Blurring the Distinction

The charter of man’s existence is: Inferiority to God, superiority to all else in creation. “Thou madest him a little lower than God . . . Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet” (Ps. 8:5 f.). Man’s dominion must always be subject to the over-riding dominion of God, than whom he is always “a little lower”; if he throws off the yoke of service to God he loses his own proper authority, with and for which he was created. It was by blurring the distinction between himself and God, by an attempt to place himself on equality with God and thus to secure that nothing should be excepted from his rule, that man fell. [Romans 1:21] —C. K. Barrett, From First Adam to Last: A Study in Pauline Theology, 17