Our interpreters look at this passage, verses 20-23, chiefly from this side. Blessed Theodoret writes: "It is clear that the Apostle said all this of Christ as man. For this is what filled him with wonder. That God should sit together with God, and that the Son should reign together with the Father, is not at all astonishing. Together with identity of nature there is also communion of authority. But that the nature taken from us receives equal honor with Him who assumed it, and that no difference is found in worship, but in the worship given to the visible nature, worship is rendered to the invisible Godhead, this surpasses every wonder. Therefore the divine Apostle, marveling at this, first hymns the exceeding greatness of the power, then the operation of the dominion of His might. He seeks terms able to express the extraordinary character of the deed. For he says, first, that He raised Him from the dead, plainly as man. Then he says, He seated Him. Showing the greatness of the honor, he adds, at His right hand. He also indicates the royal palace: in the heavenly places. Then he names the subjects: above every principality and authority. After enumerating all the names of the invisible Powers known to us, he adds that, if there are others we do not know but shall know afterward in the future life, they too are all subjected to Him. He also adds the prophetic testimony: 'Thou hast put all things under His feet' (Ps 8:7). And the Prophet said this also of Christ as man, for he says, 'What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?' (Ps 8:5)."
Saint Chrysostom says: "Do you see what He accomplished? He raised Christ. And this is no small thing. But see what else He did. He seated Him at His right hand. What word can adequately portray this? One who was from the earth He suddenly raised to such a height. Truly, this is the incomprehensible greatness of His power. And see where He raised Him. He seated Him in the heavenly places, above every created nature, above every principality and authority. Therefore the Spirit of grace is truly needed. An enlightened mind is needed to know Him. In a word, revelation is needed for this. Consider how great the distance is between man and the divine nature. Yet from this human lowliness He raised Him to that divine honor. For this one must pass not one, not two, not three degrees. Therefore the Apostle did not simply say above, but far above. Above the highest Powers there is God alone. And to such a height He raised One who is from us. He raised the humbled One to the final degree of authority, beyond which there is no higher dignity. The Apostle says all this of Him who rose from the dead, and not of God the Word as such. He speaks of Jesus, who came from us. This is truly great and wondrous, that He raised Him from the lowest parts of the earth. He made Him higher than all, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 'And He put all things under His feet.' He did not simply say that He made Him above all, so as to prefer Him to them. He did not use the word by way of comparison. Rather, He gave Him the honor which a master has before his servants. O truly wondrous deeds! Because God the Word clothed Himself in our nature, every created power became ministering to man. But perhaps there is someone higher than He, who, though he has no subjects, possesses greater dignity? This too cannot be applied here. The Apostle affirms: all things, all things, He put under His feet. And He did not simply subject them, but subjected those beneath Him completely, so that no greater subjection can exist. Therefore the Apostle said, under His feet."
These two extracts fully explain the meaning of verses 20 and 21. It remains to clarify certain expressions.
The resurrection and the seating at the right hand are spoken of here as acts manifesting the ineffable power of God in the ordering of salvation. The Savior remained humbled on earth. He ended His earthly life in humiliation. This was necessary according to the divine economy of salvation. But do not look at this. Look instead at the height to which He was raised by the path of this humiliation. The more humbled He appeared on earth, the more evident is the dominion of God's might in exalting Him above all. The resurrection stands as though at the transition to this.
The seating at the right hand is the investiture of the Savior, as the God-man, with full almighty authority. The resurrection and the seating at the right hand are referred here to God the Father. Yet this is the indivisible action of the Godhead, the Most Holy Trinity. The Son Himself participates in it as much as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
The seating at the right hand is the investiture with divine, almighty authority. God the Son, even in the Incarnation, never ceased to be the Almighty, just as He remained Creator of all. The Apostle means that human nature also was brought into this almighty dominion in the person of Christ the Lord, being glorified in the resurrection. The Lord did not become higher than all and Master of all as God, for He never ceased to be so. He became so as the God-man.
The person of the Savior is one. Even in the Incarnation itself He was Almighty also as man. But for human nature to be brought into this dominion, it first had to be glorified by the resurrection. Man is a little world. He concentrates in himself all created powers. In glorified humanity, in the person of the God-man, these powers became reins of governance. They also became channels through which the Savior's restorative powers pass into all realms of created being.
All this is the necessary consequence of the Incarnation of God the Word. Once it had been determined in the counsel of God, everything had to follow of itself.
The Principalities, Authorities, Powers, and Dominions above which human nature was raised in the Lord are not earthly authorities, such as kings and high priests, as someone once imagined. They are heavenly. The Apostle does not list all the angelic ranks, for that is not his subject. He names some, and through them gives the same thing to be understood of all the rest. He speaks as though saying: above these, and also above all others, above everything that exists except God. This is shown by the words: and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
Here name means dignity, as we say, a man of name. The Apostle means everything that has a name, everything that stands out from the rest. Above all this is the Savior, seated at the right hand of the Father. Here one also sees the thought that He became higher than everything known to us: Principalities, Authorities, Dominions, Powers, and Thrones, as he adds in the Epistle to the Colossians (Col 1:16). He is also higher than everything now unknown to us, which will be revealed to us later, either here or in the age to come. So say Saint Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius, and others. In general, He is above whatever anyone might name.
THEOSIS