Hebrewschapter 2
18 verses · BSBHebrews book hub →
Speaks with:Psalms 8×3Romans 8×3Hebrews 10×3Galatians 3×2Hebrews 5×22 Timothy 1×2
Summary
Chapter summary
The first warning interrupts the argument: 'how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation?' (2:3). Psalm 8 is then read through the incarnation, all things put under man's feet, 'but now we see not yet all things subjected to him.' What we do see is Jesus, made a little lower than the angels, 'crowned with glory and honor' because of the suffering of death, tasting death for every man. Through death he brought to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, freeing those held all their lifetime in bondage by fear of death.
Context
Epistle · Unknown — Hebrews overview
- A. 1–4 Drift Is the Danger: Give the More Earnest Heed
- B. 5–9 We See Jesus Crowned With Glory and Honor
- C. 10–18 Made Like His Brothers to Break Death's Grip
The outline
A.Drift Is the Danger: Give the More Earnest Heedvv. 1 to 4
Read vv. 1 to 4 →B.We See Jesus Crowned With Glory and Honorvv. 5 to 9
Read vv. 5 to 9 →C.Made Like His Brothers to Break Death's Gripvv. 10 to 18
Read vv. 10 to 18 →
The world behind this chapter
Hebrews 2The history
Jewish tradition held that the Law at Sinai was delivered through angels — a belief taken for granted in the New Testament and in Josephus. That is the force of the argument here: if the word spoken through angels carried real penalties, a word spoken by the Son carries more.
Fear of death shaped ancient life more than we usually picture. Household shrines, funeral clubs that saved up to bury their members, protective charms, and the whole trade in oracles all existed to manage that fear. A slave's terror was worse still, since he had no name, no tomb, and no one obliged to remember him.
The word used for Jesus as 'pioneer' or 'champion' described the man who led a colony out, founded a city, or fought at the head of a people. It carried the sense of someone who goes first and opens the road for others.
'Made lower than the angels for a little while' turns on Psalm 8, a psalm about how small humanity looks under the night sky and how much God entrusted to it anyway. The sermon reads that psalm as unfinished business now fulfilled in one man.
What it meant to them
These hearers had not seen Jesus. The sermon acknowledges it plainly — the message came through those who heard him — and points to the signs and gifts they had seen with their own eyes as God's own signature on it.
The comfort at the end is specific to people being hurt: their high priest was tested in the same way, so he can help when they are tested. That is not a theory offered to them but a resource.
Sources cited
- F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews
- Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Hebrews 2. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 6 · Quoted here
'What is man...': Hebrews, the Son's lowering-and-crowning.
Psalms 8:4→what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
public-domain commentaries in agreement
v. 12 · Quoted here
'I will declare thy name unto my brethren': Hebrews, the psalm's vindication turn.
Psalms 22:22→I will proclaim Your name to my brothers; I will praise You in the assembly.
public-domain commentaries in agreement
v. 18 · Written to them
Able to succour them that are tempted
topics/temptation→MannaFest topical index
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.