Hebrews 2:7, commentary and pictures

Humanity was made a little below the angels, perfect and upright in God's image and crowned with glory and honor with dominion over the earth and all created things put under them. That dominion and high standing was lost through sin and disobedience, leaving fallen humanity imperfect and unable to atone for itself or be its own standard. Jesus Himself took human nature and was for a time made lower than the angels, that He could be tested as Adam was tested and taste death for every person to make salvation possible. Though thus humbled He was crowned with glory and honor and set over God's works with all things placed under His authority, an honor resting on His saving work. Through Him what the first Adam lost will be restored, so that those who receive Him are freed from Satan's power, made partakers of the divine nature, and raised again to a place just below the angels.

Humanity Created Below Angels

The verse describes humanity as created a little lower than the angels, made perfect and upright in God's image, pure and not corrupt, bearing His impress and fitted for usefulness in this life and for the society of heavenly angels in the next. That original nature was allied to the angels, with God-given capacities and intention for eternal life. Youth were so made in His own image.

Those so made were endowed with high mental and spiritual gifts, with faculties capable of the highest cultivation. They could understand the wonders of the visible universe and recognize moral responsibilities and obligations. Those attributes, if properly used, make man a blessing to the world and cause him to reflect glory to God.

They were crowned with glory and honor and set over the works of God's hands, with all things put in subjection under their feet. That was a dominion over the earth and creation given to the first parents, made slightly below the angels and given glory and honor and placed over creation. They were placed in high rank just below the angels with great worth and ability to become almost anything if they try. God's commandments were given to be obeyed as the way to reach that dignity, so that even men imprisoned for crime can turn from the harvest of wrong sowing and rise to what they were made to be. Earth is where people live and are tested, where their important work is to meet the duties and conflicts of this life, while the lofty work of heaven belongs to them when they are there.

That dominion was lost through sin and disobedience. Fallen, sinful man became an imperfect offering for sin, of less value than Adam before his fall, so man cannot atone for man. No sacrifice for man after transgression can be acceptable unless its value is superior to man as he was in his state of perfection and innocency. Fallen man cannot be a perfect standard and cannot safely make himself supreme or ask others to take him as their pattern in words and actions.

Human corruption is not God's work. It comes when parents damage their children's character through indulgence and neglect of proper training according to the pattern God has given, leaving them unfit for the society of heaven. The sins of parents are transmitted to children in perverted appetites and passions, bringing loss of that impress, slavery to appetite and debasing vice, and moral wreck. Parents must bear that responsibility when parents and children meet at the final reckoning, where separation from God's presence follows.

Christ Humbled and Exalted

The verse also applies to Jesus, who took human nature and for a time was made lower than the angels, in appearance not equal to the angels of heaven, so He could reach humanity and face human temptation and death. Though He was the Son of God, He was made subject to human conditions in that humiliation. He knew beforehand that taking the nature of man would place Him in that lowered position.

In that lowered, emaciated and distressed condition in the wilderness, Satan challenged His Sonship and exalted character, claiming it proved He was not the King of Heaven but a fallen angel exiled to earth. He contrasted that appearance with his own attractive appearance clothed with light and strong in power as a messenger direct from the throne. On that ground he demanded evidence that He was the Son of God by yielding to temptation upon appetite, and though the Son of God, He was so subject to human conditions that Satan could take Him to the temple pinnacle and a high mountain. His power over people is even greater because they are far weaker and less wise than the Son of God in human nature.

He passed over the same ground where Adam fell, to be tested and tried just as all human beings are tested and tried, experiencing what people experience. Strengthened by God, He successfully faced Satan and fallen angels, resisted and remained victorious. Satan came to Christ as an angel of light to induce Him to sin if possible and thereby place the whole human race entirely under the dominion of evil, but Christ was victorious and Satan was defeated. By that victory Christ placed humanity on vantage ground with God, and when the Father gave His Son to live and die for humanity He placed all the treasures of heaven at human disposal, giving every provision and every possible advantage for strength to withstand temptation, so there is no excuse for sin.

He was made lower for the suffering of death, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every person. That death was to expiate the sins of all who believe in Him, to represent God's love, and to make salvation possible for humanity. Though thus humbled, He was crowned with glory and honor and set over God's works, with all things placed under His authority. That full subjection is not yet visibly seen, for now all things are not yet seen put under Him. His position and honor therefore rest on His saving work, not on a human office or rank.

Through the man Christ Jesus human nature is exalted, for as the Captain of salvation made perfect through sufferings He brings many sons unto glory. Those who receive Christ are given power to become the sons of God, becoming partakers of the divine nature through His power. They are sanctified through conformity to His image and character, made one with Him by grace as He is one with the Father, and brought by Him unto glory as brethren whom He is not ashamed to own.

This great salvation was first spoken by the Lord and confirmed by those who heard Him, with God bearing witness by signs and wonders and miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. It brings just recompense for every transgression and disobedience and leaves no escape if neglected. It lays accountability on men for wonderful privileges as fundamental truth worthy of study, which must not be neglected for speculation over what is not clearly revealed.

Restoration and Faithful Living

What the first Adam lost in dominion will be restored by the second Adam, Christ, who was made low for the suffering of death and crowned with glory and honor to taste death for every person. Through the Saviour's merits those degraded by sin can be raised again to a position just below the angels. Through Christ, whose death ransoms humanity at infinite cost, people can be freed from Satan's power and cooperate with God in restoring the moral image of God in them as upright beings with capacities allied to angels and intended for eternal life.

Being crowned with glory and honor is the future gift of eternal life to those who do the will of God. At Christ's return the righteous dead are given life and ransomed from their graves and crowned, while the wicked are separated from the Lord and consumed by fire. Those who are purified and taken to heaven will have even greater privilege than the angels, though humanity was made lower than the angels.

Though lower than the angels, human beings bought by Jesus' life may attain a character nearly as perfect as theirs by using talents well and keeping on growing in knowledge of God's will, in intellect and in morals. They can advance in mental and moral dignity until intelligence and purity approach angelic perfection, enabled by the light of truth and the love of God for the great work that follows.

Humanity was created just below the angels with faculties capable of the highest cultivation, but when people surrender reason and conscience to appetite and passion they degrade those faculties and become vulnerable to Satan's control. Yielding to intemperance subordinates the higher faculties to animal appetites and passions, violates physical and moral law and the laws of being, and diminishes physical, mental and moral powers. God gives no permission to violate the laws of being, yet by yielding to temptation to indulge intemperance people bring the higher powers designed for elevated purposes into slavery to baser passions, because when physical habits are not right mental and moral powers cannot be strong through the great sympathy between the physical and the moral. Through intemperance some sacrifice one-half and others two-thirds of their powers and become playthings for the enemy and bondservants in bondage to appetite, with easy access given to Satan. Intemperance of any kind benumbs the perceptive organs and weakens brain-nerve power so that eternal things are not appreciated but placed on a level with the common. When the higher powers thus gain the ascendancy of the lower, people surrender themselves to be controlled by Satan.

Suffering does not prove the sufferer has done wrong that needs repentance, since Christ Himself suffered. The assurance of what God has provided calls people to keep hold on Christ and to strengthen those who are struggling, even though the full subjection of all things under His authority is not yet visibly seen. Each person is called to simplicity and true godliness wherever placed and in whatever work, to press close to the bleeding side of Jesus and willingly partake with Christ in suffering in order to be conformed to His image. Neglected duties in families are to be taken up and home religion supplied, so that backsliders and sinners come forward, confess pride and backsliding and partaking of the spirit of the world, and determine to live a different life. Eternal destiny is being decided now by willingness to be fitted for companionship with angels, requiring daily conversion that makes a person reliable and honorable. Had tested humanity followed Christ's victorious example on the same ground where Adam fell, parents would have given children and grandchildren an example of steadfast purity and righteousness, the race would have improved instead of deteriorated, and the world would have remained as Eden instead of becoming a desert of sin.