A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews

Don’t fall away! Don’t Depart! Don’t neglect your salvation! Don’t cast away your confidence! Don’t harden your heart! Don’t drift away! AStudyOf TheApostlePaul’s LetterTo The Hebrews How can we neglect so greata salvation? ~ Hebrews 2:3

Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Person (1:1—4:13) Superior to Prophets (1:1-3) Superior to Angels (1:4—2:18)but… We’ll only study 2:12-18 today. Superior to Moses (3:1-19) Superior to Joshua (4:1-13) Superior Priest (4:14—7:28) Superior to Aaron (4:14—6:12) Superior to Melchizedek (6:13—7:10) Superior to Levi (7:11-28)

Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Pact to Moses’ (8:1—10:18) Superior Promises (8:1-13) Superior Sanctuary (9:1-15) Superior Sacrifice (9:16-28) Superior Results (10:1-18) Superior Principle (Faith) to Moses’ (10:19—13:25) Superior Things (10:19-39) Superior Actions (11:1-40) Superior Relationship (12:1-29) Superior Way of Life (13:1-25)

As we approach this paragraph, let’s recall, in brief, mankind’s history: In the beginning, God created man in His own image and with dominion, a dominion that included a relationship withhisCreator that none elseonEarth possessed; however, God, in order to belovedbymanwithoutaninborncom-pulsion (like animals) to do so, providedhimwithafree willthat manended up using to choose self over God. So… 

Since man destroyed his relationship with his Creator by choosing to commit sin, and since through the thousands of years within the starlight & moonlight ages it wasdemonstratedthatnomere human could restore that relationship, Jesus, God’s Son, then came on the scene to mend it for him.

In our study of 2:5-11, we learned that Jesus is superior to angels because… 1.He, as God and not an angel, became human in order to mend man’s rela-tionship to his Creator, thereby rees-tablishing man’s dominion. And… 2.He was crowned as King over the kingdom which consists of those who desire that mended relationship with God through His Son (the only way to have it). As we continue our study in Hebrews 2…

Let’s remember that most Jews had a really big problem, not only with God becoming a man, but also with Jesus being the fulfillment of the prophecies for their Messiah and King, especially since He died a criminal’s death by cru-cifixion. Hebrews 2:12-18 continue the same subject-matter as we studied in 2:5-11, but these verses conclude Paul’s argu-ments for the superiority of Jesus over angels. So let’s begin with…   

Hebrews 2:12  “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the con-gregation I will sing praise to You.”

Since Paul just stat-ed in verse 11 that Jesus isn’t ashamed to call Christians His brethren, he went on to support this af-firmation by using threeOldTestament quotations, the first of which is from a familiar messianic prophecy(Psa.22:22). “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the con-gregation I will sing praise to You.”

To proclaim one’s name simply means to speak to people about the character of the personbehind the name. “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the con-gregation I will sing praise to You.”

This is obviously the phrasePaulmeant to emphasize; just as David wrote hun-dreds of years prior, the coming Messiah would unashamedly worshipamutual Father (cf. of One inv. 11) with a set of siblings in the New Covenant age. “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the con-gregation I will sing praise to You.” Incidentally, there’s no definite articlebefore congregation in the original, read-ing a congregation.

And speaking of the Messiah as worship-ping with us, Jesus Himself alluded to this idea a couple of times.    “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the con-gregation I will sing praise to You.”

In Matthew 18:20 He said, Where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them. And… In Matthew 26:29 He said, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.*

The Greek term for thisphraseis the term for our wordhymn (hymneso). It doesn’t necessarily have to mean to sing; it could merely mean to praise, as the same term is translated in Psalm 22:22 and even here in some versions such as the RSV. “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the con-gregation I will sing praise to You.”

Hebrews 2:13  And again, “I will put My trust in Him.” And again, “Here am I and thechildrenwhom GodhasgivenMe.”

Now, lest we lose sight of it, the main point here is that Jesus, because He became one of us, had to depend on God just as other human beings, not for salvation of course, but in order to be made com-pletely qualified to lead all men to sal-vation (v. 10). And again, “I will put My trust in Him.” And again, “Here am I and thechildrenwhom GodhasgivenMe.”

Thesetwoquotesare from Isa.8:17-18; the first one indi-cates that Jesus, as God’s Son, placed His trust in God the Father, while the second indicates His close link to God’s otherchildren,child-ren placed under His careaselderbrother. And again, “I will put My trust in Him.” And again, “Here am I and thechildrenwhom GodhasgivenMe.”

Hebrews 2:14  Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that thru death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

This word simply means since. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that thru death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Thisphrasewasused by ancients to de-scribe humanity in contrast to deity. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that thru death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Interestingly, the original term for this word refers to the voluntary accep-tance of humanity. (There’s another term which refers to being born human without the choice of being so.) Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that thru death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

This original term literally means to render inoperative or ineffective as if no longer existing; this word is render-ed as without effect in Romans 3:3. In fact, the same term is used in 1 Cor. 15: 26 when Paul spoke of how the last ene-my to be destroyed was death. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that thru death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

This original word is not the term which meansauthority—it’s actually an antonym for destroy; while destroy means to render powerless, power is the word for strength. Let’s look at this way:  Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that thru death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

In Genesis 3:15God prophesied that the Messiah’s heel would be wounded by Satan, while Satan’s head would be crushed by the Messiah. I.e., as God said, the Messiah would be born of woman, meaning He’d become a man, and, as a human, Satan would be able to wound Jesus’ heel through His death on the cross; however, by virtue of that wound—that physical death, Jesus (by God’s power) was able to crush Satan’s head via His resurrection to spiritual and eternal life for us. So…   

Because Jesus, as a man, died, was se-parated from God for a time for man’s sins, and then rose again to show Himself to His disciples, He conquered the very thing that provided Satan with an advantage over mankind—spiritual and eternal separation from God; the point is that since Satan’s strength or power—death—has been crushed, then Satan himself has also been crushed. As First John 3:8 says, the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. Incidentally…

Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascen-sion, as well as His fulfillment of the Old Covenant, the destruction ofJeru-salem with its temple all conspired to bring about the crushing of Satan; to the Christians in Rome who were suf-fering persecution, Paul encouraged them by saying thatthe God of peace willcrushSatanunderyour feetshortly(Rom. 16:20). Also notable is that… 

Since this word also means dominion, it brings to mind the idea that man’s do-minion at one time included dominion over death in the sense that he pos-sessed a wondrous relationship with his Creator. But… Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that thru death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Satan, through the introduction of sin, essentially swindled it from man, only to have Jesus return it to him. There’s just a condition of hum-bly accepting it from Jesus since he (man) couldn’tregainit onhis own. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that thru death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Hebrews 2:15  [Jesusbecame a man that through death He might] release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime sub-ject to bondage.

This word simply means to set free from something. [Jesus became a man that through death He might]release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime sub-ject to bondage.

This word is a trans-lation of the term from which we get our word phobia; a verse that seemsfitting here is one that John wrote: fear involves tor-ment (1 John 4:18). [Jesus became a man that through death He might] release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime sub-ject to bondage.

This phrase means held in slavery; i.e., humans apart from Christ are slaves to fear—the fear of se-paration from God for eternity which, of course, would be sealed by physical death if reconcilia-tion isn’t achieved. [Jesus became a man that through death He might] release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime sub-ject to bondage.

While today it seems that most people have an indifferent attitude towards death (along with a rejection of God and a denial of future life) the ancients were wise enough to fear death: Job calleddeaththe king of terrors (18:14). In Hebrews 9:27 Paul seems to make it clear that there’s judgment after death, soour needof Christ to break thepower of sin and Satan thru death was necessary if we’re to be saved. Let’s put some thoughts together: 

Man was created in a garden with a tree of life; but due to his free-will, God had to give him a negative law—the law to not eat of the tree of know-ledgewhichwouldresultindeath. Eve, not being a snake charmer, allowed the snake to charm her instead, causing her to sin against her Creator, thereby bringing spiritual death—se-paration from God—upon mankind.

Death being the result of sin was then made even more clear and potent by means of the Law (Rom. 7), because it didn’t offer salvation, only condemna-tion (Gal. 3:19); this was the main flaw of the Law (Heb. 8:6-7), not that theLaw itself was faulty, but (because man just couldn’t fulfill righteousness through the Law, Rom. 7:4) it was inadequate to reconcile man to God. In fact…  

Notice how Christ’s overcoming of death wasassociated withthedestruc-tion of the Law in First Corinthians 15: 56-57: The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So…   

Jesus came on the scene as a human who lived the Law perfectly, thereby fulfillingallrighteousness(cf.Mat.3:15) as well as the prophecies concerning the One who would bring in a new law of grace and life, through which He abolished the Law of sin & death (Rom. 8:2) which provided Satan his great advantageovermankind. Now through Christ there’s a blessing found in the idea of death (Rev. 14:13).

Hebrews 2:16  For indeed He does not give aid to an-gels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

This word is not the usual one which means truly; this one carries with it a sense of praise, as if Paul were asking, Isn’t it just totally amazing? For indeed He does not give aid to an-gels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

Since Paul was writ-ing to Jewish Chris-tians, and since he had just stated in verse 9 that Jesus died for all races, we know he used this phrase rhetori-cally; the truth is, as Paul said in Romans and Galatians… For indeed He does not give aid to an-gels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. …anyone—Jew or not—who choosesto place his faith in Christ is a child of God (Gal.3:9 &29).

As Wuest wrote, the idea here seems to be that Jesus, in His … cross did not pro-vide for the salvation of fallen angels, but for … fallen human beings. In perfect righteousness, He passed by fallen an-gels, and in infinite mercy … stooped to provide salvation for man. He passed by the superior being to save the inferior. For indeed He does not give aid to an-gels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

Hebrews 2:17  Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren that He might be a merci-ful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

This phrase must not be interpreted to mean that Jesus was obliged to save man who willingly broke bonds with God, for justice would’ve prevailed if He hadn’t done so. Rather…    Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren that He might be a merci-ful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

This verse explains it to mean that (due to Jesus’ mercy—His desire to save us any-way) He had to be-come human to ful-fill the requirements ofthatsalvation,viz. obeying or keeping the Law perfectly. Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren that He might be a merci-ful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

This phrase refers, not tosimulation, but toassimilation; i.e., Jesus, who is 100% deity, was also at one time (whether we under-stand how or not) 100% man, which, incidentally, is what in all things means— in every waylike us. Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren that He might be a merci-ful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

This phrase means thatHemightbecompassionate,ren-dering Him a faith-ful high priest; i.e., by becoming and/or being human Him-self, he could truly sympathize with us, perfectly corres-ponding to Paul’s thoughts in 4:15. Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren that He might be a merci-ful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Thehigh-priesthoodofChrististhekey-note of the book of Hebrews; it was al-luded to in1:3, but this is the first time it’s mentioned directly, setting the tone for the rest of the book. Having shown that Christ delivered man from the fear of death, Paul here showed that this was accomplished in His role as high priest, something that’s very fitting since in the Old Law the fear of death was especially associated with the ap-proach to God of an impure worshipper (Num. 18:3).

This fear was relieved or removed by the intervention of the Levitical priest, because it was his duty to discharge the service of the tabernacle that there might be no outbreak of divine wrath on the children of Israel (Num. 18:5); i.e., the work of the priesthood wasnotwithoutitsstress!Further… 

Compassion as an attitude is not found in the Old Testament. On the contrary, the fault of the priests was their lack of sympathy for the people (Hos.4:4-9). In the latter part of Jewish history—the New Testament times, priests (especial-ly the Sadducees) were notoriously un-feeling and cruel, so the idea of a com-passionate and faithful high priest was powerfullyappealingto Jewishreaders.

This phrase (as defin-ed by the next phrase) simply refers to Je-sus,our faithfulhigh priest, as fulfilling, once and for all time, the require-ments of God con-cerning the reconci-liation of man; Jesus who is merciful to man and faithful to God, is our sacrifice on Earth & our high priest in Heaven. Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren that He might be a merci-ful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews