For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the congregation I will sing your praise.”
Again, “I will put my trust in him.” Again, “Behold, here I am with the children whom God has given me.” Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For most certainly, he doesn’t give help to angels, but he gives help to the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv10–18 10. For it became him, etc. His object is,…
10. For it became him, etc. His object is, to make Christ’s humiliation to appear glorious to the godly; for when he is said to have been clothed with our flesh, he seems to be classed with the common order of men; and the cross brought him lower than all men. We must therefore take heed, lest Christ should be less esteemed, because he willingly humbled himself for us; and this is what is here spoken of. For the Apostle shows that this very thing ought to be deemed honorable to the Son of God, that he was by these means consecrated the Captain of our salvation.
He first assumes it as granted, that we ought to be satisfied with God’s decree; for as all things are sustained by his power, so all things ought to serve to his glory. No betters cause, then, can be found out than the good pleasure of God. Such is the purport of the circumlocution which he employs, for whom, and by whom, are all things. He might by one word have named God; but his purpose was to remind us, that what is to be deemed best is that which he appoints, whose will and glory is the right end of all things.
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It does not, however, appear as yet what he intends by saying, that it became Christ to be thus consecrated. But this depends on the ordinary way which God adopts in dealing with his own people; for his will is to exercise them with various trials, so that they may spend their whole life under the cross. It was hence necessary that Christ, as the first-begotten, should by the cross be inaugurated into his supremacy, since that is the common lot and condition of all. This is the conforming of the head with the members, of which Paul speaks in Romans 8:29.
It is indeed a singular consolation, calculated to mitigate the bitterness of the cross, when the faithful hear, that by sorrows and tribulations they are sanctified for glory as Christ himself was; and hence they see a sufficient reason why they should lovingly kiss the cross rather than dread it. And when this is the case, then doubtless the reproach of the cross of Christ immediately disappears, and its glory shines forth; for who can despise what is sacred, nay, what God sanctifies? Who can deem that ignominious, by which we are prepared for glory? And yet both these things are said here of the death of Christ.
By whom are all things, etc. When creation is spoken of, it is ascribed to the Son as his own world, for by him were all things created; but here the Apostle means no other thing than that all creatures continue or are preserved by the power of God. What we have rendered consecrated, others have rendered made perfect. But as the word, τελειῶσαι which he uses, is of a doubtful meaning, I think it clear that the word I leave adopted is more suitable to the context. For what is meant is the settled and regular way or method by which the sons of God are initiated, so that they may obtain their own honor, and be thus separated from the rest of the world; and then immediately sanctification is mentioned.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10–18 Secondly, The Father determined to bring those sons to…
Secondly, The Father determined to bring those sons to glory, to wit, out of that ignominy wherein they lay before. Therefore the Son should not have been seen plainly to be made man, unless he had been made like unto other men, that he might come to glory in the selfsame way, by which he should bring others: yea rather, it became him which was Prince of the salvation of others, to be consecrated above others, through those afflictions, Prophet, King, and Priest, which are the parts of that principality for the salvation of others.
He proveth moreover by other arguments, why it behooveth the Son of God who is true God (as he proveth a little before) to become man notwithstanding, subject to all miseries, sin only except.
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God.
First of all, because the Father, to whose glory all these things are to be referred, purposed to bring many sons unto glory. And how could he have men for his sons, unless his only begotten Son had become brother to men?
The Chieftain, who as he is chiefest in dignity, so is he the first begotten from among the dead, amongst many brethren.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–18 10 For it became him, for whom are all…
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Ver. 10. For it became him] That is, God, whose perfect wisdom, justice, &c., shineth most clearly in that great work of our redemption; than the which God could not have done anything more beseeming himself; whatever the world’s wizards conceit to the contrary, 1Co 1:23.
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For whom are all things] {See Trapp on "Rom 11:36"}
To make the captain, &c.] He that is captain of the Lord’s hosts, Jos 5:14, is also "Captain of our salvation." This is comfort.
To make perfect] Or, consecrate, τελειωσαι. The priests were first consecrated with oil, then with blood; so was Christ first by the Spirit, and. then by his own blood.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv10–18 For it became him: a further reason of Christ’s…
For it became him: a further reason of Christ’s humiliation and sufferings is added, to show the necessity of his being lower than the angels for a while; in which the Spirit prevents what these Hebrews were apt to question, why God would have Christ thus to die, &c., by adding: Therefore it became him so to do; it was agreeable to him, and had a meetness in it to his excellent perfection; by it displaying together his Divine wisdom, justice, mercy, and power. Amongst all his methods, he pitched upon this as the best, and did by it what was befitting and becoming a God to do. He likewise revealed this so becoming decree of his by the prophets to the church, and it was meet to and becoming his truth to fulfil it, Isa 53:1-12; Luk 24:25-27.
For whom are all things, and by whom, are all things; for the manifestation of God the Father’s glory, whose grace gave Christ to die for us, are all things which have a being; and by him are all things, as the Efficient and Creator of them, by his powerful word they are: this being likewise attributed to the gospel Prophet, God-man, Joh 1:3; Col 1:16.
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By whom; it shows he is no more an instrument in this work than the Father, and equally efficient with him, Rom 3:26.
In bringing many sons unto glory: αγαγοντα cannot agree with αυτω, him, for that is the dative case, but with what follows, Ἀρχηγον, the Leader of their salvation bringing many sons to glory: so that though the Father indeed glorify, yet it is most properly spoken of the Leader, to lead or bring his company thither; and so it is written, Eph 2:18; 3:12. He showed and led them the way wherein they were to reach it, 1Pe 3:18, who though for state were sinners, yet made fit by regeneration and adoption, and have their title from their Leader, Joh 1:12,13. He merited by his sufferings both the relation and inheritance for them, Rom 8:14-18; 1Pe 1:2-5; and so as to bring them to that glorious state and condition, for persons and enjoyments, in the heavenly Canaan prepared for them, Mat 25:34; 1Pe 5:10; 1Jo 3:1,2.
To make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings: so their Ἀρχηγος, a prime Leader of many, a person eminent for priority and dignity, directing and ordering all under his power, who is the prime of the creation of God, Col 1:18, having the pre-eminency of all angels and men: he was perfected; τελειωσαι signifieth the consecrating or accomplishing of a person for office by sacrifice; so Christ useth it, Luk 13:32, I shall be perfected, i.e. sacrificed and completed in my office by death: so Joh 19:30. By his sufferings of all sorts accomplished in death, and by the blood of that sacrifice, was this great gospel Prophet made a perfect Mediator, and fitted for his officiating and ministering in heaven for ever, herein fulfilling his types, Heb 9:11,12,14,15,22-24; compare Exo 29:1-46. He, in respect of saving his, is the author, purchaser, and perfecter of it to them: he by his sufferings and death merited salvation for them, by his word and Spirit fits them for it, by his intercession increaseth and applieth it; he vanquishes all opposers of it, and puts them finally into the actual possession of it in glory in heaven.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 14, 16, 17 Observe here, 1. The gracious title given to Christ,…
Observe here, 1. The gracious title given to Christ, the captain of our salvation; because the whole work of salvation, from first to last, our guidance and conduct through sin and suffering, unto glory and happiness, is committed to him. As a captain he conducts with care, he leads on with power, he discharges his trust with tenderness and love; he goes before us in obedience; in suffering through death, and into glory.
Observe, 2. That God made Jesus Christ the captain of our salvation perfect through suffering; that is, he was consecrated and set apart for the office of a complete priest by his own blood, when he offered himself without spot to God. Every Levitical priest was consecrated by the blood of a beast, sacrificed; Christ was consecrated by his own blood, for no other blood would be accepted. It is called the Father’s act to consecrate and make him perfect; but indeed it was the Son’s own immediate act; the Father’s by designation and appointment, but his own by actual performance, offering himself through the eternal Spirit without spot.
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Observe, 3. That Christ being consecrated and perfected through sufferings, hath consecrated the way of suffering for all that follow him to pass through it into glory.
Upon this consecration of the way of suffering by Christ Jesus, a believer’s suffering becomes
1. Necessary and unavoidable; the head and the members must be made conformable to each other, Rom 8:29.
They are thereby made, 2. Useful and profitable: Christ has taken the curse out of the cross, and sanctified the cross to a special end and purpose; hereby likewise all sufferings for the gospel are,
3. Made honourable; no greater honour than to suffer for Christ, The apostles rejoiced that they had the honour to suffer shame for his name. Act 5:41
And lastly, sufferings hereby are made safe to the sons of God, yea, more safe than prosperity by far. Gold is not consumed, but improved and preserved in the furnace.
Observe, 4. That such is the merit and desert of sin, and such the immutability and severity of the justice of God, that there was no way possible to bring sinners unto glory, but by the death and sufferings of the Son of God; or if possible, yet no other way so becoming God, it became him for whom are all things; and so expressive of his love and goodness to a lost world, it would have been unbecoming God, the supreme Governor of the world, to have passed by the desert of sin, without a satisfaction; therefore his wisdom contrived that grace should he exercised, and justice satisfied; that sin should be punished, and mercy magnified; that sinners should be saved, and the glory of God’s attributes secured.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv10, 14 Having mentioned the death of Christ, the apostle here…
Having mentioned the death of Christ, the apostle here proceeds to prevent and remove the scandal of the cross; and this he does by showing both how it became God that Christ should suffer and how much man should be benefited by those sufferings.
I. How it became God that Christ should suffer: For it became 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, Heb 2:10. Here,
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1. God is described as the final end and first cause of all things, and as such it became him to secure his own glory in all that he did, not only to act so that he might in nothing dishonour himself, but so that he might from every thing have a revenue of glory.
2. He is declared to have acted up to this glorious character in the work of redemption, as to the choice both of the end and of the means.
(1.) In the choice of the end; and that was to bring many sons to glory in enjoying the glorious privileges of the gospel, and to future glory in heaven, which will be glory indeed, an exceeding eternal weight of glory. Here observe, [1.] We must be the sons of God both by adoption and regeneration, before we can be brought to the glory of heaven. Heaven is the inheritance; and only those that are the children are heirs of that inheritance. [2.] All true believers are the children of God: to those that receive Christ he has granted the power and privilege of being the children of God, even to as many as believe on his name, Joh 1:12. [3.] Though the sons of God are but a few in one place and at one time, yet when they shall be all brought together it will appear that they are many. Christ is the first-born among many brethren. [4.] All the sons of God, now many soever they are, or however dispersed and divided, shall at length be brought together to glory.
(2.) In the choice of the means. In finding out such a person as should be the captain of our salvation; those that are saved must come to that salvation under the guidance of a captain and leader sufficient for that purpose; and they must be all enlisted under the banner of this captain; they must endure hardship as good soldiers of Christ; they must follow their captain, and those that do so shall be brought safely off, and shall inherit great glory and honour. [2.] In making this captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings. God the Father made the Lord Jesus Christ the captain of our salvation (that is, he consecrated, he appointed him to that office, he gave him a commission for it), and he made him a perfect captain: he had perfection of wisdom, and courage, and strength, by the Spirit of the Lord, which he had without measure; he was made perfect through sufferings; that is, he perfected the work of our redemption by shedding his blood, and was thereby perfectly qualified to be a Mediator between God and man. He found his way to the crown by the cross, and so must his people too. The excellent Dr. Owen observes that the Lord Jesus Christ, being consecrated and perfected through suffering, has consecrated the way of suffering for all his followers to pass through unto glory; and hereby their sufferings are made necessary and unavoidable, they are hereby made honourable, useful, and profitable.
II. He shows how much they would be benefited by the cross and sufferings of Christ; as there was nothing unbecoming God and Christ, so there was that which would be very beneficial to men, in these sufferings. Hereby they are brought into a near union with Christ, and into a very endearing relation.
1. Into a near union (Heb 2:11): Both he that sanctifieth and those that are sanctified are all of one. Observe, Christ is he that sanctifieth; he has purchased and sent the sanctifying Spirit; he is the head of all sanctifying influences. The Spirit sanctifieth as the Spirit of Christ. True believers are those who are sanctified, endowed with holy principles and powers, separated and set apart from mean and vile uses to high and holy uses and purposes; for so they must be before they can be brought to glory. Now Christ, who is the agent in this work of sanctification, and Christians, who are the recipient subjects, are all of one. How? Why, (1.) They are all of one heavenly Father, and that is God. God is the Father of Christ by eternal generation and by miraculous conception, of Christians by adoption and regeneration. (2.) They are of one earthly father, Adam. Christ and believers have the same human nature. (3.) Of one spirit, one holy and heavenly disposition; the same mind is in them that was in Christ, though not in the same measure; the same Spirit informs and actuates the head and all the members.
2. Into an endearing relation. This results from the union. And here first he declares what this relation is, and then he quotes three texts out of the Old Testament to illustrate and prove it.
(1.) He declares what this relation is: he and believers being all of one, he therefore is not ashamed to call them brethren. Observe, [1.] Christ and believers are brethren; not only bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, but spirit of his spirit-brethren by the whole blood, in what is heavenly as well as in what is earthly. [2.] Christ is not ashamed to own this relation; he is not ashamed to call them brethren, which is wonderful goodness and condescension in him, considering their meanness by nature and vileness by sin; but he will never be ashamed of any who are not ashamed of him, and who take care not to be a shame and reproach to him and to themselves.
(2.) He illustrates this from three texts of scripture.
[1.] The first is out of Psa 22:22, I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. This psalm was an eminent prophecy of Christ; it begins with his words on the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now here it is foretold, First, That Christ should have a church or congregation in the world, a company of volunteers, freely willing to follow him. Secondly, That these should not only be brethren to one another, but to Christ himself. Thirdly, That he would declare his Father's name to them, that is, his nature and attributes, his mind and will: this he did in his own person, while he dwelt among us, and by his Spirit poured out upon his disciples, enabling them to spread the knowledge of God in the world from one generation to another, to the end of the world. Fourthly, That Christ would sing praise to his Father in the church. The glory of the Father was what Christ had in his eye; his heart was set upon it, he laid out himself for it, and he would have his people to join with him in it.
[2.] The second scripture is quoted from Psa 18:2, And again, I will put my trust in him. That psalm sets forth the troubles that David, as a type of Christ, met with, and how he in all his troubles put his trust in God. Now this shows that besides his divine nature, which needed no supports, he was to take another nature upon him, that would want those supports which none but God could give. He suffered and trusted as our head and president. Owen in locum. His brethren must suffer and trust too.
[3.] The third scripture is taken from Isa 8:18, Behold, I and the children which God hath given me. This proves Christ really and truly man, for parents and children are of the same nature. Christ's children were given him of the Father, in the counsel of his eternal love, and that covenant of peace which was between them. And they are given to Christ at their conversion. When they take hold of his covenant, then Christ receives them, rules over them, rejoices in them, perfects all their affairs, takes them up to heaven, and there presents them to his Father, Behold, I and the children which thou hast given me.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–17 For both he that sanctifieth,.... Not himself, though this…
For both he that sanctifieth,.... Not himself, though this is said of him, Joh 17:19 nor his Father, though this also is true of him, Isa 8:13 but his people, the sons brought to glory, whose salvation he is the Captain of; they are sanctified in him, he being made sanctification to them; and they have their sanctification from him, all their grace and holiness; and they are sanctified by him, both by his blood, which expiates their sins, and removes the guilt of them, and by his Spirit, working internal principles of grace and holiness in them, who are by nature, and in their unregenerate state, guilty and unclean:
and they who are sanctified; the sons brought to glory; they are not naturally holy, nor so of themselves, they are made holy; all that are sons are made holy; whom God adopts into his family, he regenerates: sanctification is absolutely necessary to their being brought to glory; and between the sanctifier and the sanctified there is a likeness, as there ought to be: they are
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all of one: they are both of one God and Father, Christ's God is their God, and his Father is their Father; they are of one body, Christ is the head, and they are members; they are of one covenant, Christ is the surety, Mediator, and messenger of it, and they share in all its blessings and promises; they are of one man, Adam, Christ is a Son of Adam, though not by ordinary generation, they descend from him in the common way; they are all of one nature, of one blood; Christ has took part of the same flesh and blood with them:
for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren; Christ, and these sons that are sanctified, stand in the relation of brethren to each other; Christ is the firstborn among many brethren; he is a brother born for the day of adversity, and one that sticks closer than a brother: and this relation is founded both upon the incarnation of Christ, who thereby became his people's "Goel"; or near kinsman, yea, brother, Sol 8:1 and upon their adoption unto his Father's family, which is made manifest by their regeneration, and by their doing his Father's will under the influence of his grace and Spirit, Mat 12:49 and this relation Christ owns; he called his disciples brethren, when God had raised him from the dead, and given him glory; and so he will call all his saints, even the meanest of them, in the great day, Mat 28:10, and "he is not ashamed" to do it; he does not disdain it, though he is God over all, and the Son of God, and is also in his human nature made higher than the heavens; which shows the wonderful condescension of Christ, and the honour that is put upon the saints; and may teach them not to despise the meanest among them: such a relation the Jews own will be between the Messiah and the Israelites. The Targumist on Sol 8:1 paraphrases the words thus;
"when the King Messiah shall be revealed to the congregation of Israel, the children of Israel shall say unto him, Come, be thou with us, for "a brother", or "be thou our brother".''
Nor can they say this will reflect any discredit upon Christ, when they make such a relation to be between God and them. The Israelites, they say (f), are called, "the brethren of the holy blessed God"; in proof of which they often produce Psa 122:8 as being the words of God to them; and again, interpreting those words in Lev 25:48 "one of his brethren may redeem him", this, say (g) they, is the holy blessed God.
(f) Zohar in Exod. fol. 23. 3. & in Lev. fol. 3. 3. & 9. 3. & 32. 2. (g) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 106. 3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10–18 In this verse the apostle expresses, in his own…
In this verse the apostle expresses, in his own words, what he expressed before in those of the Psalmist. It became him - It was suitable to all his attributes, both to his justice, goodness, and wisdom. For whom - As their ultimate end. And by whom - As their first cause. Are all things, in bringing many adopted sons to glory - To this very thing, that they are sons, and are treated as such To perfect the captain - Prince, leader, and author of their salvation, by his atoning sufferings for them. To perfect or consummate implies the bringing him to a full and glorious end of all his troubles, chap. v, 9. This consummation by sufferings intimates,
1. the glory of Christ, to whom, being consummated, all things are made subject.
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2. The preceding sufferings. Of these he treats expressly, ver. 11- 18; having before spoken of his glory, both to give an edge to his exhortation, and to remove the scandal of sufferings and death. A fuller consideration of both these points he interweaves with the following discourse on his priesthood. But what is here said of our Lord's being made perfect through sufferings, has no relation to our being saved or sanctified by sufferings. Even he himself was perfect, as God and as man, before ever be suffered. By his sufferings, in his life and death, he was made a perfect or complete sin-offering. But unless we were to be made the same sacrifice, and to atone for sin, what is said of him in this respect is as much out of our sphere as his ascension into heaven. It is his atonement, and his Spirit carrying on "the work of faith with power" in our hearts, that alone can sanctify us. Various afflictions indeed may be made subservient to this; and so far as they are blessed to the weaning us from sin, and causing our affections to be set on things above, so far they do indirectly help on our sanctification.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10–18 Verse 10. For it became him] It was suitable…
Verse 10. For it became him] It was suitable to the Divine wisdom, the requisitions of justice, and the economy of grace, to offer Jesus as a sacrifice, in order to bring many sons and daughters to glory.
For whom - and by whom] God is the cause of all things, and he is the object or end of them.
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Perfect through sufferings.] Without suffering he could not have died, and without dying he could not have made an atonement for sin. The sacrifice must be consummated, in order that he might be qualified to be the Captain or Author of the salvation of men, and lead all those who become children of God, through faith in him, into eternal glory. I believe this to be the sense of the passage; and it appears to be an answer to the grand objection of the Jews: "The Messiah is never to be conquered, or die; but will be victorious, and endure for ever." Now the apostle shows that this is not the counsel of God; on the contrary, that it was entirely congruous to the will and nature of God, by whom, and for whom are all things, to bring men to eternal glory through the suffering and death of the Messiah. This is the decision of the Spirit of God against their prejudices; and on the Divine authority this must be our conclusion. Without the passion and death of Christ, the salvation of man would have been impossible.
As there are many different views of this and some of the following verses, I shall introduce a paraphrase of the whole from
Dr. Dodd, who gives the substance of what Doddridge, Pearce, and Owen, have said on this subject.
-Verse 10. For it became him, c.] Such has been the conduct of God in the great affair of our redemption and the beauty and harmony of it will be apparent in proportion to the degree in which it is examined; for, though the Jews dream of a temporal Messiah as a scheme conducive to the Divine glory, it well became him - it was expedient, that, in order to act worthy of himself, he should take this method; Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things - that glorious Being who is the first cause and last end of all, in pursuit of the great and important design he had formed, of conducting many, whom he is pleased to adopt as his sons, to the possession of that inheritance of glory intended for them, to make and constitute Jesus, his first-begotten and well beloved Son, the Leader and Prince of their salvation, and to make him perfect, or completely fit for the full execution of his office, by a long train of various and extreme sufferings, whereby he was, as it were, solemnly consecrated to it.
-Verse 11. Now, in consequence of this appointment, Jesus, the great Sanctifier, who engages and consecrates men to the service of God, and they who are sanctified, (i.e. consecrated and introduced to God with such acceptance,) are all of one family-all the descendants of Adam, and in a sense the seed of Abraham; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them, whom he thus redeems, and presents to the Divine favour, his brethren.
-Verse 12. Saying, in the person of David, who represented the Messiah in his sufferings and exaltation, I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the Church will I praise thee.
-Verse 13. And again, speaking as a mortal man, exposed to such exercises of faith in trials and difficulties as others were, he says, in a psalm which sets forth his triumph over his enemies: I will trust in him, as other good men have done in all ages; and again, elsewhere in the person of Isaiah: Behold I, and the children which my God hath given me, are for signs and for wonders.
-Verse 14. Seeing then those whom he represents in one place and another, as the children of the same family with himself, were partakers of flesh and blood, he himself in like manner participated in them, that thereby becoming capable of those sufferings to which, without such a union with flesh, this Divine Sanctifier could not have been obnoxious, he might, by his own voluntary and meritorious death, abolish and depose him who, by Divine permission, had the empire of death, and led it in his train when he made the first invasion on mankind; that is, the devil, the great artificer of mischief and destruction; at the beginning the murderer of the human race; who still seems to triumph in the spread of mortality, which is his work, and who may often, by God's permission, be the executioner of it.
-Verse 15. But Christ, the great Prince of mercy and life, graciously interposed, that he might deliver those miserable captives of Satan-mankind in general, and the dark and idolatrous Gentiles in particular, who, through fear of death, were, or justly might have been, all their lifetime, obnoxious to bondage; having nothing to expect in consequence of it, if they rightly understood their state, but future misery; whereas now, changing their lord, they have happily changed their condition, and are, as many as have believed in him, the heirs of eternal life."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 14, 16, 17 Heb 2:10. In this verse the apostle expresses, in…
Heb 2:10. In this verse the apostle expresses, in his own words, what he before expressed in those of the psalmist. For it became him — It was suitable to all his attributes, especially to his justice and mercy, his holiness and goodness, his wisdom and truth; for whom — As their ultimate end; and by whom — As their first cause; are all things; in bringing many sons unto glory — Namely, believers, called God’s sons, Joh 1:12; Rom 8:14; and frequently elsewhere. The clause seems to be an allusion to the introduction of Israel (whom God dignified with the title of his son) into Canaan, which was a type of heaven; called glory, both because God there manifests his presence in a most glorious manner, and because there all his saints are rendered unspeakably glorious; to make the Captain — Αρχηγον, the prince, leader, and author; of their salvation perfect — That is, a complete Saviour; through sufferings — Endured for them. By which sufferings he was consecrated to his office, and qualified to discharge it; expiated men’s sins, obtained for them the Holy Spirit, Joh 16:7; Act 2:33; showed them by his example that their way lay through sufferings to glory, and in what spirit they must suffer; learned, as man, to sympathize with, and to succour and support them in their sufferings, Heb 2:17-18; Heb 4:15-16.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv10–18 For it became him - There was a fitness…
For it became him - There was a fitness or propriety in it; it was such an arrangement as became God to make, in redeeming many, that the great agent by whom it was accomplished, should be made complete in all respects by sufferings. The apostle evidently means by this to meet an objection that might be offered by a Jew to the doctrine which he had been stating - an objection drawn from the fact that Jesus was a man of sorrows, and that his life was a life of affliction. This he meets by stating that there was a “fitness” and “propriety” in that fact. There was a reason for it - a reason drawn from the plan and character of God. It was fit, in the nature of the case, that he should be qualified to be “a complete” or “perfect Saviour” - a Saviour just adapted to the purpose undertaken, by sufferings. The “reasons” of this fitness, the apostle does not state. The amount of it probably was, that it became him as a Being of infinite benevolence; as one who wished to provide a perfect system of redemption, to subject his Son to such sufferings as should completely qualify him to be a Saviour for all people. This subjection to his humble condition, and to his many woes, made him such a Saviour as man needed, and qualified him fully for his work. There was a propriety that he who should redeem the suffering and the lost should partake of their nature; identify himself with them; and share their woes, and the consequences of their sins.
For whom are all things - With respect to whose glory the whole universe was made; and with respect to whom the whole arrangement for salvation has been formed. The phrase is synonymous with “the Supreme Ruler;” and the idea is, that it became the Sovereign of the universe to provide a perfect scheme of salvation - even though it involved the humiliation and death of his own Son.
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And by whom are all things - By whose agency everything is made. As it was by his agency, therefore, that the plan of salvation was entered into, there was a “fitness” that it should be perfect. It was not the work of fate or chance, and there was a propriety that the whole plan should bear the mark of the infinite wisdom of its Author.
In bringing many sons unto glory - To heaven. This was the plan - it was to bring many to heaven who should be regarded and treated as his sons. It was not a plan to save a few - but to save many. Hence, learn:
(1) That the plan was full of benevolence.
(2) No representation of the gospel should ever be made which will leave the impression that only a few, or a small part of the whole race, will be saved. There is no such representation in the Bible, and it should not be made. God intends, taking the whole race together, to save a large part of the human family. Few in ages that are past, it is true, may have been saved; few now are his friends and are traveling to heaven; but there are to be brighter days on earth. The period is to arrive when the gospel shall spread over all lands, and during that long period of the millennium, innumerable millions will be brought under its saving power, and be admitted to heaven. All exhibitions of the gospel are wrong which represent it as narrow in its design; narrow in its offer; and narrow in its result.
To make the captain of their salvation - The Lord Jesus, who is represented as the leader or commander of the army of the redeemed - “the sacramental host of God’s elect.” The word “captain” we apply now to an inferior officer - the commander of a “company” of soldiers. The Greek word - ἀρχηγὸς archēgos - is a more general term, and denotes, properly, the author or source of anything; then a leader, chief prince. In Act 3:15, it is rendered “prince” - “and killed the prince of life.” So in Act 5:31. “Him hath God exalted to be a prince and a Saviour.” In Heb 12:2, it is rendered “author.” “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith;” compare the notes at that place.
Perfect through sufferings - Complete by means of sufferings; that is, to render him wholly qualified for his work, so that he should be a Saviour just adapted to redeem man. This does not mean that he was sinful before and was made holy by his sufferings; nor that he was not in all respects a perfect man before; but it means, that by his sufferings he was made “wholly suited” to be a Saviour of people; and that, therefore, the fact of his being a suffering man was no evidence, as a Jew might have urged, that he was not the Son of God. There was a “completeness,” a “filling up,” of all which was necessary to his character as a Saviour, by the sufferings which he endured. We are made morally “better” by afflictions, if we receive them in a right manner - for we are sinful, and need to be purified in the furnace of affliction; Christ was not made “better,” for he was before perfectly holy, but he was completely endowed for the work which he came to do, by his sorrows. Nor does this mean here precisely that he was exalted to heaven as a “reward” for his sufferings, or that he was raised up to glory as a consequence of them - which was true in itself - but that he was rendered “complete” or “fully qualified” to be a Saviour by his sorrows. Thus, he was rendered complete:
Because his suffering in all the forms that flesh is liable to, made him an example to all his people who shall pass through trials. They have before them a perfect model to show them how to bear afflictions. Had this not occurred, he could not have been regarded as a “complete” or “perfect” Saviour - that is, such a Saviour as we need.
(2)He is able to sympathize with them, and to succour them in their temptations, Heb 2:18.
(3)By his sufferings an atonement was made for sin. He would have been an “imperfect” Saviour - if the name “Saviour” could have been given to him at all - if he had not died to make an atonement for transgression. To render him “complete” as a Saviour, it was necessary that he should suffer and die; and when he hung on the cross in the agonies of death, he could appropriately say, “it is “finished.” The work is complete. All has been done that could be required to be done; and man may now have the assurance that he has a perfect Saviour, perfect not only in moral character - but perfect in his work, and in his adaptedness to the condition of people;” compare Heb 5:8-9. See the note at Luk 13:32.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 For it became him, &c. He gives the reasons…
For it became him, &c. He gives the reasons for which the Son of God would become man and suffer death, not that this was absolutely necessary, but a convenient means to manifest the goodness, the wisdom, and the justice of God, by the incarnation and death of his Son; that having decreed to bring many sons, or children, to eternal glory, he was pleased to send his divine Son to become man, and so to consummate the Author [3] of man’s salvation by suffering; i.e. to make him a perfect and consummate sacrifice of expiation for the sins of all men, and to satisfy the justice of God in the most perfect manner. (Witham) --- By suffering, Christ was to enter into his glory, (Luke xxiv. 26.) which the apostle here calls being made perfect. (Challoner) --- In this and the above verses we may observe three different states of Jesus Christ. The first, that of his humiliation by his passion and death; the second, that of his glory at his resurrection and ascension into heaven; the third, that of his consummated glory in heaven after the last judgment. In his first state, viz. his passion, he was made not only less than the Angels, but as the last of men; novissimus virorum. In his second, all power was given to him in heaven and earth; but this power he will not fully exercise till after the general judgment, when all things, without exception, will be made subject to him; and this is the third state, the permanent state of his glory, which is never to end. To thy sovereign power, O divine Jesus, subject my mind, will, and heart, and make my hitherto rebellious heart in all things conformable to thy sacred and loving heart.
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Authorem salutis eorum per passionem consummare, not consummari, Greek: teleiosai.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v14 The incarnation renders the Son of God susceptible of…
V
The incarnation renders the Son of God susceptible of suffering and death, and thus fitted to become a high-priest with God, for the redemption of mankind
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Heb_2:14-18
14Forasmuch then as the children are [joint] partakers of flesh and blood [of blood and flesh]7, he also himself likewise [in a similar manner, παραπλησίως] took part of [in] the same; that through death8 he might destroy [bring to naught, render impotent, καταργήση] him that had [hath] the power of death, that is, the devil; 15And deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16For verily he took not on him the nature of angels [For it is not assuredly (οὐ γὰρ δή που) angels whom he rescueth (ἐπιλαμβάνεται)]; but he took on him [he rescueth] 17 the seed of Abraham. Wherefore [whence, ὅθεν] in all things it behooved him to be made like [to be assimilated, δμοιωθῆναι] unto his brethren, that he might be [become γένηται] a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, [in order] to make reconciliation [propitiation] for the sins of the people. 18For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted [or, hath suffered by being himself tempted], he is able to succor them that are tempted.
[Heb_2:14—ἐπεὶ οὖν, since, inasmuch, then.—κεκοινώκηκεν, have participated, and still participate, the perfect marking the permanent condition, in contrast with the Aor. μετέσχεν, took part in, participated in, as a historical act.—παραπλησίως, similarly, in like manner.—τὸν τὸ κράτος ἕχοντα, the one having=him who was having, who had, or, him who is having, who has. It is better here to take the participle as describing a general and abiding attribute of the devil, him who has, etc., the Potentate of Death.
Heb_2:15.—τούτους ὅσοι. Eng. ver., them that. This rendering does not quite adequately represent the original, which is=these, these persons, as many as, describing mortals who, as a class, are victims of death.—τοῦ ζῆν=τοῦ βίου, but used here, doubtless, in sharper antithesis to θάνατος.—ἔνοχοι δουλείας, held under, obnoxious to, bondage. Mat_5:22, ἔνοχος τῆ κρίσει, held under, obnoxious, liable to the judgment, scarcely adequately rendered by in danger of. Mat_26:66, ἔνοχος τοῦ θανάτου, liable to death; Eng. ver. guilty of death.
Heb_2:16.—οὐ γὰρ δήπου, for not you see doubtless, πού, I suppose, perhaps, softening δή—ἀγγέλων without art, as a class, and emphatic in its position before the verb=for not, indeed, is it angels whom he rescues, etc.—ἐπιλαμβάνεται, not as Eng. ver., “to take on him the nature,” but “to lay hold upon for succor, to rescue.” The former; once the prevailing rendering but it is now generally rejected. See Moll’s note. Ἐπί has reference not to the subject of the verb, but to its object, “to lay hold upon.”
Heb_2:17.—ὁμοιόω, to make like, to assimilate; ὁμοιωθῆναι, to be made like, to be assimilated.—ἴνα γένηται, that he might (strictly, may) become, not be, as so often in Eng. ver.
Heb_2:18.—May be very variously rendered, as “for being himself tempted in that wherein he hath suffered;” or, “being tempted in that wherein he hath himself suffered,” etc. Moll renders, “For in how far he hath suffered as one that was himself tempted.” The rendering of the Eng. ver. is, perhaps, as good as any. See note below.—K.].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Heb_2:14. Since, therefore, the children have common share in flesh and blood.—Share, i.e., not with their ancestors (Volkmar), but with one another. The children (παιδία) are those mentioned in the verse preceding, who possess not merely a common spiritual nature from a like divine source, but, as real men, have a common earthly nature, which, as is customary, is designated by its two leading sensuous constituents—flesh and blood; the blood, however, being first mentioned with a half latent reference, probably, to the subsequently-mentioned atoning death of the Redeemer. The connectives, ἐπεὶ οὖν, however, show that the link of connection is by no means the mere word “children” (Hofm.); while, on the other hand, there is no ground for Lönemann’s assertion, springing from the false idea that Heb_2:11-13 are merely incidental, and that Heb_2:14 returns to the main thought in Heb_2:10—that οὖν, while grammatically belonging to the protasis, “since the children,” etc., belongs, logically, to the apodosis, “he himself took part,” etc. The clause with ἐπεί, rather, keeping before our eye the constant principle of natural relationship (partaker of flesh and blood) carries us over from the typical relation, by no means incidentally touched, to the relation which exists in Christ; the οὖν, showing that the thought is regarded as inferential, inasmuch as it is a fact (the author would say), that the “children”—not children generally, but the children in question—are not ideal forms, but actual men, it follows that the incarnation of the Son of God, which renders Him susceptible of suffering, is the appropriate and essential means for attaining the divine purpose of transferring, by means of redemption, men, become subjects of bondage, into a true filial relation to God.
2. He also himself, in like manner, took part in the same.—The aor., μετέσχεν, points to the assuming of human nature as a thing belonging absolutely to the past, while the perf. κεκοινώνηκεν indicates the permanent condition springing from the act of κοινωνεῖν (here having its regular classical construction with the Gen.) Παραπλησίως is certainly not a weakened ὁμοίως; for the author says, Heb_2:17, κατὰ πάντα (Hofm., Del.); and he holds to no mere analogy of the life of Jesus to a real human life, or a general similarity in some individual points, generating a quasi kindred relation. His object is rather to assert the true and complete humanity of the Son of God. But the adv. is not, therefore, with de Wette, to be rendered “in like manner,” nor with Bleek, “in equal measure;” but expresses at once the actual approximation, and yet the never-to-be-forgotten or overleaped distinction of Jesus Christ, from all other men, as at Rom_8:3; Php_2:7. Ὁ λόγος οἱονεὶ σὰρξ γίνεται. Orig. c. Cels., IV., 15.
That by means of death he might destroy him, etc.—The doing away of death in the kingdom of the Messiah, is matter of prophecy, Isa_25:8; Hos_13:14; Dan_12:2-3. Κράτος τοῦ θανάτου is not the power of putting to death, which belongs to God alone. Nor is κράτος to be taken absolutely, nor τοῦ θανάτου as Gen. Subj. (Ebr.) with the too artificial and far-fetched thought that the phrase refers to the tyrannical dominion of death (1Co_15:5-6), which, by means of original sin, the devil has obtained and perpetually exercises, Wis_2:24; Rom_5:12. “He holds this dominion not as a Lord, but as an executioner” (Quenstädt). The expression may, perhaps, with Thol., be explained from the author’s blending the idea of Death and of Hades, both together personified as Rulers (Rev_1:8; Rev_1:6; Rev 8:20, 14), and representing the devil at the same time as Lord of Hades, of whose keys the Redeemer has obtained possession (Rev_1:18). At all events the “devil” is not here identical with the angel of death (who is not in Jewish Angelology confounded with Sammael), but he is the murderer of men, ἀνθρωποκτόνος, from the beginning (Joh_8:44), whose dominion stands in essential and causative connection with all death (Del.). “The will of Satan is always unjust, his power never! for his will he has from himself, his power from God.” (Greg. Magn at Job I. 11). Καταργεῖν with the classics=to render impotent, is employed by Paul for the complete putting down of hostile powers (1Co_15:24), and specially of death (1Co_15:26; 2Ti_1:10). The word occurs with Paul twenty-eight times, elsewhere in the New Testament only here and Luk_13:7. It stands Ezr_4:21; Ezr_4:23; Ezr_5:5; Ezr_6:8, as rendering of the Aramæan בַּטֵּל. Substantial parallels in thought, are found Gen_3:15; Isa_25:8; 1Jn_3:8. Θανάτου is not to be specialized by supplying αὐτοῦ, his death. This would mar the thought which is correctly given by Primasius: “Arma quæ fuerunt illi quondam fortia adversus mundum, hoc est mors, per earn Christus illum percussit, sicut David, abstracto gladio Goliæ, in eo caput illius amputavit, in quo quondam victor ille solebat fieri.” “It is death itself, and as such, which Jesus has made the means of annihilating the ruler of death. In the person of Jesus there has commenced a life of humanity, which triumphs over the deadly power of Satan, after this power had brought that life (a life of blood and flesh similar to ours), in which Jesus becomes subjected to it, into a death which has rather proved the death of death” (Hofm., Schriftb., II., 1, p. 274).
Heb_2:15. And deliver these who—were subject to bondage.—The discussion proceeds now to designate the subjects of the incarnation and death of Christ. These great acts have reference not to beings exempt from death, but to beings who are held under bondage to the fear of death (Del.). It is mankind, as a class, strikingly characterized by this language, as distinguished from angels or demons, that are the objects of redemption. The limitation is expressed by the prefixed τούτους, these, while the subjoined ὅσοι, as many as, whosoever, intimates that within the sphere of this limitation, the totality of the members of the class are included. Grammatically δουλείας might be constructed with ἀπαλλάξη, and φόβῳ with ἔνοχοι, as by Böhme and Abresch, inasmuch as ἔνοχος may be equally well constructed with the Dat. as with the Gen. But the position of the words is adverse to this construction. [The rendering then would be, “and deliver those as many as, through their whole life, were held under the fear of death, from bondage.” This gives to ἀπαλλάξη such a Gen. as might very naturally follow it, instead of leaving it to stand absolutely; but on the other hand, Alf. following Bleek, remarks that ἔνοχοι with the Gen. has rather the force of a noun the subjects of; with the Dat. that of a participle, liable to, and therefore would here be better conjoined with the δουλείας, “subjects of bondage,” than with the φόβῳ θαν.—On the whole, the ordinary construction seems preferable.—K. ]. “Φόβος and δοῦλος are interchangeable ideas (Rom_8:15), as fear of death, and consciousness of guilt; when the latter is removed, comes in childlike boldness (παῤῥησία), and the state of bondage has disappeared.” (Thol.).
Heb_2:16. For it is not assuredly angels whom he, etc.—The correct interpretation of ἐπιλαμβ. τινος (=to lay hold of one in order to secure him for oneself, here, to lay hold of in aid, to succor), was, according to Thol., first expressed by Castellio in his translation, 1551, and stigmatized by Beza as execranda audacia. The whole ancient Church, followed by Erasm. and the Reformers, in the 17 cent, the Reformed Moresius and the Luth. Scherzer, Calov, Seb. Schmidt and Chr. Wolf, explained it erroneously of the assumption of human nature; Camero defended the correct rendering in the most thorough manner; the Socinians (except Socinus himself) immediately accepted it; the Catholic Ribera (1606) chose rather to confess that he did not understand Paul than reject the interpretation of so many Fathers, and even Rich. Simon censured the admission of the change into the version of the Port Royal. Ebrard also overlooks the Pres. tense, and the δήπου (=‘I think,’ ‘I should suppose;’ or, ‘surely perhaps,’ ‘surely I suppose,’ Hart, Partikellehre, I., p. 285), and thinks (as did formerly Hofm.) that the author appeals to the well-known fact that God entered not with angels into a gracious covenant relation, but with the seed of Abraham. But the train of thought by no means suggests (as που in Heb_2:6) any special passage of the Old Testament, although the erroneous nusquam of the Vulgate has been followed by Luther and many early expositors. Nor is the Present to be understood as pointing to an ever ready help of a general character, but to the aid which Christ renders in redemption, and which is as such perpetually existing. Bleek, de Wette and Lün. assume a discrepancy between this passage and Col_1:20; but with no good reason. For the special and exclusive objects of redemption are men of flesh and blood, not purely spiritual beings; while among them the angels have no need, and the devil is incapable of redemption. The absence of the article shows that not individuals are spoken of, but classes. The expression ‘seed of Abraham,’ however, neither, on the one hand, contradicts Paul’s wider statement of the purpose of the Gospel (although, as de Wette justly remarks, Paul would not have thus expressed himself, and hence the language is not to be explained purely from the nationality of the reader), nor, on the other, as we look at the terms τοῦ λαοῦ, of the people, Heb_2:17, and τὸν λαόν, the people, Heb_13:12, are we at liberty to take the expression for a designation of mankind in its spiritual relation (as believers are called “the seed of Abraham”) as is maintained by Bengel, Böhme, Klee, Stier, Wieseler. The term rather proceeds upon and suggests the view, so familiar to the Hebrews, that the whole redemptive and religious history of humanity has its central point in the seed of Abraham. “As in the purpose of God respecting the sending of Christ, so in His purpose respecting salvation in Christ, and in respect of their relation to other nations, the Israelites have a certain priority, not to say, superiority. It is only because the moral conditions have remained unfulfilled by them, that salvation has been taken from them. But the compassion of God, which embraces all, will, therefore, yet again extend itself to them.” (Kluge). Fricke gives too narrow an application of the words, when he explains them of the “Believers of all nations.” To make with Dav. Schulz, death, (ὁ θάνατος) subject of the verb: “for death lays not hold of angels,” makes an entirely different construction, grammatically, indeed, admissible, but logically untenable, since Heb_2:17 stands closely connected with Heb_2:16, and Christ is the natural subject of Heb_2:17, as well as of Heb_2:14-15 (Lün.). To this view, moreover, the term ‘seed of Abraham,’ is in no way adapted. Ebrard rightly remarks that Heb_2:17 so repeats the thought already expressed, that at the same time a new perspective opens, viz., a glance at the thought that Christ is not merely the most perfect organ of God’s revelation to man, not merely a messenger of God elevated above all messengers and angels, even above the angel of Jehovah, but that he is at the same time the perfect high-priestly representative of humanity in its relation to God.
Heb_2:17. Whence it behooved him in all things to be assimilated to his brethren.—The un-Pauline ὅθεν (but frequent in our Epistle, and found also in Act_26:19), deduces from the purpose of Christ’s incarnation given Heb_2:16, the obligation which that purpose involved: for ὤφειλεν denotes the obligation springing from the object which was undertaken, as ἔδει would have shown the necessity as matter of purpose and decree (Luk_24:26), and ἔπρεπεν as matter of intrinsic fitness and propriety (Heb_2:10). Ὁμοιωθῆναι in a kindred sense, Act_14:11. The idea of likeness is emphasized by Lönemann.
That he might become a merciful and faithful high-priest in things pertaining to God.—The order of the words seems to favor the rendering of Luth.: “that he might become compassionate and a faithful high-priest,” etc., favored also by Grot., Böhm., Bl., de W., Stein, Thol., Lün. But the ἵνα γένηται, that he might become, declares assuredly what Jesus, when thus assimilated to humanity, was to become, and in this connection the declaration that He was to become compassionate, might suggest the idea that He previously was not so. [Yet to this it might be replied that γίγνομαι implies frequently, not absolutely to become, but to prove ones-self, as Rom_3:4.—K.]. True, the author has hitherto emphasized rather the arrangement of God in the work of salvation, than the self-devotion of the Saviour; yet from the preceding it is still clear enough that the incarnation originated in compassion toward men exercised equally on the part of Him who submitted himself to it (Del.). On the contrary, the thought is entirely pertinent that the Incarnate One is, as such, to become a high-priest, in whom the two characteristics essential to this calling, expressing His proper relation alike to man (‘compassionate’) and to God (‘faithful’) come forth into view in the actual conduct and experiences of His life. Bengel followed by Cram., Storr, Ebr., Hofm., Del., remarks, in regard to the inversion of the words, that ἐλεήμων (the compassionate element having received sufficient prominence) recedes into the background, while the faithful high-priest (πιστ. ἀρχιερ.), with its two-fold conception, yet to be unfolded, takes the foreground of the picture. The adverbial phrase τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, in things pertaining to God, belongs not merely to πιστός (Klee), or ἀρχιερεύς (Bl.), but qualifies the entire statement. Nor does πιστός denote reliableness, but, as shown Heb_3:2, fidelity in the work He has undertaken. And utterly without ground is the statement of de Wette, that the idea of ἀρχιερεύς comes in abruptly, with nothing preceding to pave the way for it. For the mention of purification from sin (Heb_1:3), of sanctification (Heb_2:11), of saving mediation (Heb_2:16), of the death of Christ as a death on behalf of men (Heb_2:9), is a sufficient preparation, apart from the immediately following account of the functions to which he was appointed.
To make expiation for the sins of the people.—In the classics ἱλάσκεσθαί τινα appears only in the sense of propitiating some one, of which propitiation Deity or even men may be objects, but never inanimate things. But neither the LXX. nor the N. T. use the term of any process of rendering Jehovah graciously disposed; but employ it either of the independent gracious determination of God in which the Pass. and Mid. signification run into each other, or, disregarding its reflex middle force, they apply it to one who performs an act, the object of which is sin, and the effect of which is that sin shall cease to awaken God’s wrath toward men. The LXX. construct ἱλάσκεσθαι with the Dat. of the person or thing for which propitiation is sought=propitium fieri; ἐξιλάσκ., on the contrary, frequently with the Acc., or, with περί of the person to be atoned for=expiare. It is true that in regard to man’s relation to man we find ἐξιλάσκεσθαι τὸ πρόσωπόν τινος, Gen_33:20, and θυμόν, Pro_16:4. But no where, not even 2Sa_21:3, does God or His wrath appear as object of ἐξιλ., but sin, 1Sa_3:14. Expiation interposes between wrath and sin, so that the latter is covered over, Num_17:11 ff. Christ, then, is a propitiation for our sins (ἱλασμὸς περὶ τ. ἁμ. ἡμῶν, 1Jn_2:2; 1Jn_4:10), and appointed by God as our ἱλαστήριον, Rom_3:25. As this expiation refers objectively to the sins of the whole world (1Jn_2:2), τοῦ λαοῦ is employed under the point of view before designated. Del. misconceives the reference of the term in explaining: “He officiates now as high-priest amidst a ransomed Church, which, in the O. T., is called the People, i.e., the people of God; and what, as propitiating high-priest, He accomplishes, is designed to prevent the sin still adhering to His Church from marring the loving and gracious relation which has been once for all established.”
Heb_2:18. For in that he himself hath suffered, etc.—The language alludes not to the efficacy of the sufferings of Christ as rendering satisfaction to the Divine law, and thus as the meritorious ground of His Priesthood (Hofm.), but (with Del.), to the moral fitness which these sufferings gave Him for the office. And it is not barely in the circumstance that Christ has suffered, but in the relation of these sufferings to His personal character, as one who has been subjected to actual temptations, that we recognize His capacity to aid all who are from time to time exposed to temptations. (Observe the force of the Present Participle). The rendering, “Wherein,” or, “in the sphere in which” (Luth., Bl., Ebr., and others), restricts His power to the too narrow sphere of like circumstances, of suffering and temptation (Lün.). Ἐν ᾦ is to be resolved into ἐν τούτῳ ο͂τι, in this thing that, on the ground that, in so far as, or, since (Bernh. Synt., p. 211). [It may be doubted if ἐν ῳ ever means strictly and in itself since, or because, but it undoubtedly may have the force of in this that=in the fact that, hence nearly=on the ground that. Thus it may be resolved either into wherein (in the sphere in which), or in that (on the ground that). There is, in fact, here, I think, but little difference; for the rendering “wherein, in the sphere in which,” is in reality only apparently more restricted than the other. Because if the personal suffering of Christ is a necessary condition of His sympathizing succor, then the extent of His temptations and sufferings must be really the measure of His ability to render sympathy and succor; so that to say, “wherein He hath suffered He is able,” and “in that He hath suffered He is able,” amount practically to the same thing. If He could not sympathize and succor only in that He had suffered, then He can sympathize and succor only wherein He has suffered. Aside from this, the passage may be variously rendered. It may be resolved in several different ways, according as we take ἐν ω as in that, or wherein, and according as we connect αὐτός with πέπονθεν, or πειραθείς. The principal are these:—
1. “In that (because) He hath Himself suffered, being tempted, He is able,” etc.
2. “Wherein He hath Himself suffered, being tempted, He is able,” etc.
3. “In that He hath suffered, being Himself tempted.”
4. “Wherein He hath suffered, being Himself tempted.”
5. “Being tempted in that He hath Himself suffered.”
6. “Being tempted wherein He hath Himself suffered.”
7. “Being Himself tempted in that He hath suffered.”
8. “Being Himself tempted wherein He hath suffered.”
Of these the English Ver. and Bib. Union adopt the first; Delitzsch adopts substantially the seventh; Alford, substantially, with Ebrard, the eighth (having been Himself tempted in that which He hath suffered); Moll substantially the third. Fortunately it makes little difference as to the main sense which construction we adopt, and among them all I prefer the first or second as the more obvious and simple, although the construction adopted by Alford is nearly or quite unobjectionable.—K.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. “The children of God, allied in their dispositions to the Son of God, have become in need of succor (ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι), of assistance (βοήθεια). This redemption, however, is the result of no determination formed in time, after the occurrence of the Fall, but an eternal purpose of God simultaneous with His purpose to create man (Eph_1:4; 2Ti_1:9; Rom_16:25; 1Pe_1:20). The idea of the perfect God-man had thus of necessity to actualize itself, for the salvation of the children of God who were to be led to their goal.—The Redeemer was of necessity to become a member in the diseased organism of humanity, to assume humanity with its susceptibility to suffering, only without sin, Heb_4:15. The end and goal was the overcoming of death” (Thol.).
2. That Divine help which has been bestowed in Christ, and is being continually bestowed, relates, not to the removal of outward sufferings as such, but relates directly to human sufferings in so far as they are either judicial consequences of sin, as wall of that of the race as of that of the person, or in so far as they have a character which tempts to sin. The aid, therefore, rendered to humanity has as well an ethical as a soteriological significance.
3. In order to become for us the true, all-sufficient and actual Saviour, the eternal Son of God has entered not merely into a fellowship with us of internal and spiritual life, but into a participation alike in respect of nature and of race, in our outward and historic life. As, however, He has not, by this entrance into the fraternal relation, impaired His Divinity, there remains to be acknowledged a distinction never to be done away between His and our nature—a distinction having its ultimate ground partly in our creatureliness, partly in our sinfulness. Under the restrictions imposed by this distinction, human nature has, in its full extent, been made historically His nature, and an actual nearness to God, in a living and personal form, has been thereby imparted to the race.
4. The actual human nature of Jesus Christ renders possible His susceptibility of suffering and death, and this again conditions that perfect carrying out of His high-priestly calling, which is the means of accomplishing that salvation, for the sake of which the eternal Son of God has become man. “On account of the love which He bare to us, Jesus Christ our Lord has shed His blood for us according to the will of God, and given His flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our soul” (Clem. Rom. 1 Cor. 49).
5. Death and sin spring from one common root. Both involve in their essence a separation, a rupture, so to speak, in contravention of the Divine purpose, and have their origin in a sundering of the creature’s fellowship with God. But death is the revelation or laying bare of this state of things in the form of punishment, and as a consequence of God’s previously threatened judgment. Sin, on the contrary, is the voluntary and willing movement of man in the relation of estrangement from God. Precisely for this reason can the fear of death be predicated of sinners, and the power of death be predicated of Satan; and from both of these Christ alone is able to redeem us, in that He identifies Himself with humanity in its nature, its sufferings, its temptations, yet without sin, and offers up His holy life as an expiation for sin. It is at the same time clear from this how God, as Creator and Judge of the world, can directly and positively take part in the death of man, but not in his sinfulness; while the devil is at the same time the author of sin, and the tempter and the murderer of man.
6. Death, which, under the influences of sin, is the essential means of our enslavement by Satan, became in Christ the essential means of our deliverance. “The devil, as he who had the power of death, delighted in death; and that in which he delighted, the Lord held out to him. Thus His cross became a snare for the devil” (Augustine Sermons, 263). “The Scripture has announced this, viz., that one death devoured the other (1Co_15:54): death has been turned into derision. Hallelujah!” (Luth. Easter Hymn of year 1524). Dominus itaque noster ad humani generis redemptionem veniens velut quemdam de se in necem diaboli hamum fecit. Hujus hami linea illa est per evangelium antiquorum patrum propago memorata—in cujus extremo incarnatus Dominus id est hamus ista ligaretur—Hamus hic raptoris fauces tenuit et se mordentem momordit.—Ibi quippe inerat humanitas, quæ ad se devoratorem adduceret; Ibi divinitas, quæ perforaret; ibi aperta infirmitas, quæ provocaret; ibi occulta virtus quæ raptoris faucem transfigeret” (Gregor. Magn. ad Job_40:19).9
7. The death of the God-man, who despoiled Satan of his power, is neither a merely passive enduring of hostile assaults of man or of Satan, nor a merely active surrendering of Himself to the conflict. It is neither a bare punishment of sin, called forth by the wrath of God, nor an exclusive attestation of Christ’s moral power of will, under the aspects of trust in God, fidelity to His calling, and fulfilment of His obligation. It unites inseparably in itself moral and religious features; presents the active and the passive elements which enter into it, as perfectly and mutually interpenetrating each other, and can be rightly understood only as belonging to a historically developed scheme of salvation. Being in its import a sacrificial death for the expiation of sin, it presupposes the perfecting of the life of the God-man by active obedience; has the reconciliation of the world with God as its consequence; and is in its nature vicarious, or substitutionary, by means of suffering obedience.
8. Deliverance from the fear of death is wrought not by a new doctrine of immortality, which changes our conceptions of the future world, but by our transition into a new relation, in which the sting of death, the wounding, rankling consciousness of guilt is removed, (1Co_15:17; 1Co_15:55). Christ is the Prince of Life (Act_3:15), who conquers death and Hades, and secures for us both the knowledge and possession of life, (2Ti_1:10; Joh_5:24; Joh_11:25; Joh_14:19), who not only holds in his hands the keys of Death and of Hades, (Rev_1:18; Rev_20:14; Rev_21:4); but by His resurrection has begotten believers by a lively hope, (1Pe_1:3-4); produces in them the certainty of a glorious resurrection and eternal life, Rom_5:21; Rom_6:23; and Himself brings this life at His glorious appearing, Joh_17:10; Col_3:3; Php_3:21, in that His Spirit creates in believers, first a spiritual and then a bodily renovation, Rom_8:11. “The death of Christ has become, as it were, a root of life, an annihilation of corruption, a doing away of sin, and an end of wrath. We were laden with a curse, and in Adam had been brought under the sentence of death. But since the Word that knew no sin, made Himself to be called a Son of Adam, and the debts incurred by the first transgression have been cancelled by Him, human nature has in Christ been manifestly restored to soundness, and this His sinlessness has delivered the dwellers upon the earth.”—(Cyrill. Alex.).
9. There is an old controversy whether the author makes the high-priestly office of Christ commence with His return to the Father, (Schlicht., Griesb., Schultz, Bl.) so that, as maintained by the Socinians, His High-priesthood coincides in origin essentially with His sovereignty, and His death on the cross corresponds not to the offering, but only to the slaughtering of the victim; or whether in our epistle Christ’s offering of Himself on the cross is regarded as the proper High-priestly act (Winzer de Sacerdotis officio quod Christo tribuitur, comm. I. 1825, and nearly all recent writers). In favor of the latter view we may urge that the author places the voluntary offering of Jesus Christ, and His entrance with His own blood, into the heavenly sanctuary, regarded as two inseparable parts of the same transaction, on a parallel with the well-known Jewish rite, and that the expiation of the sins of men is referred to the sacrificial death of Christ, Heb_2:14; Heb_7:27; Heb_9:11-14; Heb_9:26; Heb_9:28; Heb_10:10; Heb_12:14; Heb_13:12. The unquestionable emphasis laid on the heavenly character of Christ’s high-priesthood, is explained from the author’s design to set forth the higher and unconditioned excellence of the Christian high-priest, in contrast with those who exercised their priestly function on earth, in the typical sanctuary at Jerusalem. The intercession on behalf of men, which is made, in the presence of God by the transcendently exalted Redeemer, is but the continued exercise of a high-priestly office, upon which He had already entered. (Lün.) The scene which transpired with the sin offerings in the outer court on the great day of atonement, finds its perfect counterpart and realization in Christ’s offering of Himself once for all on earth. Between the slaughter of the victim in the outer court, and the sacrifice on the altar of the outer court, took place that act of solemn significance, the carrying of the blood into the Holiest of all; and of this act the antitype and fulfilment takes place exclusively in heaven. (Del.)
10. From that moral decision which, in the grand crisis of life, determines its entire direction, and with this its collective destiny, we are to distinguish partly those moral decisions made upon the basis of this, and running through the whole life, and partly those acts of will which precede and prepare for this capital decision. So also the trials appointed by God, are not to be confounded with the temptations wrought by Satan, although both may concur in the same circumstances, and by this concurrence prove doubly dangerous. Especially do sufferings bear this two-fold character.
11. In all these relations Jesus hag been assimilated to us, and in the most various situations and forms, has subjected Himself, according to the will of God, to personal and actual temptations, only with the distinguishing trait that sin has neither potentially nor actually shown itself in Him, and hence there were to be overcome in His person no conditions of corruption, and no proper lustful impulses (Jam_1:14). Precisely for this reason has He become a second Adam, the founder, in the old race of sinners, of a new race of children of God.
12. The existence and the agency of the devil are, according to the tenor of the doctrine of this epistle, as well as of Scripture elsewhere, to be recognized as real, and his agency is to be conceived as consisting in temptation to sin, and in bringing sinners into bondage to death, in the Biblical sense of this word—a sense in which are united natural, spiritual and eternal death. But this agency of the devil, Christ victoriously encounters, a succorer of those who are tempted, and a deliverer from the deadly dominion of the devil. The means of achieving this result are found in His temptations and His sufferings, by which He Himself was perfected for glory.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Christ became man 1. as to nature and quality in real assumption of our flesh and blood; 2. as to purpose, in order to become susceptible to suffering, temptation and death; 3. as to final object, in order to ransom us from the power of sin, of death, and of the devil.—The death of Jesus Christ is to be regarded 1. as the proof of His true humanity, and of His divine love; 2. as the end of His sufferings; 3. as the culminating point of His temptations; 4. as the instrument of His victory; 5. as the means of our redemption.—Our redemption is a work of God’s grace for our salvation; for it Isaiah 1. a breaking of the power a. of sin, b. of death, c. of the devil; 2. a redemption by the sinless yielding up of the Son of God into the fellowship a. of our nature, b. of our temptations, c. of our sufferings; 3. a deliverance into the fellowship, a. of divine sonship, b. of triumph over the world, c. of a perfected and glorified life.—The expiation of the sins of the people reminds us; 1. of the prevailing, a. bodily, b. spiritual corruption of our race; 2. of our pressing, a. universal, and b. personal indebtedness of guilt; 3. of God’s righteous, a. present, b. future retribution; 4. of the ever ready succor of Jesus Christ as the a. compassionate, b. faithful high-priest with God; 5. of that fellowship a. with God, b. with the children of God, which binds us to the imitation of Jesus.—Wherein, amidst all our lowliness, consists the preëminence of our race above the angels? 1. we are fallen, but not necessarily lost; 2. we can suffer, but by triumphing over sin, have precisely herein fellowship with Christ; 3. we must die, but are able in death to attain to a higher stage of life.—Whither are we to look in sufferings and temptations?—1. To the peril which threatens us, a. in the heaviness of the assault, by the union of sufferings and temptations; b. on account of the origin of our temptations, in
the agency of the devil; c. in respect of the consequences of our succumbing, by which we are more ignominiously enslaved; 2. to the weakness which cleaves to us, and a. brings to light our connection with sin, b. makes us sensible of our natural helplessness, c. awakens, intensifies and guides our healthful longing after the deliverer; 3. to the succor which we can obtain in Christ, a. as the Son of God, who has become like to us men, b. who has suffered as one that was tempted, c. but by death has wrested his dominion from the devil.—In Christ Jesus is imparted to us genuine divine help: since 1. His incarnation shows that the purpose of God to render us His children, God Himself adheres to; 2. His struggle with temptation shows the possibility of a victory over sin; 3. His suffering of death, as the compassionate and faithful high priest, effects, on our behalf, the expiation of our sins, and the overthrow of the dominion of the devil.—Our Christian obligation demands, 1. that we do not fear death and the devil; 2. that we avoid sin; 3. that we take Christ as our helper in our temporal and spiritual needs.—To the greatness of our misery corresponds the greatness of our guilt, and also the greatness of the divine compassion and faithfulness in Christ.—Suffering presses heavily; more heavily temptation; most heavily guilt: but Christ assists us to bear suffering, to overcome temptation, to obliterate and wipe out guilt.—Our text places in contrast before us the worst enemy and the best friend; the greatest weakness and the mightiest strength; the bitterest misery, and the surest, nearest and sweetest aid.—Christ has become, in all respects, like us, and yet remained exalted infinitely above us, whether we look 1. at His person, or 2, at His walk, or 3, at His final withdrawal from His temporal life.
Starke:—The devil has dominion and power over men in respect of natural, spiritual and eternal death. For after having plunged the human race by sin into spiritual death, he naturally so rules over it by sin, that by spiritual death he holds it captive, and by the natural death which thence results, leads it on to death eternal.—The power of death is ever-during fear, terror, distress, trembling and quivering before the stern judgment of God, by which the soul of man is tormented, so that it ever dies, and yet never dies, because it is immortal. This power the devil possesses; that is, he tortures and afflicts the conscience with hellish fear and terror, trembling and dismay. Satan is appointed by God as His executioner, His jailor, or, if one may so say, an executor of the curse of the law, who is authorized to demand man for deserved punishment, and to proceed against him before the court, by virtue of the claim of the law, so that God cannot, without infringing upon His righteousness, reject his demand, which is the demand of the law itself (Isa_49:24; Mat_12:29; Rev_12:10).—Christ is the sweet antidote to the bitterness of death.—No hero is naturally so bold that he is not terrified at death. But believers in Christ are such valiant heroes, that even death they do not fear nor even taste (Joh_8:51).—The law does right in disclosing to thee thy sins; but when it would condemn thee, then against law, sin, and death, appears thy Saviour, and says: I am also of flesh and blood, and they are my brethren and sisters; for what they have done I have paid the reckoning. Law, wilt thou condemn them? condemn me. Sin, wilt thou pierce and slay? pierce thou me. Death, wilt thou swallow up and devour? devour thou me. The condition of servitude is set over against that of Sonship, and is connected with a torturing fear of death, since we find ourselves so controlled by sin, and the dominion of Satan, that our own powers can never emancipate us (Joh_8:34); and this servitude is far heavier than that servitude of the Old Testament under the law and Levitical ordinances, which was rather analogous to a state of minority and pupilage (Gal_4:1-6). But the redemption wrought through Christ offers a freedom of such a nature, that we emerge by it out of all bondage and slavish fear, into true Sonship, and serve God with willing and joyful spirit, in all truth and purity. For as, by the work of regeneration, it brings to the soul spiritual life, so natural death loses its terror, and is converted into a blessing, Luk_1:74-75; Rom_8:15; Gal_5:1; 1Jn_4:18.—The fallen angels have no redemption to hope for, Mat_25:41; Mat_25:46.—The qualities of a true high-priest are compassion and fidelity; both these Christ must possess from His likeness to us. 1. Compassion is, indeed, a Divine attribute which existed in the Son of God before He became man. But as He has taken upon Himself our nature, He has Himself an actual personal perception and sense of our wretchedness. No one knows the spirit of the poor and sick like Him who has Himself been sick and poor. 2. From compassion springs fidelity. From this arises the fact that Christ has not merely been once our high-priest and pattern, but that He is still so daily, Heb_7:25.—As all kinds of suffering and distress are called temptations, 2Co_10:13, and in like manner the sufferings of Christ, Luk_22:28, we can also say that Christ has been tempted of God, yet not for evil but for good, viz., 1, in order to promote the honor of God and the salvation of men; 2, to reveal the immaculate holiness and transcendent power of Christ, that he might be the hero who should bear, without sinking under it, the wrath of God; 3, to open to him, by means of this suffering, the way to glory.—The sufferings of Christ were not only real, but meritorious, and were endured for our sake. Hence they come in our place, primarily in such a way, that they are reckoned to us for righteousness; and secondarily in such a way, that in our temptations, whether from without or from within, our high-priest comes to our aid with His instruction and His strengthening power. Temptations have been to Christ a source of great suffering; since although He had no sin and could not sin, yet it was, therefore, all the deeper sorrow to Him that sin was imputed to Him. This marked Christ’s deepest humiliation.—Console thyself, thou devout bearer of the Cross, thou who art pressed and borne down by many a need; thy brother Jesus has also tasted all this; He knows how it weighs thee down; He can help thee, He will assuredly refresh thee, 2Co_4:10; 1Pe_4:13.—After we have completely eliminated all imperfection, and all painful emotions from the compassionate sympathy of Christ in heaven, this tender human sympathy still appears in no wise incompatible with His glorified condition. And we must also know that the joy of His human nature in heaven cannot now be so great and perfect, because His mystical body is here as yet still surrounded with sorrows, and encompassed with infirmities, as it will be when, after the resurrection of the dead, all this shall have forever ceased.
Spener:—Since all the power of Satan consists in sin, by which he deals with us as slaves, according to his will, redemption from this is a grand and precious feature of our blessedness, 1Jn_3:8; Rev_5:5; Col_2:15.—Children of God are already blessed in life, because delivered from the fear of death. They think of death with tranquil heart, and overcome in faith the fear that naturally cleaves to others, Luk_2:29; 2Co_5:8; Gen_46:30.—The redemption of Christ attaches not to those who still continue under reigning sin and the power of Satan, and cannot belong to them until, by true conversion and translation into the kingdom of light, they allow themselves to be delivered from the snares of the devil, Col_1:1-13.
Berlenburger Bible:—The incarnation of Christ is historically, indeed, well known to all, but in its secret mystery to but exceedingly few, both in respect of knowledge and practice.—The kingdom of death had to be overthrown in a rightful and legitimate way, by the payment of all its just demands.—The devil, through our sin, gained, a dominion by conquest; not a legitimate and rightful sway, but a usurpation with our consent. He acquired by sin, a double prerogative, that of condemning and of ruling; both are taken from him—That terror of conscience, which springs from sin, is man’s living hell upon earth, so long as he does not take deliverance from it by grace and the spirit of divine gladness. Though a man may have had the beginnings of true repentance, he is still, by no means, exempt from fear. For then, indeed, he first feels a genuine shrinking from the wrath of God. He trembles at all God’s righteous utterances and words, and finds no true refuge and deliverance from it, so long as he fails to exercise living faith.—This fruit of sin and of the apostasy is very deeply rooted, and has pervaded our entire human nature, so that to deal with it and eradicate it, is no light and easy matter. Even believing Christians have to strive daily that they may hold this enemy under the victory of faith, although he has once already been brought under its power.—Christ takes upon Himself not the seed of an evil and malignant nature, but the seed of promise.
Laurentius:—To refrain from evil through fear of punishment, marks the slavish, not the filial spirit.—Only believers, the posterity of Abraham, are actually partakers of the redemption of Christ.
Rambach:—The devil is here described in respect, 1, of his name, as accuser and calumniator; 2, of his power; 3, of his overthrow.—O wondrous change! We were first created after the likeness of Christ, and now he is born after our likeness.—Christ can succor those that are tempted, since He, 1, has received the right and authority; 2, possesses the power to do so.
Steinhofer:—There is a wondrous war waged on the cross, and an unanticipated victory in the death of this Just and Holy One.—Compassion toward sinners, and indifference toward sin, cannot possibly coexist.—Atonement is the mighty word wherewith we would honor Jesus in His office, and continually enjoy alike His compassion and His fidelity.
Hahn:—By the compassion of Jesus we must arm ourselves against impatience, since He exacts not too much from us, and we can repose confidence in Him; and His fidelity gives us consolation, and strengthens us against all unbelief.—Jesus is faithful: for He refused not to bear the worst that might befall Him; He awaited all, and shrank from nothing; He became not weary. It is only through this faithfulness that we reach the appointed goal.
Rieger:—Every step in the ministry of Jesus was freely accepted by Him in the spirit of love; as, indeed, when about to be delivered into the hands of sinners, He said: Thinkest thou not that I could pray to my Father? But the command received from His Father, and His desire to leave nothing unaccomplished, lays upon Him the necessity to become in all things like unto His brethren.—Blessed is he to whom the Spirit of Christ so interprets this “in all things,” and so applies it to every thing, that now, in all which he has daily to do and suffer, he enjoys this light upon his way. For thy sake the Saviour has once for all placed Himself in like circumstances.
Heubner:—So far is the suffering of Christ from impairing His dignity and power as a Saviour, that it is in fact only through this that He becomes a genuine Saviour.—God is indeed in Himself already compassionate, Exo_34:6, but this compassion is revealed with entire clearness, and certainty only in the incarnation of the Son.
Stier:—The death of Christ has its significance as a suffering of death; and His suffering again only in the fact that He was tempted in that which He suffered.—In Christ’s mediatorial office, concur all these varied and opposite elements: the power of the devil, the just claim and righteousness of God, and the exigency of man.
[Owen:—Death is penal; and its being common unto all, hinders not, but that it is the punishment of every one.—According unto the means that men have to come unto the knowledge of the righteousness of God, are or ought to be their apprehensions of the evil that is in death. When bondage is complete, it lies in a tendency to future and greater evils. Such is the bondage of condemned malefactors reserved for the day of execution; such is the bondage of Satan, who is kept in chains of darkness for the judgment of the great day.—The Lord Christ out of His inexpressible love, willingly submitted Himself unto every condition of the children to be saved by Him, and to every thing in every condition of them, sin only excepted.—The first and principal end of the Lord Christ’s assuming human nature, was not to reign in it, but to suffer and die in it.—He saw the work that was prepared unto Him—how He was to be exposed unto miseries, afflictions and persecutions, and at length to make His soul an offering for sin—yet because it was all for the salvation of the children, He was contented with it and delighted in it.—All the power of Satan in the world over any of the sons of men, is founded in sin, and the guilt of death attending it. Death entered by sin; the guilt of sin brought it in.—If the guilt of death be not removed from any, the power of the devil extends unto them. A power it is, indeed, that is regulated. Were it sovereign or absolute, He would continually devour. But it is limited unto times, seasons, and degrees, by the will of God, the Judge of all.—The death of Christ, through the wise and righteous disposal of God, is victorious, all-conquering and prevalent.—Satan laid his claim unto the person of Christ, but coming to put it in execution, he met with that great and hidden power in Him which He knew not, and was utterly conquered.—Satan will fly at the sign of the cross rightly made.—The Lord Christ suffered under all His temptations, sinned in none.—Tempted sufferers not only wanted one to undertake for them, but to undertake for them with care, pity and tenderness.—Temptations cast souls into danger.—The great duty of tempted souls is to cry out unto the Lord Christ for help and relief. He is “faithful;” He is “merciful,” and that which is the effect of them both, He is “able”].
Footnotes:
[7]Heb_2:14.—Instead of the common σαρκός καὶ αἵματος, flesh and blood, we are to read here, according to A. B. C. D. E. Uffenbach, Itala, Vulg. αἵματος καὶ σαρκός, as at Eph_6:12.
[8]Heb_2:14.—The Cod. Clarom. reads ἵνα διὰ τοῦ θανάτου θάνατον καταρηγήση, τὸν τὸ κράτος κτλ. [But the θάνατον is an evident interpolation, probably the result of carelessness in copying.—K.].
[9][“And thus our Lord coming for the redemption of the human race, made, as it were, a sort of book of Himself for the, destruction of the devil. The line of this book is the succession of Ancient Fathers recorded in the Gospel …. at whose extremity this book, an incarnate God, should be fastened.…. This book held the jaws of the spoiler and consumed him who was consuming itself. Because there was a humanity which should attract to itself the devourer; there a Divinity which should pierce him; there was an open infirmity which might challenge his approach; there a concealed power which should transfix the jaws of the spoiler”].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10–18 For--giving a reason why "the grace of God" required…
For--giving a reason why "the grace of God" required that Jesus "should taste death."
it became him--The whole plan was (not only not derogatory to, but) highly becoming God, though unbelief considers it a disgrace [BENGEL]. An answer to the Jews, and Hebrew Christians, whosoever, through impatience at the delay in the promised advent of Christ's glory, were in danger of apostasy, stumbling at Christ crucified. The Jerusalem Christians especially were liable to this danger. This scheme of redemption was altogether such a one as harmonizes with the love, justice, and wisdom of God.
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for whom--God the Father (Rom 11:36; Co1 8:6; Rev 4:11). In Col 1:16 the same is said of Christ.
all things--Greek, "the universe of things," "the all things." He uses for "God," the periphrasis, "Him for whom . . . by whom are all things," to mark the becomingness of Christ's suffering as the way to His being "perfected" as "Captain of our salvation," seeing that His is the way that pleased Him whose will and whose glory are the end of all things, and by whose operation all things exist.
in bringing--The Greek is past, "having brought as He did," namely, in His electing purpose (compare "ye are sons," namely, in His purpose, Gal 4:6; Eph 1:4), a purpose which is accomplished in Jesus being "perfected through sufferings."
many-- (Mat 20:28). "The Church" (Heb 2:12), "the general assembly" (Heb 12:23).
sons--no longer children as under the Old Testament law, but sons by adoption.
unto glory--to share Christ's "glory" (Heb 2:9; compare Heb 2:7; Joh 17:10, Joh 17:22, Joh 17:24; Rom 8:21). Sonship, holiness (Heb 2:11), and glory, are inseparably joined. "Suffering," "salvation," and "glory," in Paul's writings, often go together (Ti2 2:10). Salvation presupposes destruction, deliverance from which for us required Christ's "sufferings."
to make . . . perfect--"to consummate"; to bring to consummated glory through sufferings, as the appointed avenue to it. "He who suffers for another, not only benefits him, but becomes himself the brighter and more perfect" [CHRYSOSTOM]. Bringing to the end of troubles, and to the goal full of glory: a metaphor from the contests in the public games. Compare "It is finished," Luk 24:26; Joh 19:30. I prefer, with CALVIN, understanding, "to make perfect as a completed sacrifice": legal and official, not moral, perfection is meant: "to consecrate" (so the same Greek is translated Heb 7:28; compare Margin) by the finished expiation of His death, as our perfect High Priest, and so our "Captain of salvation" (Luk 13:32). This agrees with Heb 2:11, "He that sanctifieth," that is, consecrates them by Himself being made a consecrated offering for them. So Heb 10:14, Heb 10:29; Joh 17:19 : by the perfecting of His consecration for them in His death, He perfects their consecration, and so throws open access to glory (Heb 10:19-21; Heb 5:9; Heb 9:9 accord with this sense).
captain of, &c.--literally, Prince-leader: as Joshua, not Moses, led the people into the Holy Land, so will our Joshua, or Jesus, lead us into the heavenly inheritance (Act 13:39). The same Greek is in Heb 12:2, "Author of our faith." Act 3:15, "Prince of life" (Act 5:31). Preceding others by His example, as well as the originator of our salvation.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10–18 10. It became him—It was suitable to the wisdom…
10. It became him—It was suitable to the wisdom and goodness of God, who saw that the sufferings of one Son were the truest method and condition for bringing many sons unto glory. This becomingness of the suffering Messiah, our author adduces to convince and console those wavering Hebrews who desired a glorious, but disliked a crucified, Saviour.
For whom… by whom… all—The author of our salvation is the author and proprietor of all. No method but that which became him— which was worthy of his dignity as God of the universe—could be adopted.
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Many sons—Who might be all the race, every man, if every man would consent. The divine idea, the brotherhood of Christ, extends to every man. The failure is not upon the part of God, but of man. Note on Eph_1:10.
Captain—Rendered in Act_3:15, prince. The word signifies doubly an author or originator, and a military leader. It here includes both, and especially the latter, as presenting the image of Christ leading many unto glory.
Perfect—Fitted and completed perfectly as the great leader of salvation.
Through sufferings—So far from being a ground of misgiving, O ye tremulous Hebrews, the sufferings of our Captain are requisite in order to his perfect fitness and success in his divine enterprise. And let all sufferers know, throughout this suffering world, that as he was glorified through suffering, so our sufferings are glorified through him. Happy for us if our sufferings make us perfect as brethren of the Son. For this is the true mission of sorrow—to solidify our virtues by trial, to deepen our characters by solemn experiences.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–18 10. For it became him] Unlike St Paul the…
10. For it became him] Unlike St Paul the writer never enters into what may be called “the philosophy of the plan of salvation.” He never attempts to throw any light upon the mysterious subject of the antecedent necessity for the death of Christ. Perhaps he considered that all which could be profitably said on that high mystery had already been said by St Paul (Rom_3:25; Gal_3:13; 2Co_5:21). He dwells upon Christ’s death almost exclusively in its relation to us. The expression which he here uses “it was morally fitting for Him” is almost the only one which he devotes to what may be called the transcendent side of Christ’s sacrifice—the death of Christ as regards its relation to God. He develops no theory of vicarious satisfaction, &c., though he uses the metaphoric words “redemption” and “make reconciliation for” (Heb_9:15, Heb_2:17). The “moral fitness” here touched upon is the necessity for absolutely sympathetic unity between the High Priest and those for whom he offered His perfect sacrifice. Compare Luk_24:46, “thus it behoved Christ to suffer.” Philo also uses the phrase “it became Him.” It is a very remarkable expression, for though it also occurs in the LXX. (Jer_10:7), yet in this passage alone does it contemplate the actions of God under the aspect of inherent moral fitness.
for whom] i.e. “for whose sake,” “on whose account.” The reference here is to God, not to Christ.
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by whom] i.e. by whose creative agency. Compare Rom_11:36, “of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things.” The same words may also be applied to Christ, but the context here shews that they refer to God the Father.
in bringing] Lit., “having brought.” The use of the aorist participle is difficult, but the “glory” seems to imply the potential triumph of man in the one finished act of Christ which was due to “the grace of God.” The “Him” and the “having brought” refer to God and not to Christ. God led many sons to glory through the Captain of their Salvation, whom—in that process of Redemptive Work which is shared by each “Person” of the Blessed Trinity—He perfected through suffering. On the Cross the future glory of the many sons was won and was potentially consummated.
many] “A great multitude which no man could number” (Rev_7:9-14).
sons] This word seems to shew that the “having brought” refers to God, not to Christ, for we are called Christ’s “brethren,” but never His sons.
the captain] The word also occurs in Act_5:31. In Act_3:15 it means “author,” or “originator,” as in Heb_12:2. The word primarily signifies one who goes at the head of a company as their leader (antesignanus) and guide (see Isa_55:4), and then comes to mean “originator.” Comp. Heb_5:9.
to make … perfect] Not in the sense of making morally, or otherwise, perfect, but in the sense of leading to a predestined goal or consummation. See the similar uses of this word in Heb_5:9, Heb_7:28, Heb_9:9, Heb_10:14, Heb_11:40, Heb_12:23. The LXX. uses the word to represent the consecration of the High Priest (Lev_21:10). In this Epistle the verb occurs nine times, in all St Paul’s Epistles probably not once. (In 2Co_12:9 the reading of A, B, D, F, G, L is τελεῖται. In Php_3:12 the reading of D, E, F, G is δεδικαίωμαι).
through sufferings] See note on Heb_2:9, and comp. Rev_5:9; 1Pe_5:10. Jewish Christians were slow to realise the necessity for a crucified Messiah, and when they did so they tried to distinguish between Messiah son of David and a supposed Messiah son of Joseph. There are however some traces of such a belief. See an Appendix to Vol. 11. of the last Edition of Dean Perowne on the Psalms.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–18 (10) For.—What seemed to Jews incredible, that the Christ…
(10) For.—What seemed to Jews incredible, that the Christ should die, was ordained “by the grace of God.” For thus to make sufferings the path to His kingdom was worthy of God, for whose glory and through whose power all things exist; who as Creator commands all agencies, and who cannot but do that which will subserve His glory. If the means at which men wondered were chosen by God, no one may doubt their supreme fitness for the end. In what this fitness consisted the following words partially explain.
In bringing.—It is doubtful whether the Greek word should not be rendered, having brought. With this translation we must certainly explain the words on the same principle as the past tenses of Heb_2:7-8. As in the divine counsels all things were subjected to man, with the same propriety it may be said that God had brought many sons to glory when the Saviour suffered and died.
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Many sons.—The new thought here introduced is of great importance in the argument. The divine purpose is to bring many sons (comp. Heb_1:14) unto glory—the glory already spoken of as reserved for man—through His Son, who has Himself received this glory that He may make it theirs.
Captain.—This word occurs in three other places. In Act_5:31 it bears its original meaning, “Leader” (“a Leader and a Saviour”); in Heb_12:2 and Act_3:15 the idea of “leading the way” has passed into that of origination. In the present case, also, Author is the best rendering; but in a context which so distinctly presents our Lord as taking on Himself the conditions of man’s lot, and so passing into the glory which He wins for man, the primary thought of leading must not be entirely set aside. It is as the Author of salvation that He is made perfect through sufferings. Three aspects of this truth are presented in the Epistle. By His suffering unto death He “bare the sins of many” (Heb_2:9, Heb_9:28); He offered the sacrifice of a perfect obedience (Heb_5:8); He was enabled to be a perfect representative of man. This last thought pervades the remaining verses of the chapter.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 For it became him, for whom (dia , with…
For it became him, for whom (dia , with accusative) are all things, and through whom (dia with genitive) are all things (i.e. God), in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. This refers to what was said in the preceding verse, of Christ having been crowned with glory on account of his suffering of death, and of his tasting death for all. That he should attain through human suffering even unto death to his own perfected state of glory, as being the Leader of human sons whom the one Father of all would bring to glory, was a design worthy of him for whom and through whom are all things suitable to what we conceive of him and of his way of working. The word eprepe is used in the same sense not infrequently in the LXX It is probably used here with some view to the offence of the cross," which might still linger in the minds of some of the Hebrew Christians. In the argument that follows, supported still by reference to Old Testament anticipations, the writer not only meets possible objections lingering in the Hebrew mind, but also carries on and completes the view of the SON which it is his purpose to inculcate, leading up (as aforesaid) to the final position of his being the High Priest of humanity.
The necessity of Christ"s sufferings. The Savior"s sufferings, while he was on earth, were:
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1. Numerous. They covered his whole life, and culminated in his "tasting death.
2. Various. He suffered in body and mind and heart, and at the hands of earth and hell and heaven. But his severest sorrows were spiritual travail of his soul.
3. Unparalleled. His were the substitutionary sufferings of a perfectly holy human nature in most intimate identity with God.
4. Divinely inflicted. It is implied here that "it pleased the Lord to bruise him." The humiliation of Christ, so far from being incompatible with his headship, was indispensable in order thereto. He required to suffer
I THAT HE MIGHT VINDICATE THE GLORY OF THE DIVINE CHARACTER. The glory of God himself is the ultimate reason, as his will is the law, of all things. "It became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things;" i.e. the moral character of God rendered it needful that Jesus should taste death, if sinful man was to be saved. The necessity of the atonement did not arise only from the exigencies of God"s moral government. It was not effected merely that its power might soften the sinner"s heart into repentance. Rather, it was demanded by the perfections and character of God himself. The sufferings of Christ "became" God"s justice, which could not connive at our guilt; his truth, which necessitated the infliction of the threatened punishment; his holiness, which could have no pleasure in the friendship of degraded sinners; his mercy, which yearned for our salvation. Not only so, but the sufferings of Christ, in rendering the salvation of sinners consistent with God"s character, have at the same time been the means of gloriously illustrating the Divine attributes, of revealing them in their beautiful harmony, (Psa_85:10, Psa_85:11) and thus of covering them with new splendor to the view of an admiring universe.
II THAT HE MIGHT OBTAIN HIS OWN GLORY AS MEDIATOR. Christ; "the Author of our salvation," was "made perfect through sufferings;" i.e. it was through his "obedience unto death" that he became fully qualified for his work as Savior, and was exalted to heaven for its accomplishment. He must needs suffer for the honor of God and for the good of man, before he could put on the lustrous robes of his mediatorial majesty. His glory is the recompense which his Father has given him for his sufferings. Only after making satisfaction on the cross for human sin could Jesus ascend to that immeasurable height of supreme authority upon which, as the God-Man, he now sits enthroned.
III THAT HE MIGHT ACCOMPLISH THE GLORY OF GOD"S REDEEMED CHILDREN. It was the purpose of God to "bring many sons unto glory." He desired to raise our fallen humanity from the dust, and crown it anew "with glory and honor." But this could only be effected through Christ as the Author of salvation." It is through him alone that a sinner, estranged from God, can be made spiritually a "son" of God, and exchange his career of guilt and enmity for that life of grace which shall at length be consummated in glory. The sufferings of Christ were necessary in order to the pacification of the human conscience, the restoration of man"s sonship, and the recovery of his eternal inheritance. And. they shall be effectual for these ends. Christ, God"s Servant, "shall justify many;" he shall bring to glory such multitudes of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and- tongues, as to entitle him to be called with fullest emphasis the Savior of men and the Redeemer of the world.
Perfection through suffering. "For it became him, for whom are all things," etc.
I THE PERFECTION OF THE REDEEMER WAS ATTAINED THROUGH SUFFERING. "Perfect through suffering." The perfection here spoken of does not refer to his character as Son of God, but as Mediator Captain of our salvation." "The perfecting of Christ was the bringing him to that glory which was his proposed and destined end." Made "perfect through suffering" is similar in meaning to "because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor." Only through suffering could he enter upon his mediatorial glory. Two thoughts are suggested.
1. Before he could attain unto his mediatorial glory his character and work as Redeemer must be complete.
2. Suffering was essential to the completeness of his character and work as Redeemer. He must suffer in order that he might
1. sympathize with his suffering people (ver. 18);
2. present a perfect example to his suffering people; (1Pe_2:21-24)
3. reconcile sinners to God.
The exhibition of infinite love love that gives up life itself, and that for enemies was necessary to remove the alienation of man"s heart from God, and to enkindle love to him in its stead. And the exhibition of perfect obedience obedience even unto death was necessary to establish and honor in this world the Law of God which man had broken. So our Savior was perfected through suffering; he passed through sharpest trials to sublimest triumphs.
II THIS MODE OF REACHING PERFECTION CONSISTS WITH THE CHARACTER OF THE GREAT GOD AND FATHER. "It became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things," etc. God the Father is here represented as:
1. The great first Cause of all things. "By whom are all things." He is the Source and Origin of the entire universe.
2. The great Final Cause of all things. For whom are all things." All things in the universe are for his glory. Creation, providence, redemption, are all designed and all tend to promote the glory of the great Father. The words under consideration are sometimes used of the Savior, and they are true of him; but they are even more applicable to God "the Father, who sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." "For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen.
3. The great Author and Designer of salvation, with its agents, means, and methods. Our Lord is spoken of in the text as the "Captain Revised Version, "Author of salvation." But, traced to its source and origin, salvation takes us up to the eternal Father. And "it became him" that he should so order the agencies and methods of salvation that the Savior should be perfected through suffering. Such an arrangement was not fatalistic or arbitrary, but suited to the object in view, the means being adapted to the end, and in thorough harmony with the character and perfections of God his wisdom, righteousness, and love. The Hebrew Christians, whom the writer is addressing, felt the offence of the cross. There were times when in some measure "Christ crucified" was still "a stumbling-block" to them, or at least they were in danger of this. And so the writer argues that the attainment of the crown by the endurance of the cross was an arrangement worthy of God, and therefore the fulfillment of this arrangement could not be unworthy of the Savior. We have said that the means were adapted to the end; the perfection could not have been attained without the sufferings. But, more, the sufferings were in complete conformity to the being and character of God. He is not a cold, impassive Beholder of human sin and misery. He suffers by reason of man"s sin and woe. (cf. Isa_63:9 Hos_11:8) Christ in his sufferings reveals to our race how God had felt towards us in all preceding ages.
III THIS MODE OF REACHING PERFECTION IS EXEMPLARY FOR ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS.
1. The exalted relation of true Christians. They are "sons" of God, not simply because he is "the Father of their spirits," but also by adoption. (cf. Rom_8:14-17 1Jn_3:1-3)
2. The vast number of true Christians. "Many sons unto glory." There have been ages when the number of the true and good has been comparatively small. But, as the result of Christ"s mediation, the saved will be so many that no human arithmetic can count them, no human mind grasp the glorious total. Many things encourage this belief; e.g.
(1) the inexhaustible provisions of Divine grace in Jesus Christ;
(2) the immense numbers of the race who die in infancy, and through the Savior are received into glory;
(3) the prevalence of true religion throughout the world, which is being rapidly accomplished, and the triumph of Divine grace over human sin, which may be continued for many long ages before the end of this dispensation; these and other things encourage the belief that our Lord will lead to glory an overwhelming majority of our race.
1. The inspiring relation which our Lord sustains to true Christians. He is "the Captain Revised Version, "Author of their salvation." The word in this place certainly has a deeper significance than "captain" or leader. Salvation originated in the heart of God, but it was accomplished by Christ. He redeemed us unto God by his blood; and now he inspires and empowers and leads us onward to complete victory.
2. The illustrious destiny to which he leads true Christians. "Unto glory." This is the crowning result of their salvation. They shall be sharers in the blessedness and majesty of God to the fullest extent of which they are capable. (cf. Joh_17:22-24 Rev_3:21)
3. The pathway by which he leads them to their destiny. Like himself, they also must be made "perfect through sufferings." "If we endure, we shall also reign with him". (cf. 1Pe_5:10, 1Pe_5:11) Wherefore, let us not be afraid of suffering. Only let us be sure that we suffer with our Savior and in his spirit; so shall we ultimately share his bliss and glory. W. J.
The Incarnation, being the only means of securing perfect salvation for men, was becoming to God. This is the second argument by which the writer justifies the Incarnation. In the previous five verses he has shown that it was not degrading to the Godhead. From that he advances to affirm here that it was actually becoming; for the stress of this text is in the words, It became him." Note that the expression," Author of their salvation," is simply equivalent to their Savior. Also that the word" perfect" does not refer to the perfection of Christ"s character; that was eternally perfect; no sufferings could make Christ better than he was. You must apply the term to his ability to save. Apart from his humiliation he could not have been a perfect Savior. The apostle says, therefore, that to make Christ perfect as a Savior, through humiliation, was in harmony with the perfections of God. SubjectThe Incarnation, being the only means of securing perfect salvation for men, was becoming to God.
I IT BECAME GOD TO SAVE. That is the lowest step in the argument, and does not need proof. God does save, that is certain; then it must become him to save, for he can do nothing which is unbecoming. But think of what the text implies about this salvation which it becomes God to give.
1. Salvation originates in him. "Through whom are all things." Salvation is the outcome of his will. Not suggested by human supplication; not claimed by the recovered righteousness of any that had fallen; not extorted by the atonement of some gracious Savior. It came from himself. "God so loved the world," etc. There salvation is traced hack to its source, and revealed as his act. The desire to save, the method of saving, the work of saving, the whole transaction from beginning to end, is of God.
2. Salvation glorifies him. "For whom are all things." Everything he does is for the good pleasure of his will and the glory of his Name. What a beautiful light that throws upon redemption! How it falsifies the idea that God is unwilling to save! God has so identified himself with man, so fixed his love on him, that he is not happy if man remains unsaved. The salvation he has devised we say it is for man; Scripture says it is for God.
3. Salvation is gratuitous from him. He provides a "perfect" Savior One who should do it all. Salvation is a gift, all done for man, so that man in his helplessness has only to receive. God saves men for nothing. Put all this together. God saves; this salvation originates with him; glorifies him; is gratuitous from him. That is the kind of salvation which he bestows. Then this is the point such a salvation as that becomes God. Then see what kind of a God ours is. What must he be of whose nature this is the outcome; of whose thought and love this is the fitting expression; of whose character this is the suitable revelation; who is never more perfectly revealed than in Christ crucified; of whom it can be said, such a salvation "became him?
II IT BECAME GOD TO PROVIDE A PERFECT SAVIOR. "It became him to make the Author of their salvation perfect." Nothing less than a perfect Savior would become God. "As for God, his way is perfect." Being perfect in himself, he can devise nothing imperfect. Being perfect in his resources, he cannot fail to accomplish perfectly all he devises. It is so in everything. Then we are sure that, in his greatest work, he whom he sends as Redeemer will be so minutely perfect that the utmost Divine wisdom and human need can never discover a particular in which he could be made more efficient. Less than that could not become God. All things are to show forth his glory. But his redeeming work is his crowning work; by it pre-eminently is to be manifested his transcendent greatness, and evoked the sweetest and most triumphant song of eternity. Then this must be the most complete work which even God can do; anything unfinished here could not become him. Moreover, consider that he bestows other blessings more than royally. His bestowments surpass our need. His measure of giving is "exceeding abundantly above," etc. But the Savior is his unspeakable Gift, the highest expression of his mercy. It is inconceivable, then, that he who outdoes our need in everything else should under-supply it in his greatest gift of all. It is evident that less than a perfect Savior could not become him. But what is necessary to a perfect Savior? for this, whatever it be, we shall find in Christ.
1. A perfect Savior must perfectly remove shes penalty. The penalty of sin must be dealt with first. Sin"s power cannot be removed until the penalty is gone. That penalty is an awful reality. "The wrath of God is revealed," etc.; "The wages of sin is death;" "The wicked shall be turned," etc. Then, if he who comes forth to save is a perfect Savior, he must be able to remove every whit of that penalty for evermore, and able to do it by himself. Christ claims to do that. "There is therefore now no condemnation," etc.
2. A perfect Savior must secure perfect holiness in the saved. For there is no salvation but holiness. Man is surrounded by temptations, and the slave of corrupt dispositions, and painfully far from God"s ideal. If he who comes to save is a perfect Savior, he must be able to deliver us from sin"s power, and lead us up to that sanctification which is God"s wilt concerning us. He must be able to do it perfectly, however low we have fallen, or however helpless we have become. Christ claims to do that. "0 wretched man," etc.!
3. A perfect Savior must preserve us from the perils of the way, and lead us to the perfect glory. For between us and the celestial city are dangers any of which is enough to swallow us up. But if he who comes to save is a perfect Savior, he must lead us safely through all these, and not leave us till he has brought us within the golden gates where no foe can enter. Christ claims to do that. "He is able to save them to the uttermost," etc.
4. A perfect Savior and a perfect salvation in him what a pillow for weary man to lay his head upon! It must be so, for "it became him to make the Author of our salvation perfect.
III IT BECAME GOD TO MAKE THE SAVIOR PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS. Does not the text imply that God was shut up to this mode of saving? "It became him," for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing," etc. That is, God"s boundless resources, his unlimited power and wisdom, were of no avail here; only through Christ crucified was salvation possible. Observe that it did not become God to save in any other way, because:
1. Only thus could salvation be in harmony with Ms majesty. Men say such condescension as is implied in the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth is derogatory to the Godhead; it is inconceivable that the majesty of the Most High should stoop to such a depth. But all God"s attributes are equal; his condescension, therefore, must be as great as his majesty. Because his majesty is infinite, no less than infinite condescension would become him.
2. Only thus could salvation be in harmony with his holiness. The salvation God gives must be consistent with his infinite displeasure at sin. His attributes are inseparable; all that God is is in every part of him, and every deed. As he cannot do what is not love, neither can he do what is not holiness. He could not, then, pardon sin without at the same time uttering his abhorrence of sin. How could he do this apart from the cross?
3. Only thus could salvation be in harmony with his justice. The problem to be solved was how to be "a just God and a Savior;" true to the honor of his Law, the rectitude of his government, the integrity of his word, and at the same time extend mercy to the sinner; how at once fulfill and yet remit the threatened penalty? life salvation could become him in which those requirements were not equally met. How could they be met but in the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ "the Just for the unjust"? (Beware of the theory that the atonement was unjust because God thereby punished the innocent for the guilty. That is not true; God never did that. He took the suffering on himself. He who atoned was God.)
4. Only thus could salvation be in harmony with his love. For one end of the atonement was to reveal God"s love, and so make holiness possible to man; for of that holiness God"s love is the mainspring. The atonement, therefore, must be the highest expression of Divine love. That was only reached at Calvary. It therefore became God to make the Savior perfect through sufferings. Is not the offence of the cross" removed now?
IV IT BECAME GOD, THROUGH THIS SAVIOR PERFECTED BY SUFFERINGS, TO BRING MANY SONS UNTO GLORY.
1. It becomes him to make use of this perfected Savior to the full. Having made Christ a Savior at such cost, it would not become him not to make the greatest use of him. To make such sacrifice to get the power to save and then not to use that power would be inconsistent, would cancel his own undertaking. In consistency God cannot withhold giving this perfect salvation to whosoever will.
2. It becomes him to reward this perfected Savior to the utmost. What shall be the recompense for the Redeemer"s sufferings? What result shall become such woe as his? I see in distant vision "many sons brought unto glory; "a great multitude, which no man can number," etc. Yea, "he shall see of the travail of his soul, and be," etc. C.N.
Vers. 10-13. His exaltation endears his association with his followers. There is a Divine becomingness and suitability in the process of salvation, which suggests that as the Leader of believing souls should pass through sorrow and gain his official perfectness through sufferings which show at what a cost redemption was procured, they qualify him to become an Example to which Christians are to be conformed. He reached his glory through distress and agony, and his followers are through much tribulation to enter into the kingdom of God. He showed himself to be a merciful and faithful High Priest, by his tender compassion for men, and his fulfillment of promise, prophecy, and type; for he was "the end of the Law for righteousness." Looking unto Jesus we overcome impatience and complaint, and waiting upon him we renew our strength; for "if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him." Motives to sustain us in this career are supplied in these verses, which consist of his gracious avowal of his followers as his brethren, of whom he is not ashamed. They "are horn, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," and are sanctified by the Divine Spirit, to a life of separation from evil and consecration to all holiness of life. If Joseph was not ashamed of his brethren for they had all one father and presented them to Pharaoh, much more will our Lord avow his brethren by expressing his love to them and vindication of them. They are now somewhat like him, and are conformed to him as the Firstborn among many brethren. They are not of the world, as he was not of the world, and being joined to him are one Spirit. This truth is confirmed and illustrated by quotations from the pages of the Old Testament. The first is from the twenty-second psalm (ver. 22), where he affirms, "I will declare thy Name unto my brethren." These words denote that our Lord would be the Teacher of his brethren, and are confirmed by his declaration in Joh_17:26, where he said, "And I have declared unto them thy Name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." Then, like his brethren, he would confide in Jehovah, as it is written in Isa_12:2, "I will trust in him." The citations end with one drawn from Isa_8:18, "Behold, Iand the children which thou hast given me," which are the words of the prophet in a time of prevalent unbelief, when he and his children who had received symbolical names were witnesses for the truth of God. Considering the past work of Christ in suffering to bring many sons unto glory, and his joy in claiming relationship with them, we conclude that he is net ashamed to call them brethren. B.
The Father bringing the sons to glory. Observe
I THE TERMS IN WHICH THE FATHER IS HERE DESCRIBED. Fatherhood is, of course, implied when sonship is spoken of; and this Father is the Being "for whom are all things, and by whom are all things." Here is the great unity towards which, consciously or unconsciously, all things are tending. Here is the cause of all existence, compared with whom all other causes that men analyze and apportion are but as the merest instruments. The assertion here is, of course, not a scientific truth; it is the dictum of the Spirit, the Heaven-inspired feeling with which we look up to the Father of our Teacher, Jesus. All things, not for me, or you, or for a class, a nation, a race, an age, or even the total of human beings, but for God. The consummation is not on earth, but in heaven. In the light of such a description of God, what wonder is it that increasing science should mean the increasing knowledge of harmony, the discovery of ever-deepening connections between things that seem on the surface quite unconnected?
II A PURPOSE OF HIM WHO IS SO DESCRIBED. All things are for him. The question is Do we obediently recognize that stamp and superscription on ourselves which indicates that we are for him? Everything which in its actual existence is just what God wants it to be is moving towards its glory. The seed moves to its glory in the flower, the flower to its glory in the fruit. Unfallen man would have bad to be brought to glory the glory of the perfect man in Christ Jesus. Society was meant to develop into a collection of men and women having in them the same beautiful spirit as was in Jesus. And that is the purpose still, only what should have come through a natural growth has to begin with a regeneration. Constantly in the New Testament is this basis-truth starting up, to remind us of its connection with all a Christian"s efforts, all a Christian"s hopes. God transforms us from his creatures into his children, and then leads us onward to glory.. All who are seeking glory save in the way of sonship are seeking what will prove a mockery when they find it. "Bringing many sons to glory." In this word "many" there is cause for rejoicing and careful reflection. It is not enough to say that men are brought. They are brought as sons; nor are they as a scattered few, one here and there in a generation. They are many. How many is not the question. Here is answered in a measure the query of the disciples, "Are the saved few "?" No, they are always many more than we suppose, guessing by the mere appearance of firings.
III HOW THE LEADER OF THIS BAND OF CHILDREN IS FITTED FOR HIS WORK. The archgov . He who starts the company, giving them the direction. We are the sons of God, and it cloth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know the way in which we are going, and who is before us, responsible for that way being right. The true guide, the true leader, is he who himself has been all the way. This alone will save him from being a blind leader of the blind. He who would lead us must have gone in the way in which we have to go. And because our way is of necessity a way of suffering, his had to become the same. The way of man in any case is a way of suffering, and if he has chosen the motto, "For Christ"s sake," then in proportion as that motto is written on his heart, in that same proportion would some sort of special trial be his lot. And so our very attachment to Christ is in a sense the means of bringing more suffering to him. The truth that Christians are persecuted for Christ"s sake has its corresponding truth, that Christ was persecuted for God"s sake. Jesus was perfected as a Leader by submitting to everything that in this world could come upon the outward man. He showed that there was a way, not round danger, but through danger, to an abiding safety beyond. He did not evade the darkness of the grave he went into it; vanished, as most thought, for ever, and yet to emerge into everlasting light. Well may he ever sound in our ears those words of duty, promise, and hope, "Follow me. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv11, 14, 16, 17, 18 He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are…
Heb_2:11-13
He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one.
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The unity of Christ and His people
1. A description of the work which Christ has come to accomplish for His people. He is described as He that sanctifieth, and His people as they who are sanctified. Jesus sanctifies both Himself and His people with His own blood, expiating and purging away their sins, and fitting them, and Himself as their Surety, for coming with acceptance into the presence of the holy God. This is the great end of the Saviours mighty undertaking, to bring His people near to God. To a creature with a moral nature like man, distance from God is misery--it is death. Thus He is in our text most comprehensively, as well as appropriately, described as He that sanctifieth. We say, most comprehensively; for this is the sum of all that He accomplishes as the Saviour of His people--most appropriately, for the word as here used carries us back to the shedding of blood needful for sanctification under the law, and suggests the necessity of the fact which the apostle is expounding, that Jesus, in sanctifying Himself and His people, should in common with them both suffer and die.
2. The declaration of the reason why the Son of God, in sanctifying His people, must Himself of necessity be a sufferer. The ordinance of consecration for the priesthood under the law suggests this necessity; yet the question remains, whence the necessity of the shedding of blood? Our text answers this question--He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one. Here is the essence of the Divine scheme for sinners redemption.
I. WHATSOEVER IS THEIRS IS MADE HIS.
1. Their sin. One man may spontaneously make himself liable for his neighbours debt but a husband is necessarily liable for the debts of his wife, because they are all of one. This is only a shadow of Christs hability for the sin of His people. Like the husband, Christ may be regarded as having spontaneously assumed the relation of unity with His spouse, but having become one flesh with her, He is, voluntarily indeed, yet necessarily, liable for her debts.
2. Jesus having thus become chargeable with the guilt of His peoples sin, became subject to its penal effects. With their sin their suffering also is made His.
3. With their sin their death also is made His. Death was from the beginning the appointed penalty of sin.
II. WHAT IS CHRISTS IS TRANSFERRED TO HIS PEOPLE.
1. His righteousness is made theirs (2Co_5:21). Thus the holy God can look with complacency on the ungodly believing in Jesus. Not that He esteems less hateful their sin. Not that He esteems less honourable His own law, but He accepts them in the beloved, and He is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
2. His death is made theirs. He had obeyed as His peoples surety and head. In the same capacity He died. Thus, when He died on the Cross, His people died in Him. If one died for all, then were all dead, or then have all died. This is the glorious security of His people, that having died in their surety, their salvation, in the most important some of the word, is already accomplished.
3. Christs resurrection, as well as His death, is made theirs. In the person of their Head they have already risen and taken possession of their inheritance. (Alex. Anderson.)
Sanctification
I. SANCTIFICATION CONSISTS OF TWO ACTIONS.
1. Separation.
2. Renovation.
II. SANCTIFICATION IS CARRIED ON BY TWO AGENTS.
1. He that sanctifieth. The Holy Spirit works in man to will and to do.
2. They who are sanctified. There must be acquiescence on our part. The Spirit influences: we act. He teaches: we believe. (Homilist.)
Mans Redeemer--His humanity, function, and fraternalness
I. THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST. All of one--one nature. His humanity serves to
1. Enlist our sympathies.
2. Encourage our hopes.
II. THE FUNCTION OF CHRIST. TO make man holy. He that sanctifieth. This work of His
1. He has undertaken in sovereign love.
2. Is indispensable to our well-being.
III. THE FRATERNALNESS OF CHRIST. Not ashamed to call us brethren. Then
1. Let us not be afraid to approach Him.
2. Let us not be ashamed of His followers, however humble. (Homilist.)
Christ and His brethren
This word for noteth a cause of that which was said before; and he had said this. He that leadeth other into the glory of God by the same way he must enter also himself. He addeth now the cause and ground of that saying, because they must be of one nature, both He that leadeth and they that are led into this salvation. A proof and declaration that it is so is added by the apostle in the residue of the verse, And for this cause He is not ashamed to call us brethren: whereunto is straight addled the testimony of Psa_22:1-31., out of which he proveth it, I will show forth Thy name unto My brethren: in the midst of the congregation I will praise Thee. Now where it is said here, He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one, we have to consider that even in the manhood of our Saviour Christ is virtue and grace, in which He doth sanctify us. For not only as He is God He sanctifieth us, but also in His human nature He hath this virtue and power to make us holy; not taking His nature such from the Virgin Mary, but making it such by pouring into it the fulness of His Spirit. The holiness which the apostles had in their calling they had it from Jesus Christ, made man, and walking in that vacation before them. Even so it is with us. All that is good in us, and all the righteousness that can be in us, we have it neither out of the east, nor west, but from the body of Jesus Christ, neither is there in the world any other sanctification. Even as our hands and arms and other members are not nourished but only by the meat received of the head, so our spiritual meat of righteousness and life is not given us but from our Head, Jesus Christ. And as the veins are moans by which nourishment is conveyed to every part, so faith is the means by which we receive from Christ all that is healthful unto us. And as by joints and sinews our members are really knit and made a body unto the head, so really, by one Spirit we be knit unto Christ as perfectly one with Him as our members are one with our head. And where it is said here, He that doth sanctify, showing the present time and the work still doing, it teacheth us that our sanctification hath a daily increase, and when it is fully accomplished, then God calleth and our days are at an end. And let us note this well, if we be Christians we are still sanctified by the Spirit of Christ, for so it was in Him. He grew still in grace before God and men. If thou be grafted into His body thou hast His Spirit, and it will have His work in thee. Thou shalt not be weary of well-doing, nor cease to rejoice in God thy Saviour, but still increase in spiritual grace till thou come to the age of the fulness of Christ. It followeth, For this cause He is not ashamed to call us brethren. Upon good cause the apostle saith, He is not ashamed, for if He humbled not Himself in great love of us, how justly might He account it shame to be as we are? He that made heaven and earth, He that is the immortal and glorious God, one with His Father, before whom all angels do obey and all princes ate earth and ashes; ought we not to say, seeing it pleaseth Him to acknowledge us, that are but poor ,creatures, that He is not ashamed of us? And if His highness abased itself to our low estate, and was not ashamed, let us learn to be wise and know what the Lord requireth of us for all the good which He hath done unto us. He saith in the gospel, He that is ashamed of Me and My words before men, I will be ashamed of him before My Father which is in heaven. Pride, or flattery, or covetousness, or vanity, or fear, or what you will, may make us now ashamed to confess him, or to dissemble that ever we know Him; but when all this corruption is taken from us, and the grave and death shall take their own, our former foolishness will make us so afraid that we will pray unto the hills to hide us, but vows and wishes shall be but foolish thoughts. It followeth, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren. We are called the brethren of Christ, not in society of flesh and blood, for that the wicked have with Him as well as we, who are yet no brethren, but strangers even from the womb. But as they are natural brethren, which are born of the same parents, so we are brethren with Christ, that are burn of God, through the same Spirit, by which we cry, Abba, Father, the fruit whereof is in glorifying His name, even as our Saviour Christ saith, He that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven, he is My brother (Mat_12:48). And when it is further said, In the midst of the congregation I will praise Thee. First, here we must needs confess what duty is among men, even that they edify one another; for as many as are of Christ are called in this covenant: I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise Thee. The graces of God are not such that they can be looked up in our hearts or kept secret, but they will burn within like fire, and make us speak with our tongues, that we may make, many brethren partakers of our joy. And tell me, I beseech you, what man excelleth in anything, and hath not a delight to speak of his cunning? Doth not the shipman talk of the winds, the ploughman of his oxen? Will not the soldier be reckoning up his wounds, and the shepherd telling of his sheep? So it is with us if we be the brethren of Christ. The covenant of our kindred is, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise Thee. Let them know this, all to whom it is spoken, and let them discern between hypocrites and true Christians. Some think it a praise to be close men, secret to themselves, that by their words you shall never know them, of what religion they be. Those men, where they think they hide themselves most, there they lay widest open their shame, and while they think to keep it secret of what religion they are, this their dissimulation proclaimeth it louder than the blast of a trumpet that they be of no religion at all; at all, I say, touching any religion of God; for if it were of Him it would show forth His praise, and what their heart believed their mouth would confess it. We are ashamed to exhort men to do well; we are not ashamed to provoke them to sin. We are ashamed to minister talk of faith and religion; we are not ashamed of rotten and unclean works of wantonness. We are ashamed to speak to the praise of God; we are not ashamed to blaspheme His name. We are ashamed of Christ; we are not ashamed of the devil. The prophet David was a good scholar in this doctrine. When he opened his mouth unto God and vowed, I will speak of Thy name before kings, and will not be ashamed (Psa_145:21; Psa_119:46). Pray, dearly beloved, that we may be partakers of the same grace. It followeth now in the 13th verse, And again, I will put my trust in Him. This psalm the prophet made when he was delivered from the layings of wait of Saul and from all his enemies; wherein, as he was a figure of Christ, so it is most properly and truly verified in Christ that he said of himself. Now, because the apostle allegeth this to prove our Saviour Christ to be man like unto us, mark how the argument followeth. Christ saith, I will put My trust in God; but it were a very improper speech, and such as the Scripture never useth to say, God will trust in God. Therefore there must be a nature in our Saviour Christ inferior to His Godhead, in which he speaketh thus: I will trust in Him, and that was His perfect humanity like unto ours, in which we saw Him subject to peril, and how, according to His trust, God His Father delivered Him. And here the apostle allegeth such Scripture for proof of the manhood of Christ, as also proveth that He is our King; for where he saith, I will trust in Him, it noteth that Christ was not weak in faith, but assuredly trusted in the power of God His Father, that He should overcome the devil. And let us here learn for our instruction when we have had experience of Gods benefits, as the prophet had, let us vow as he did--we will pat our trust in Him. When David remembered how God had delivered him from a lion and a bear, he was not afraid of the uncircumcised Philistine. When St. Paul had reckoned so many calamities out of which God had delivered him, he boasted of a holy hope, and said he was sure that ever God would deliver him. Another testimony yet followeth to prove the humanity of our Saviour Christ, and it is this: Behold Me, and the children which Thou hast given Me. This is written in the eighth of Isaiah, in which chapter the prophet foretelleth the captivity of the Israelites by the king of Ashur, how it is determined of God that the people, for all their rebellions, should surely perish; but yet so that God, for His Churchs sake, would bridle their rage, and save some who might praise His name. These threatenings and promises both, while the people contemptuously reject, the Lord biddeth the prophet cease, and bind up these promises for another people that should believe; and then the prophet answering again to God, in acknowledging all His truth and goodness, saith thus: Behold, I and the children that God hath given me. Now, here we must learn as the apostle teacheth. Was the prophet Isaiah a man like unto his children, that is, like unto those which obeyed his word? Then was our Saviour Christ perfect man, like unto us, whom He hath delivered from sin and death. And if He have saved us He hath saved those whom God hath given Him, flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bone; for this is His intercession unto His Father, Behold Me and My children One other thing we must learn in this. There was an apostasy of all men, so that they which believed were made as signs and wonders; yet howsoever the world was the prophet saith, Behold me and my children. Such shall be the days of Christ, many shall fall away, religion and faith shall be persecuted, iniquity shall abound. What, then? Our Saviour Christ saith, Lo, I and My children. If the whole world fall away, we would not regard their multitude to follow them to do evil, but we would alone stand with the Lord our God. We must further mark in these words that the prophet saith, Behold the children which Thou hast given me. In that it is said, God hath given us to His Son Christ, it teacheth us to acknowledge His free gift and grace; and let none of us think there was any wisdom in ourselves why we would choose Him, nor any constancy in us, by which we could cleave unto Him; but God in His grace drew us, that we might come unto Him, and with His power He strengthened us, that we should abide with Him. (E. Deering, B. D.)
Unity of Sanctifier and sanctified
The assertion that the Sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one may be conceived of as answering two questions naturally arising out of Heb_2:10, to which it furnishes no explicit answer. First, Christ is called the Captain or Loader of salvation: how does He contribute to salvation? Is He simply the first of a series who pass through suffering to glory? or does He influence all the sons whom God brings to glory so as to contribute very materially to the great end in view, their reaching the promised land? Second, what is the condition of His influence? what is the nexus between Him and them, the Leader and the led, that enables Him to exert over them this power? The answer to the former question is, Christ saves by sanctifying; the answer to the latter, that He and the sanctified are one. The answer in the first case is given indirectly by the substitution of one title for another, the Leader of salvation being replaced by the Sanctifier; the answer in the second ease is given directly, and forms the doctrine of the text: the Sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one. This statement I regard as the enunciation of a principle; by which is meant that the unity asserted is involved in the relation of Sanctifier to sanctified. Whether there be only one or many exemplifications of the relation is immaterial. Though only one Sanctifier were in view or possible, the proposition would still continue to be of the nature of a principle. The point is, that Christ, as Sanctifier, must be one with those whom e sanctifies, could not otherwise perform for them that function. The Sanctifier is holy, the sanctified when He takes them in hand are unholy. That being so, it needs to be said that, notwithstanding the separation between the parties, there is a unity between them surmounting the difference. And that can be said with truth, for otherwise the two parties could not stand in the relation of Sanctifier to sanctified; they could only stand permanently apart as holy and unholy. Unity is involved in the nature of the case. That is precisely what the writer means to say. He states the truth as an axiom, which he expects even his dull-minded readers to accept immediately as true; and he means to use it as a key to the cardinal facts of Christs human experience. Unity to some extent or in some sense is involved, that is clear. But in what sense, to what extent? This is not plainly indicated. The style at this point becomes noticeably laconic; the sentence lacks a verb, and is worn down to the fewest words possible, after the manner of a proverb, For the Sanctifier and the sanctified of one all. Does it not look as if his purpose were to lay stress, not on descent from one God, one Divine Father, bat rather on the result, the brotherhood or comradeship existing between the two parties? Is not his idea that Sanctifier and sanctified are all of one piece, one whole, two parties welded into one, having everything in common except character? From whatever point of view, the ritual or the ethical, we regard the Sanctifiers function, this becomes apparent on reflection. Conceive Christ first as Sanctifier in the ethical sense, as Captain or Leader of salvation; it is evident that in that capacity it behoved Him to be in all possible respects one with those He took in hand to sanctify. For in this case the sanctifying power of Jesus lies in His example, His character, His history as a man. Be makes men beloving in Him holy by reproducing in His own life the lost ideal of human character, and bringing that ideal to bear on their minds; by living a true, godly life amid the same conditions of trial as those by which they are surrounded, and helping them to be faithful by inspiration and sympathy. The more genuinely human He is, and the more closely the conditions of His human life resemble ours, the greater His influence over us. His power to sanctify depends on likeness in nature, position, and experience. Conceive Christ next as Sanctifier in the ritual sense, as a Priest, consecrating us for the service of God by the sacrifice of Himself; and the same need for a pervading, many-sided unity is apparent. The Priest must be one with His clients in Gods sight, their accepted representative; so that what He does is done in their name and avails for their benefit. He must be one with them in death, for it is by His death in sacrifice that He makes propitiation for their sins. He must be one with them in the possession of humanity, for unless He become partaker of human nature He cannot die. Finally, He must be one with them in experience of trial and temptation, for thereby is demonstrated the sympathy which wins trust, and unless the Priest be trusted it is in vain that He transacts. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
All men are brethren in Christ
If Christ and we are all of one, much more are we among ourselves. A king and a beggar are of one; a rich man and a poor man are of one; a fair and beautiful man or woman and they that want beauty are of one. We descended all of Adam, and were taken out of the dust of the ground; therefore let us not insult one over another. The wax that hath the print of the kings seal on it is the same in substance with the wax that hath the point of the seal of a mean man; yet it is honoured in that the kings seal is set on it. So we are all of one weak and waxy nature, save that it pleaseth God to set a more honourable print upon one than on another. Therefore, let us not think highly of ourselves, and condemn our brethren, but submit to them of low degree, using the greatness that God hath given us, to the glory of the Giver. (W. Jones, D. D.)
Christ not ashamed to call us brethren
1. As Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren, so let us do nothing so near as we can that may shame this our Brother. Is it not a shame that the kings brother should be a common drunkard, whoremaster, or such like? Doth not the king take himself disgraced by it? And shall we that are brethren to the King of kings take such courses as that great ignominy should redound to Christ by it? As He is not ashamed to call us brethren, so let us do nothing that may pull a shame on Him and His gospel.
2. Can a brother that is a wealthy man, of fair revenues, and ample possessions, see any of his brethren go begging? Will he not rather receive him to his own house, and set him at his table? Christ, which is the Lord of heaven and earth, is our brother; therefore let us fear no want so long as we fear Him. This may be a comfort to us in all our calamities, that Christ and we are brethren. (W. Jones, D. D.)
Christ the Restorer of the Divine ideal of humanity
As some noble ruin can be best restored by one who possesses the original model or some other key to the builders design, so the Saviours fitness for His office is partly found in the fact that He has in Himself the perfect type of regenerated humanity. The presentation of His life at once shows men what they ought to become, and summons and incites them to its attainment. (W. Landels, D. D.)
Not ashamed to call them brethren
Christ not ashamed to call us brethren
I. CHRIST OUR BROTHER. In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren. Human nature was divided by the ancients into body, soul, and spirit. Take this tripartite nature of man and see how like He is to us in all things.
1. The body. He was an hungered. All the pains and anguish of intense hunger were felt by Him--Brother then to all the poor and hungry! He thirsted. On the Cross He said, I thirst--Brother then to all who in any way thirst! He knew what the pleasures of life were. He was a guest at feasts--Brother then of these who know the dangers of plenty! He was weary. He was asleep in the boat after His long toil. He sat weary with travel and heat by the well--Brother then to all who are weary! He suffered bodily pain--Brother then of every sufferer! He died--Brother then to each of us in that He died!
2. The soul. He was our Brother in experiencing a shrinking from death in manifesting human benevolence, compassion, and sympathy; in associating with humanity; in displaying love for children; in having private and special friendship for a few; in knowing the anguish of unrequited affection; and in manifesting human self-respect.
3. The spirit. There was that wonderful depression that came upon Him at different times. We have the agony of spirit in Gethsemane and on the
Cross. He felt what it is to seem to be forsaken of God and all we can comprehend by being apprehensive of spiritual gloom, and the fear of being deserted by God. Again, He was tempted, and He had all the faculties and capacities to which temptations are applied and adapted. Once more, He was made perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth--Jesus--and they who are sanctified--the followers of Jesus--are all of one. He was a sharer with us in discipline by the salve Father, and in sanctification by the same Spirit, journeying to the same heavenly glory. Thus in all points He was made like unto His brethren.
II. CHRIST IS NOT ASHAMED OF THE RELATIONSHIP.
Two brothers may be born in the same cottage, fed from the same breast and trencher, trained at the same school, and one of them may rise in social position, but with seeming greatness unite real littleness and be ashamed of his brother who continues a humble cottager. Or one may live a life of sensuality and bring disgrace on the family name, and the other be distinguished for virtue and benevolence, and the virtuous man may be ashamed of his brother. Or, one may have shown kindness continually to his brother and the other have repelled it by constant hostility and ingratitude, so that at last the other may be ashamed of him. Judging after the manner of men might not Christ be ashamed of us? But He is not.
1. Because of His mighty disinterested love. He loved us when we were unlovely and had no love to Him. Human love, when deep and true, is never ashamed of the lowliness of its object. A truly noble nature recognises a friend the more he needs help
2. Because He knows us thoroughly. Nothing is hidden from Him. He knows all our imperfections, and is not ashamed of us.
3. Because He knows what good is in us, for He put it there. He knows that at the bottom of our hearts, in spite of infirmities and shortcomings, we do love Him. Beneath the faded exterior and withered blossom and leaf He sees the living germ that shall bud and blossom and bear fruit. He sees the first homeward step of the prodigal, the first fear, and hears the first stammering prayer. And is this the Jesus that some of you are rejecting? Is this the Christ that some of you are ashamed to own? Surely you do not know who it is you thus treat with neglect. He is mans best friend, our true Brother. Accept His salvation and rejoice in His love. What an honour it is to have such a Brother! We may be obscure in the world, but we may look up and say, The King of kings upon the throne of the heavenly Majesty is one who is not ashamed of me; He calls me His brother. How safe we are! What harm can come to us when He who rules the universe is our Brother? (Newman Hall, LL. B.)
Christians joint-heirs with Christ
Jesus, the elder Brother, gets nothing apart from those whom He is not ashamed to call His brethren. The law of primogeniture does not appear in the statute-book of heaven. We, the rightful heirs of wrath, are made heirs in common with Jesus. He will have nothing that He will not share with us. We are even now highly exalted with Him, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; for we are the Church, which is His body. (T. W. Medhust.)
The Brother born for adversity
One main work of the gospel is to give men the right to claim the sympathy, the care, and the help of God. A right. God has brought Himself by His own act within the region of rights and obligations. The relation of Creator and creature is superseded; that of Father and child, Saviour and saved, is substituted in its room. And into these relations new obligations enter, based upon purposes, promises, and hopes which God has announced or inspired. It now becomes Him to do that which, under no conception of His rectoral duty as Creator, could be claimed from Him. God has set forth Christ as the Man with whom He treats; the perfect Man, who explains the manward thoughts and hopes of God. It is the Son of His love who is concerned in the fulfilment of our hope. The Son of His love has interests profounder even than our own in our forgiveness, renewal, and growth to perfection. Realising what we are in Christ, we dare to use great boldness of access, we dare to plead rights and claims, which yet are not ours, save through a love which humbles while it exalts us, and chastens while it inspires.
I. THE RELATION OF A BROTHER. There is a oneness which precludes the idea of separate interests.
II. IT IS PRECISELY THIS RELATIONSHIP WHICH BY HIS INCARNATION AND PASSION THE SAVIOUR CLAIMS. He seeks to give us a relation that we can rest upon; which will draw us by the bands of fraternal sympathy to His strength when we are weak, to His bosom when we are weary and long for rest.
III. It is said in a passage of the Book of Proverbs that A BROTHER IS BORN FOR ADVERSITIES. That He might know our souls in adversities surely, the elder Brother of the great human family was born in the human home, tasted all pure human experiences, and made Himself familiar with all forms of human pain. God is born unto us, a Saviour. We are of His kindred, the brethren of His Christ. It is no pity that moves Him to us; it is pure and perfect love. God is pleading His own cause in pleading against our sins; He is striving against His own enemies in striving against our tempters and lusts. (T. B. Brown, B. A.)
Brotherhood with Christ
I. There are three particulars which require to be stated; the first of which is, THAT THEY WHO ARE BRETHREN PARTAKE OF ONE NATURE. Thus then, it is said of Christ. Forasmuch, then, as the children--that is, Gods children, the family in heaven and earth--are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death--or through dying--He might destroy him that had the power of death, &c. It is also said of Christ, that He was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. And further: What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, &c. Thus, then, we have the fact clearly revealed to us, that Christ laid the foundation of brotherhood by actually assuming the nature of those whom He now condescends to call brethren. The next particular to be mentioned is, that they who are brethren are so by natural birth, or they become so by adoption into a family. Now, no sinful descendant of Adam can, by virtue of his birth in the flesh, become a member of Gods family; it is utterly impossible. Nor can he be adopted into Gods family unless born again--born of water and of the Spirit. He partakes of the spirituality of Christ, as Christ possesses his human flesh. The next particular is, that between those who are brethren in heart, as well as in fact, there is a family likeness and sympathy. Hence believers are enjoined to let this mind be in them which was also in Christ Jesus; and are said also to have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created him. Thus, also, Christ is revealed to us as One who can have compassion on us, and as One touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
II. From these three particulars we may infer that Christ, becoming our Brother, by taking on Him our nature, and linking that nature on to His deity, HAD POWER OVER TREAT NATURE, first, to redeem, and then, by His Spirit, to infuse life--His own spiritual life--into it. Next, that, as the Elder Brother, He had the disposition, as well as the power, to put aside every obstacle in the way of our full and tree adoption into His Fathers family; so that, knowing Him as their Brother, they might exercise the spirit of adoption when received, and at once look up and call God Father. And lastly that, as a sympathising Brother, communicating His likeness to all the members of the household of faith, He must be the great object of our faith and the foundation of all our hopes as members of the family of God. Thus, then, is Christ set before us, under this symbol, in that very aspect which is most attractive; but when we see all His offices proceeding out of this central fact of brotherhood--when we spiritually know that the great Prophet of the Church is our Brother, that the great High Priest of our profession is our Brother, that the King of an unspeakably glorious kingdom is our Brother--when we are assured that the teaching of the Prophet is the teaching of our Brother, that the sacrifice offered by the Priest was the Brother Himself, that the blood which is shed for us was the blood of our Brother, that the grave wherein death became powerless, and from which emerged life and immorality, was the grave of our Brother; oh I what a ground do we then stand on for the realisation and enjoyment of the blessings of salvation, and for looking forward to the coming of the glorious King, who, with all the tenderness of a brothers faithful love, shall gather together the whole family of heaven in manifested union with Himself. (G. Fisk, LL. B.)
Some reasons why the Word because flesh
Ashamed to call them brethren. Why should He be? It is no condescension to acknowledge the fact of brotherhood with humanity, any more than it is humiliation to be born. But there was a Man who emptied, and humbled Himself by being found in fashion as a man, and for whom it was infinite condescension to call us His brethren. We can say of a prince that he is not ashamed to call his subjects friends, and to sit down to eat with them; but it would be absurd to say so of one of the subjects in reference to his fellows. The full, lofty truth of Heb_1:1-14. underlies that word ashamed, which is meaningless unless Jesus was the effulgence of the Fathers glory, and the very image of His substance. The writer quotes three Old Testament passages which he regards as prophetic of our Lords identifying Himself with humanity. These three cited sayings deal with three different aspects of Christs manhood and of the purpose of His incarnation; and they unitedly give, if not a complete, yet a comprehensive answer to the question, Why did God become Man?
I. JESUS IS MAN, THAT HE MAY DECLARE GOD TO MEN. All other sources of knowledge of God fail in certainty. They yield only assertions which may or may not be true. At the best, we are relegated to peradventures and theories if we turn away from Jesus Christ. Men said that there was land away across the Atlantic for centuries before Columbus went and brought back its products. He discovers who proves. Christ has not merely spoken to us beautiful and sacred things about God, as saint, philosopher, or poet might do, but He has shown us God; and henceforward, to those who receive Him, the Unknown Root of all being is not a hypothesis, a great Perhaps, a dread or a hope, as the case may be, but the most certain of all facts, of whom and of whose love we may be surer than we can be of aught besides but our own being.
II. JESUS IS MAN, THAT HE MAY SHOW TO MEN THE LIFE OF DEVOUT TRUST. Perfect manhood is dependent manhood. A reasonable creature who does not live by faith is a monster arrogating the prerogative of God. Christs perfect manhood did not release Him from, but bound Him to, the exercise of faith. Nor did His true deity make faith impossible to His manhood. Christs perfect manhood perfected His faith, and in some aspects modified it. His trust had no relation to the consciousness of sin, and no element either of repentance or of longing for pardon. But it had relation to the consciousness of need, and was in Him, as in us, the condition of continual derivation of life and power from the Father. Christs perfect faith brought forth perfect fruits in His life, issuing, as it did, in obedience which was perfect in purity of motive, in gladness of submission, and in completeness of the resulting deeds as well as in its continuity through His life. Out of His example we may take both shame and encouragement: shame, when we measure our poor, purblind, feeble, and interrupted faith against His; and encouragement when we raise our hopes to the height of the revelation in it of what ours may become.
III. JESUS IS MAN, THAT HE MAY BITING MEN INTO THE FAMILY OF SONS OF GOD.
1. That through Him men may receive a new life which is His own. He can only impart His life on condition of His death. The alabaster box must be broken, though so precious, and though the light of the pure spirit within shone lustrous and softened through it, in order that the house may be filled with the odour of the ointment.
2. That men may, by the communication of His life, become sons of God. They are Gods children, being Christs brethren. They are brought into a new unity, and, being members of one family, are one by a sacreder oneness than the possession of a common humanity.
3. That men may become sharers in His prerogatives and offices. He becomes like us in our lowliness and flesh of sin, that we may become like Him in His glory and perfection.
4. That He may present His family at last to God. If we love and trust Him, He will hold us in His strong and tender grasp, and never part from us till He presents us at last, faultless and joyful, before the presence of His and our Father. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The graciousness of Christ
In the verses immediately preceding, the writer had set forth the incarnation, suffering, and death of Christ Jesus, as an indispensable condition of the great work of lifting the race of man into the Divine nature. Then he identifies and unites the two parties. Those for whom Christ suffered, for whom he became perfect through suffering, are lifted into His household, and are become one with Him. This idea runs through the whole New Testament. Men are adopted, we are told. They are of Gods household. And that meant more in those days than it now means, by a difference of social arrangements in life. They are sons; they are heirs; they are Christs brethren; they are united to Him as the branch to the vine. Now, the absolute inferiority of the human soul and mind to the Divine would lead one, in his meditations, to suppose that God could not well other than be ashamed. Adult companionship does not demand equality. It demands, however, some moral proportion. The Divine nature is illustrated here in this--that the feeling of God toward men, in their inferiority, is apparently feeling without regard to the coming character. God sustains toward the whole human race, we may believe, just the feeling which a true parent sustains toward a new-born child, while it is as yet neither good or bad, but is certainly feeble, weak, infinitely out of proportion to the parent. The feeble, the ignorant, the low--God loves them, and has infinite compassion for them, and is not ashamed of them.
But quite beyond and different from this, are presumptive reasons why God should be ashamed--namely, in moral delinquency. The child, when it knows it has done unworthily, imputes to the parent a sense of shame in its behalf. And every Christian has times of despondency, not only, but of sober conviction that he has dishonoured himself, and that he has brought scandal upon the name of his Master. And in these hours one goes to Christ with the feeling that He must be ashamed too. We are ashamed to pray, and afraid to commune. And yet it is of just such that Christ says He is not ashamed. He is not ashamed to call them brethren, as we shall see. The shame spoken of is not simply a generous feeling. It is to be interpreted by its relation to the idea of personal communion. Christ is not ashamed to call men even brethren. Conceive of the most advanced and noble Christians that ever have lived in this world--of Martyn and Brainerd, as missionary martyrs; of Fenelon and Pascal, as contemplative Christians--and compare these, not with their own kind, but with the character and condition of the just made perfect. Compare the most peerless saint that walks among men with your ideal of the just and the perfect before God. Hardly, one would say, would God be willing to identify Himself with any human being--with even the highest and best. Yet so it is. He is not ashamed to call them brethren. If you consider, now, how far below these ordinary Christians live; how little there is that enters into the Christian experience; how the Divine life is, as it were, but in the germ; if you reflect how far from that ideal which Christ set before us the ordinary, average Christian experience is, men might well express surprise that Christ should be willing to call such Christians brethren. And yet He points to those that stand in the ordinary lot of life, the ordinary Christian experience, and says, I am not ashamed to call them brethren. Far below this level there is a throng who can scarcely be thought to have even a beginning; and yet there is a single spark. There are occasional impulses as if their souls would turn toward God. Bold are they for the world, but timid for righteousness, and hardly daring to say to their fellow-men, I am a Christian. Ah! can it be that Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren? He is not. He has been made in the likeness of men, and has entered into the full temptation of men, that He might know to the uttermost, and to the very bottom, what man suffers. The lowest, poorest, meanest of Christian attainments find in Christ Jesus a spirit that is not ashamed. Banish from your minds an oriental monarchy. Banish the conception of such glory as lies in external appearances and external adjuncts. Consider what it is for God to be glorious. It is the glory of pity unfathomable. He considers glory to lie in long-suffering love. It is because He knows how to work for men that are ungrateful, that His heart swells with consciousness of its power. Look, then, upon the work to be done in this world. We can understand, if we consider it in its entirety, that this world is a school; that it is a healing hospital; that it is a training ground; that the Divine problem is, how to take the germ of life and bring it steadily up through all its transmutations, from age to age, until it becomes Divine; and to do it through suffering, through long-suffering, and through patience; to do it by inspiration; to do it by pain and by joy, by sorrow and by gladness, by all means. So to teach the human soul, and lit t upon it time light of Divine glory, that it shall become like God--that is the work to he done in this world. Christ is not ashamed of this work. He is not ashamed of His scholars, neither of those in the lowest, the intermediate, or the highest form. He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Not because there is not much that is repulsive to a pure and high nature; but for His own reasons (Eph_5:25-27). Without further unfolding this great, this wonderful truth, I ask whether any one need fear to begin a new Christian life with such a Saviour. If, when his prayers go up, they go into the hands of such an One; if all the invitations to a Christian life are those that come from a Brothers lips--from the lips of One who is not ashamed of our poorness, our vileness, our dullness, or our remissness--then any man can be a Christian. Need any one be discouraged who has begun to live a Christian life, because so often he has failed and fallen into backsliding? Is a true pupil discouraged because so many of his lessons are imperfect? There is encouragement, since we have One that is not ashamed of us, in spite of our many defections and inferiorities. Why should we not, therefore, gird up our loins, and take a fresh hold, with new consecration, on the Christian life? Will not every days experience give reason and argument for gratitude to such a Lord as this? I think I have learned more of the nature of my Master from my bad than from my good. We learn both ways. But it is the sense of Gods graciousness that impresses me. (H. W. Beecher.)
In the midst of the Church win I sing praise
Christ singing
We have the record of Christs use of some words of this psalm on the Cross; the author of this Epistle affirms that these words were also adapted by the Saviour. They illustrate
I. CHRISTS ENGAGEMENT IN GODS SERVICE. In all ages, Christ is serving God in the midst of the Church, by His precepts, example, spirit.
II. CHRISTS SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT IN GODS SERVICE. In fellowship with the whole assembly of the good, whom He is not ashamed to call brethren, Christ serves God. But if their brother, He is their Leader in this praise.
III. CHRISTS VOLUNTARY ENGAGEMENT IN GODS SERVICE. Singing is no slavish act; real singing is not even perfunctory; probably, ideal song is spontaneous. Such is Christs service.
IV. CHRISTS JOYOUS ENGAGEMENT IN GODS SERVICE. AS soon as ever we can sing of our sadness, even the sadness is sweetened, and song is the very symbol of joy. Lessons:
1. The highest engagement of our life is serving God.
2. The true method of serving God is socially, willingly, joyfully. (U. R. Thomas.)
The children which God hath given Me
Children to be brought to heaven
There was a mother lay dying some time ago, and she requested her children to be brought to her bedside. The eldest one came in first, and putting her loving bands on his head, she gave him a mothers parting message. Then came another, and then another. To all of them she gave her parting message, until the last--the seventh one, an inlay,--was brought in. She was so young she could not understand the message of love; so the weather gave it to her husband for her; and then she took the child to her bosom, and kissed it, and caressed it, until her time was almost up. Then, turning to her husband, she said: I charge you to bring all these children home to heaven with you. (D. L. Moody.)
Children a life.work
I was in the company of a talented Christian lady, when a friend said to her, Why have you never written a book? I am writing two, was the quiet reply. Have been engaged on one for ten years, the other five. You surprise me, cried the friend; what profound works they must be! It doth not appear yet what we shall be, was her reply; but when He makes up His jewels, my great ambition is to find them there. Your children? I said. Yes, my two children; they are my life work. (Christian Age.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv10–18 10. For it became him. It became God, was…
10. For it became him. It became God, was fitting, and God's purpose. For whom are all things. God, who is over all and possesses all. Paul uses this expression Rom. 11:36; Col. 1:6; 1 Cor. 8:6. The captain of their salvation. Christ, a Prince and a Leader. Perfect. Not perfect in holiness, for he was sinless, but perfectly fitted to be our Savior. To this end it was needful that he should also suffer as one of our race.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv10–18 10. We see from this verse that the Lord…
10. We see from this verse that the Lord Jesus Christ actually created this world for His own eternal sovereignty. Hence His deadly conflict with the devil, who had the audacious impudence to attempt to wrest it out of His hands. Jesus is the great and infallible Archetype of universal saintship. Therefore it was pertinent that He should travel this road before them and point out the way. He never claimed perfection in His Messianic office and character till after He suffered crucifixion. Just as He was imperfect in His mediatorship till after He suffered death on the cross, so are His followers imperfect in their Christian character till Adam the first is crucified. Perfect is from the Latin facio, to make, and per, complete. Hence it simply means to make complete. Sanctification is from sanctus, holy, and facio, to make, and just means to make holy. Therefore perfection and sanctification are derivatives from the same Latin facio, and have the same meaning. In the Greek, hagiasmos means holiness and also means sanctification. It is indiscriminately translated holiness or sanctification. Hence you see Wesley was correct when he pronounced perfection, holiness and sanctification all synonymous. Just as it was necessary for the physical nature of Jesus to die in order to the perfection of His Messiahship, so the crucifixion of our Adamic nature is essential to the completion of our Christian character. As the Man Jesus was the only Son of unfallen Adam, his humanity was pure, whereas that of the whole human race is contaminated by the fall. A disciple is a follower of Jesus. None but disciples go to heaven. Hence, if you aspire to a place in heaven, you must follow Christ to the cross and be crucified. He is our infallible Leader. We must walk in His footprints. We must follow Him to the manger, and be born in utter obscurity. This is regeneration. Then we must follow Him to Calvary and be nailed to the cross. Our fallen Adamic nature must die. This is sanctification.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v10 Section 2. (Heb 2:10-18.)
Section 2. (Heb 2:10-18.)
His humiliation and suffering as Kinsman Redeemer.
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In the next section we find the Lord’s work as Saviour dwelt upon. A Saviour from sin must be a Sufferer. Power simply cannot suffice. There are necessities of the divine nature which condition the forth-putting of divine power. Divine holiness must be vindicated at personal cost, but divine love is bent upon bringing sons to glory. There can be no perfecting of the blessed Person, but there must be the perfecting of a Saviour. "It became Him," therefore, "for whom are all things and by whom are all things, . . . to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."
This word "Captain" may be better translated "Leader," or, better still, "Originator": One who establishes the way by which He will bring others through to salvation. Nor is it indeed only salvation for which He destines them, but He brings them as sons, new-made, to a glory unimagined. How beautiful is the reminder that if there are conditions of all this, they are conditions which spring from the very majesty of Him who is bringing these sons to glory. For Him are all things, by Him are all things. This does not make Him work independently of that which must display and vindicate His holy nature. The power of God is indeed limited, but only by His own perfections. Truly omnipotent, that does not mean, of course, that He can do that which is in any way unworthy of Him; and how gloriously does He display Himself in One who comes down Himself to suffer according to the requirements of divine holiness, -Himself to take the penalty which in righteousness He has imposed! How thoroughly the rightness of the penalty is seen as taken by the Son of God Himself, God glorified in it!
The voice of the twenty-second psalm is that of One who bears witness thus in the sufferings, the unequalled sufferings, in which He is found. "But," says He, "Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." He shall inhabit, He shall dwell amongst the praises of a people such as these have, alas, proved themselves to be. He shall dwell amid these praises for eternity, but in holiness, as alone He can. He shall satisfy Himself in that in which His people too are not only satisfied, but overflow with the joy which they trace to Him, and which, therefore, is the joy of worship. Here, then, are sons related as such to the glorious Son, who has come down to be the Son of Man also. "Both He who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of One, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren."
Here, surely, is the First-born among many brethren, and all the connection assures us that "of One," or "out of One," means really "of one Father." Yet there is an infinite difference, so that indeed it is divine love in Him which makes Him recognize and welcome brethren such as these. He is the divine Son. They are only human. Moreover, He is the Sanctifier they have need of sanctification yet he is not ashamed of them. By and by, He will conform them to His own likeness, so that they may indeed be the companions of His heart for evermore.
But this is, again, so new and strange, apparently, that the apostle must produce the Old Testament scriptures for it. He produces three: the first from the twenty-second psalm, where, immediately after the sin-offering is accomplished, and the Sufferer is heard from the horns of the aurochs (the buffalo), He is heard saying: "I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I praise Thee." It is the gospel of John that gives us the primary fulfilment of this: "Go and tell my brethren," says the risen Lord to Mary, "I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and unto My God and your God." Here is the distinction indeed preserved which must always remain between the Sanctifier and the sanctified, between the Former of the relationship and those who are brought, through grace, into the relationship. But this difference is only one main element of the blessing itself, and it is in the full enjoyment of what His grace has wrought that He gathers around Him the assembly of the redeemed to sing praise to God in their midst. It is not here that they sing, but He sings. Their song will come in due time, but His must have the priority, and must have the pre-eminence. Who is the one who can sing praises to God like Him? Who can be, in that sense, associated with Him? By His Spirit, no doubt, He can and will bring His people into fellowship with Himself. Their joy is His joy, and His joy their joy, but far more blessed than any song in common is the song of this single Voice in the midst of those He gathers.
The two other quotations are side by side in Isaiah (Isa 8:17-18), in which the prophet personates, after the manner of the Psalms, the One to come. "I will put my trust in Him" is from the Septuagint, where, in our common version it is: "I will wait upon Him;" but in either way it is the expression of that trust in God which in Christ was absolute, and which made Him "the leader and finisher of faith," the One who in His own Person was the perfect example of it. This makes in a practical way the family of faith His brethren.
The third quotation is different, again, in its expression of the same truth. Indeed, it looks as if it were not the same. "Behold, I and the children that God has given Me" seems to refer to the natural relation of father and children, as in the prophet’s case it certainly did; but here again we are to remember the typical significance, and find therefore, in this, Christ as the last Adam; which supplies thus a most important link in the chain of evidence, for it is as this that He is the Representative-Head of those for whom He laid down His life. The first Adam was, by the human life which he communicated to his descendants, a real first-born among brethren; and Christ is the same among those to whom, as life-giving Spirit, far beyond the power of the first Adam, He communicates divine life.
We are here again very near to the gospel of John, and are listening to the Voice which said: "As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him;" but, for this, the corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die, that it may bring forth fruit. The passage here goes back even of this, to His taking flesh to die; and since, then, "the children are sharers of flesh and blood, He Himself, in like manner, took part in the same, that through death He might bring to naught him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and set free those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." This is not putting away of sins exactly, but it supposes it. The shadow of death is dispelled by the Light of Life descending into it; and, as again the Lord says in John, of the effect of His coming as the Resurrection and the Life: "He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," -(that refers to the past, but again) -"He that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." Death was, in the past. He has now abolished it for faith, and brought life and incorruption to light by the gospel.
It must be noted here, as it often has been, that while the children are said to be partakers of flesh and blood, -this "partaking" being a real having in common, a participation of the most thorough kind, -in His own "taking part," another word is used which implies limitation. It does not indeed show the character of the limitation but the difference between the words makes us necessarily ask what, in fact, that was; and the answer comes to us immediately, that while His was true humanity in every particular necessary to constitute it that, yet humanity as men have it, the humanity of fallen men, was not His. Here there must be strict limitation. We must add, as the apostle does afterwards with regard to His temptation, "sin apart." Sin, with the consequences of sin, He could not take. Death could have no power over Him, except as He might submit Himself voluntarily to it, and this He did; but it was obedience to His Father’s will, and no necessity of His condition, as it is of ours.
"For He taketh not hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham He taketh hold; wherefore it behooved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things relating to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." All this is in language which an Israelite would well understand; but the seed of Abraham, the people, are to be seen in the light of Christianity as the company of faith. If Israel nationally answered to this description, then, of course, they could claim as such the old promises; but even here not exclusively, for the apostle’s words, that "they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham," must necessarily apply at all times and under all circumstances. The apostle has, in fact, however, before the end of the epistle, a word of exhortation as to leaving the camp because of Christ’s rejection; and those to whom it is written, though Hebrews, are immediately here addressed as "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling," -which Israel’s was not. "The people" and "the seed of Abraham," must be understood here, therefore, in the light of this.
The Day of Atonement is, of course, contemplated in the making of "propitiation for the sins of the people." Upon that day the sins of Israel were put upon the head of the scapegoat and taken away. It belonged to the series of feasts of the seventh month, which, in contrast with those in the early part of the year, the Passover and Unleavened Bread, the Sheaf of First-fruits, and Pentecost, are all national, and speak of the fulfilment of the promises to the nation in God’s "due time." Thus, in the Feast of Trumpets, at the beginning of it, the new moon, (when the light of divine favor is beginning to shine again on Israel,) we have the feast of recall to the people. On the tenth day, the Day of Atonement, they come under the value of the work of Christ; while, beginning with the fifteenth, the Feast of Tabernacles exhibits them in the joy of their re-establishment in the land. The first series of feasts they lost through their refusal of Christ when He came, and in the prescient wisdom of God we find the Passover to have been a family rather than a national feast, that "thou shalt be saved and thy house," which Christianity proclaims. The feast of Unleavened Bread took form from the Passover, which it accompanied; and the Sheaf of First-fruits, that is, Christ risen, and Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit, are characteristically Christian. Israel’s unbelief has delayed blessing for them; and as a consequence there is the gap which follows in the services of the year. This explains in the simplest way the mystery of the two goats of the Day of Atonement, of which much else is sometimes made.
For Israel, in consequence of their rejection of the blessing when it was offered, the putting away of sins, as in the scapegoat, is separated by a gap of time from the work which actually puts them away. This is exactly what is pictured in the two goats. When their sins are put upon the scapegoat, there is no actual sacrifice, no real atonement made at all. The goat is a scapegoat, that is, a goat that gets away, not that is offered. There is positively no offering of this goat, a thing from which, through not understanding it, much confusion has arisen. Atonement is not made "with it," as in our common version, but "for it" (Lev 16:10), as the words (kapper al) elsewhere and constantly are rightly taken to mean (Exo 29:36; Exo 30:12; Exo 30:15-16; Lev 1:4; Lev 4:20; Lev 4:26; Lev 4:31; Lev 4:35, etc.).
The difficulty, of course, is obvious. How can propitiation be made, or why does it need to be made, for the goat? But the answer is not far to seek. It is indeed because the two goats are for one sin-offering, while in fact only one is offered (Lev 16:5). The Lord’s lot falls on the one to be offered, the other escapes. The atonement which ideally he was to make, is, in fact, made for him by the former one.
The application is simple in view of Israel’s history. The first goat is offered and its blood carried into the holiest of all when the high priest enters it. Not till he comes out again are Israel’s sins put upon the scapegoat and carried away. The Day of Atonement is thus made to extend back through the whole Christian period. We have the link of the future with the past. The atonement, all of it, was made once for all, before Christ as High Priest entered the heavens. When Israel’s sins are put away He will have come out again; but then, of course, no fresh sacrifice can be offered. The scapegoat is, therefore, not a fresh sacrifice. It points simply to a former time in which the actual one took place, and the two goats are necessary to preserve the connection, and point out the delay of blessing which the national unbelief occasions.
Another thing, also, must not be overlooked. When the high priest goes in, he takes into the sanctuary not merely the blood of the goat which is for Israel, but that of the bullock, which is for his own priestly house. Here, assuredly, it is that Christians have their typical representatives. They are, as Peter says, "a spiritual house, a holy priesthood" (1Pe 2:5), and here we find the "sanctified ones," the "companions" of Christ, "partakers" (metochoi, Heb 2:14), for whom the great High Priest appears before God. Notice, too, that on the Day of Atonement, the high priest does the whole work. None of the priestly family appear at all, except as they have part in the offering made for them. This has been noticed as exceptional, and to throw doubt on the offering of sacrifice as distinctly priestly work. Being so exceptional, we must not argue for its necessity; and even the fact that the high priest entered the holiest, not in his garments of glory and beauty, but in the plain white linen garments, is urged on the same side. We shall have to inquire as to this elsewhere, rather than here; but it is enough here to say that the words will not admit of such a thought as this. Christ must be "a merciful and faithful High Priest in things relating to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." How could one insist more upon the distinct priestly character of making propitiation than by saying He was the High Priest to do it?
Once more we have to distinguish between the offering of sacrifice, which was always priestly and nothing else, and the killing of the victim, which was commonly the act of the one who brought the victim. The offering was upon the altar, (except in the sin-offerings for the high priest and for the congregation), and that was the complete manifestation of the character of the Lord’s death upon His own side, not His life taken from Him, but given up, and with this all that was implied in and associated with His death, -the deeper reality of His bearing sin in His own body upon the tree. The offering of sacrifice was thus absolutely priestly and nothing else.
It is quite true that at exceptional times, when things were out of joint in Israel, God might sanction the work of a prophet in this way; but as a regular thing, the offering of sacrifice was that into which no other but a priest could dare intrude. The Day of Atonement was exceptional in this, that it was by eminence the Day of Atonement; and therefore all that belongs to it is emphasized in a special way. Thus it is that now even the ordinary priests disappear, and on this special Day of Atonement one figure alone is kept before our eyes. However, all this will be plainer as we proceed.
The people for whom our High Priest atones are, of course, wider than Christians or the priestly house. They are all the true seed of Abraham, the family of faith through all time; and this definition is precise enough to escape all ambiguity, and wide enough to bid all men welcome to participate in the value of the atonement. The propitiation for the whole world, of which John speaks (1Jn 2:2), is thus quite easily reconciled with "a propitiation through faith by His blood" (Rom 3:25), because faith is that to which all men are invited. Let a man believe, then he finds an absolutely efficacious atonement according to divine knowledge of his need and grace to meet it. "The worshiper once purged has no more conscience of sins."*
{*See Lev 16:1-34, notes.}
In the last verse of this section we have the sympathy of the great High Priest with us guaranteed by His human experience: In that He hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor those that are tempted." Temptation to Him was suffering, and only that. The man who is drawn away by the temptation does not suffer, so far. He enjoys. With the Lord, temptation was the cause of suffering simply; nor do we desire or need sympathy with us in being led away; but, on the other hand, in the suffering simply which sin occasions to every soul that is right with God. Thus, here is the true sympathy of the Priest that we need, One able to realize our weakness, and One who has Himself stood for our sins, under the whole burden of these before God; One who is able, therefore, to show us the most perfect grace in ministering to the need we have under the temptation.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 17
Hebrews
CHRIST’S PERFECTING BY SUFFERING
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Heb 2:10.
IT does not ‘become’ us to be hasty or confident in determining what ‘becomes’ God. We had need to know the divine nature more perfectly, and the bearings of His actions more comprehensively and clearly than we do, before it can be safe to reject anything on the ground that it is unworthy of the divine nature. Perhaps we have not quite got to the bottom of the bottomless; perhaps men’s conceptions do not precisely constitute the standard to which God is bound to conform. It is unsafe to pronounce that a given thing is unworthy of Him. It is much safer to pronounce that a given thing is worthy of Him.
And that is what the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews does here, venturing upon ground on which the New Testament seldom enters, viz., the vindication of the doctrine of a suffering Christ, on the ground of its being congruous with the divine nature that He should suffer. Especially would such a thought be appropriate and telling to the audience to whom it was originally addressed. ‘We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block,’ says Paul And that doctrine of a suffering Messiah was the thing that stood in the way of the Jewish reception of the gospel, more perhaps than anything besides. So here we have the writer turning the tables upon the people, who might oppose it, on the ground of that discord and incongruity, and asserting that the whole of the sufferings of Jesus Christ do entirely harmonise with, are worthy of, and ‘become’ the supreme and absolute sovereignty of the God ‘for whom are all things, and by whom are all things.’
There are three points, then, to which I desire to turn. There is first, the great sweep of the divine purpose. There is, secondly, the apparently paradoxical method of effecting it; and there is, finally, the assertion of the entire congruity between that method and the divine nature.
I. First of all, then, regard for a few moments the great sweep of the divine action in the gift of Christ as it is set forth here.
It is bringing many sons unto glory, wherein there lies, of course, a metaphor of a great filial procession, being led on through all changes of this lower life, steadily upwards into the possession of what is here called ‘glory.’ The same metaphor colours the other expression of our text, ‘the Captain of our salvation.’
For the word translated ‘Captain, which only occurs some four times in Scripture, literally means one who leads, or begins any course or thing; and hence comes to mean a commander, or a prince, as it is twice translated; and then again, with a very easy transition from the notion of leading to that of origination, it comes to mean ‘cause’ or ‘author,’ as it is once translated. The conception of ‘author’ is the dominant one here, but it is also coloured by the prolongation of the metaphor in the previous clause. This great procession of sons up into glory, which is the object and aim of God’s work, is all under the leadership of Him who is the Captain, the foremost, the Originator, and, in a profound sense, the Cause, of their salvation.
So, then, we have before us the thought that God brings, and yet Christ leads, and God’s bringing is effected through Christ’s leadership. Then we have other thoughts, upon which time will not allow me to dwell. Let me just indicate them to you for your own expansion.
Look at the extent of the divine act. ‘Many’ is used not in contrast to ‘all,’ as if there was proclaimed here a restricted application of Christ’s work in the divine idea; but ‘many’ is in opposition to ‘few,’ or, perhaps, in opposition to the One. There is One Leader, and there is an indefinite number of followers. The Connotation of the word ‘ many’ is the idea of uncounted number. This great procession, with its long and interminable files, sweeps onward under the guidance of the one Captain. So wide as to be universal is the sweep of God’s purpose to bring the ‘many,’ a ‘multitude that no man can number,’ into the possession of His glory. Then, note, the relationship which the members of that great company possess. The many are being brought as ‘sons’ under the leadership of the one Son. That opens out into the broad thought that the loftiest conception of God’s end in redemption is the making the ‘many’ like the One, and the investing of them all with every privilege and dignity which belongs to their Leader.
Then note, further, the end of the march. This great company stretching numberless away beyond the range of vision, and all exalted into the dignity of sons, is steadfastly pressing onwards to the aim of fulfilling that divine ideal of humanity, long since spoken in the psalm, which in its exuberant promises sounds liker irony than hope. ‘Thou crownest Him with glory and honour.’ They are not only steadily marching onwards to the realisation of that divine ideal, but also to the participation of the glory of the Captain who is the ‘brightness of the Father’s glory;’ as well as ‘the express image of His person.’ So again, the underlying thought is the identity, as in fate here, so in destiny hereafter, of the army with its Leader. He is the Son, and the divine purpose is to make the ‘many’ partakers of His Sonship. He is the realisation of the divine ideal We see not yet all things put under man, but we see Jesus, and so we know that the ancient hope is not the baseless fabric of a vision, nor a dream which will pass when we awake to the realities, but is to be fulfilled in every one, down to the humblest private in that great army, all of whom shall partake in their measure and degree in the glory of the Lord.
This, then, being the purpose, - the leading up out of the world into the glory, of a great company of sons who are conformed to the image of the Son - we attain the point from which we may judge of the adaptation of the means to the end. We cannot tell whether a thing is congruous with the nature of the doer of it till we know what the doer intended by the act. Inadequate conceptions of God’s purpose in Christ’s mission are sure to lead, as they always have led, to inadequate conceptions of the means to be adopted, and doubts of their congruity with the divine nature. If Christ’s mission is only meant to reveal to us a little more clearly truth concerning God and man, if He is only meant to stand before us as the ideal of conduct, and the pattern for our imitation, then there is no need for a Cross, which adds nothing to these; but if He has come to redeem, if He has come to turn slaves into sons, if He has come to lift men up from the mud and earthliness of their low and sensuous careers, and to set them upon the path that will lead them to share in the glory of God, then there is something more needed than would be adequate for the work of a Teacher howsoever wise, or than would be required for the work of an Example however beautiful and fair. The Cross is surplusage if Christ be a prophet only; it is surplusage and an incongruity if Christ be simply the foremost of the pure natures that have walked the earth, and shown the beauty of goodness. But if Christ has come to make men sons of God, by participation of His sonship, and to blanch and irradiate their blackness by the reflection and impartation of His own flashing glory, then it ‘became Him, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.’
II. That leads me to the next point that is here, viz., the paradox of the method adopted to carry out this divine purpose.
Of course, I do not need to explain, I suppose, that the ‘perfecting through sufferings,’ which is here declared to take effect upon our Lord, does not mean the addition of anything to, or the purging away of anything from, His moral nature. You and I are refined by suffering; which purges out our dross, if we take it rightly. You and I are ennobled by suffering, which adds to us, if we rightly accept it, that which without it we could never possess. But Christ’s perfecting is not the perfecting of His moral character, but the completion of His equipment for His work of being the Captain of our salvation. That is to say, He Himself, though He learned obedience by the things that He suffered, was morally perfect, ere yet one shadow of pain or conflict had passed across the calm depths of His pure spirit. But He was not ready for His function of Leader and Originator of our salvation until He had passed through the sufferings of life and the agonies of death. Thus the whole sweep of Christ’s sufferings, both those which preceded the Cross, and especially the Cross itself, are included in the general expression of my text; and these equipped Him for His work.
So we learn this lesson, the Captain who comes to make the soldiers like Himself can only accomplish His purpose by becoming like the soldiers. The necessity for our Lord’s sufferings is mainly based in the text here upon the simple principle that He who is to deliver men must be a Man. The leader must have no exemption from the hardships of the company. If He is to be a leader, He and we must go by the same road. He must tramp along all the weary path that we have to tread. He must experience all the conflicts and difficulties that we have to experience. He cannot lift us up into a share of His glory unless He stoops to the companionship of our grief. No man upon a higher level can raise one on a lower, except on condition of Himself going down, with His hand at any rate, to the level from which He would lift. And no Christ will be able to accomplish the Father’s design, except a Christ that knows the fellowship of our sufferings, and is made conformable unto our death. Therefore because ‘He took not hold to help angels, but the seed of Abraham, it behooved Him to be made in all things like unto His brethren.’ And when the soldiers are weary on the march, footsore and tired, they bethink themselves
‘Headquarters were here yesterday.’
‘We can go through no darker rooms
Than He went through before.’
And where He has stretched Himself on the cold ground and bivouacked, we need not be ashamed or afraid to lie down. The Captain of our salvation has gone through and shared all our hardships, and plodded with bleeding feet over every inch of the ground over which He would lead us.
Again, we learn the necessity of His suffering in order to His sympathy. Before He suffers, He has the pity of a God; after He suffers He has learnt the compassion of a man. And though in the fight the general seems to have gone up the hill, and left the army to struggle in the plain, He has gone like Moses to the mount to lift all-powerful bands of intercession, and bearing in His heart tender compassion, a fellow-feeling of our pains. No Christ is worth anything to me, suffering and bleeding and agonizing here, unless He be a Christ of whom I know that His heart is full of sympathy because Himself has felt the same, and that He has learnt to run to the help of the miserable, because He Himself is not ignorant of misfortune.
Then we learn, further, the necessity of the Captain’s suffering in order to emancipate us from the dominion of the evil that He bears. No doctrine of identification with our common infirmities, or sympathy in regard of our daily trials is adequate to explain, or to reach to the depths of this paradox of a crucified Commander. We need another thought than that, and it lies in this. ‘He Himself bare our sins in His own body on the tree.’ The necessity for knowing all our condition and sharing it was not the only necessity that brought Christ to suffer and to die. But upon Him was gathered the whole mass and Blackness of human sin, and in His separation from the Father, and in the outward fact of death, He bare our miseries, and by His stripes we were healed. No Christ is enough for me a sinner except a Christ whose Cross takes away the Burden and the penalty of my transgression. And thus ‘it became Him to make the Captain of salvation perfect through suffering,’ else the design of making men His sons and sharers of His glory could never come to pass.
III. Therefore, lastly, mark the harmony between the loftiest conception of the divine character and nature and these sufferings of Jesus.
The writer dwells upon two aspects of God’s relation to the universe. ‘It became Him for whom are all things, and by or through whom are all things.’ That is to say, the sufferings and death of the Christ, in whom is God manifest in the flesh, are worthy of that lofty nature to the praise and glory of which all things contribute. The Cross is the highest manifestation of the divine nature. The paradox remains that a dying man should more worthily set forth the deep heart of God, and should therefore more completely realise the divine purpose that all things should be for His glory, than all besides can do. Creation witnesses of Him, providence witnesses of Him, these marvellous spirits of ours proclaim His praise, but the deep heart of God, like some rich fruit, if I may so say, is cleft open by the Cross, and all its treasures laid bare, as they are displayed nowhere besides. So the purpose - which may be so stated as to be only Almighty selfishness, but which is really the expression of Almighty love - the purpose of God that all creation should redound to His honour, and be ‘for Him,’ reaches its end through the suffering of Jesus Christ, and in Him, and in His death God is glorified. ‘It became Him, for whom are all things, to perfect through suffering the Captain of our salvation.’
Another aspect, closely connected with this, lies in that other clause. Christ’s sufferings and death are congruous with that Almighty power by which the Universe has sprung into being and is sustained. His creative agency is not the highest exhibition of His power. Creation is effected by a word. The bare utterance of the divine will was all that was needed to make the heavens and the earth, and ‘to preserve the stars from wrong.’ But the bare utterance of will is not enough here. If men are to be brought to glory, they cannot be brought by the mere desire of God to bring them, or by the mere utterance of His will that they should be brought. This work needs a process, needs that something should be done. This work needs the humiliation, the suffering, the death, resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of God, of the Captain of our salvation and the Prince of our life.
So though by Him are all things, if we would know the full sweep and Omnipotence of His power, He points us away from creation, and its ineffectual fires that pale before this brighter Light in which His whole self is embodied, and says, ‘There, that is the arm of the Lord made bare in the sight of all the nations.’ Omnipotence has made the world, the Cross has redeemed it. From that Cross there come the loftiest conceptions of Him for whom all things are, but for whom men are not, unless the Cross has won them; by whom are all things, but by whom men are, through more wondrous exercise of divine power, when they are redeemed by the precious blood, than when they were made by the creative fiat.
Therefore, brethren, listen to God saying, ‘I have set Him for a witness to the people, for a Leader and a Commander to the people,’ and see to it that you enlist in this Captain’s army, and follow His banners and trust in His Cross, that your sufferings may be His, and the merit of His may be yours, and that in His sonship you may be sons, and the flashings of His glory may change your earthliness from glory to glory, into the image of the Son, made perfect through suffering and crowned with glory and honour, which He parts among all His soldiers.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv10, 13, 14, 16, 17 leader, or, originator, i.e. one who initiates and carries…
captain
leader, or, originator, i.e. one who initiates and carries through. Trans. "author" in Heb 12:2.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv10, 14 The humiliation of the Son justified:
The humiliation of the Son justified:
v. 10. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
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v. 11. For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of One; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
v. 12. saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto Thee.
v. 13. And again, I will put My trust in Him. And again, Behold, I and the children which God hath given Me.
It was to be expected that human reason might register an objection at this point, not understanding the necessity for such a humiliation, for Christ’s suffering and death. But the answer is plain: For it behooved Him, on whose account all things exist and through whom all things came into being, as One who brought many sons to glory, to make perfect the Prince of their salvation through sufferings. The way may seem strange to natural man, a stumbling-block to the Jews and an offense to the Greeks, but that is the way which God, for whom and by whom the universe exists and is preserved, chose in His wisdom. It was a way which fitted well with the essence and attributes of the great God, the Creator and Preserver of all things in heaven and earth, of Him who is Love and whose grace had already, in the time before Christ, led many simple believers to the blessing of eternal glory. It was proper that this God of our salvation should perfect, complete, glorify Jesus Christ, the Prince of our salvation, the man who is the Author and Finisher of our faith, chap. 12:2, by way of suffering and death. Christ’s work would never have reached that perfection which made its blessings available for all men, if it had not been carried out in the manner described in the Gospel.
The next verses contain a proof for this: For He that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all of One; for which reason He also is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, in the midst of the Church I will sing hymns to Thee; and again, I will put My trust in Him; and again, Behold, I and the children which God gave Me. He that sanctifies, Jesus Christ, and they that are sanctified, consecrated to God, the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, are all of One, of the one Father above, Joh 20:17. And the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to acknowledge this kinship and live up to the obligations which it imposes. He did this even in the prophecy of the Old Testament, as when He called the believers His brethren, Psa 22:22, or when He spoke as a member of the congregation of believers, expressing their and His common faith in God, Psa 18:2; Isa 12:2, or when He stepped before God in His character of Advocate for His brethren, referring to them as the children whom the Lord had given Him, Isa 8:18. This conduct of Christ shows why it was altogether fitting and right for God to choose the way of salvation through His blood as the way to heaven for all men. This idea is now made the subject of a special paragraph.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 13, 16 General Information:
General Information:
This prophetic quotation comes from a Psalm of King David.
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the one who sanctifies
"the one who makes others holy" or "the one who makes others pure from sin"
those who are sanctified
This can be stated in active form. AT: "those whom he makes holy" or "those whom he makes pure from sin" (See: Active or Passive)
have one source
Who that source is can be stated clearly. AT: "have one source, God himself" or "have the same Father" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
he is not ashamed
"Jesus is not ashamed"
is not ashamed to call them brothers
This double negative means that he will claim them as his brothers. AT: "is pleased to call them his brothers" (See: Double Negatives)
brothers
Here this refers to all who have believed in Jesus, including both men and women. (See: When Masculine Words Include Women)
I will proclaim your name to my brothers
Here "name" refers to the person's reputation and what they have done. AT: "I will proclaim to my brothers the great things you have done" (See: Metonymy)
from inside the assembly
"when believers come together to worship God"
translationWords
sanctify
shame
brother
preach
assembly
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 2:10-18 At least four reasons why the Son of…
2:10-18 At least four reasons why the Son of God became human are implied in this passage. First, it was only right: It is consistent with what we know of God’s character that he would accomplish salvation in this way (2:10). Second, Jesus had to become human to die (2:14). Third, high priests, as detailed in the Old Testament law, had to come from among God’s people (2:17). Fourth, Jesus became a sympathetic priest, experiencing the suffering and testing we know as humans (2:18).
2:10 children (literally sons): The author plays off his use of the title Son for Jesus throughout the section, here referring to the people of God as sons. The translation children makes it clear that this term refers to all God’s people, male and female. • The term translated leader had a wide range of meanings in the ancient world, including founder, hero, champion, prince, captain, leader, or scout. Jesus is a leader in that he blazed a trail for those who are saved, leading them to glory.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.