HEBREWS 2 — GREATER THAN ANGELS: THE SON WHO SHARED OUR HUMANITY
What does "drift away" mean? Is it the same as apostasy? Study Hebrews 2 with context, apologetic analysis, and cross-references.
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Dr. Lucas D. Shallua Commentary · HEBREWS 2 — GREATER THAN ANGELS: THE SON WHO SHARED OUR HUMANITY
01
The precise difficulties
What does "drift away" mean? Is it the same as apostasy?
Does "taste death for everyone" teach universal salvation?
What does it mean that Jesus was "made perfect through suffering"?
What does it mean that Jesus destroyed the devil?
Do signs and wonders still accompany the gospel today?
02
Verse and question study
What does "drift away" mean? Is it the same as apostasy?
Drifting is a gradual process of neglect that can lead to a complete falling away, but it is not identical to a decisive act of rejection. The warning is directed at those who are in danger of letting the message slip, and its purpose is to rouse them. This commentary holds that true believers are kept by God, and that perseverance in the faith is the evidence of genuine salvation, and that warnings like this are the means by which God preserves His people.
Does "taste death for everyone" teach universal salvation?
No. The statement describes the scope of Christ's sacrifice, which is sufficient for the sins of the whole world and offered to all, but the New Testament makes clear that it is received by faith (John 3:16–18; Romans 3:22–26). Christians differ on whether the atonement was intended to secure the salvation only of the elect or was provided for all with effect only for believers, but all agree that the gospel is to be offered to everyone.
What does it mean that Jesus was "made perfect through suffering"?
It means that He was brought to full maturity and made completely qualified as the Savior and High Priest through His experience of suffering and obedience, not that He had any moral defect. He was always sinless, but His experience of human life, temptation, and death equipped Him to be our sympathizing representative.
What does it mean that Jesus destroyed the devil?
It means that through His death and resurrection, Christ broke the power of Satan, especially the power of death, and removed his authority to accuse and enslave. Satan is still active in the world and opposes believers, but his defeat is certain and his power is limited. Believers are not to fear him but to resist him by the authority of Christ.
Do signs and wonders still accompany the gospel today?
The author describes them as part of God's confirmation of the early message, and he does not say that they would cease. This commentary affirms that God continues to give gifts of the Spirit and to work miracles today, according to His will, and that these are given to confirm the word and to build up the church. They are not to be sought for their own sake or used for self-promotion, and they must be tested by Scripture.
03
Historical and literary context
Chapter 2 contains the first of the five warnings in Hebrews, and it then develops the argument about the Son and the angels by turning to the incarnation. If chapter 1 stressed the Son's deity, chapter 2 stresses His humanity. The author needs both to show that Christ is uniquely qualified to be the mediator between God and humanity: He is God, and He became man. The quotation of Psalm 8, a hymn of praise about the dignity of humanity in creation, is read in the light of Jesus, who is the true human being, the one who fulfills the destiny that God intended for the human race. The chapter introduces the key concept of Jesus as the faithful and merciful high priest, a theme that will dominate the central chapters of the book. It is also a chapter of deep pastoral comfort: Jesus understands our weakness because He has shared in it, and He has broken the power of the fear of death.
04
Apologetic note
The statement that the gospel was announced by the Lord, confirmed by those who heard Him, and attested by miracles is a significant piece of early testimony. It is written by someone who was not himself an eyewitness, and who acknowledges that he received the message from those who were. This is consistent with the account of Luke, who in his Gospel says that he wrote on the basis of what was handed down by eyewitnesses (Luke 1:1–4). It shows that the Christian message was based on testimony that could be traced back to the first witnesses, and that it was presented in a chain of transmission within the lifetime of many who had seen Jesus. The claim that God confirmed the message with signs and wonders is also made as a matter of common knowledge, something that the readers had seen for themselves. A claim of this kind, addressed to people who could verify it, is hard to explain as a later fabrication. The teaching on the incarnation, that the Son took on flesh and blood and tasted death, was a stumbling block to Greek thought, which regarded matter as inferior and the divine as untouched by suffering, and to Jewish thought, which could not conceive of a suffering and dying Messiah. Yet the earliest Christians insisted on it. The author's treatment of Psalm 8 also shows the early Christian conviction that Jesus is the true Adam, who fulfills the destiny of humanity, and that the history of humanity is bound up with His story.