Hebrews 2:5f
‘To the angels, He has not put in subjection the world to come…. But one in a certain place testified, saying: “What is man, that You are mindful of him?’… You crowned him with glory and honour, and did set him over the works of Your hands! You have put all things in subjection, under his feet!”‘ Hebrews 2:5-8.
Calvin comments: “Christ is to be obeyed…, because the Father has conferred on Him sovereignty over the whole world…. In the beginning, man was put in possession of the world — to have lordship over all the works of God….
“By his rebellion, he deserved the disowning of this dominion…. As soon as Adam cut himself off from God by his sin, he rightly was deprived of all the good things which he had received. Not in losing the use of them, but in forfeiting the legitimate right to them after he left God….
“Sky, air, sea and other elements are often hostile to us…. Even where every creature remains in a state of subjection…. That blessing of God has no application to us — until what we have lost in Adam, has been restored to us through Christ…. This is the teaching which we found at the beginning of this Epistle (1:2-4), that Christ has been ordained by the Father to be Heir of all things….
“Christ by Whom we are adopted into the family, also admits us into the fellowship of this right — so that we may enjoy the whole world with God’s blessing…. There is no doubt, then, that we ought to look to Him — whenever reference is made to the primacy of man over all creatures….
“What the Apostle refers to expressly as ‘the world to come’ — has relevance here…. It is now clear that ‘the world to come’ is so described not only as that which we hope for after the resurrection, but as that which begins from the rise of the Kingdom of Christ and…will find its fulfilment in the final redemption….
“Lord, You have raised man to such dignity — that he is very little distant from divine…honour! Since he is given authority over the whole world…, ‘in that He subjected all things to him’….
“But…the premise…is applicable to Christ! All things are not yet subject even to Him, as Paul shows in First Corinthians 15:28…. After he has established the fact that Christ is the Lord of all creatures without exception, he adds…all things do not yet obey the rule of Christ…. He has conquered death, and been raised to the highest honour…. What is still lacking, will be fulfilled in its own time….
“The…purpose was to show an example of that domination in the most outstanding cases…, so that we might know that nothing is ours other than by the goodness of God and our participation in Christ…. You have made all things subject, not only those which bring about eternal blessedness but the very least of those which serve our physical needs. Whatever it be, the inferior lordship over the animals derives from the superior.” Jesus was humbled to death, but now crowned gloriously!
