict the universality of Christ's work, but establishes the condition of receipt which safeguards man's freedom of choice by avoiding a universal imposition of God upon man. The singularity of God's Son (cf. 1:2,5,8), by His solidarity with humanity, "the Man for man," provides for a plurality of "many sons" in identification with Himself. The action of the One is effective for the many (cf. Rom. 5:17-21; 8:29).

The means to the end of "bringing many sons to glory" was by the action of God "to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings." Why did Jesus need to be perfected? Was He not already perfect? Yes, Jesus was perfect in being and behavior, but He still needed to be made perfect (cf. Heb. 5:8,9) in benefit for all mankind. This was effected as Jesus became the sinless sacrifice in death on the cross, dying in the stead of all mankind. He thus perfected and achieved God's end objective by becoming the "author of salvation" for the "many sons" who would receive and identify with Him. The English word "author" may be a misleading translation here. The Greek word archegon can mean "founder, originator, initiator, leader, champion, implementer, empowerer, etc. (cf. 12:2). Whatever the meaning, Jesus made salvation available to mankind by means of His sufferings of death (cf. 2:9). The death of Jesus by crucifixion was sufficient for the just consequences of death for sin, setting man free and making him safe (Greek word sozo means "to make safe") from dysfunction in order to function as God intended by the presence and activity of God in the man. Salvation is not an entity or commodity detached or separated from the dynamic function of the Savior. Salvation is not an divine benefit or product dispensed apart from the function of the living Lord Jesus. All saving acts are the acts of the Being of the Savior, as receptive individuals are "saved by His life" (Rom. 5:10). "So great a salvation" (2:3) experienced by "those inheriting salvation" (1:14) was the objective of God accomplished by the "finished work" (cf. John 19:30) of Jesus through His sufferings unto death, "even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:8).

2:11  ­  The singular Son of God and the "many sons" are brought together in a restored new humanity, based upon and as a result of the solidarity of the Son of God with mankind as "the Man for man." "For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all out of one..." Based on the divine logic of death leading to life and suffering facilitating sanctification, Jesus is "He who sanctifies" by setting men apart to function as intended in the expression of God's holy character. Those "being sanctified" in the ever-present tense of salvation are those receptive to Christ in faith and identified as Christians, i.e. Christ-ones.

The Son and the sons, Christ and Christians, "are all out of one," Paul states. Does this mean that Christ and Christians are one because of the one event of crucifixion, resurrection and Pentecostal outpouring? Does this mean that the Son and the sons are united in the common experience of suffering? Does this mean that Jesus and believers are unified in one family or Body, or in the commonality of a new humanity? Does this mean that Christ and Christians are derived from one parent or father, and if so does this refer to Adam? ...Abraham? ...or God? The preferable interpretation seems to be that the singular Son and the plural sons both find their source of life and derivation of function out of the one Father, God, constituting them as one family "for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren."

The mutual derivation of spiritual life and function explains why Jesus is "not ashamed," i.e. He is proud to call Christians "brothers." Jesus, the Son, delights to identify Himself with the "many sons" who are Christ-ones finding their identity in Him. This was the intent of God, that Jesus would be "the first-born" from the dead "among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29); that His death on the cross would create a spiritual family, a new creation (cf. II Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:16) humanity, all of whom would be "joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17). Immediately after the resurrection Jesus said to Mary, "go to My brethren, and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God'" (John 20:17). The identification of Christ with mankind in the solidarity of His humanity with ours allows the spiritual identification of Christians in solidarity with Christ as brethren within the family of God, the Body of Christ, the Church.

It should be noted that the brethren who are united in one spiritual family with Christ will likely be called upon to identify also in the personal suffering that is often the avenue to sanctification. Paul explained to the Romans that being "fellow-heirs with Christ" implied "suffering with Him in order to be glorified with Him" (Rom. 8:17). The situation that confronted the Judean Christians when this letter was written was such that the brethren of Jesus would need to be encouraged to recognize the ways of divine logic, and to not be ashamed to be called brethren because Jesus was "not ashamed to call them brethren."

2:12  ­  To provide Scriptural documentation of the thesis of Christ and Christians as "brethren", Paul employs another Old Testament Psalm, the Messianic Psalm often called "the Psalm of the Cross," putting the words of the Psalm into the mouth of Jesus, having Him "saying, 'I WILL PROCLAIM THY NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING THY PRAISE.'" Psalm 22 begins with the cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?", the cry of Jesus from the cross (Matt. 27:46; Mk. 15:34). It continues with a litany of suffering and affliction (which is often applied to the suffering of Jesus - cf. Matt. 27:35,43,46), followed by an exaltation of vindication which includes verse 22 which is quoted here. Placed in the mouth of Jesus, He is proud to proclaim the name and character of God to His "brethren," i.e. Christians identified with Him. Jesus will sing God's praise within "the congregation", the Church, the community of the "called out" which is the Body of Christ comprised of the "brethren." This "general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven" (Heb. 12:23) are "brethren" who are mutually called to "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God" (Heb. 13:15). Perhaps indirectly Paul was encouraging the Jerusalem Christians to proclaim the name of Jesus and to sing His praise in the congregation of the church despite the religious and political turmoil that was going on around them.

2:13 ­   Continuing to place Old Testament words into the mouth of Jesus, Paul writes, "And again, 'I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM.'" Quoting from Isaiah 8:17 in the Septuagint (LXX), Paul indicates that Jesus, in solidarity with the "many sons", puts His confidence and dependence in God. How did Jesus live the life that He lived during His redemptive mission on earth? By faith ­ by repetitively chosen receptivity of God's activity for every moment in time for 33 years. Jesus said, "I do nothing of My own initiative; the Father abiding in Me does His works" (John 14:10). As the risen Lord in solidarity with Christians in the "brotherhood of faith", Jesus is "the author and perfecter of faith" (Heb. 12:2).

"And again, 'BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME.'" Continuing the quote into the following verse, Isaiah 8:18, Paul emphasizes again the solidarity of Christ and the Christian in the exercise of faith. The Son and the sons, the Savior and the saved, the Sanctifier and the sanctified, Christ and the brethren have a relational spiritual oneness in the family of God. Christians are the "children of God" (John 1:12,13; 11:52) whom God gave to the Son (cf. John 6:37,39; 17:2,6,9,24) in spiritual oneness with Himself (cf. I Cor. 6:17), as they eagerly await all that God will do. The practical inference is that the Christians in Jerusalem should recognize their oneness with the risen Lord Jesus, continue to trust God, and despite what circumstances might transpire eagerly await God's "signs and wonders in Israel" (cf. Isa. 8:18).

2:14  ­  Keying off of the word "children" in the quotation from Isaiah 8:18, Paul returns to the theme of Jesus' participating in physical humanity in order to die and take the death consequences of sin on our behalf. "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same,..." Since those who were to become "children of God" by faith in Jesus Christ had in common the corruptible characteristics of physical "flesh and blood", susceptible as it is to mortality, Jesus identified in solidarity with mankind by partaking of the same physical, human creatureliness, capable of dying. "The Word became flesh" (John 1:14), and "in the days of His flesh" (Heb. 5:7) in the "body prepared for Him" (Heb. 10:7), He took no more pleasure in dying than any other man. But "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. 8:3) with the fallen consequences of death and mortality, Jesus was willing to become the vicarious offering for sin, "bearing our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness" (I Pet. 2:24). The "flesh and blood" humanity of Jesus was not just a docetic "appearance" of physical humanness, but was a full participation in the human condition which included temptation (cf. Heb. 2:18; 4:15) and death (cf. Heb. 2:9,14,15). The incarnational enfleshment of "the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5) was the necessary prerequisite for the atoning benefits of His death.

Jesus was fully man in order "that through death He might render powerless the one having the power of death, that is the devil." The very purpose of Jesus' becoming man "revealed in the flesh (I Tim. 3:16) was that He might die and "offer His body once and for all" (Heb. 10:10) as the sufficient sacrifice in death for sin. As the sinless One dying in the substitutionary place of sinful mankind, He was "made to be sin" (II Cor. 5:21), being imputed with the sin of the entire human race. When the death consequence of sin is satisfied, then "death has lost its sting" (I Cor. 15:55-57). Jesus' vicarious death for the sin of all men sets in motion the "death of death," as His resurrection life, "the spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:2), conquers death for all men willing to receive such. Though in the "enigma of the interim" between the historical death and resurrection of Jesus and the consummation of His work in the "new heaven and new earth" (Rev. 21:1), the residual consequences of physical mortality remain, Christians are confident that spiritual death has been overcome with spiritual life, Christ's life, and that they are liberated from the inevitable behavioral consequences of "the law of sin and of death" (Rom. 8:2) in "dead works" (Heb. 6:1; 9:14). Yes, the physical body is still mortal and susceptible to death, but as Jesus assured Martha, "he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die" (John 11:25,26) in the realm of their spiritual and eternal being, united as it is with the "eternal life" (John 3:16,36; I John 5:12,13) of Jesus Christ.

The devil is identified as "the one having the power of death." The verb is not a past tense, but a present participle. How is it that the devil, the accuser, the evil one has the "power of death"? This "power over death" is not an absolute power, for such would constitute a cosmic dualism between Satan's power of death and God's power of life. Therefore, it must be regarded as a contingent power conferred upon the evil one to employ and enact as a consequence of the expression of his evil character in sinfulness. In the Jewish intertestamental literature, the writer of the Wisdom of Solomon explains the Jewish theological understanding of that time, writing, "God did not make death, and He does not delight in the death of the living" (Wisd. 1:13). Later he writes, "God created man for incorruption, and made him in the image of His eternity, but through the devil's envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his party experience it" (Wisd. 2:23,24). Jewish and Christian theodicy recognize that Satan has the derived "power of death" because of man's sin.

In taking the death consequences of sin upon Himself and extending life in Himself to mankind, Jesus renders Satan's "power of death" inconsequential, ineffectual and impotent. "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8). "By His appearing He abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (II Tim. 1:10). Jesus said that "the ruler of this world (Satan) would be cast out" (John 12:31) and "has been judged" (John 16:11), allowing us to be "delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the beloved Son" (Col. 1:13).

How is it that the devil is "rendered powerless" by Jesus death? Satan seems to be "alive and well on planet earth," continuing to empower death in its many forms. The evil one was not eliminated, annihilated or obliterated at the time of the crucifixion, but the victory has been won by Christ and the "finished work" is being worked out. Satan's "power of death" in man has been annulled and incapacitated by Jesus taking the death of mankind. The devil's derived legal right to enact death in man has been disenfranchised. The evil one has no right to empower spiritual death and behavioral death in those who have received Christ's life, made available by His death that satisfied the just consequences of death for sin. Christians have been delivered "from the dominion of Satan unto God" (Acts 26:18), and the Spirit of Christ has been franchised to exercise His power (cf. Eph. 1:19; Col. 1:11) of life and righteousness in our lives as Lord. Though our physical bodies are still mortal, that remnant of the devil's "power of death" will be removed when we receive a "spiritual body" (I Cor. 15:44), an "imperishable body" (I Cor. 15:42), and "the last enemy that will be abolished is death" (I Cor. 15:26) when Satan and his death power are thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14).

2:15  ­  Let us not forget that the great "stumbling-block" (I Cor. 1:23) for those of Jewish heritage was the death of the Messiah. Paul is explaining how the death of Jesus was the necessary negation of the death consequences of sin, so that Christ's divine life could function in and through Christians. On a more experiential level, Paul proceeds to explain that by the death of Jesus which disenfranchised the devil's power of death, Jesus "should have delivered those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." The awareness of human mortality has long been a source of anxiety to mankind. Hopeless anticipation of physical death with no expectation of living beyond the grave can lead to a debilitating phobia of diabolic enslavement. The gospel is the good news of our deliverance from the existential unknown of death.

In becoming "the better Man for man" Jesus fully identified Himself in solidarity with humanity. His humanity included temptability and mortality, both of which He experienced as He prepared for and was crucified on the execution instrument of the cross. But His death was part of God's greater objective for mankind. Though Himself sinless, He took the death consequences of sin on our behalf, substitutionally and vicariously. Jesus incurred all of the death consequences that had occurred in Adam, in order to restore us to God's intent. Because He was without sin (cf. 4:15) "the one having the power of death" (14), the devil, could not hold Him in physical death. "He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay" (Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:31). By resurrection He made His divine life available to mankind, that by the receipt of His Spirit individuals might also experience life out of death spiritually, being "raised to newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). Thereby Satan's "power of death" (14) was rendered ineffectual. Now having spiritual life in Christ and full provision for behavior expression that glorifies God, the Christian recognizes that the only remnant or residual of Satan's "power of death" is the physical death of the body. Since the life we have in Christ is eternal, we confidently expect the continuum of His life in perpetuity within the heavenly realm. Physical death of the body is just a transition necessitated for a new context of life, a "graduation to glory." We will not be "found naked" (II Cor. 5:3) or disembodied, but will shed the physical body and exchange it for a spiritual body, a heavenly body, a glorified body (cf. I Cor. 15:42-49). Christians are therefore "delivered from the fear of death," viewing physical death as part of the triumphant progress of life in Christ. As Paul expressed it to the Corinthians, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 15:55-57).

How, then, does the "fear of death subject men to slavery all their lives"? Apart from Christ and confidence in the continuum of His life, the fear of physical death enslaves men in mental and emotional uncertainty ­ the paranoid insecurity of asking, "Is there life after death? How about reincarnation? Am I just going to be devoured by worms?" The fear of death also enslaves men in the escapism of denial and avoidance ­ seeking to live for the moment (carpe deim) in self-indulgence, occupying their present physical lives to the fullest with material things and activities, saying, "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die." The fear of death enslaves others in a preoccupation with attempting to please and appease God by their performance ­ the self-effort of religious striving within the confining and enslaving bondage of ethical rules and regulations and rituals of devotion.

Paul explains that Jesus' death and consequent life in Christians delivers us from the fear of death and its various forms of slavery. Yes, we will likely all die physically, for later he writes, "It is appointed unto man once to die, and then comes judgment" (Heb. 9:27). But judgment holds no fear for Christians. Fear of judgment is usually based on the psychologically enslaving fear of inadequate performance. Understanding the grace dynamic of the gospel, Christians do not rely on their own performance, but on Christ's performance on their behalf, both in dying for them and living through them. Divine judgment is but the glorious confirmation that Jesus took the judgment for our sin and the responsibility for our righteousness. Jesus said, "he who believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life" (John 5:24). "For God did not sent the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:17,18). By His death, resurrection and Pentecostal outpouring, Jesus has provided His life which delivers those receptive to Him from the enslaving consequences of the fear of physical death. Christians are set free to live life to the fullest with the confident hope of the perpetuity of life into the eternal future.

Perhaps Paul was aware that the Christians in Jerusalem were not very confident of the implications of life in Christ Jesus. They may have succumbed to some of the enslaving effects of the fear of physical death. The political situation in Palestine at that time could certainly have been a cause for anxiety. Rumors of the Roman army marshaling their forces to wage war on the insurrection of the Jewish zealots would have been particularly frightening. Roman soldiers were notorious for committing every kind of atrocity against their defeated foes prior to slaughtering them in death. Paul wanted to assure the Christians of Palestine that the life effected by the death of the Man, Jesus, was sufficient to sustain them and deliver them from the "fear of death".

2:16  ­  To assure them in their present situation and to affirm again that mankind, because of Christ's work as Man for man, is elevated to a divinely intended dignity and dominion above the angelic hosts, Paul confidently asserts, "For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham." The Christians in Jerusalem apparently needed the assurance that Jesus had identified with their humanity. Jesus did not act on behalf of the angels for there was no need to identify in solidarity with their angelic form, and there was no need to redeem them by death. Mankind, on the other hand, did need the divine help of Someone to act on their behalf, which could only be accomplished by the Son of God being incarnated in solidarity with humanity as the God-man. Only as man could Jesus then die and assume the death consequences of sin for mankind in order to redeem man. Only by the conquering of death in resurrection could the Savior restore divine life to the spirit of individuals, restoring their intended dignity and dominion. Only by the restoration of God's life in man, i.e. Christ's presence and function in the Christian, could man glorify God which is his purpose for existing. Jesus Christ has acted historically on man's behalf and continues to live and act on man's behalf in Christians today.

Who is "the descendant of Abraham" that Paul writes of? Some commentators have suggested that there is an allusion here to Isaiah 41:8-10 where the prophet refers to the "descendant of Abraham" and goes on to say "surely I will help you." It is possible that Paul had these verses in mind, but we must still ask what he meant by "the descendant of Abraham" in this verse. Physically, racially, or ethnically "the descendant of Abraham" could refer to both the Hebrew and the Arabic people, descendants of Abraham through his sons Isaac and Ishmael, respectively. The Jewish Christians to whom Paul wrote were obviously physical descendants of Abraham. But as Christians they were also spiritual descendants of Abraham. Paul explained to the Roman Christians that Abraham was "the father of all who believe" (Rom. 4:11), that the "descendants of Abraham are...those who have the faith of Abraham" (Rom. 4:16), and that all Christians who are "children of the promise are regarded as descendants" (Rom. 9:6-8) of Abraham. Writing to the Galatians, Paul earlier indicated that "if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise" (Gal. 3:29). Jesus acted objectively in behalf of all men in the solidarity of His incarnation and in His redemptive death, but the specific subjective efficacy of His life and work is enacted in those persons who are receptive to Jesus' activity in faith, and are thus "descendants of Abraham." All Christians are thus "descendants of Abraham" and "inherit the promises" (Heb. 6:12,13) of God to Abraham (cf. Gen. 12-15), as those promises are affirmed and confirmed as fulfilled in Jesus Christ and those who receive Him (cf. II Cor. 1:20).

Paul was assuring the Palestinian Christians that Jesus Christ had acted on their behalf in redemption and was continuing to act on their behalf in the present situation that they were confronted with. He wanted them to know that the living Lord Jesus was far more interested in them than He was in assisting angels who needed no help. As the "better man for man" Jesus was superior to angels and made all those who are "in Him" superior to angels.

2:17 ­  In the concluding two verses of this section, Paul summarizes his argument of Jesus' identification with mankind and introduces a future theme of the priesthood of Jesus. "Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things,..." Because He came to deliver man, not angels, it was logically necessary that Jesus assume solidarity with the human race. The "brethren" with whom He identified are not just those of Jewish heritage, but are those human beings who became "brethren" (2:11,12) by their identification with Him through faith. Jesus partook of the full human experience "in all things," with the exception that He did not participate personally in sin. Though He was "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. 8:3), meaning that the death consequences of sin affected His body in terms of mortality, Jesus did not share in the depravity of spiritual death, and therefore did not develop the sinful patterning of the "desires of the flesh" (Gal. 5:24; Eph. 2:3). Such "flesh" patterning is not implicit in humanity, however, and therefore does not negate that Jesus was "made like His brethren in all things."

The purpose of this complete solidarity with mankind was "that He might become a merciful and faith high priest in things pertaining to God,..." Here we have the first mention of Jesus as "the better high priest" which will occupy much of the rest of this epistle. Jesus became the fulfillment of the type of the high priesthood of Melchizedek (cf. 5:10; 6:20), as well as the Levitical priesthood. The high priest was a man who represented the people before God. Jesus, as "the Man for man", represented humanity as no religious high priest could ever do, for as the God-man He was fully aware of what was required to redeem, reconcile and restore man "in things pertaining to God" forever.

What was required was that as a priestly man Jesus should serve "to make propitiation for the sins of the people." The high priest in Judaism offered sacrifices for the sins of the Hebrew people on the Day of Atonement (cf. Lev. 16). Jesus not only served as the antetype of the high priest, but He Himself was the sacrificial satisfaction, offering His own life in death as the only sacrifice that could satisfy the just consequences of death that God had imposed for sin, the violation of His character. This was not an attempt to appease or placate an angry God offended in moral outrage (a concept prevalent in many religions), but this was what had to be accomplished for divine justice to be satisfied. God is a God of His word, and He had determined that death would be the consequences of sin (cf. Gen. 2:17). That penalty of death had to be paid for the expiatory and propitiatory satisfaction of God's justice. God was fully satisfied with the sacrificial death of Jesus for "the propitiation of the sins of the people" (cf. Rom. 3:25; I John 2:2; 4:10). Having died for the sins of all people, the stigma and penalty of sin that alienated God and man has been dealt with, allowing for reconciliation and atonement between God and man.

The Jewish high priests in the temple at Jerusalem were never able to effect redemption and propitiation for sin. Paul declares that they "can never by the same sacrifices year by year...make perfect those who draw near" (Heb. 10:1). Only Jesus, as the sinless God-man, could satisfy divine justice in the sacrifice of Himself in death. Why then, Paul might be asking the Jerusalem Christians, would you even consider reverting back to the inferior representation of religious priests in the temple at Jerusalem when Jesus was the only sacrifice sufficient?

2:18  ­  Jesus can serve as "a merciful and faithful high priest" (17), "since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered,..." In the "suffering of death" (2:9) Jesus experienced the utmost of testing and temptation in full solidarity with mankind. As a man He was tempted to avoid death, saying, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me." (Matt. 26:39; Mk. 14:36; Lk. 22:42). Those who advocate the divine impeccability of Jesus, and thus deny the possibility of Jesus' sinning in response to temptation, forget that the entire context of Paul's argument is Jesus' solidarity with humanity, and that it was in His function as a man that Jesus was "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15).

Because of that solidarity of human temptability, "He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." Jesus knew how difficult the tests, trials and temptations of life can be, and now serves to intercede on behalf of Christians. "He holds His priesthood permanently,...and always lives to make intercession...for those who draw near to God through Him" (Heb. 7:24,25). Jesus "intercedes for the saints" (Rom. 8:27), serving as the "Advocate" (I John 2:1) "at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us" (Rom. 8:34). As Christians continue in their humanity, susceptible to temptation, we can "draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16). Never let anyone tell you that Christians should not be tempted, or that temptation is a result of unbelief or sin. To be human is to be tempted. It is intrinsic to our humanity, allowing for the continued exercise of our freedom of choice, that we might be receptive to His continued activity for us and in us and through us by faith.

Concluding Remarks

Paul has been encouraging the Jerusalem Christians to endure and not "drift away" (2:1) from all they have and are in Christ. They had "endured a great conflict of sufferings...by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulation" (10:32,33). They were likely being tempted to revert back to the religious forms that predominated in the Jewish capital of Jerusalem. Paul wanted to encourage them that Jesus had identified with their humanity and temptation, and He remained compassionate and dependable as a permanent priestly representative before God to intercede for them and satisfy God's expectations for righteousness. The words that Paul wrote to the Corinthians contain the basic theme that he was attempting to convey to the Christians in Judea: "No temptation/trial/testing has overtaken you but such as is common to man, and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted/tested/tried beyond what you are able, but with the temptation/trial/testing will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it" (I Cor. 10:13). Peter's reminder was that "the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation/testing/trial" (II Peter 2:9).

In like manner as the death of Jesus was a "stumbling-block" (I Cor. 1:23) for Jewish minds, many Gentiles today cannot fathom or accept how a loving God could allow (or purpose) His own Son to die by crucifixion. They fail to understand the point that Paul is making in these verses, that God's objective in sending His Son to become a man was that He might die on behalf of all men in order to restore human dignity and dominion as God first intended. Jesus is thus better than any religious intermediary, angelic or otherwise, because He became "the better Man for man," dying in our place on our behalf to give us His life, and He continues to intercede for us and provide all things for us by His grace. You cannot get any better than that!

1    Sauer, Eric, The Triumph of the Crucified. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans. 1951.
2    Aulen, Gustaf, Christus Victor. London: SPCK. 1931.