1The obligation we are under to give more earnest heed to the gospel doctrine. 5The dominion of the world to come was not granted to angels, but to the Son of man, whom it behoved to undergo a previous course of humiliation and suffering.
1THEREFORE1 we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them 2slip.
1 That is, forasmuch as we have now proved how excellent is the Person of Christ, of Whom we speak.
2 This is by some understood of the Word which we have heard, and must take care that the same does not slip through in us, as is wont to come to pass in forgetful hearers. By others it is understood of the persons themselves, who are said to run out (as leaking vessels), when they, like water that runs out, perish or are lost. See 2 Sam. 14:14; Psalm 58:7.
2For if thea word spoken 3by angels was stedfast, and everyb transgression and disobedience received a just 4recompence of reward;
a Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19.
3 Whereby are understood all the revelations which God made in the Old Testament to the prophets by the angels, and especially also the giving of the law, which was indeed given by God Himself, but nevertheless by the ministry of angels, as Stephen testifies, Acts 7:53, and Paul in Gal. 3:19.
b Gen. 19:17, 26; Deut. 27:26.
4 Or, received just recompense. Namely, of punishments, which therefore came upon them. See some examples thereof, 1 Cor. 10:5, etc.
3Howc shall we 5escape, if we neglect 6so great salvation; whichd at the first 7began to be spoken by 8the Lord, and was 9confirmed unto us 10by them that heard him;
c Heb. 12:25.
5 Namely, the just recompense of punishments.
6 That is, a doctrine so clear and powerful, which calls us to salvation; whereby is understood the Gospel, which is also called a ministry of the Spirit and of life, whereas the law is a killing letter; whereof see the exposition on 2 Cor. 3:6, 7
d Mat. 4:17; Mark 1:14.
7 Gr. having taken beginning to be spoken.
8 Namely, Jesus Christ, when in the days of His flesh He preached amongst us as a minister of the circumcision.
9 That is, more and more strengthened.
10 From this some would conclude that Paul wrote not this epistle, forasmuch as he heard the Gospel and was called to be an apostle, not by men, but by Christ Himself, 2 Cor. 12:4, etc.; Gal. 1:1; 2:6. But this is a very weak argument, seeing the apostles, by a figurative manner of speaking, often include themselves in exhortations, although they do not properly concern them, as is done several times in these three foregoing verses. See also a notable example, 1 Cor. 10:8, 9; 1 Peter 4:3. Moreover, although Paul learned the doctrine of the Gospel from none but Christ, nevertheless he was also confirmed therein by Ananias, Acts 9:17, and by mutual association with the other apostles; as the other apostles also by discoursing with him, as he himself testifies at large, Gal. 2:2, etc.
4Gode also 11bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
e Mark 16:20; Acts 14:3; 19:11.
11 Namely, with the apostles and evangelists who proclaimed the Gospel unto us. See Mark 16:20.
512For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the 13world to come, whereof we speak.
12 After the end of the inserted exhortation, the apostle comes again to the declaration of doctrine. For these words cohere with the end of the foregoing chapter, where he had said that God the Father had subjected all things under the feet of Christ, and so proceeds to the declaration of the humiliation and exaltation of the manhood of Christ.
13 That is, of whose coming or state the prophets spoke so much, and whereof David speaks in the place quoted, Psalm 110, which world is called to come in respect of God’s promises in the Old Testament, and of the establishment of all things, which by Christ’s sitting at the right hand of His Father, was begun through the entire world, and at the last day shall be finished.
6But 14one in a certain place testified, saying, 15Whatf is man, that thou art 16mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
14 Namely, who is sufficiently known, to wit, the prophet David in Psalm 8.
15 This place, Psalm 8:4, some think that here only by some application of the words of the prophet David points to Christ, although they be spoken by David in another sense, as that is often done by many writers, and of which there is one example, Rom. 10:6, 18. For what is spoken of a thing or person, may also truly be well spoken of another by way of comparison; much more than may this be done by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But seeing the apostle brings in this place also 1 Cor. 15:27; Eph. 1:22, as spoken of Christ, and there and also here takes a proof out of the same, of that which he would teach concerning Christ, therefore it must necessarily be uttered by David also for that end for which the apostle quotes it. For, albeit that David in the first respect seems there to speak of man and his dignity in general above other creatures, notwithstanding seeing the first man by his disobedience immediately lost this dignity, and for that cause has no more a right thereunto by nature, wherefore also many creatures have withdrawn themselves from his obedience, yea, are become enemies to him; therefore the prophet looked higher, namely, unto Christ, and the restitution of man in Christ, Who has received a complete authority and power over all creatures, great and small, even over the angels in heaven and all the beasts on the earth, Eph. 1:20, 21, 22; Philip. 2:9, 10. For that purpose the angels ministered themselves unto Him, when He walked here in the flesh, and the fishes in the sea, and other beasts were subject unto Him as an absolute Lord, even as examples show and occur everywhere in the Gospel. See Mat. 8:31; 21:2; Luke 5:6; John 21:6, of which dignity also all, who believe in Christ, are now again made partakers, 1 Cor. 3:22; Eph. 2:6, etc.
f Psalm 8:4.
16 This word mindful, as also the following visitest, or, observest, has respect to Christ’s state of humiliation, from which He was exalted, as well as the miserable state of man, where into he fell by sin, wherein God with His merciful eyes, as it were, looked upon him, and graciously purposed to bring him into a better estate, as this phrase everywhere imports thus much. See Gen. 8:1; 21:1; Ezek. 16:4, etc.
7Thou madest him a 17little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
17 Or, a little while; as verse 9 also, for the word signifies both. This is referred to believers, and especially to Christ their Head by the apostle, because they are here indeed a little or, a little while lesser than the angels, even as Christ also was in the state of His humiliation before the eyes of men, but that by Christ they shall be like the angels in the world to come, Mat. 22:30, and that Christ, their Head, also according to His humanity, was exalted far above all angels after His ascension, as the Scripture testifies everywhere.
8Thou hast put allg things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left 18nothing that is not put under him. 19But now we see not yet all things put under him.
g Psalm 8:6; Mat. 28:18; 1 Cor. 15:27; Eph. 1:22.
18 No not even then the angels.
19 By these words the apostle proves that this place must first and mainly be understood of Christ, seeing in no other man in the world this has been yet fulfilled in all things.
920But we see Jesus, whoh was made a little lower than the angels 21for the suffering of death, crowned withi glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should 22taste death 23for every man.
20 That is, we know and believe from God’s Word, and have experience of it in the government of His congregation, that now in Jesus Christ this is all fulfilled, and that therefore it shall be fulfilled in His members also in due time, according to their measure, as is expressed in the following verse.
h Philip. 2:7, 8.
21 That is, for the reason that He must suffer death, or, by the suffering of death. See Luke 24:26.
i Acts 2:33.
22 That is, suffer, as Christ Himself compares His suffering to a cup, Mat. 20:22; 26:39. See the like phrase in Mat. 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27; John 8:52.
23 Namely, His members or brethren, whom He would make partakers of His glory, as John 10:11; Rom. 8:33, 34, etc.
10For it became 24him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many 25sons 26unto glory, to 27make 28the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
24 Namely, God the Father, as Rom. 11:36.
25 Or, children; of whom Christ is called the firstborn, to Whose image the others must be conformed, Rom. 8:29.
26 That is, to the communion of the glory of His Son, of which he had spoken in the previous verse.
27 Gr. teleiosai; which properly signifies to make perfect or complete, sometimes to sanctify, or, to consecrate, which significations may here be applied to Christ. The word to sanctify may here be used, because Christ thus expounds this word of Himself, John 17:19, and the following verse also imports this. And by this word to sanctify is here understood, that the Father has ordained that Christ by His obedience unto the death of the cross would enter into His glory, and makes us also suitable for it with Him.
28 That is, Author or Cause and Leader, as he calls Him hereafter Heb. 5:9 and Acts 3:15.
11For 29both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified arej all 30of one: for which cause 31he is 32not ashamed to call them brethren,
29 This rule is taken from the manner of sanctifying in the Old Testament, where the High Priest, and the others whom he sanctified, were of one and the same nature and origin. Where also the firstfruits were of one nature and origin with the whole mass, which was sanctified thereby. See Rom. 11:16; Heb. 5:1.
j Acts 17:26.
30 The Greek word henos, that is, complete one, may either signify one Father, or one nature. But considering that the angels also have one common Father with believers, namely God, and the apostle wants to prove here that Christ has a communion with believers which He has not with the angels, the word one must here of necessity be understood of unity of nature, even as the first fruits and the whole mass were of one nature.
31 Namely, the Son of God, or the Author of their salvation.
32 That is, considers it not beneath His dignity, namely, although He is incomparably more worthy than they are.
1233Saying, Ik will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
33 Namely, in Psalm 22. This psalm is a continual account of the history of Christ’s sufferings, as it was therefore, according to the superscription of the Psalm, always sung before the morning sacrifice for a declaration of the thing signified by this sacrifice. And therefore there are more texts quoted by the evangelists out of this Psalm when they treat of the suffering of Christ, than out of any other chapter of the Old Testament.
k Psalm 22:22.
13And again, 34Il will put my trust in him. 35And again, Beholdm I and the children 36which God hath given me.
34 By this place, taken out of Psalm 18:2, the apostle proves that Christ is partaker of one kind of affections of the mind, and consequently of one kind of nature with believers.
l Psalm 18:2.
35 This place is taken out of Isa. 8:18, where Christ, the true Emmanuel, speaks to the prophet, and comforts him in his suffering, by His own example and that of all God’s children, who were always subject to similar troubles, as that entire chapter from the 8th verse and forward is a prophecy of Christ.
m Isa. 8:18.
36 Namely, out of the world, to sanctify Myself for them. See John 17:6.
14Forasmuch then as 37the children are partakers 38of flesh and blood, hen also himself likewise took part 39of the same; thato through death he might 40destroy him that had 41the power of death, that is, 42the devil;
37 Namely, whereof Isaiah speaks, that is, true believers, who are born of God, and are members of Christ.
38 That is, consist of flesh and blood, or, are partakers of the frail human nature, as 1 Cor. 15:50.
n John 1:14; Philip. 2:7.
39 That is, assumed the same into the unity of His Person, as he speaks afterward in verse 16 and Philip. 2:7.
o Isa. 25:8; Hosea 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:24; 2 Tim. 1:10.
40 That is, burst asunder and take away his power or tyranny over the children of God.
41 Namely, by sin, whereunto he had brought men, and under which he still detained them, because of which sin man was subject to a cursed death, see Rom. 5:12 and 1 Cor. 15:56.
42 Namely, with all his angels, as Christ speaks, Mat. 25:41. For, under this prince all, who are under him, are comprehended.
15And deliver them 43who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject 44to bondage.p
43 That is, of an eternal and cursed death, which fear necessarily seizes upon all sinful men, until they be assured of their redemption. See Luke 1:74.
44 That is, to slavish fear, or to the spirit of bondage, as he speaks in Rom. 8:15.
p Rom. 8:15.
16For verily 45he took not on him the nature of angels; but 46he took on him the seed of Abraham.
45 That is, the Scripture says nowhere that He would assume the angels, but the seed of Abraham, Gen. 12:3; 22:18, as this actually has also appeared in His incarnation.
46 That is, the human nature of the seed of Abraham. For, that some expound the word take on by help, is absurd, seeing the good angels have no need of help for their deliverance, since they have not sinned.
17Whereforeq47in all things it behovedr him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in 48things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
q Philip. 2:7; Heb. 4:15.
47 Namely, except sin, as the apostle adds in Heb. 4:15.
r was necessary for
48 Namely, to reconcile man unto God.
18Fors in that he himself hath suffered 49being tempted, he 50is able to succour them that are tempted.
s Heb. 4:15, 16.
49 Namely, in the state of His humiliation, with all manner of suffering and sorrow.
50 Namely, the better, seeing He has also had experience of the same, and therefore is affected with the greater compassion towards them.