At Christmas we celebrate the mystery of Christ’s incarnation, and in Hebrews 2:5–9 so does the biblical author. He lays the foundation for his argument that the incarnation was necessary for salvation to be accomplished (Heb. 2:14–18), building out his contention that the new covenant transcends and fulfills the old (1:1–4; 8:1–13). This brief exposition will first consider the context of Hebrews 1–2, before nodding in the direction of the meaning of Psalm 8 in the Psalter. From there we will examine the structure and meaning of Hebrews 2:5–9, before concluding with correspondences between Hebrews 2:5–9 and 12:18–24.
The Flow of Thought in Hebrews 1–2
The author of Hebrews has structured his first two chapters such that the main points of each successive unit flow together to make an argument, even as those units also comprise a chiastic structure.
The author begins in Hebrews 1:1–4 with the big idea that God has spoken in his son. Because the old covenant was mediated through angels (Heb. 2:2), he stresses that the son is greater than the angels in 1:5–14. Then he urges his audience to pay much closer attention in 2:1–4, because the world to come has been subjected to the son not angels in 2:5–9, and this son is the one who took on flesh to become his people’s merciful and faithful high priest in 2:10–18. This flow of thought makes perfect sense in sequence, but there are also significant points to be gleaned from its chiastic structure, which can be depicted as follows:
1:1–4, God has spoken in his Son
1:5–14, The Son is Greater than Angels
2:1–4, We Must Pay Much Closer Attention
2:5–9, Not to Angels He Subjected the World to Come
2:10–18, Made Like His Brothers To Be High Priest
Hebrews 1:1–4 naturally introduces the whole letter, and the particular point of contact with 2:10–18 is the reference to the way that Jesus made “purification for sins” in 1:3. The son’s superiority over the angels in 1:5–14 stands across from the fact that the world to come is subjected to the son not angels in 2:5–9, and the whole is thereby centered on the call to pay much closer attention in 2:1–4.
The Meaning of Psalm 8 in the Psalter
The scope of this brief study does not permit a full-scale exposition of Psalm 8, but I have argued elsewhere that the link words and other cohesive features of the Psalter make strong connections between the blessed man (Psalm 1) who is the Lord’s anointed king (Psalm 2) and the “son of Adam” to whom all has been subjected in Psalm 8.[1] The Psalter’s own presentation of the son of man in Psalm 8 as the Davidic king was also understood by the Apostle Paul, who quotes Psalm 8 in conjunction with Psalm 110 in both 1 Corinthians 15 and Ephesians 1 (see Psalm 110 in 1 Cor. 15:25 and Psalm 8 in 1 Cor. 15:27, along with Psalm 110 in Eph. 1:20 and Psalm 8 in Eph. 1:22).[2]
1. See James M. Hamilton Jr., “David’s Biblical Theology and Typology in the Psalms: Authorial Intent and Patterns of the Seed of Promise,” in The Psalms: Exploring Theological Themes, ed. David M. Howard and Andrew J. Schmutzer (Bellingham: Lexham, forthcoming); and James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms Volume I: Psalms 1–72, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham: Lexham Academic, 2021), 145–58.
2. See further James M. Hamilton Jr., “Did the New Testament Authors Read the Psalter as a Book?” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 25, no. 3 (2021): 9–33.
3. [Editor’s note: pedimental is the shape of the triangular portion of the building in the picture that accompanies this article.]
The Structure and Message of Hebrews 2:5–9
The chiastic structure of Hebrews 2:5–9 can be easily discerned if we put the corresponding statements in the text in the same color font as they stand across from one another in its pedimental[3] shape:
Note that “God” is only mentioned near the beginning, in verse 5, and again near the end, in the second half of verse 9. Similarly, the reference to “the grace of God” in verse 9 points back to the beginning of the quotation from Psalm 8 in verse 5. Within the outer frames of verses 5 and 9, the matching statements closely align: 2:7 and 2:9a speak of the one “for a little while lower than the angels” who has been “crowned with glory and honor,” and the mirrored statements center on the references to God “putting everything in subjection under his feet” in 2:8.
In Hebrews 2:6–8a the author quotes Psalm 8:4–6. Then in 2:8b–9 he explains how the one of whom the Psalm speaks—the Lord Jesus who was made lower than the angels at the incarnation—has been crowned with glory and honor “because of the suffering of death” (2:9), even though “we do not yet see everything in subjection to him” (2:8b).
Everything will be subjected to him when the things that have been made that can be shaken are removed, “that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (12:27). Then will come the making perfect (11:40; cf. 12:23) of those who sought the city with foundations (11:10, cf. 11:13–16), when “the coming one will come and will not delay” (10:37).
The Relationship Between Hebrews 2:5–9 and 12:18–24
4. For discussion of scholarly proposals, see David M. Heath, “Chiastic Structures in Hebrews: With a Focus on 1:7–14 and 12:26–29,” Neotestamentica, 2012, 61–82. For even more detail, see David Mark Heath, “Chiastic Structures in Hebrews: A Study of Form and Function in Biblical Discourse” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Stellenbosch, 2011).
A number of features of the Epistle to the Hebrews incline me to think that the whole letter is one large chiasm.[4] For instance, the contrast between Jesus and the angels in Hebrews 1 is matched in Hebrews 13 by the reference to visiting angels (Heb 13:2), and then the statement about Jesus Christ being the same yesterday, today, and forever in 13:8, which also corresponds to the assertion that Christ is “the same,” whose years have no end, in 1:12. The question “how shall we escape” in 2:3 corresponds closely to the similarly worded statement in 12:25, “if they did not escape . . . much less will we escape.”
The passage under consideration here, Hebrews 2:5–9, speaks of the world to come being subjected not to angels but to Christ, and Hebrews 12:18–24 addresses the letter’s audience as those who have come not to Sinai but “to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering . . . and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant” (Heb 12:22–24). The author of Hebrews urges his audience to pay much closer attention (2:1–4) because the world to come has been subjected not to angels but to Christ (2:5–9), and that audience has come not to Sinai but to the heavenly Jerusalem (12:18–24), so they should “not refuse him who is speaking (12:25, cf. 25–29). Further correspondences between Hebrews 2:10–18 and 12:1–17 could be pointed out, but they are beyond the scope of this brief study.
Conclusion
We will not come to the end of what Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2 have to teach us. These texts give us ancient promises of eternal mercies. The Lord Jesus carried out a shocking display of humility and love, even unto death. As a result, all is his. He is life. Though lower than the angels for a little while, he is crowned with glory and honor, and nothing is outside his control (Heb 2:7–8). At Christmas we recall the first step in the Lord’s humiliation, but let us not forget his last step, when all creation is put under the Son’s feet.
