Christ is Superior to the Angels Despite His Humanity

Without question the greatest obstacle to the author’s argument about the superiority of the Son is the authentic humanity of the Son, which involved him in both suffering and death. For the first time our author uses the name of the man from Nazareth, Jesus (v. 9). The humanity, the suffering, and the death of Jesus all seem to point with unmistakable clarity to his inferiority in comparison with the angels. The matter obviously demands attention, if the author’s argument is to stand; and rather than shrinking from the problem, he effectively turns it to his advantage.

2:5 Although in Jewish thought the present world was regarded as in some sense subject to angels, this is not the case in the world to come. When our author adds about whi…