What does it mean Jesus was made a little lower than the angels?

In chapter 2 the emphasis lies upon the Manhood of the Lord Jesus. He became a Man with a view to the suffering of death. Man was so created — spirit, soul and body — that he could die, by the spiritual part of him being separated from the body. In this respect man was made a little lower than the angels. Now the Son of God has become the Son of Man in so real a sense that as a Man He has taken up the death penalty and died for men. From this standpoint He has been made a little lower than the angels, for angels never die.

Verse 9. "A little inferior to the angels for the suffering of death"; "a little" refers to the degree rather than time. Jesus went down to the lowest of creation to be able to grasp it all. But this point is not unfolded here; it is only said that He went lower than the angels. Notice that in this place the death of Jesus is attached to God's grace; "By the grace of God," it is said, He suffered death for all. It is the Man who died to accomplish the grace of a God of love. Other passages present, in the death of Christ, the Man falling under the judgment of God.

Thus He is "made a little lower than the angels," as the apostle explains, "on account of the suffering of death." It is not merely that man's condition is by creation a little lower, but Christ as become Son of man is made that. It is a true descent that we are to think of here, and the word used for "angels "really "gods," and the ordinary word for "God" (Elohim) — has thus in its very ambiguity peculiar significance. God He indeed was, who had come down to be a little lower than God, — lower even than those habitually representing Him to men, and so identified with Him, as the angels are: the apostle accepts the Septuagint translation, therefore, "angels."

He was made inferior to the angels for the sufferings of death. Angels in creation are in a higher place than men are in; they are heavenly beings, immortal, not bodily but spiritual beings (although they can take human bodies), and so they are higher. But when the Lord came down into this world, He came to die. As Man in this world He was still higher than the angels, for all through His life angels served Him, but when He died He was made lower than the angels – who do not die.

Then he explains the whole passage of Psalm 8. He says, ”We see Jesus who was made some little inferior to angels on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour.” The Lord Jesus is presented as Son of Man in the first place as the one, who was put so low, that He was below the angels. That was in His death. During His life, I don't think we can say that He was below the angels, because all the time the angels served Him. They were His servants. But the moment He went into the suffering of death He was lowered below the angels. Angels don't die, but the Lord in His own free will took that choice, took that pathway to obey His God and Father, according to whose counsel He had to die for us. The Son of Man has come not to be served but to serve and lay down His life as a ransom for many. That was His lowering, the lowering of the Son of Man, according to Psalm 8, “below the angels”.

But our verse explains the expression "made lower." This was an absolute necessity "for the suffering of death." Angels cannot die, for they are spirits, their form of being therefore higher than that of man. They "excel in strength." Man, by reason of his bodily condition on earth, is characterized by weakness and many limitations, and is capable of dying-nay, subject to death because of his sin. Death being God's sentence against sin, no redemption was possible except as the blessed Son of God in grace became truly "Man," lower than angels, to suffer death for all. Such is the immeasurable grace of God! Rightly therefore, as Man, He is now crowned with glory and honor, exalted above angels. If in Manhood He has become lower than angels, this was but for the suffering of death: now in Him we contemplate Manhood as exalted above angels. It is this Man who will rule over the earth in the age to come.

Man's place in the original scale of creation is a little lower than the place of angels. He, whom we know as Son of Man, was not in that lower place to begin with. He entered into it by an act of God. It was not what He was, but what He became. This lower and lowly place was His as ordered of Jehovah, and He took it that thereby He might become obedient to death. The man of the earth displays the apotheosis of human pride and lawlessness. The humbled Son of Man became the holy Servant of God to accomplish all His good pleasure. That pleasure included the tasting of death for all, and the triumphant bringing of many sons to glory, as Hebrews 2 reveals.

Accordingly, the Lord Jesus was in due time made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death (Heb. 2:9). In becoming man, He became a little lower than the angels for man's redemption. Scripture teaches us this measure of His descent for our meditation and praise; but it does not teach us that He was made “lower” than man, as well as angels; nor does it introduce the vague term, “creature," in speaking of His humiliation. The gospel is that even as by one man sin entered into the world, so God's free gift in grace is by the One Man, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:12,19). In describing the Incarnate Son and His redemptive work, “man” is specified, but "creature” is avoided.

When the Psalmist lifted up his eyes to heaven, and in view of God's glorious handiwork there exclaims, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" the answer is, "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels; thou hast crowned him with glory and honor; Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet." But of whom is he speaking? As the apostle in the second of Hebrews assures us, not of the first, but of the Second Man. "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor." It is Christ in whom the true ideal of man is realized, and of whom the first Adam was but the fleeting image, and in many respects the contrast.

To this the epistle here calls our attention. We see not yet the accomplishment of all that this Psalm announces, namely, that all things should be put under His feet; but a part is already fulfilled, a guarantee to the heart of the fulfilment of the whole. Made a little lower than the angels in order to suffer death, He is crowned with glory and honour. He has suffered death, and He is crowned in reward for His work, by which He perfectly glorified God in the place where He had been dishonoured, and saved man (those who believe in Him) where man was lost. For He was made lower than the angels, in order that, by the grace of God, He should taste death for all things. It appears to me that the words "for the suffering of death," and "a little lower than the angels" go together; and "so that by the grace of God" is a general phrase connected with the whole truth stated.