Week 1
Good news! If you wrote Christians or Jesus, you’re right! The author of Hebrews quoted Psalm 8 here to show the supremacy of Christ over angels but also to show the work that Christ has done on our behalf and what it has accomplished for us. Try to answer the questions below to better understand this concept.
Psalm 8 / Hebrews 2:6-8 viewed as a “Christian” perspective:
Did God have to create Adam? Was he forced to do it? (v. 6)
Why do you think He created Adam?
Was Adam given total dominion over the earth? (v. 8, Gen. 1:28)
Was Adam able to keep dominion over the earth and rule it perfectly? (Gen. 3)
Angels are in the presence of God. After the fall, Adam could not be in the presence of God. Was Adam made a little lower than the angels? (v.7)
Psalm 8 / Hebrews 2:6-8 viewed as a “Jesus” perspective:
Did God have to send Jesus to earth? Was he forced to?
Why do you think he sent Jesus?
Was Jesus given total dominion over the earth?
Was Jesus able to keep dominion over the earth and rule it perfectly?
If Jesus was made perfectly human, was he made a little lower than the angels? (Hebrews 2:9)
After Jesus’ perfect obedience, death, and resurrection, was he exalted and did he earn a place of superiority over the angels?
As we receive Christ and his victory on the cross as our own through faith, will we as Christians be exalted back to a place above the angels?
😳 <— Right?!
Not only is Christ superior to angels, but also his work of redemption assures us to be made in relationship with God, higher than the angels by partakers of grace! Where Adam failed as our representative of the human race, Christ came and became the perfect representative now giving us his standing with God by grace through faith. Christ’s divinity was already perfect but through suffering, obedience, and death, Christ’s human nature became perfect. NOT implying that Christ was sinful and then made perfect, but that through suffering in the flesh, he was made complete in his fleshly perfection in that he faced every temptation the flesh can encounter, paid the penalty for all sins made by others and not his own, and redeemed and perfected humanity once and for all by his obedience. Now he stands as our human representative, not fallen Adam, if we enter into a relationship with him through faith. If we, by faith, have Christ as our representative, we inherit as sons/daughters his work in the flesh he accomplished allowing us to have the same relationship he has with God the Father. But if we reject Christ as our representative and live without faith in Him, we remain under the condemnation of Adam being our human representative and must endure the same judgment and punishment he deserved by using his flesh to disobey and rebel against God. Without faith it is impossible to please God and we remain under the condemnation of the Law.
3. Verse 10 says that Jesus is the “founder of their salvation”. Founder in Greek doesn’t just speak of one in charge but one from whom is the source. Snow that melts in the Rocky Mountains isn’t the leader of the Colorado River but the source. In the same way, Christ is the source of our salvation. What is the major difference in Christ just being the leader of salvation versus the source of our salvation? How should this change the way you interact with Christ and have a relationship with him?
4. Read verse 11. When you and your siblings are born from the same mother and father, or have the same “source”, you are not ashamed to call them brother/sister because you share an intimate bond that cannot be imitated or faked. Jesus says he calls us brothers/sisters because we share a common source with Jesus. One source that enables Jesus to sanctify and one source that we are able to be sanctified by. Many theologians disagree on what this one source is. Is the one source God as our Father? Or is the one source the shared humanity between Jesus and us share? Why are both good explanations?
The one source we share with Jesus is God as our Father:
The one source we share with Jesus is our humanity:
5. Jesus Christ was completely perfect in 2 ways. He was perfect by who he was, God, and he was perfect by what he did, obedience in life and death. Jesus never could have been perfect in what he did, obedience in life and death, without first being perfect in being God. No one could have done what he did without being God.
This has huge implications for us who are followers of Christ. We know that at the point of salvation God declares us perfect and righteous in Christ. But we are also commanded by God “to be holy as I am holy” and “if you love me you’ll obey my commands”. Jesus was first perfect in being and then and only then could he be perfect in doing.
How should we understand our being and doing? Should we “do” things so we can “be” right with God? Or should we accept what Christ has done for us in his flesh and know that we can “be” right with God so we can “do” for him? Explain. Why is this important?