Humanity Given Dominion over God’s Works

Psalm 8 echoes Genesis 1 by placing the works of God’s hands under humanity’s feet: animals of land, air, and sea represent the breadth of the created order. The picture is vocation, not permission for abusive domination—humanity rules a world that remains God’s.

The New Testament explicitly carries this language into Christology. Hebrews 2 quotes Psalm 8 and observes that the world is not yet seen fully subjected to humanity, “but we see Jesus,” crowned with glory and honor after suffering death. First Corinthians 15:27 also uses the “all things under his feet” language in its account of Christ’s final victory. The apostolic move is therefore not invented by later readers: Jesus is presented as the human one in whom humanity’s intended dominion reaches its climactic fulfillment.