A REDEEMER LIKE HIS BRETHREN – Hebrews 2:5-18

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 12, 2014 under PM Bible Study |

PM Home Bible Study Group; November 12, 2014

Hebrews 2:5-18

Theme: This passage shows us the necessity of Christ’s incarnation to our salvation—and the love He has shown toward us in it.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

The writer of Hebrews is making an argument for the supremacy of the priestly sacrifice of Jesus Christ over the Old Covenant. His case was an important and practical one to make; because many of these Jewish Christians were suffering persecution for their faith in Jesus. They were tempted to shrink back from their devotion to Christ—or perhaps even abandon it and return to the Old Covenant patterns. But the great theme of his letter is “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith . . .” (Hebrews 10:22).

In Chapter 1:5-2:4, he sought to emphasize to his readers that Jesus held a place of supremacy over the angles through whom the Old Testament law had been given (see particularly Hebrews 2:1-4). Now, he shows them something even more wonderful than Jesus’ superiority over the angels; and that is His full identification with fallen humanity.

The great doctrinal reality behind this portion of Hebrews is that of the incarnation. Though the word “incarnation” doesn’t appear in Scripture, its meaning is very scriptural. The word itself is the combination of two words: “in” and “flesh”; and it represents the teaching in Scripture that the Son of God became “in-fleshed” in full humanity and walked on this earth as one of us. In John 1:14, we’re told, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Romans 8:3 tells us that God sent “His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin . . .” Jesus never ceased to be fully divine, nor ever set aside anything of His essential deity. But without ceasing to be God, He permanently embraced full humanity to Himself in such a way as to be fully human—and thus was able to pay the death-penalty for sin on behalf of humanity as a human being. In Philippians 2:6-8, Paul writes of Jesus as He “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

The writer of Hebrews takes this great theological reality and puts it before his readers as a practical reason for full confidence in the priesthood of Christ on their behalf.

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Note how his argument can be seen in four basic propositions . . .

I. HE WHO IS GREATER THAN THE ANGELS BECAME LOWER THAN THEM AS ONE OF US (vv. 5-9).

A. The writer first stresses that God has not put the world to come in subjection to angels. He writes, “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels” (v. 5). It’s important to remember that angels are of a completely different created order than humans. Sometimes, people mistakenly believe that godly humans become ‘angels’ at death; but this is something that the Bible does not teach. Angels are of one created order—each angel being individually created and not connected to one another as a ‘race’; and human beings are of a different created order—each bound to one another in unity as a race through Adam. And God has not given the promise to angels that they will reign over His promised New Creation. As the writer says in 1:14, they are all “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation”.

B. Instead, God has set all His works under the care of man—who is, in the present state of things, less in glory than the angels. The writer often supports his argument by quotations from the Old Testament; and here, he quotes Psalm 8:46. He writes,

“But one testified in a certain place, saying:

What is man that You are mindful of him,

Or the son of man that You take care of him?

You have made him a little lower than the angels;

You have crowned him with glory and honor,

And set him over the works of Your hands.

You have put all things in subjection under his feet’” (vv. 6-8a).

Man—at present—is less than the angels in glory. And yet, though less in glory, God has crowned humankind with greatest possible honor. He has made man the ‘dominion holder’ over His created order (see Genesis 1:26-27). Even the angelic beings are—ultimately—under the dominion of mankind; because the Bible tells us that it will be glorified and redeemed humanity that will judge the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).

C. Now; we do not yet see fallen man in a state of glory. Mankind, in its fallen state, seems very far from ‘glorious’—and certainly not at all like the glory that we will experience through redemption in Christ. But we do now see Christ glorified for us as one of us. Because of the incarnation, Jesus is a member of humanity in full; and He now stands as the representative of the glory that humanity will experience in Him. The writer of Hebrews says of God the Father concerning mankind, “For in that He [that is, the Father] put all in subjection under him [that is, man], He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” (vv. 8b-9). Jesus—as one of us—has died for us, and has been raised for us, and is now at the right hand of glory for us. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

II. HE BECAME LOWER THAN ANGELS WITH US SO THAT HE MIGHT BE ONE WITH US (vv. 10-13).

A. The reason for the incarnation is so that Jesus would be fully united to humanity—and even united to the experience of death that we experience because of the fall. In other words, God found it fitting to make our Savior perfect through His suffering with us. The idea of “perfect” here is that Jesus is made fully complete in His union with humanity through the experiences of suffering and death. If Jesus had not experience the full pain of our fallenness (though without sin Himself), He would not be fully human. But as the writer puts it, “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (v. 10).

B. In this way, Jesus has sanctified us by being one with us. The unity of Jesus with fallen humanity is so complete that He not only experiences death in unity with us, but also resurrection, and life, and glory. “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one . . .” (v. 11a). As the apostle Paul put it, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection . . .” (Romans 6:5). This was why He, as it were, ‘condescended’ to come down to where we are in our fallenness. It’s so that we would be united to Him and thus raised up to where He is in His glorification. What a glorious truth this is! It ought to move us with wonder; but more, it ought to profoundly humble us with His love!

C. Thus, Jesus is not ashamed to call us “brethren”. The writer, after stressing Jesus’ unity with us, adds, “for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren . . .” (v. 11a). He then makes further use of the Old Testament—citing what would be the words of the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Himself—“saying:

‘I will declare Your name to My brethren;

In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You’ (v. 12).

Here the writer quotes from Psalm 22:22 (see also 2 Samuel 22:3)—a very ‘messianic’ psalm. He goes on further to quote from Psalm 18;2; “And again:

‘I will put My trust in Him’ (v. 13a).

The writer loosely quotes from this passage to show that Jesus—as a man—even condescends to the need of placing His trust in the Father as we need to do. And then, he quotes from Isaiah 8:17-18; “And again:

‘Here am I and the children whom God has given Me’” (v. 13b).

In all of these Old Testament quotes, the writer shows us that the gracious unity that Jesus has with fallen humanity is not merely positional for Him. It is also a bond of deep affection and love—established in the purpose of God long before Jesus’ incarnation. We are His brethren, along with all who trust dependently upon the Father, so that we are ‘children’ given to Him by the Father.

III. HE BECAME ONE WITH US IN ORDER TO TASTE DEATH FOR US (vv. 14-15).

A. Jesus became one of us, and became fully united to us, so that just as we partake of of flesh and blood, so did He. As the writer says, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same . . .” (v. 14a). This is a very clear statement of the doctrine of the incarnation.

B. But note that there was a very practical purpose in His doing so. He did this so that he could pay the death penalty for our sin on our behalf. Just as we must experience death as the wages of our sin (see Romans 6:23), so did He—though Himself without sin. Thus, by experiencing death with us, and paying the penalty for sin on our behalf, He destroyed the work of the devil. “that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil . . .” (v. 14b). The devil had, as it were, the power over death through the threat of judgment that followed afterward (see Hebrews 9:27). But now, that power has been taken away from him because the threat of judgment has now been removed by Christ. The writer also notes that He thus released those who are held in bondage by fear; saying “. . . and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (v. 15). The fear of death was because of the judgment for sin that would follow. But as Paul puts it in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus . . .”

IV. HAVING TASTED DEATH FOR US, HE IS NOW A SYMPATHETIC PRIEST TO US (vv. 16-18).

A. The benefits of Jesus’ unity with us do not end in the death penalty He paid for us. He was also raised from the dead; and He now has an ongoing ministry for us. He serves us with a priesthood that now immeasurably exceeds the glories of that of the priesthood in the Old Covenant, or of anything that could have been experienced by or through the angels. Note first that He does not give ‘aid’ (that is, as Savior) to angels; but only to humanity. The writer says, “For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham” (v. 16). The Bible does not tell us of an plan for redemption or salvation for the angels. It is only fallen humanity that He saves. And the seed of Abraham would be those who ‘believe’ on God and trust Him for justification by faith—as did Abraham (see Romans 4:16).

B. And because the seed of Abraham die because of sin, it was necessary that Jesus partook of the same. As the writer says, “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren . . .” He did this so that He can become an utterly sympathetic High Priest to us.

1. Note that He is able now to be merciful and faithful toward us. As the writer says it, it’s “. . . that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God” (v. 17b). He is able, as it were, to stand between a holy God and sinful man and be the completely sufficient Mediator between us (see 1 Timothy 2:5). Because He is fully divine and had no sin of His own to pay for, He is able to stand on our behalf before the Father in perfect accordance with the Father’s standards of holiness. But because He is also fully human, He is able to compassionately minister to those who stand before God in sin. He is the perfect Priest—absolutely able to stand between God and man in a completely sufficient way.
2. He is also able to make propitiation for us; as the writer says, “. . . to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (v. 17c). A “propitiation” simply refers to that which turns away the wrath of God by an offering; and to “:propitiate” means to or placate or satisfy God’s righteous anger. And Jesus alone is the propitiation for our sins. As the apostle John wrote, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2). In fact Jesus’ role as our propitiation before the Father is itself an act of the Father; “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith” (Romans 3:25).
3. What’s more, He is able to help us in times of temptation. “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (v. 18). As a completely compassionate High Priest, Jesus is able to understand our times of temptation because He Himself experienced them. When we fail, He understands; but He calls us to rise up and go forward to holiness because He Himself was victorious—Jesus our High Priest, “who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:34).

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We could probably find no better way to sum up the practical aspects of Jesus’ incarnate ministry toward us than what the writer of Hebrews himself says in Hebrews 4:14-16;

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).