PAUL'S MISUSE OF PSALM 8:5-7 IN HEBREWS 2:6-8

Although it cannot be proven for certainty, the tradition of the Church maintains Pauline authorship for the book of Hebrews. As early as the second century Paul was regarded in the East as the author, and during the third century his authorship was the accepted view. In the West, where the epistle was known from earliest times, Pauline authorship was rejected and did not gain acceptance until the fourth century.

Heb.2:6-8 quoted Psalm 8:5-7 as follows:

What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you should care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor, You have set him over the works of your hands you have put all things under his feet.

Answer for yourself: To whom does the author of this passage in Psalms refer?

Again, the writer of Hebrews applied the passage exclusively to Yeshua rather than to all mankind by saying, “Yeshua, who was made a little lower than the angels, is now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death” (Heb. 2:9). This is a direct contradiction of the explicit statements in the psalm. The Hebrews writer changed the meaning of the text which tells us that God endowed all of humanity with a spiritual element and a mastery over the rest of nature. This thought was also expressed in Gen. 1:28. The psalmist's view of God's plan is far more democratic and humanitarian than the apostle Paul’s doctrine. To make it sound like the Psalmist is speaking of "Jesus" in that verse totally destroys the intent of what God was saying and desired you understand from the passage. Yet that is done by the Hebrews writer; whether it be Paul or a pro-Pauline writer at a later date.