Hebrews Chapter 2
1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
Since God took the trouble to communicate to us through His own Son about how to be saved, and then also confirmed that communication through many others with miracles and supernatural gifts from the Holy Spirit we cannot afford to neglect what He has said or drift away from it.
So for example, we can’t say, "We prefer the earlier message (the Old Covenant) that was sent through the angels, and so we’ll just stick to that message," – that is to ignore it.
If we don’t periodically examine ourselves to see that we are keeping our side of the New Covenant then we are neglecting it and the end result is that we will drift away from it and no longer be able to avail of the benefits of the covenant. For example, if we stop repenting (i.e. if we go on sinning willfully), we have failed to keep our side of the covenant, and we are no longer saved.
How does one neglect his salvation?
If you have a garden you have to take care of it. You have to fertilize and water the soil so that the plants you have planted will grow well. You have to ensure that the plants get adequate sunlight and you have to prune the plants as they grow so that they shape out well. You also have to remove the weeds and you have to put in and care for the landscaping (the rocks, the gravel, the mulch, the borders, etc.).
If you don’t do any of the above things then you are neglecting your garden.
In the same way, you can neglect your salvation. To understand how one can neglect his salvation let us first understand what the salvation is from and how it is received and retained.
We have a flesh, and when we acquire the knowledge of good and evil we have the potential to sin. Sin separates us from God eternally and that is a serious problem.
God paid for our sins buy having His son Jesus take the punishment for our sins. God then opened up a covenant (called the New Covenant), mediated by Jesus, between Him and each man. This covenant governs how the payment for sins can be applied to us. To avail of the covenant we have to continually meet certain requirements:
- We must repent of our sins i.e. for each sin that we are aware of, we must want to sin no more, and when we are tempted, we must resist.
- We must believe what God did.
- We must forgive all those who have sinned against us.
- We must confess Jesus as Lord and Savior even if costs us our life.
Once we begin meeting these requirements we are saved from the penalty of sin. We are then enrolled in God’s university to be saved from the power of sin. That is, one by one, we must overcome sin, so that when we are tempted to commit that sin we are able to overcome the temptation with little or no effort.
In God’s university we also get trained to exercise our spiritual gifts so that we can minister to the church and build the kingdom of God, thereby fulfilling God’s plan for us in our generation and entering into the Sabbath rest that God has prepared for us.
Finally, after we die, when the resurrection takes place, God will raise us up to not have a flesh and so we will be saved from the temptation to sin.
This then is the threefold salvation that God has made available to us: salvation from the penalty, power and presence of sin.
We can neglect our salvation from the penalty of sin by not repenting, not believing, not forgiving or not confessing.
We can neglect our salvation from the power of sin by not focusing on overcoming each sin.
We can neglect our salvation by not exercising our spiritual gifts to build the kingdom of God. As a result, we don’t fulfill God’s plan for us. If we don’t fulfill God’s plan for us then we don’t enter into the Sabbath rest that God has prepared for us.
We can neglect our salvation from the presence of sin by not holding steadfastly to our hope that God will raise us from the dead without a flesh that tempts us to sin.
The people to whom the letter of Hebrews was addressed to were neglecting their salvation in the area of repentance. They began to go on sinning willfully (Heb 10:26).
They were also neglecting their salvation in the area of faith. That is, they were giving in to pressure from the surrounding Jews to follow Jewish customs, rituals and traditions. They were accepting the New Covenant without completely letting go of the Old Covenant, showing that they didn’t really believe what God was saying concerning how to become a part of the New Covenant.
Finally, they were not holding fast to their hope, and it was impacting their ability to suffer the persecution of their Jews neighbors.
We can be just like these Hebrew Christians. After enrolling in God’s university, we can focus on recruiting other people to enroll, but neglect focusing on overcoming sin. We can allow anger, lust, jealously, idolatry, and even an unforgiving spirit to continue in our life. We can skimp on carefully examining Scripture concerning what to believe and end up believing the wrong things. We can hesitate to confess our faith amidst those who don’t believe. We can hope for the wrong things. We can believe only what we are told to believe by our denomination and not believe the fullness of what God wants us to believe.
If we are neglecting our salvation then what God said to these Hebrews is also what God is saying to us.
If you are at work, and your boss tells the peon to tell you to do something you would do it, right – even though it came from the peon? How much more then should you do it if the boss told his son to tell you to do it!
Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because the boss’ son came in a peon’s uniform you can ignore the message. That is, just because God’s Son came as a man it doesn’t mean you should think of Him as a mere man – make no mistake, He is no mere man but the very Son of God. That is the point that the writer makes next.
5 For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. 6 But one has testified somewhere, saying, "WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? 7 "YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; 8 YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET." For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
The writer quotes from Ps 8 to make his point. Interestingly, in Ps 8, the text says, "You have made Him a little lower than God," whereas the writer to the Hebrews expresses it as, "You have made Him for a little while lower than the angels." It is a subtle change in meaning, and yet both are inspired!
This quote from Ps 8 is not about man in general but about a specific man – Jesus. We can conclude this because all things – all things – are not, and never will be subject to man in general. But there is one – and only one – man that will have all things subjected to Him, and that man is Jesus.
In the next verse the writer explains why Jesus was crowned with glory. It was because He paid for the sins of all men. That is, it was because of the suffering of spiritual death that He was crowned with glory. He endured this by the grace of God who gave Him the Holy Spirit without measure and enabled Him to be the Lamb of God.
We know that this ‘death’ refers to spiritual death (and not physical death) because the next verse says that He tasted death for everyone. Since we who believe still die physically, clearly the verse does not refer to physical death.
I point this out because some people (erroneously) teach that Jesus was lower than the angels because He could die physically while the angels cannot.
9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
Jesus was lower than the angels because He emptied Himself of His divine capabilities (such as omniscience, omnipresence, the ability to not be tempted, and so on), and not His divine privileges. It is a divine privilege to accept worship and Jesus used that privilege while on earth – so clearly, He wasn’t stripped of His divine privileges.
Consider 2 Pet 2:11.
2 Pet 2:11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
2 Pet 2:11 tells us that angels are more powerful than men, and Heb 2:7, 9 tells us that Jesus was made for a little while lower than the angels. This clearly shows that He was stripped off His powers. In other words, while Jesus was on earth He was not fully God.
God > angel > man. Therefore, God + man > angel. If Christ was fully God and fully man then Christ (while on earth) must be higher than the angels. But Heb 2:7-10 says that He was made lower than the angels. Further, Heb 1:3-4 tells us that after His resurrection He became better than the angels.
The writer uses the next few verses to explain why Jesus had to be made lower than the angels for a little while.
10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying, "I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE." 13 And again, "I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM." And again, "BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME." 14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. 16 For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. 17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Here the writer is explaining why Jesus had to become man. It was because He was paying for man’s sins. You can’t pay for man’s sins if you are an angel or an ant or an amoeba. You have to be a man. Only a man can pay for the sins of man. Otherwise, God would have answered Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane and put the sins of man on an amoeba.
Further, God didn’t just want to pay for man’s sins. He also wanted to give man His own nature i.e. to bring many sons to glory. This He does by training man to overcome temptation. Overcoming temptation is through suffering in the flesh. So God sent His son in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom 8:3) and His Son overcame every temptation, thus condemning sin in the flesh. Doing this enabled the Son to become a faithful high priest who understands the power of each temptation and ensures that we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear. This is how He comes to our aid when we are tempted. He is also a merciful high priest who forgives us when we fall because He understands how easy it is to fall even though He never fell.
So then, to summarize chapter two – the writer’s point is that Jesus was no ordinary man; He was God who became man, and therefore, we should not ignore what He said. Apparently, the opinion of the writer’s audience was, "Who is Jesus that we should follow His New Covenant?" and that is what the writer is addressing.
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