A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews

Don’t fall away! Don’t Depart! Don’t neglect your salvation! Don’t cast away your confidence! Don’t harden your heart! Don’t drift away! AStudyOf TheApostlePaul’s LetterTo The Hebrews How can we neglect so greata salvation? ~ Hebrews 2:3

Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Person (1:1—4:13) Superior to Prophets (1:1-3) Superior to Angels (1:4—2:18) but… We’ll only be studying 2:5-11 today. Superior to Moses (3:1-19) Superior to Joshua (4:1-13) Superior Priest (4:14—7:28) Superior to Aaron (4:14—6:12) Superior to Melchizedek (6:13—7:10) Superior to Levi (7:11-28)

Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Pact (Covenant) to Moses’(8:1—10:18) Superior Promises (8:1-13) Superior Sanctuary (9:1-15) Superior Sacrifice (9:16-28) Superior Results (10:1-18) Superior Principle (Faith) to Moses’ (10:19—13:25) Superior Things (10:19-39) Superior Actions (11:1-40) Superior Relationship (12:1-29) Superior Way of Life (13:1-25)

God, through Jesus, became a man, lived a perfect human life and died the perfect human sacrifice, thereby regaining man’s dominion and rela-tionship to God—Paradise Restored,if you will. However… The difference is that the physical dominion and relationship Adam and Eve possessed was transformed into something solely spiritual in nature.

So far in Hebrews, Paul has referred to Jesusas being God (1:1-6), as beingKing of a new kingdom (1:7-9), and as sup-planting the old world order with a new one which brought in a great salvation not to be neglected (1:19—2:4). Now, speaking of that new world (heavens and earth), Paul wrote in…

Hebrews 2:5  For He has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels.

The word for makes the warning of vers-es 1-4 a connector between 1:1-14 and 2:5-18; i.e., 2:5-18 present even more ofareasonwhythey should not forsake Christ—that reason being that only thru Christ would man’s dominion and rela-tionshipberestored. For He has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels. After all, the fullness of the kingdom was called the times of restoration (Acts 3: 19-21, cf. Heb. 9:10).

As mentioned back in 1:6, the original term for world here is not the word for planet or the word for age, but oikou-mene (from whence we get “economy”), a term referring to a certain people of a certain age of ourplanet, a kingdomof citizens (cf. Luke 23:42). For He has not put theworld to come of which we speak in subjection to angels.

According to Greek lexicons, the origi-nal root term for to come (mello) means about to come or at the point of arrival; in fact, McDonald’s interlinear renders thistermasaboutto in all 111 times it’s found in the New Testament. For He has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels.

Yes, it’s somewhat of a relative term, but here’s the thing: if it ever does refer to a time outsideof one’s own genera-tion, then it’s theexception to the rule. So let’s notice how this term is translated in a few other places in the NKJV.     For He has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels.

Speaking of seconds, John wrote,I was about to write(Rev. 10:4). Speaking of minutes, Luke wrote,As the day was about to dawn(Acts 27:33). Speakingofhours,Luke wrote,the sev-en days were almost ended(Acts 21:27). Speaking of anywhere from a few days to several months, Jesus warned the church at Ephesus tostrengthen the things that … are ready to die(Rev. 3:2).

In Hebrews alone this word (mello) is used at least ten times.Six examplesare: 1:14: those who will (i.e. are about to) inherit salvation. 6:5: the powers of the age [about] to come. 9:11: Christ came as High Priest of the good things [about] to come. 10:1: the law, having a shadow of the good things [about] to come. 10:27:fieryindignationwhichwill(i.e.isabout to) devour the adversaries. 13:14: here wehavenocontinuingcity,but we seek the one [about] to come.

Interestingly, every time the phrase about to is found in the NKJV in reference to time (23 occurrences), it’s translated from mello. Romans 15:19 is the only other time the phrase about to is found (i.e. not speaking of time), and thereit has reference to a preaching circuit. So, in Hebrews 2:5…

This entire phrase referred to the new heavens and earth, the new world or kingdom of Christ in which the great sal-vation could be had. There were 2 worlds during this transitionperiod:the Jewish andtheChristian— theonethatwasgo-ing to win out (cf. Gal. 4:21-31). Well… For He has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels. …let’slookat someof the differing phrases by which this king-dom is called in the New Testament: 

The Kingdomof Christ(Eph. 5:5) The World to Come(Heb. 2:5) The City of the Living God (Heb. 12:22) The New Heavens and Earth(Rev. 21:1) The Jerusalem from Above(Gal. 4:26) The New Jerusalem from Heaven(Rev. 21:2) The HeavenlyJerusalem(Heb. 12:22) A Heavenly Country(Heb. 11:16) Mount Zion(Heb. 12:22) A n d M a n y O t h e r s

So… The original term for this phrase refers to a system of admini-stration, an econo-my which corres-ponds perfectly, of course, to the ori-ginal term for world (oikoumene) that we just discussed—a kingdomofsubjects; after all, subjects are those who are insubjection. For He has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels.

Already working our way into the thots of our introduction, the kingdom that Jesus died to estab-lish for man’s salva-tion wouldn’t be under the dominion of angels like the kingdom of the Old Testament. See…  For He has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjectionto angels.

This kingdom, asoriginally intended, would be under the dominionofman,i.e. not administered (or preached) by angels, but by man. For He has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjectionto angels.

Let’sreadallofverses6-8beforebreak-ing these verses down: But one testified in a certain place [Psa. 8:4-6], saying, “What is man that You are mindful of him or the son of man that You take care of him? You made him a little lower than the angels; You 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.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. Now… 

Although I’ve thought otherwise in the past, I now believe this passage refers to humanity, not to Jesus, for four reasons: 1. The original word for man here is not the Greek word for an individual man, but the word for mankind. 2. Thequestion,What ismanthat You(God) are mindful of and care about him?, clearly implies that a class of beings less than God is under consideration.

3. The contrasting word but at verse 9 indi- cates that Jesus became part of mankind in order for man to regain his dominion and relationship to God lost in Adam. 4.Psalm 8:4-6is about mankind in general, becauseitgoesontorefertohiscreation. So…   

This phrase is not a reference to Jesus, but to the earthly nature of Adam’s children—human, of the dust of the earth; in fact, this phrase is used num-erous times to refer to humanity and not the Christ: one such place is in a parallel Psalm (144:3): “What is man that You are mindful of him or the son of man that You take care of him?” Lord, what is man that You take know-ledge of him? Or the son of man that You are mindful of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

This phrase is from the term episcopos, thewordfromwhich the Episcopal Church derivesits name and which is translated as overseer (Acts 20: 28) & bishop (1 Pet. 2:25); this care-tak-ingis the result of God’smindfulness. “What is man that You are mindful of him or the son of man that You take care of him?”

Hebrews 2:7  “You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands.”

Thisclauseis defined by 2:9 to mean (at least in part) that man is able to die, while angels aren’t: Jesus … was made a little lower than the angelsfor the suf-fering of death. “You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands.”

This is explained in the first part of the next verse:   “You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands.”

Hebrews 2:8  “You have put all things in subjec-tion under his feet.” For in that He put all in sub-jection under him, He left nothing that is not put un-der him. But now we do not yet see all things put un-der him.

A more literal trans-lation of this would be, You put all thingsin subjection. This means that it isn’t necessary to take Paul as saying that those things were still under man’s feet when he wrote this; in fact, this verse goes on to say that things were, in fact, not under him at this time. “You have put all things in subjec-tion under his feet.” For in that He put all in sub-jection under him, He left nothing that is not put un-der him. But now we do not yet see all things put un-der him.

To say this means thatmankindwas,in thebeginning,meant to be the very high-est of all beings on Earth, the only one with a special rela-tionship to his Cre-ator; but since he fouled that up big time, this relation-ship would have to be restored through Christ. So…   “You have put all things in subjec-tion under his feet.” For in that He put all in sub-jection under him, He left nothing that is not put un-der him. But now we do not yet see all things put un-der him.

Based on the original, the Diaglott con- sistently renders the last part of verse 8 like this: but, at pre-sent,we do not see that all things have actually been placed under him. In other words…  “You have put all things in subjec-tion under his feet.” For in that He put all in sub-jection under him, He left nothing that is not put un-der him. But now we do not yet see all things put un-der him.

Paul was implying that this Psalm was actually an indirect prediction of whatwouldbe restored—the very thing these brethren wereabout to witness: the time when mankind, thru Jesus, could regain sinlessness (not as animals that were sac-rificed for him, but)by choice. See…   “You have put all things in subjec-tion under his feet.” For in that He put all in sub-jection under him, He left nothing that is not put un-der him. But now we do not yet see all things put un-der him.

As one studies and compares Psalm 8 with this text, he discoverswhereinat least part of man’s dominionhad lain: unlikeanimals, Adam was (to be) holy (in the sense of being sin-less) by choice, an idea that Paul later brought up again in 8:10-11. So, being helplessly lost…  “You have put all things in subjec-tion under his feet.” For in that He put all in sub-jection under him, He left nothing that is not put un-der him. But now we do not yet see all things put un-der him.

Hebrews 2:9  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.

Jesus,asaman,was the answer to man’s dilemma—He would restore what man lost (Acts 3:19-21); incidentally, since this is the first time the name of the per-son Paul had been describing for 20+ verses is mentioned in this letter, it seems that he was building up to this very statement:  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. We See Jesus!

Verse 14 puts it like this: As the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is,thedevil.And… But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angelsfor the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

Verse 17 puts it like this: He had to be made like His breth-ren … to make pro-pitiation for the sins ofthepeople.Sonot only was/is Jesus God, the Son of God, King, & Savior, but He was also…at onetimeinorder tobringabout the great sal-vation…aman! And,as a man, He was… But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angelsfor the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

In this context, this phrase likely corres-ponds to the idea just discussed, viz. the idea of being holy &/or sinless; i.e., by His own will and as a man, Jesus diedsinless.(Besides, in the original it’s hav-ing beencrowned; and in Psa. 8 man’s crown of honor and his domi-nion are interlaced.) 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.

This phrase simply meanstoexperience death, but its ap-parent origin is from one of the various formsofexecution—beingforcedtodrink fromacupofpoison; this is the way Soc-rates died. Now…  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.

In the context of some of the very same ideas (1 Cor. 15:24-28),1st Cor. 15:21-22 read, Just as death came into the world through a man, Adam, now the resurrec-tion of the dead has begun thru another Man, Christ. Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other Man, will be given new life (NLT).(Cf. Eph. 2:1 & 1 Cor. 15:44.) Then…   

First Corinthians 15:45 & 47-49go on to say,So it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam a life-giving spirit…. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from Heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from Heaven, so also are those who are of Heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from Heaven(NIV). So… 

Thelast Adam, Jesus, throughHis shed blood on the cross, gained the victory over the serpent under whose attack the first Adam had gone down in de-feat, dragging down with him the en-tire human race. But, the last Adam, being sinless and raising Himself out from under that awful thing called death, made it possible for the saints of all ages to share in His glory(cf. Rom. 5:12-19). Now…   

Hebrews 2:10  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 Author of their salvation perfect throughsufferings.

As a defense against Judaizers who said such things as, We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. So how can You say, “The Son of Man must be lifted up” (John 12:34)?, Paul simply said, because it was fitting. 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 Author of their salvation perfect throughsufferings.

Thisphraseprobably means that because of the justice and mercy within God’s nature, this is the way He chose to save us, regardless if we understand it; besides, Paul later (10:5-10) argued that their own law prophesied of it as occurring in just this manner. So…   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 Author of their salvation perfect throughsufferings.

WhydidtheJewssay they were taught that the Messiah would live forever? Because they thot of His kingdom as a physical one, and since Hiskingdom would be eternal (Dan. 2:44), they be-lieved He, likewise, would live forever, or at least certainly not die on a cursed cross! 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 Author of their salvation perfect throughsufferings.

As the latter part of this verse and the first part of the next verse clarify,this pronoun is undoubt-edly a reference to God the Father. 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 Author of their salvation perfect throughsufferings.

This probably has reference to the next phrase—the bringing in of many sons to glory, remi-niscent of Rom.8:29 where Paul said that Jesus would be the firstborn of many brethren. 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 Author of their salvation perfect throughsufferings.

Thiswordisequalto the salvation in the next clause, which in turn means that through Christ man isrestoredtohisori-ginal glory—a rela-tionship with his Creator apart from sin that separates. 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 Author of their salvation perfect throughsufferings.

This word may be better understood here as leading; after all, sort of like the Pied Piper, one does bringthose he leads, leading to our next word:    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 Author of their salvation perfect throughsufferings.

This word comes from a term which literally means lead-er and was used to refer to the com-mander of an army who went ahead of his men, blazing the trail for them; this is why theKing James Versiontranslated it as Captain (cf. 5:8-9, 6:20, & 12:2). So…  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 Author of their salvation perfect throughsufferings.

A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews