9 But we see (behold) Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering (affliction) of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. 10 For it became him (fitting or proper for him), for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in the bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain (Author or Source) of their salvation perfect (complete) through sufferings (afflictions). 11 For both he (the Lord Jesus Christ) that sanctifieth and they (all of God's children) who are sanctified are all of one (united), for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 Saying, I will declare (announce, report) thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church (congregation) will I sing praise unto thee. 13 And again, I will put my trust (confidence) in him. And again, Behold I and the children whom God hath given me. 14 Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers (sharers, partners) of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise (similarly or in like manner) took part of the same, that through death he might destroy (abolish, do away with) him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 And deliver (secure freedom for) them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to (in danger of) bondage. 16 For verily he took (laid hold, took hold) not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed (issue) of Abraham. 17 Wherefore, in all things it behooved (bound, required or was necessary for) him to be made like (resemble) his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation (be gracious, gentle or propitiated) for the sins of the people. 18 For in that he himself hath suffered (experienced pain) being tempted (examined, proven), he is able to help (succor, rescue) them that are tempted."
1 "Therefore..." Because of what has been written in the preceding chapter and because Jesus is superior to prophets and angels and because the new revelation is superior to the old, the writer warns his readers not to take lightly what has been written. When one
hears the gospel of Christ the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1 - 14) he needs to heed or pay strict attention to that message. Its importance cannot be stressed too much. In fact the hearer
or reader should grasp or take hold of every sentence, every word of the important message of Hebrews. To let the message of Christ "slip away" (pararuuomen) can have dire circumstances.
2 The Law was given by God through angels to Moses (Acts 7:38, 53; Galatians 3:19); God used angels as intermediaries; of course there is no mention of angels in Exodus. It was valid and authentic and should be held in high esteem. The Law given by God was steadfast (bebaios comes from bebaian meaning to be sure or dependable). "The angelic mediation of the law is not recorded in the Old Testament. The nearest thing to it is the description of the Sinai theophany at the beginning of the Blessing of Moses" (Bruce, p. 28) which reads, "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints (holy ones, probably angels). From his right hand went a fiery law from them." Although the angels may have been inferior to the Son, their task was of great importance making the Law of extreme importance and very authoritative. Any disobedience to any part of the Law would bring extreme consequences. The word transgression is from parabasis meaning to by-pass, disregard or break God's commands.
Disobedience to God's Law would be inexcusable; the word disobedience parioe is from two words para and akoe which mean hearing amiss or action that is beside para the hearing of an order or report. Not even ignorance of the law is grounds for dismissing it as unimportant or excusable. Any transgression of disobedience to God's law could have dire circumstances. The words recompense of reward are a combination of two words misthos (reward or hire) and apodidomi (give or deliver). There seems to be a descending climax: transgression, a going beyond or aside from, a positive overstepping of the law; the other, a false or perverse hearing. Both of these acts were punished in the law; the sinner received a righteous or rightful punishment according to the Mosaic legislation (Kellar Notes, p. 10).
3 Jesus was God's full revelation, and He is the source of this new and superior revelation. The writer wants his readers to know that since the words of the Law were important the words of grace are more important, and we cannot escape (ekpheuxometha comes from ek and pheugo meaning to flee away from) so great (telikautes or of so great an importance thing) as salvation. The "we" of this verse is emphatic, referring to those who had been taught by one so infinitely superior to angels. The word "escape" has the same use in Hebrews 12:25 and I Thessalonians 5:3 for escaping the judgment of God and final condemnation. To neglect means to make light of, to spurn as unworthy of one's attention. Salvation is so important that anyone neglecting to be saved is neglecting the most important aspect of his life here on earth. "A man floating in a skiff above Niagara, need not move an oar or make an effort to destroy himself; he has only to neglect using the oar at the proper time, and he will certainly be carried over the cataract" (Barnes Notes, p. 51). It was at first archen or at the beginning of Christ's ministry preached by John the Baptist and by the Lord Himself. Jesus simply confirmed (ebebaiothe from bebaiountos meaning to attest or establish) the importance of it. Who were the ones who heard the gospel message? They were the apostles and other early Christians who saw the Lord and heard Him speak. Yeager writes, "If God enforces what the angels gave to men at Sinai, how shall we escape if we ignore (disdain, neglect, make light of) the salvation which the Lord Himself gave, in view of the demonstrated superiority of the Lord over angels (Chapter 1)" (Volume XVI, pp. 106, 107). Neither the author of Hebrews nor his readers had heard the liberating message direct from the lips of the Lord, but they depended on the sure testimony of those who had listened to Him, that is, the evangelists or the gospel writers.
4 The apostles and others who heard Jesus preach and teach passed on down the message to the next generation, and as they did so the Holy Spirit was adding each day certain signs and miracles thus corroborating what the apostles and others were saying. The word witness from sun, epi and marturio means to support the truth of what is spoken. Both the prophets and the Lord Himself performed signs (semeiois means unusual or supernatural manifestations); wonders (terasin from terata something to be watched or observed, an unusual occurrence) divers meaning various or different kinds of miracles (dunameis which can mean works, powers or ability). The Holy Spirit was disbursing certain gifts according to His will and good pleasure. The word gifts is from merismos meaning a division of anything; God's will is from thelesin meaning an act of willing or deciding. "Each word adds an idea about the erga (works) of Christ. Teras (wonder) attracts attention; dunamis (power) shows God's power; semeion reveals the purpose of God in the miracles. For poikilais (manifold, many-colored) see Matthew 4:24; James 2:2" (Robertson, pp. 343, 344).
5 To angels God did not put in subjection from hupo and tasso meaning to arrange under. When the Scriptures speak of the world the word is from oikomene, not the ordinary word for world, but those souls that inhabit the earth. The inhabited earth has been placed under the control of mankind and not the angels; God did not put this new order in charge of angels. The world was originally created good, but it was laid under the course of sin and death, now to be filled with the blessings of redemption; a world already existing in its spiritual agencies, but demanding for its full development of blessedness a new heaven and a new earth. Christians are already citizens of this coming world. Angels are not to be rulers over this coming world. Christ has been exalted as its Supreme Head, as the Son of man, raised, in His human nature, above every name that is named, and crowned with glory and honor. 6 The writer quotes from Psalm 8:4 (LXX) which reads, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visiteth him? Does mere man merit anything that God should keep him in mind? Should God be interested in him? No man even since Adam down to the present merits the favor of consideration of God, does he? Even David is awe-inspired and wonders at the majesty of God; however, he is the crown of God's creation. He is the crowning achievement of a sovereign Creator. The word testified is from dia and martureo which means to witness, affirm or testify thoroughly. Mindful from mimneske means to remember or be remembered and visiteth is from episkepte which comes from epi and skeptomai meaning to look out or inspect. Kellar writes in his notes that in this passage the writer had in mind in connection with "not unto angels," some contrasting statement, "but unto the Son," or some such expression with reference to the rulership of the world to come. But having in mind the passage in the Psalm, from which he was to draw his illustration he overleaps the intermediate step, and lets the citation, which virtually involves the contrasted statement, take the place of the statement itself. The words "some one," and "some where," do not imply ignorance or doubt of the authorship or locality of the passage. The use of the word is purely rhetorical (p. 12).
7 Psalm 84:5 (LXX) reads, "Thou madest him a little less than angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor; and thou hast set him over the works of thy hands;..."
When God the Creator made man he "made him a little lower..." from elattosas to make lower, less, decrease or inferior to the angels; however, He crowned him with glory doxe or dignity and honor time which means that man is of considerable worth. The word elattosas could also mean for a little while lower than the angels. Man's inferiority in terms of strength, knowledge and position to the angels was only temporary. Ultimately man is superior to angels in that God made man in His own image and subject to redemption. God gave man a personality, that is, a will, an intellect and emotions. After man's redemption he will be far superior to angels; however, lost humanity will always be inferior to the angelic hosts.
8 Psalm 84:6 (LXX) reads, Thou hast put all things under his feet:..." When God created man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, He put all things in subjection (hupetaxas) to him. Hupetaxas means to arrange under or subordinate such things as animals (everything created) to man; huokato means under autou podon (his feet). At this point in the verse, the writer ceased to quote the psalm; however, he continues writing - the Creator left nothing in creation that was not put under man's feet; Adam had control of all things. He goes on to write - in point of time all things are not put under him. After man's fall, however, he did not take command of everything. When he fell, he was overcome by the serpent, and in obeying him rather than God, He failed to subject everything under himself. Yeager writes, "Despite God's blanket decree (Hebrews 2:8a, b) such is not now the case. On the contrary Adam and his race, once the lord of all creation, and subject only to the will of his Creator, is now subordinate to the creation over which he once reigned supreme (Ephesians 2:1 - 3; II Corinthians 4:4; Genesis 3:16 - 19). Adam's rebellion against God resulted in man's enslavement to his environment" (p. 113). If verse 8 ended the picture, things would be mighty black, but thank God for verse 9. In our twenty-first century with man's triumphs over nature and space he has reached various goals, wonderful as are the researches by the help of the telescope and the microscope, the mechanism of the supersonic jets, the submarine, steam, electricity, radio, television, atomic energy, etc. "Man is not master of his environment and world, though he is frequently its corrupter and polluter" (Fudge, p. 29).
9 "But we see Jesus..." We, even though we are sinners, can behold Jesus; look at the contrasting word But. Jesus suffered (pathema from pathemata or pascho) death. Here is a picture of the Passover Lamb, the Paschal (Pascha) Lamb, the Innocent One suffering death for the guilty ones. "Death...is a bitter experience, not a rapid sip" (Moffat). In the resurrection and ascension, He was crowned with glory and honor, seated at God's right hand. It was the Savior Christ Who by the grace of God tasted death for every man. For a little while, in His humiliation, He was subordinate to angels, but now we see Him crowned with glory and honor (Philippians 2:8, 9) never to be humiliated again. Jesus Christ offered to take on human flesh (His incarnation), thus dying for man's sins; He Who was the Son of God became a man (for a little while) in order that we who are men could by God's grace become sons of God.
"...For his suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor." The suffering of death became the condition of Christ's glorification. He was glorified through His suffering and death. Jesus condescended to this position lower than the angels that He might take man's sins and make expiation for them on the Cross, and thereby to gain for Himself and man eternal glory and honor. It plainly refers to the exaltation of Christ after His resurrection, when
God raised Him above the rage of His enemies, anointed Him King and priest eternal, declared Him to be the son of God with power, and gave Him all authority both in heaven and earth. Having introduced the humiliation and death in this artistic fashion, the author now passes to them as primary objects of the picture. The glorified Messiah recedes; the suffering and dying Jesus, comes to the front (Kellar Notes, p. 13).
10 It was a proper thing (eprepen from prepon or fitting or was right) for Him to take that position. Since all things were created by Him and all things for Him, it seemed proper for the Father to bring (agagonta from ago) many sons into glory and to make Him the Captain (archegon), Author or Prince of our salvation perfect (teleiosai or finished through suffering). The plan of salvation was decreed by the Father for the purpose of bringing many sons into God's kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ became the Captain, Prince (Acts 3:15), Author (Hebrews 12:2) and Pioneer (Pathfinder) of our salvation. "One cannot know human life without living it. There are no moral imperfections in Jesus, but He lived His human life in order to be able to be a sympathizing and efficient leader in the work of salvation" (Robertson, p. 347). The universe comes out of God, by means of God and for God. It was He Who originated, produced and delivered salvation to sinful man. Jesus is the Author of salvation, the Leader of the sons of God, the Pioneer of our faith and the Elder Brother of us all (Romans 8:29). Calvin understands the passage to make perfect as a completed sacrifice, legal and official, not moral, perfection is meant. "Captain of their salvation" properly means "first in a series," file leader, founder or author.
11 The Lord Jesus Christ is the Sanctified (agiazon) and the Sanctifier (agiazomenoi); it is He Who can make His children sanctified, since He is the Sanctifier. Since all of God's children have the same Father, our Lord can call each of us brothers. He is unashamed to own us as His own. The Savior and the saved have something in common; we are united in spirit and desire and are become members of His body. Just as Jesus had two natures (Divine/human) so we who are saved have two natures human/Divine. The third Person of the Godhead (the Holy Spirit) gave Jesus His human nature, and the same Holy Spirit gave us our divine nature.
12 Here the writer quotes from Psalm 22:22, a psalm which is Messianic. The King James Version reads, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee." The LXX reads, "I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I sing praise to thee." From the cross Jesus cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? and the psalm continues with the description of the cross experience of suffering (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). In verse 22 the psalmist predicts that the risen Jesus will declare the Father's name unto the brethren in the church. The Father's name will be exalted in the church throughout the ages. The author proves his point when he quotes Psalm 22:22 and uses the word "congregation" (LXX) and church (KJV). The word came to mean the local church. The Psalmist herein gives us a picture of public worship and the Messiah sharing it with others.
13 In this verse the writer of Hebrews quotes from Isaiah (8:17). The LXX reads, "And one shall say, I will wait for God, who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in him." Jesus will put His trust (pepiothos from peitho) meaning confidence in Jehovah in the past (completed action) and will always trust Him (in the future), and Jesus can call us God's children. The second quotation is from Isaiah 8:18, (LXX) which reads, "Behold I and the children which God has given me: and they shall be for signs and wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in mount Sion." The entire verse is given here, but the writer of Hebrews quoted only the first phrase. Obviously the writer applied these passages to the Messiah who came down to earth taking upon Himself human flesh that He might help those in the flesh. Kistemaker writes, "The context of these two citations is quite important. Chapters 7, 8, and 9 of Isaiah are decidedly messianic in tenor. For example, the name Immanuel occurs in Isaiah 7:14 and 8:8, 10. And the birth of a Son is mentioned in Isaiah 7:14 - 17 and 8:1 - 4. Also, the sentence "I will put my trust in him" was incorporated into psalm and spiritual song (II Samuel 22:3; Psalm 18:2; Isaiah 12:2) and constituted part of the heritage of God's people" (p. 73).
To use the language of Luke 10:33 concerning the good Samaritan, "...a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where (the wounded man) was..." Only as Jesus became flesh could he know and sympathize with sinful mankind. The priest and Levite were of no help to the wounded man, but the Samaritan came where the wounded man lay. Bruce writes, "If ever death had appeared to be triumphant, it was when Jesus of Nazareth, disowned by His nation, abandoned by His disciples, executed by the might of imperial Rome, breathed His last on the cross...He had died..in evident weakness and disgrace--and their hopes died with Him...And yet--within a generation His followers were exultingly proclaiming the crucified Jesus to be the conqueror of death and asserting, like our author here, that by dying He had reduced the erstwhile lord of death to impotence. The keys of death and Hades were henceforth held firmly in Jesus' powerful hand, for He, in the language of His own parable, had invaded the strong man's fortress, disarmed him, bound him fast and robbed him of his spoil (Luke 11:24ff)" (p. 49).
14 Our Savior partook (kekoinoneken from koinoneo meaning to share or to be a fellow-partaker) of flesh and blood that He might succor those who were flesh and blood. Likewise (paraplesios meaning similarly or in like manner) Jesus became flesh in His incarnation "...that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." The word destroy (katargese from katargeo means abolish or do away) with death. Though Jesus is immortal He became mortal thus representing sinful, mortal man. Yeager writes, "(Jesus') purpose in incarnation and the result of incarnation...is that by dying He destroyed Satan, who has the power of death, and deliver those for whom He died. Only the incarnate Christ can die. The eternal Logos (John 1:1, 2) before He became a man (John 1:14) could not die. It takes a man to die. In His death He destroyed Satan's power over those for whom He died"
(p. 122). Thus Christ broke the power of the devil over death and in some unexplained way Satan had sway over the realm of death (Zechariah 3:5, 6).
15 Jesus could deliver (apallaxe from apallatto meaning to secure freedom) those who would trust Him, and do so taking the fear and sting out of death for those held in the bondage of sin for an entire lifetime. Only those who are unsaved should fear death; for them it is an eternity separated from God and all that is good. Death holds no fear to the child of God, for as Paul wrote, "...while we are home in the body, we are absent from the Lord" (II Corinthians 5:6). When a child of God dies, he goes immediately into the presence of the Lord. "There is a flippant attitude towards death with denial of the future life and rejection of God. But the author of Hebrews saw judgment after death (9:27, 28)" (Robertson, p. 349).
"Death " is herein defined as the great dread and terror of the race. Christ died that man might be delivered from this dread and terror. The apostle Paul gives us an illustration of this deliverance from the dread of death. He said, "to die is gain." He longed to be absent from the body, and at home with the Lord. He sees a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Christ makes a difference regarding man's attitude toward death (Kellar Notes, p. 14).
16 Jesus took (epilambanetai from epilambeto meaning to lay hold on or to take hold of) not upon Himself the nature of angels, but rather he took upon Himself the seed (spermatos or biological sperm) of Abraham; that is, He became flesh and blood like Abraham as all of Adam's descendants. For He was the descendant of Adam (Luke 3:23 - 38) as well as Abraham (Matthew 1:1 - 16). Our Lord came to earth to help "Abraham's seed," Abraham's natural offspring. In Abraham's seed all the nations of the world were to be blessed; and, therefore, in coming to the rescue of the seed of Abraham, Christ came to the rescue of entire humanity.
17 It behooved Christ (opheilen from opheilo meaning to be bound or one's duty) to become like (omoiothenai from omoiothete meaning to resemble) His brethren in the flesh that He might be a merciful and high priest in things pertaining to God and to make reconciliation (hilaskesthai from hilaskomai to show merciful or grace) for the sins of the people. This word hilaskomai can be translated to be gracious or gentle; it occurs in Romans 3:25, and it is translated propitiation and in Hebrews 9:5 as mercy seat. The R. S. V. translates hilasmos in I John 2:2; 4:10 expiation. In the passive voice it can be "translated to be propitiated, to be reconciled or to be put into a position where grace can justly be given rather than punishment justly exacted" (Yeager, Volume VII, p. 155).
18 Our Lord suffered (peponten from pathein meaning to experience pain) and was tempted (peirastheis from peirazo meaning examined or proven) as any human being can suffer and be tempted so that He could succor us when sinful man is tempted. Jesus Christ was tempted and put to the test, not to prove to Himself that He could endure temptation but to show humanity that He could endure temptation. He had the ability, quality, knowledge and moral stamina to endure and come out without sin in any way. He endured suffering and temptation that He might succor (boethesai from boetheo meaning to respond to a cry for help) or rescue us. Yeager says of this verse, "Jesus did not need to be induced to commit sin in order to have the experience of being a real human being. But He was tired, hungry, thirsty...discouraged, disgusted, disappointed, disillusioned, etc. and the shame of His arrest and agony of His torture and death was that of any other human being...The prayer of the Christian, 'Lord Jesus, you know how I feel' is not idle talk. He does indeed know how we feel. He felt that way once Himself" (p. 126).
| Heb. Intro. | Heb 1 | Heb 2 | Heb 3 | Heb 4 | Heb 5 |
| Heb 6 | Heb 7 | Heb 8 | Heb 9 | Heb 10 | Heb 11 |
| Heb 12 | Heb 13 | Heb Bib |