Hebrews 2

1. THEREFORE we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, 2 lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, 3 and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall 4 we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the 5 Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, 6 both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, ac- 7 cording to his own will? For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to 8 come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that 9 thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a 10 little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him 11 over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in 12 that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But 13 now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little 14 lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he 15 by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are 16 all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the 17 captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 18 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause 19 he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, 20 in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in 21 him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch then 22 as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the 23 same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the 24 devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bond- 25 age. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of 26 Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that 27 he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make recon- 28 ciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, 29 he is able to succour them that are tempted.

“As the children are partakers of flesh and blood,” the eternal Son also “took part of the same.” He put on the garment of humanity, and drew near in person, that we might clasp him as a kinsman in our arms, and feel the Infinite One to be our own. Our fallen nature made it needful that he should come closer still. He became the partaker of suffering and shame that we might touch him in the sympathy of our hearts, and feel that, in like manner, he can touch us and be afflicted in all our afflictions. Nay more, he became sin for us, and bore it in our stead, that his healing touch might reach our conscience, and that we may have the assurance that he can be present to help in the deepest guilt and darkness of the soul. The history of all God’s dealings with man is the record of an approach nearer still and nearer, until, in the incarnate Son, he shares all our sorrows and carries our sins, till faith puts its fingers into the print of the nails, its hand into the wounded side, and constrains us to cry, “My Lord and my God.” So does he approach man, for man’s heart thus yearns to draw near to him—to a living God, to a per- sonal Saviour. Ker.

Christ is large enough, comprehensive enough, compassionate enough, to take in all the experience, the souls, the lives, the burdens, the sorrows, of all nations and all ages. See at once what a higher and holier character this truth puts on the much-abused dogma of the dignity of human nature. Human nature without the incarnation is the least dignified of all things: it is weak, inconstant, guilty, lost. But let it be seen that human nature is uplifted and ennobled in the Divine humanity of Christ, Son of man and Son of God, and forthwith it wears a grandeur as if the majestic bearing and outlines of the Divine Man were visibly reflected upon it. F. D. H.

1-3. It was vital to bring out the real dignity and preëminent glory of Jesus Christ. It was in place to set him before those Hebrew eyes as the very image of the infinite God, the glorious Creator and Lord of all; as high above the highest of created angels. It was directly to the point of their case to warn them not to neglect so great a salvation which the Lord from heaven himself began to teach; which came to men through lips more pure and sacred than angels; and, though Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, it was only for a little time, and so long only that he might suffer and die for men, and then, having died, be crowned with glory far higher than theirs. How could they think lightly of such a Saviour? How could they afford to dishonor one who had laid aside the honors of heaven and humbled himself so low that he might the better sympathize with their sorrows, and bear their sins, and wash them out in his own blood! H. C.

1. Lest we let them slip.** He who sows tares also roots up growing wheat, and does not neglect to sweep away the seed. His chosen instruments are those light, swift-winged, apparently innocent flocks of flying thoughts that come swooping across your souls even while the message of God’s love is sounding in your ears. Yes, with most men, it is the constant succession of petty cares, the constant occupation of heart and mind with trivial subjects and passing good, much rather than any conscious fixed resolve to shut their souls against Christ and his love, that steals away the word from their memories and thoughts. Surely you ought to have more control over your minds, and the subjects which shall occupy them, than to let present cares and duties and enjoyments absolutely hide from you the truth which you profess to believe is of supreme importance. Surely it scarcely becomes a man to hold it with so slack a grasp that any runaway may snatch it from you as you go along. A. M.

2. The Jews attached much importance to the part which the angels sustained in the giving of the law. “The Lord came from Sinai; from his right hand went a fiery law.” “The chariots of God are of twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.” No wonder that the Hebrews attached surpassing sanctity to a law thus given, and felt that it would be a fearful thing to violate a covenant which not only issued from the throne of the eternal, but to give grandeur and emphasis to which Jehovah had for once held court upon earth, and marshaled so many of the highest peers of heaven, and to observe the carrying out of which was one main part of the angelic ministry. Yet, august and sacred as was the law, the apostle urges more sacred still and more august is the gospel. And this he does, not on grounds which the Hebrews might question or controvert, but on grounds which he knew they must concede. Hamilton.

3. Great salvation.** Salvation! What music is there in that word, music that always rouses yet always rests us! It is vigor to us in the morning, and in the evening it is peace. It is a song that is always singing itself deep down in the delighted soul. Angelic ears are ravished by it up in heaven; and our eternal Father himself listens to it with adorable complacency. It is sweet even to him out of whose mind is the music of a thousand worlds. What is it to be saved in the fullest and utmost meaning? Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. It is a rescue, and from such a shipwreck! It is a rest, and in such an unimaginable home! It is to lie down for ever in the bosom of God in an endless rapture of insatiable contentment. Faber.

The idea of salvation is inconsistent with the idea of any temporary or limited perdition. If the lost are saved, it is because they were lost for ever. Neither can this word lost mean annihilation, the extinction of being, the cessation for ever of thought and feeling. There can be no punishment in that, nor retribution, nor wrath abiding, nor wages paid, nor second death, nor anything that needs a Saviour. Nor was it any bare negation, or form of negation, but a positive, absolute perdition, of which no words can convey any adequate sense or measure; a perdition without end, and a loss therefore of souls in sin and death eternal. This indeed is a ruin and a misery demanding the interposition of an Almighty Saviour, and justifying God in such a sacrifice. Thus the demonstration of eternal death, from the offer of eternal life through Christ, is unquestionable. In this view the very offer of salvation is a most alarming interposition. It startles the soul from its false security with that impressive question, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” G. B. C.—If God hath, as it were, exhausted all his infinite resources, and infinitely surpassed all your own conceptions; if he hath carried on an argument through four thousand years, gradually cumulating to its full completion; if, in the way of argument, he hath given every conceivable exposition: if, in the way of persuasion, he hath used every conceivable appeal of tenderness and love; if, in the way of warning and alarm, he hath arrayed before you every conceivable terror among the recompenses of reward to transgressors—then what more is there to wait for? what more to hope for? how can he possibly escape who neglects so great salvation? S. R.

The eternal destiny is in you, and you can not break loose from it. With your farthing bribes you try to hush your stupendous wants, with your single drops, to fill the ocean of your immortal aspirations. Oh, this great and mighty soul, were it something less, you might find what to do with it: charm it with the jingle of a golden toy, house it in a safe with ledgers and stocks, take it about on journeys to see and be seen! But it is the godlike soul, capable of rest in nothing but God; able to be filled and satisfied with nothing but his fullness and the confidence of his friendship. What man that lives in sin can know it or conceive it? who believe what it is? Oh, thou Prince of Life! come in thy great salvation to blinded and lost men, and lay thy piercing question to their ear, What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Breathe, oh breathe, on these majestic ruins, and rouse to life again, though it be but for one hour, the forgotten sense of their eternity, their lost eternity. H. B.

Began to be spoken by the Lord. He was the messenger and teacher of this salvation, as well as its author and giver. It was fully wrought by the Lord; but, besides that, it began to be “spoken” by the Lord, its announcement coming first from his own lips. “It began to be spoken by the Lord,” and when he ceased to speak the word was not yet completed. It was to be cleared and assured to the world by those that heard him; who, having been educated and commissioned by him for the purpose, proceeded to preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and with adequate proofs of the coattestation of God. It would be easy to show that every doctrine expanded in the Epistles roots itself in some pregnant saying in the gospels; and that the first intimation of every truth revealed to the apostles by the Spirit came first from the lips of the Son of man. In each case the later revelation may enlarge the earlier, may show its meaning and define its application, but the earlier revelation stands behind it still, and we owe our first knowledge of every part of the new covenant to those personal communications in which the salvation began to be spoken by the Lord. “In all things he was to have the preëminence,” in speaking as well as in acting, not only as the Life but also as the Light of men. The more we study the records of that short ministry in the flesh the more we are impressed with the fact that all the past and all the future are gathered up in it. Past inspired teaching here finds its meaning interpreted and its authority sealed, while the several chapters of future inspired teaching are opened by pregnant summaries and certified by anticipatory sanctions. That is indeed a time “of large discourse, looking before and after,” and the words of prophets on the one side, and of apostles on the other, are for ever justified and maintained by the words of him who came between them. T. D. B.

6-8. (Ps. 8: 5-7). Quoted also (with a slight variation) as referring to our Lord, 1 Cor. 15: 27, and Eph. 1: 22. The Hebrew Psalmist speaks of mankind; the New Testament teaches us to apply his words in a higher sense to Christ, the representative of glorified humanity. C.

9. He took on him, at the very instant when angels were adoring him as the Only-begotten of the Father, the form of a servant, and came to be despised and rejected, to hear taunts and blasphemies, instead of hosannas and hallelujahs. He exchanged heaven’s diadem for Judea’s thorns; he forsook the palace where he was sovereign for the judgment-hall where he was bound and buffeted, scourged and condemned. He was the Lord of the universe, but he was born of one of the lowliest inhabitants of earth’s obscurest corner. He was Prince of Life, but he tasted death for every man. Kirk.—Man could not save, for he lay under the debt of sin. An angel had not power to redeem mankind, for he had not at hand the ransom required. No other mode of release from the evil was left than this—that the sinless God should die for sinners—even he alone, the virgin-born, God and man; he who possessed that price which was not only equivalent to the number of the condemned, but which far outweighed it. Proclus.

It was necessary that a mediator between God and men should have something like to God, something like to men; lest, if he were wholly like to men, he should be far off from God; or, if he were wholly like to God, he should be far off from men, and so should not be a mediator. If all men as long as they are mortal must needs be miserable, we must seek for some midway being who shall be not only man but also God; that the blessed mortality of such a midway being may lead men out of their miserable mortality into a blessed immortality. That we might be brought to the one beatific good, not many mediators were required, but one, that same One by communion with whom we may be blessed, that is, the uncreated Word of God, “by whom all things were made.” Yet it is not because he is the Word that he is the Mediator; for the Word, as being in the highest degree immortal and in the highest degree blessed, is far removed from miserable mortals; but he is Mediator in that he is man; by that fact indeed showing that, in order to reach that good which is not only blessed but beatific, we ought not to look for other mediators, and suppose that through them we must fashion steps whereby to reach it; for God, the blessed and the beatific, having become partaker of our humanity, has given us a short way to the partaking of his Godhead. Aug.

10. We have a Saviour who is called the Captain of our salvation, because he marches in the van. Through many sufferings he was made perfect, that he might bring many sons into glory. Cast your eye on him when ye are weary; see, he goes before not only as your Leader, but also conquering for you. Let me then venture upon the conflict with all its sacrifices; when I shall have fought it out, how blessedly I shall rest! And in the struggle let his “It is finished” be my consolation as well as my strength. A. T.—Perfect through sufferings. Not perfect in the sense of sinless, for that he was from his infancy upward, but perfect in the sense in which no one can be perfect who has not submitted to the discipline of trial. The spotless block of marble may be perfect in the sense of being without a flaw; but it acquires a perfection of another sort when, after being shaped and chiseled, it is converted into a beautiful vase fit for the palace of a monarch. The Lord, in virtue of his humanity, had a will which shrunk from a deprecated suffering. This will, however, was brought into complete acquiescence with the higher will. It was this acquiescence which gave to the human character of Christ, sinless all along, an exquisitely finished perfection. E. M. G.

11. In Christ, every believer is born of God; is his Son; and so they are not only brethren, one with another, that are so born, but Christ himself is not ashamed to call them brethren. L.—His way was to come from an infinite height into this world, that he might be near sinners, able to touch them, and ready to be touched. It was to take their nature upon him in the likeness of sinful flesh, that they might feel him closer still, and that “he might call them brethren.” It was “to become sin for them, though he knew no sin”; that he might bear it, first by pity, then by sacrifice, and at last by pardon. This is the great and godlike plan, the very heart of the reason why he touched the soil of our sin-stricken earth. Ker.—God’s only Son has made many sons of God. He bought himself brothers with his blood; when they reprobated him, he approved them; when they sold him, he redeemed them; when they outraged him, he honored them; when they killed him, he gave them life. Can you doubt that he will give you his good things, who did not refuse to take on himself your evil things? Aug.

12. Whereas we were no brethren of his, but had become his enemies by our offenses, he, not being a mere man, but God, after freely bestowing on us liberty, calls us even his own brethren. For, says he, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren.” He, then, who redeemed us, if you look at his (original) nature, is not our brother, nor man; but, if you look at that condescension to us which is the result of his grace, he calls us brethren, and stoops to manhood. Basil.

14. The very Only-begotten Word of God, the Maker of the worlds, he by whom are all things, and in whom are all things, the true Light, the all-quickening Nature, in the last times of the world’s period, by the Father’s gracious will to save the human race which had fallen under a curse, and through sin had been borne away to death and corruption, did become “partaker of flesh and blood,” that is, he became man; that being made man for us, he might die humanly, and rise again divinely, having trampled down the power of death. Cyril of Alex.—The Seraphim were not daring to gaze on him who was being questioned by Pilate. The slave buffeted him, and creation shuddered. He was nailed to the cross, while the throne of glory was not emptied of his presence. He was inclosed in the tomb, while he was spreading out the heaven like a curtain. He was reckoned among the dead, while he was despoiling Hades. Here he was being calumniated as a deceiver, there he was being glorified as holy. Oh, mystery! I see the wonders, and I proclaim the Godhead: I see the sufferings, and I deny not the manhood. Proclus.

That hath the power of death. The power of God is wholly constructive; even when he destroys, it is to build up in some other form. But the power of Satan is wholly destructive, and only by the higher power of God is it ever made an occasion of good. The kingdom of God is thus a kingdom of eternal progress; a kingdom of light, ever shining more and more unto the perfect day; a kingdom of life, ever growing and renewing itself as life eternal. But the kingdom of evil is without progress except from death to death, without light, without life, while all is wasted and lost. That Satan, therefore, should have the power of death is in keeping with all we know of the kind of power possessed by the wicked alone. N. M.

15. Fear of death.** If we have faith in Christ now, if we have known and loved him daily, and have nailed our sins to his cross, and have risen with him in newness and holiness of living, then we need not be afraid that our faith will fail at the moment when it is going to be exchanged for sight. Then there is indeed death before us, but there is also Christ with us; he knows the way through that dark valley; it kept him not in it a prisoner, neither did it destroy him; but he rose again to live for evermore, and he can and will keep in perfect peace and raise to perfect glory those who have put their trust in him. T. A.

For the grace of preservation which extends through the whole journey there comes the grace of victory in death. But let no one expect this before the time. Some believers distress themselves not a little because they can not die calmly or joyfully, in thought and feeling, long before they die in fact. They want the dying grace before the dying comes; instead of trusting, as they ought to trust, that the rich and thoughtful love which has always met the needs of busy life, will, when the time comes, give the needed grace to die. The fullness of God in Christ, of which we have received all these years, will be the fullness of God in Christ on the day of death; and if only we seek the grace to live by as long as we live—be it strength, or patience, or watchfulness, or faith, or whatever else within the great circle of the gracious beneficence of God—we need have no fear of finding the help that will be needed to go through the dark valley, and to stand up in the manifestation among the sons of God. A. R.

Many true Christians go through the world in bondage from the fear of death, because they have allowed themselves to think there is some dark passage through which the soul must go after it has left the body, and before it enters into the presence and the joy of the Lord. There is no warrant for such an opinion in the word of God. Absence from the body is there represented as presence with the Lord, and that which from the human side is called a departure is described on the heavenly side as a being with Christ. The two are simultaneous. That which separates the Christian from Christ is not distance, but the veil of the flesh; and, therefore, the moment that is laid aside the Christian is with his Lord. There is no middle passage of horrors between the two. W. M. T.

Christ, who dying conquered death in his own person, conquered sin, and death, which is the wages of sin, for thee. The grave is thy bed of rest, and no longer the cold bed; for thy Saviour has warmed it and made it fragrant. If then it be health and comfort to the faithful that Christ descended into the grave, with especial confidence may we meditate on his return from thence, quickened by the Spirit; this being to those who are in him the certain pledge, yea, the effectual cause, of that blessed resurrection for which they themselves hope. There is that union betwixt them and their Redeemer that they shall rise by the communication and virtue of his rising; not simply by his power, for so the wicked likewise to their grief shall be raised, but they by his life as their life. L. & S. T. C.

Dr. W. Gordon, a man of high culture, said when dying, “People have said that death is frightful. I look on it with pleasure. Death! I see no death at my bedside. It is that benign Saviour waiting to take me. I could not have a fear. This is not the testimony of one who has nothing to live for. I am in the prime of life, with comforts and friends around me, but the prospect of heaven is more than all. Christ, not death, is about to take me from earth. There is no death to the Christian. That glorious gospel takes away death.” Closing Scenes, etc., by N. Hall.

16. He took not hold of the angels; let them go: hath left them to die for ever; but he took hold of the seed of Abraham, and took on him indeed their flesh, dwelling among us. L.—The Word personally united to himself flesh animated with a reasonable soul, and became man, ineffably and inconceivably. Although the natures which were combined into a real unity are diverse, yet from both results one Christ and Son; not as if the difference of the natures had been annulled because of the union, but rather that Godhead and manhood, through the ineffable and inexplicable concurrence into unity, constitute for us the one Lord and Son, Jesus Christ. Cyril of Alex.—Christ, who delighted to mingle every mercy with miracle and wonder, took a finite nature into the society and union of his person; whereupon what was impossible to a divine nature was rendered very possible to a divine person; so that, being made man, he could do all things that man could do, except only sin. R. S.—We perceive love, in that the human nature, the nature of man, not of angels, is taken into union with God. By this very act of the heavenly wisdom we have an inconceivable pledge of the love of Christ to man; for, in that he hath taken into union with himself our nature, what doth it signify but that he intends to take into union with himself our persons? For this very purpose did he assume our nature. Bun.—God hath become our brother, yea, our flesh and blood. This great honor is not experienced by the angels, but by us men. Although the angels are more glorious creatures than we, yet God hath honored us more than them, and hath approached nearer to us than he hath to them, inasmuch as he became, not an angel, but a man. Luther.

If Christ took our nature upon him, as we believe, by an act of love, it was not that of one but of all. He was not one man only among many men, but in him all humanity was gathered up. And thus now, as at all time, mankind are, so to speak, organically united with him. His acts are in a true sense our acts, so far as we realize the union; his death is our death, his resurrection our resurrection. B. F. W.—The Son of God took on him human nature, not a human personality. Therefore he becomes the Redeemer of our several persons, because he is already the Redeemer of this our common nature, which he has made for ever his own. As human nature was present in Adam when by his representative sin he ruined his posterity, so was human nature present in Christ our Lord when by his voluntary offering of his sinless self he “bare our sins in his own body on the tree.” Christ is thus the second head of our race. Our nature is his own. He carried it with him through life to death. He made it do and bear that which was utterly beyond its native strength. His eternal person gave infinite merit to its acts and its sufferings. In him it died, rose, ascended, and was perfectly well pleasing to the All-Holy. Thus by no forced or artificial transaction, but in virtue of his existing representative relation to the human family, he gave himself to be a ransom for all. In intention and efficacy his sufferings were endured on behalf of all who share his human nature. In point of fact they avail to pardon those who, through faith, are livingly one with him, so that his personal acts have become their own. H. P. L.

17. That God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself—this is the keynote of the Christian dispensation, its luminous and life-giving message. All religion is the union between man and God; the Christian religion is a reunion, a reinstated fellowship, a redemption. And this redemption centers in the person and work of Christ, the one Mediator between God and man. In his mediation is, then, to be found the central principle of this divine economy. It may be called the mediatorial principle, for mediation between a holy God and sinful man is the essence of his work; or it may be called the Christological principle, as it represents to us the person of Christ, the God-man. In its fullest state-

ment it includes both incarnation and redemption; for, both as incarnate and redeeming, Christ is our Mediator. In the fact of the incarnation of the Son of God for our redemption may be said to be the grand principle of the Christian faith, its center of unity. He was made like unto us that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. H. B. S.