Hebrews 2:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then he brings forward another testimony: “Someone,” he says, “testified somewhere.” Why did he not name the prophet, but remain silent about him?

He does the same in other testimonies. For example, when he says: “And again, when He brings the Firstborn into the world, He says, ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him’” (Heb 1:6).

And again: “I will be to Him a Father” (Heb 1:5). And again: “Of the angels He says, ‘He makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.’ But of the Son...” And, “In the beginning, O Lord, You founded the earth” (Heb 1:7, 10).

He does not name the one who spoke, because he is speaking to people versed in the Scriptures. All this is said of humanity in general, yet it can especially refer to Christ according to the flesh. For He, the Son of God, visited our lowly human nature, assumed it, united it to Himself, and became higher than all.

Blessed Paul, referring to Christ what is said in the eighth psalm, says: “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels. Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet.” Then he adds: “For in that He subjected all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him.” Shall we not confess as King and Lord, and as clothed in God-befitting glory, Him to whom all things have been subjected? How then is He not God? How is He merely among all things, who is above all (Eph. 4:5)? He is so far above the nature of created things that they are subjected and held by the bonds of servitude.

The words, “What is man,” though spoken of our nature in general, are also applied to our Firstfruits, since He appropriated to Himself what belongs to the whole nature.

Thus, in the person of all of us, He said: “Far from My salvation are the words of My transgressions” (Ps 21:2). Though He Himself, even according to His humanity, did not know sin, “who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth” (1 Pet 2:22), nevertheless, by appropriating what is ours, He became the mouth of the nature.

He took our sins upon Himself and bore our infirmities.

Verses 6-8. “But one has testified somewhere, saying: What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels. Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet” (Ps. 8:5-7). The word “testified” is used in the sense of “uttered beforehand” or “foretold.” By the word “one,” though indefinite and without a name, he means David. He was speaking to those who knew David’s words and always kept them on their lips and in their memory. Although everything said here concerns the nature of all men, as was explained in the exposition of the Psalms, it is more fittingly applied to Christ according to the flesh.

“But someone testified somewhere, saying.” Since he is addressing those who know Scripture, he does not give the names of those who speak.

“What is man?” Why does he now bring in the expression, “What is man, that You are mindful of him?” Because he intended to set against the statement mentioned above, by which he showed Christ to be greater than the angels, the expression that He was made “a little lower” than them.

He places this here in order to resolve the apparent contradiction. Resolving it, he says that He was made lower because He accepted death.

“What is man, that You are mindful of him?” In the person of the Messiah, the Apostle sees that ideal man who must be master on earth and who, by his perfections, is not much lower than the angels.

Or it may also be understood that He was only for a short time in a humbled state.

Even if the Psalmist there understood man in general, the Apostle’s application of his words to the Messiah as man is in no way contrary to his thought.

At the same time, the expression in Heb 2:8, “You have put all things under His feet,” when understood of all earthly creatures, is taken by the Apostle in the broadest sense.

He finds that everything both on earth and in heaven must be subjected to the authority of Jesus Christ the man.

Although the psalmist speaks most immediately about the beauty and majesty of creation, and about the natural advantages of man, who was placed over the earthly creatures subject to him, the Apostle, with his God-inspired mind, sees something more in these words. He sees the psalmist’s inspired and prophetic indication of the wondrous works of redemption, and of the supernatural prerogatives of the God-man Christ Jesus. Therefore, to unfold his thought about these prerogatives, and about the fact that the world to come was not subjected to Angels, he cites the words from Psalm 8 stated above. There it is said that all things have been subjected under the feet of man. That this psalm is prophetic in general was indicated by the Savior Himself.

Confirming the thought that those who despise the Gospel will not remain unpunished, the Apostle points to the exalted rank of the Son of God, who proclaimed this Gospel. According to the Apostle, God subjected to His Son not only this world, the universe now existing, but also the world to come, την οἰκουμένην την μέλλουσαν. That is the world of the age to come, which the Lord will call into being with the renewal of heaven and earth. Thus the Son of God is the complete Master of the world in every phase of its development. In the present case, however, the Apostle does not speak directly of the Son of God. He uses Psalm 8, which speaks of the subjection of the world to man, or to the son of man.