Is Jesus Lower Than the Angels?

Psalm 8:5 and Hebrews 2:7 say something interesting: God made Jesus “a little lower than the angels.”

“Excuse me?” Is what most people ask the first time they read those verses. Followed by, “You have the nerve — the audacity — to suggest that Jesus Christ, Lord of all, healer of the sick, is lower than the angels? Preposterous!”

But here’s the thing: Those verses made it into the Bible. If they made it into the Bible, that means they have to be true.

So, what do they mean? Are they contradicting all 100 verses showing Jesus at the right hand of God? Are they trying to say John 8:58, John 10:30, and Titus 2:13 might be stretching the truth a bit?

Was Jesus actually lower than the angels?

The short answer: Yes.

The long answer: No, and here’s why.

The Bible Describes Jesus’ Rank, Not His Nature

Jesus didn’t stop being God when Mary gave birth to him in a barn, wrapped him in blankets, and put him down to sleep in a feeding trough. Sure, Jesus acquired a human nature. But taking on that nature didn’t make his original one — his divine, eternal, all-powerful one — go away.

So, what did happen when Jesus climbed down to our rung of the ladder? Let’s turn our attention to a reality TV show called Undercover Boss. In this show, the CEOs of fortune-500 companies put on disguises, move out of their mansions to live in motels, and spend the week working low-level jobs in their own businesses to see what life is really like for their employees.

The CEOs don’t stop being CEOs when they don their fake names and fake mustaches. However, they let themselves become overworked, underpaid employees for the week so they can learn to empathize with those who work for them.

When Jesus became human, he did the same thing as the CEOs in Undercover Boss: He put on a new face (he didn’t need a fake mustache, though), lived in Nazareth, and suffered alongside us so he could sympathize with our pain (Hebrews 4:15-16).

Jesus’ Demotion to “Sub-Angel” Status Was Voluntary and Temporary

Just like the CEOs in Undercover Boss, Jesus wasn’t forced into demotion, but he didn’t stay demoted forever. It’s true that he was a man, but he was a man with a plan. God’s plan, to be exact. Here is Jesus’ mission in five steps:

Operation: Save humanity

Mission Objective: Free humanity from sin so it can be part of God’s family (Galatians 4:5-7).

Step 1: Live with and love us (Hebrews 4:15-16).

Step 2: Fulfill each and every single Old-Testament law perfectly (Matthew 5:17; Romans 3:23).

Step 3: Once the law is fulfilled, suffer the slow, agonizing death of a criminal so God can show us love (John 3:16) without being a corrupt judge who leaves evil unpunished.

Step 4: Spend three days in the tomb so people don’t think he’s faking it. Yes, there are people who think Jesus didn’t actually die from being scourged with whips, hung from a cross by his wrists, and speared in the side just in case. It’s called the swoon theory.

Step 5: March out of the grave with nothing but a few scars, spend 40 days revealing himself to everyone (Luke 24:36-43; John 21:1-14; 1 Corinthians 15:6), and ascend to Heaven (Acts 1:9) to rule with God.

The mission is over now. And guess what? It’s accomplished (Ephesians 1:7). God’s plan to treat Jesus like a sinner so he could treat sinners like Jesus blew sin out of the water and kicked death in the teeth.

Now, Jesus is out from below the angels; he’s sitting at God’s right side (Mark 16:9; Luke 22:69; Hebrews 1:3), ruling with God, and interceding for us (Hebrews 7:25).

So, What Do We Do Now?

You’ve read Psalm 8:5 and Hebrews 2:7. You’ve dug deeper into the Bible. And as you were digging, you unearthed the heart of the gospel: Jesus suffered so that we wouldn’t have to.

There’s still one question left unanswered: What now? What are you supposed to do with what you learned today? The ultimate answer is the Great Commission: Use that knowledge to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19).

The process of searching for the real meanings behind these two verses taught you how to approach other passages that seem contradictory at first glance. The result: You know what to do if you encounter them as you’re reading your morning devotional or if a non-believer tries to use them to disprove your faith.

You may not be a lean, mean, Bible-explaining machine just yet, but the more you practice the better you’ll get and the better you’ll be at giving the reason for the hope that’s within you (1 Peter 3:15).

Sonya Downing is a novelist, freelance writer, and content editor with a bachelor’s degree in professional writing. Her freelance work has been published in Focus on the Family’s teen girl magazine Brio, The Evangelical Church Library Association, and The Secret Place quarterly magazine. She has also blogged for IlluminateYA Publishing and edited for Mountain Brook Ink. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.