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Bible, Theology & Philosophy
Theology Proper
God's Name

“One of the more frequent names for God in the Old Testament is Elohim, with the translation simply being ‘God.’ But what exactly does the name Elohim tell us about who God is?” - Ligonier

Discussion

Tue, 12/03/24

We just had a lengthy discussion in my SS class regarding the use of Elohim in Psalm 8:5, "made him a little lower than the Elohim" (angels, KJV; God, NASB; heavenly beings, ESV), and then how that passage is used in Hebrews 2:7, where the author seems to follow the LXX and uses angels.

Most of my commentaries on the Psalms argue for the "God" translation, sometimes quite strenuously. My Hebrews commentaries hardly discuss the issue.

My view is that in Psalm 8, the proper translation is "God" and that the point, especially since the psalmist brings in the Genesis 1 dominion mandate, which in turn is connected to God making man in his image, is that "being made a little lower than God" is essentially saying that man was made in the image of God.

The author of Hebrews, though, latches on to Christ's use of "son of man" terminology to refer to Jesus, but can't rightly say, Jesus was made a little lower than God -- that could imply that Jesus lost or let go portions of his divinity during the incarnation, so that would never do. Since Elohim can mean heavenly being, he uses the LXX version of the verse to explain how Jesus, who is greater than the angels, nevertheless, for a period of time, lowers himself below them during the incarnation so that after the resurrection and in the future state, he will receive all glory and we (humans) will rule and reign with him, regaining the full Psalm 8 position that was lost in the fall.

unsearchableriches.blogspot.com

Tue, 12/03/24

I haven’t dug into it deeply—at least, not recently—but I’m inclined to agree with your take on Psalm 8.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.