Of
Whom is Satan Jealous?
If Jewish sources were loath
to shower praise on Adam in Eden for fear that he would overshadow Israel at
Sinai, then we would expect to find the same view in Christian sources
regarding the relation of Adam to Christ. Christ is the eschatos or
"last" Adam according to the idiom of Paul (1 Corinthians 15), but
the term "last" in Greek means not only the end of a sequential order
but the fullest and most robust expression of a given category. The last
Adam is the most complete Adam.
According to the well-known
hymn that Paul cites in his Epistle to the Philippians, Christ must empty
himself (kenosis) of his divine glory and take on the form of a lowly servant
before God can exult him and grace him with a name higher than any name. When
the Father has so elevated the Son, only then shall "every knee bow
in heaven and on earth." If Adam has already been accorded the universal
acclaim of those in heaven, then what honor is left for the second Adam?
Not surprisingly, certain
Christian writers attacked the story of Satan's fall as we have it in the Life
of Adam and Eve. Ironically, after the rise of Islam the whole tradition
could be denigrated as a Muslim invention. This was because Muhammad had
included this tradition in the Koran. But despite this polemical reaction, the
reservation of Christian thinkers about this tradition was not any different
from that of the Rabbis. The elevation of the first Adam could not be allowed
to overshadow the second. For this reason Christian writers preferred to speak
of the incarnate Son as he who was elevated over the angels. This argument is
made at greatest length in the Epistle to the Hebrews. For this writer, Christ
is
the reflection of God's
glory and the exact imprint of God's very being .... When he had made
purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
having become as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is
more excel- lent than theirs. (Heb. 1:3-4)
But as the Jewish tradition
simply stated Moses' superiority to the angels as a mere fact-it dramatized the
matter through a story about who deserved the Torah-so the declaration of
Christ's superiority also required some concrete, narrative display. The angels
must bow before him.
The proof text for this is
the very same one used by the Rabbis: Psalm 8:4-6. The author of the epistle
begins by citing the verses of the psalm in question:
What is man that you are
mindful of him .... You made him for a little while just lower than the angels,
but then you crowned him with glory and honor, subjecting all things under his
feet. (Psalm 8, as quoted in Heb. 2:6b-8)
The writer then interprets
the psalm against the pattern of the incarnation:
Now in subjecting all things
to him, God left nothing outside his control. As it is we do not yet see all
things in subjection to him, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while
was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor
because of the sufferings and death, so that by the grace of God he might taste
death for everyone. (Heb. 2:8b-9, italics added)
This remarkable
interpretation of the psalm has put a decidedly Christological spin on the
nature of man's royal glory and honor. This power is dependent on a prior
act of humiliation. As Milton's heroic angel Abdiel knew, embracing the
ignominies of suffering and death would be rewarded by God with the highest of
honors.
In addition, what is
striking about this New Testament writer is the freedom to shift the generic
referent of this psalm from the figure of mankind more generally ("what is
man") to Son of Man alone. The psalmist certainly intended his poem to
sing the praises of man more generally. This is clear at the end of the psalm
when those elements of creation that will fall under man's feet are itemized.
They include the sheep, oxen, birds and fish, exactly those parts of creation
that mankind has jurisdiction over. But the Rabbis and the author of Hebrews
extended this paean of praise to include the subjection of the angelic host as
well, so that truly "all things were put under his feet."
When the angels are
included, the Rabbis and the author of Hebrews understand the figure of man as
either the elected nation of Israel or the elected Son, God's Christ. But man
as a generic figure is not left out of the equation all together. In Judaism and
Christianity the status of the universal (all humanity) is always dependent on
the particular (Israel or Christ). All humanity will be elevated through the
favor shown Israel or Christ. This is the mystery of election: all nations
shall find blessing through the promise given Abraham. (Gary A. Anderson, The
Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination [Louisville,
Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001], 35-37)
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