Jesus: Lower Than Angels?

Biblegems #113

Question: According to Hebrews 2:9, Jesus was made "lower than the angels.” If Jesus is God, how could any part of the Godhead ever be lower than the angels?

The passage in Hebrews reads:

         Heb. 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

This is one of those beautifully transparent places in the Bible where God unveils some of the mystery of His nature. Notice how the verse says that Jesus was “made” a little lower than the angels. The implication is that He was once higher than the angels. The Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus is the second person of the Trinity—that He was and is God. Here are a few passages demonstrating this:

         Jesus is God, the Creator:

         John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

         Jesus is God along with the Father:

John 10:30 I and the Father are one.

         John 14:9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  

What is so clearly apparent is that within the very nature of God Himself there is diversity. He is three persons in one God.¹  And within that relationship there is a hierarchy. Each person of the Trinity exercises roles and responsibilities in relation to the other. The Holy Spirit directs people to Jesus. Jesus directs people to the Father. The Father sends the Son and the Holy Spirit to do His will.

         John 15:26 When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.

So when the Scripture says Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, the reference is to an agreement between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that God should enter into the human race as a man. To accomplish this, the second person of the Trinity would be “made like us in every way” (Heb. 2:17). In fact, God the Son…

         Phil. 2:6-7 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

God is not divided into “parts.” He is three persons in one Being. He chose, for our sake and for His glory, to become Immanuel (God with us), the Word made flesh (Jn. 1:1), without ever ceasing to exist as God in Spirit. This in no way diminished His greatness, but demonstrates that our God is greater than the human mind can even begin to grasp.

         Ps. 71:19 Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you?

^1. See Biblegems #111, “Is Jesus God?” And Biblegems #88, “Jesus, The Firstborn”.

Is Jesus God

Biblegems #111

Question: It is clear that Jesus was equal in position to God—but chose to be the lesser. Where do we get the concept that Jesus is God, in the personal sense? They rightly seem to be two different personal entities: What passages show that God and Jesus are “the same?”

This is a great question that gets at the very nature of the Trinity. At issue are two aspects of Jesus’ relationship to God: His personhood, and His nature.

God Is One

One of the most fundamental teachings of Scripture is that God is One:

         Deut. 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

         Rom. 3:30 …there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

Jesus Is God

Even though God is one, the Gospel of John opens with a declaration that Jesus is God:

         John 1:1, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Beauty of this passage is that Jesus, the Word, is declared to be God, and yet He is also declared to be with God.

In Revelation 1:8 and 21:6 God the Father calls Himself “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end;” yet in Revelation 22:13 Jesus says of Himself that He is the “Alpha and the Omega, the First and the last the Beginning and the End.” In other words, He is God.

Three Persons—One God

The Bible teaches that God the Father, God the Spirit and God the Son are each distinct personalities within the one God. Consider the following passage:

         Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10:30). Here Jesus identifies Himself as God, but also as a distinct person (“I”) in relation to “the Father.” Jesus not only saw no contradiction here, but He emphasized the truth that God by His very nature is a plurality of persons. In His nature, Jesus is one with God. This is precisely what Paul teaches in Philippians:

         Phil. 2:5-7 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Notice that Jesus is described here as being one with God in His “nature,” while on the other hand He is described as acting as an individual person who “made himself nothing.”

God is a communal being. He has conversation, love and fellowship within Himself. We see this in action in passages like…

         Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…

         Who is God speaking to? God the Father is conversing with the other two persons of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit and the Son—who share His very nature as God.

God is unique. He is complete in Himself. There is one God, who is infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 5:48, Matthew 28:19).