Holding On to the Word
[Verse 1]. [Verse 1-4] form a parenthesis. In this section it is about the importance of holding on to what God has said. The words “for this reason” with which this section starts, refer to the entire chapter 1. There it is shown that the position of the Son is so much higher than that of the angels. Therefore the word He has spoken is also much higher than what the angels have spoken.
The expression “much closer” emphasizes that what the Son says is of a higher order than what is said by angels. What God spoke to the fathers came to the fathers through the mediation of angels. In those days it was of the utmost importance to hold on to that. Now the Son has come and has spoken, it is much more important to give heed to that, which means that they had to coordinate their life entirely with what He has said.
What He has said doesn’t contradict what God said in former days. Only, it is of a totally different order. The law demanded of man and man could not meet the demands. The Son fully met those demands, but He did much more than the law says. He has given His life for everyone who believes in Him, with the result that everyone who believes in Him has a new and eternal life. That new, eternal life is the Son Himself [1John 5:12]. He who has the Son as his life, lives under grace and not under law anymore.
He who forgets that, is in danger of returning to a life under the law, to a life in Judaism. That is what the writer means with “drift away”. I hope you recognize the danger for yourself. If you start to let go of the Word and neglect praying, that is the beginning of drifting away.
[Verse 2]. “The word spoken through angels” was not to be mocked. It was advisable to take heed to that (e.g. [Gen 19:17-26]). This becomes even clearer if you think on the law in this regard [Acts 7:53]; [Gal 3:19]. The law is God’s law. You cannot violate it with impunity or ignore it in disobedience. God always maintains the authority of His Word. He will punish sin, in whatever way it is committed, righteously. In the Old Testament there is an example of a “just penalty” on transgressing the law in the judgment on someone who did not keep the sabbath commandment [Num 15:32-36].
[Verse 3]. If already such serious consequences are attached to violating the word spoken through angels, how serious then must be the consequences for someone who despises the word of grace that the Son Has spoken! The Lord Jesus has spoken to His people as a whole and also to the individual on earth about “so great a salvation”.
The national salvation, which means the salvation of Israel as a nation, is still a matter of the future. In Luke 4 there is a beautiful example of the speech of the Lord about the ‘great salvation’, for which He quotes Isaiah 61 [Luke 4:16-22]; [Isa 61:1-2]. When He announces there the ‘acceptable year of the Lord’, it is similar to ‘so great a salvation’, i.e. the millennial kingdom of peace. It is so great a salvation, not just a great one. The same emphasis you hear in the words: “For God so loved the world” [John 3:16]. It indicates its immeasurable size.
The salvation is in the first place great in size, for it does not only regard the Jews, but it is available to all people. In the second place, the salvation is also great in power, for it works justification and forgiveness. Then it cannot be otherwise than that he who neglects this word of grace of the Son, receives a justified penalty that is more severe than the penalty under the law. To sin under grace is worse than to sin under the law, because he who neglects this salvation, neglects Him Who offers this salvation and Who is greater than the angels.
It is not about a salvation that came to them in a hazy and dim way. The word on this has not been sounded just for a moment to quickly die away again. No, there has been spoken to them about the enormously great salvation in a fully persuasive, clear way. It could not possibly be misunderstood. No angels were involved here as invisible mediators.
This word has come in the first place from the mouth of the Lord Himself in a brightly understandable language. Then, when He ascended to heaven, those who heard it from the mouth of the Lord confirmed it to the readers of this letter. You may think of the disciples here.
[Verse 4]. Finally God underlined this word through the means of signs and wonders and miracles (i.e. works of power) and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will. Many of the readers could remember these things, because they have witnessed them themselves [Acts 2:43]; [Acts 5:12-15]. Therefore, regarding them, there should have been no doubt about what they were told. If such an abundant testimony is neglected, it is not possible to escape penalty. This serious word had to dawn on them, who were still doubting between Judaism and Christendom and who adhered to Christendom only externally.
By the way, it is noteworthy that the phrase “testifying with them” is written in the past tense. Could that mean that in the time of the writing of this letter the time of signs and wonders had already passed?
[Verse 5]. After the parenthesis the writer moves on with describing the glory of the Lord Jesus, but now in connection to the world to come. Therefore he now describes His glory as Son of Man. Like in chapter 1 he compares the Lord Jesus with the angels. But the result is totally different here. The result of the comparison in chapter 1 is, that He exceeds far beyond the angels. But what is the result of the comparison in chapter 2? The angels are not even discussed, they are fully excluded.
The reason for that is that they will not reign in the world to come. In future God will reign through His Son as the Son of Man. We shall reign together with Him and then even reign over angels [1Cor 6:3]. The future world is “His kingdom”, it is the kingdom “of the Son of Man” [Matt 13:41]. When He comes to earth to reign, “the times of refreshing” and “[the] period of restoration of all things” will begin [Acts 3:19-21].
It was the expectation of every Jew that, on the ground of the promises God made to the fathers, this new order would be introduced with the coming of the Messiah. Now the Messiah had come, yet this time had not begun. What these believers and you too have to bear in mind, is that this doesn’t mean that the promises are not valid anymore, but that they are postponed.
Faith is put to the test through this situation. That applied to them and that applies to you too. Do you believe that God will still fulfill all His promises? If you really believe that, that prospect will protect you on the way of faith. You then will not give in to the temptation of adhering to a religion on earth that is connected to a lot of glitter and glamour and of which also unbelievers can partake.
[Verse 6]. To prove that the government over the earth will be given to the Son of Man in future, the writer quotes a portion from Psalm 8 [Ps 8:3-8]. If you read that psalm you see that David – he is that “one” of this verse – describes a wide view. He points to earth and heaven. He speaks about the majesty of God and about infants and babes. He calls the government of man over the created, what you see in paradise and what you will see in the millennial kingdom. In the verses that the writer quotes, both the poorness of man as well as his futility come forward and his greatness.
The quotation begins with the question: “What is man?“ In this psalm the question arises after David came under the impression of heaven. What is man in comparison to the awesome heaven, where you can see in the night the moon and the countless stars? What value should that weak and mortal man have to God Who has clothed with His fingers the whole immeasurable firmament with innumerable stars of which many exceed the earth many times in size?
What could be attractive in puny man that God is mindful of him? The answer to that question is: ‘Just look at the Lord Jesus, ‘the Son of Man’, Who now is in glory. In Him you see how God really thinks about man. He is the true Son of Adam, as it is literally written here [Luke 3:38].
[Verse 7]. That God has made man “for a little while [or: a short time] lower than the angels” points to the fact that man because of his body has less freedom of movement than angels. An angel is a spirit and has not that limitation. An angel is also far beyond man when it comes down to power.
Yet God has appointed man as ruler over creation and not an angel. In it you see the glory and honor of man. We will learn from the next section, in the study of [Verse 9], how impressively this quotation is applied to the Lord Jesus.
The expression “much closer” emphasizes that what the Son says is of a higher order than what is said by angels. What God spoke to the fathers came to the fathers through the mediation of angels. In those days it was of the utmost importance to hold on to that. Now the Son has come and has spoken, it is much more important to give heed to that, which means that they had to coordinate their life entirely with what He has said.
What He has said doesn’t contradict what God said in former days. Only, it is of a totally different order. The law demanded of man and man could not meet the demands. The Son fully met those demands, but He did much more than the law says. He has given His life for everyone who believes in Him, with the result that everyone who believes in Him has a new and eternal life. That new, eternal life is the Son Himself [1John 5:12]. He who has the Son as his life, lives under grace and not under law anymore.
He who forgets that, is in danger of returning to a life under the law, to a life in Judaism. That is what the writer means with “drift away”. I hope you recognize the danger for yourself. If you start to let go of the Word and neglect praying, that is the beginning of drifting away.
[Verse 2]. “The word spoken through angels” was not to be mocked. It was advisable to take heed to that (e.g. [Gen 19:17-26]). This becomes even clearer if you think on the law in this regard [Acts 7:53]; [Gal 3:19]. The law is God’s law. You cannot violate it with impunity or ignore it in disobedience. God always maintains the authority of His Word. He will punish sin, in whatever way it is committed, righteously. In the Old Testament there is an example of a “just penalty” on transgressing the law in the judgment on someone who did not keep the sabbath commandment [Num 15:32-36].
[Verse 3]. If already such serious consequences are attached to violating the word spoken through angels, how serious then must be the consequences for someone who despises the word of grace that the Son Has spoken! The Lord Jesus has spoken to His people as a whole and also to the individual on earth about “so great a salvation”.
The national salvation, which means the salvation of Israel as a nation, is still a matter of the future. In Luke 4 there is a beautiful example of the speech of the Lord about the ‘great salvation’, for which He quotes Isaiah 61 [Luke 4:16-22]; [Isa 61:1-2]. When He announces there the ‘acceptable year of the Lord’, it is similar to ‘so great a salvation’, i.e. the millennial kingdom of peace. It is so great a salvation, not just a great one. The same emphasis you hear in the words: “For God so loved the world” [John 3:16]. It indicates its immeasurable size.
The salvation is in the first place great in size, for it does not only regard the Jews, but it is available to all people. In the second place, the salvation is also great in power, for it works justification and forgiveness. Then it cannot be otherwise than that he who neglects this word of grace of the Son, receives a justified penalty that is more severe than the penalty under the law. To sin under grace is worse than to sin under the law, because he who neglects this salvation, neglects Him Who offers this salvation and Who is greater than the angels.
It is not about a salvation that came to them in a hazy and dim way. The word on this has not been sounded just for a moment to quickly die away again. No, there has been spoken to them about the enormously great salvation in a fully persuasive, clear way. It could not possibly be misunderstood. No angels were involved here as invisible mediators.
This word has come in the first place from the mouth of the Lord Himself in a brightly understandable language. Then, when He ascended to heaven, those who heard it from the mouth of the Lord confirmed it to the readers of this letter. You may think of the disciples here.
[Verse 4]. Finally God underlined this word through the means of signs and wonders and miracles (i.e. works of power) and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will. Many of the readers could remember these things, because they have witnessed them themselves [Acts 2:43]; [Acts 5:12-15]. Therefore, regarding them, there should have been no doubt about what they were told. If such an abundant testimony is neglected, it is not possible to escape penalty. This serious word had to dawn on them, who were still doubting between Judaism and Christendom and who adhered to Christendom only externally.
By the way, it is noteworthy that the phrase “testifying with them” is written in the past tense. Could that mean that in the time of the writing of this letter the time of signs and wonders had already passed?
[Verse 5]. After the parenthesis the writer moves on with describing the glory of the Lord Jesus, but now in connection to the world to come. Therefore he now describes His glory as Son of Man. Like in chapter 1 he compares the Lord Jesus with the angels. But the result is totally different here. The result of the comparison in chapter 1 is, that He exceeds far beyond the angels. But what is the result of the comparison in chapter 2? The angels are not even discussed, they are fully excluded.
The reason for that is that they will not reign in the world to come. In future God will reign through His Son as the Son of Man. We shall reign together with Him and then even reign over angels [1Cor 6:3]. The future world is “His kingdom”, it is the kingdom “of the Son of Man” [Matt 13:41]. When He comes to earth to reign, “the times of refreshing” and “[the] period of restoration of all things” will begin [Acts 3:19-21].
It was the expectation of every Jew that, on the ground of the promises God made to the fathers, this new order would be introduced with the coming of the Messiah. Now the Messiah had come, yet this time had not begun. What these believers and you too have to bear in mind, is that this doesn’t mean that the promises are not valid anymore, but that they are postponed.
Faith is put to the test through this situation. That applied to them and that applies to you too. Do you believe that God will still fulfill all His promises? If you really believe that, that prospect will protect you on the way of faith. You then will not give in to the temptation of adhering to a religion on earth that is connected to a lot of glitter and glamour and of which also unbelievers can partake.
[Verse 6]. To prove that the government over the earth will be given to the Son of Man in future, the writer quotes a portion from Psalm 8 [Ps 8:3-8]. If you read that psalm you see that David – he is that “one” of this verse – describes a wide view. He points to earth and heaven. He speaks about the majesty of God and about infants and babes. He calls the government of man over the created, what you see in paradise and what you will see in the millennial kingdom. In the verses that the writer quotes, both the poorness of man as well as his futility come forward and his greatness.
The quotation begins with the question: “What is man?“ In this psalm the question arises after David came under the impression of heaven. What is man in comparison to the awesome heaven, where you can see in the night the moon and the countless stars? What value should that weak and mortal man have to God Who has clothed with His fingers the whole immeasurable firmament with innumerable stars of which many exceed the earth many times in size?
What could be attractive in puny man that God is mindful of him? The answer to that question is: ‘Just look at the Lord Jesus, ‘the Son of Man’, Who now is in glory. In Him you see how God really thinks about man. He is the true Son of Adam, as it is literally written here [Luke 3:38].
[Verse 7]. That God has made man “for a little while [or: a short time] lower than the angels” points to the fact that man because of his body has less freedom of movement than angels. An angel is a spirit and has not that limitation. An angel is also far beyond man when it comes down to power.
Yet God has appointed man as ruler over creation and not an angel. In it you see the glory and honor of man. We will learn from the next section, in the study of [Verse 9], how impressively this quotation is applied to the Lord Jesus.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-7
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let [them] slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard [him]; 4 God also bearing [them] witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? 5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. 6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? 7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
 | Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2025-04-18 Source: Title: Der Brief an die Hebräer: Reihe: Eine Auslegung speziell für dich Year (original): 2011 Author: Ger de Koning Number of pages: 196 Copyright: kingcomments.com Note General: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author or the publisher. |
The author has just concluded his arguments that Christ is far superior to the angels because He is the Son of God. Before showing that He is also superior as the Son of Man, he pauses for a moment to issue the first of several serious warnings found in this letter. It is a warning against "drifting away" from the goal of the message of the Gospel.
Because the Giver and His gift are so great, those who hear the Gospel must pay especially close "attention." There is always the danger of drifting past the person and falling back into a worship marked by symbols and shadows. This means slipping into apostasy—the sin that cannot be forgiven.
Because the Giver and His gift are so great, those who hear the Gospel must pay especially close "attention." There is always the danger of drifting past the person and falling back into a worship marked by symbols and shadows. This means slipping into apostasy—the sin that cannot be forgiven.
 | Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-04-15 Source: Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck |
Christ being proved to be superior to the angels, this doctrine is applied. Our minds and memories are like a leaky vessel, they do not, without much care, retain what is poured into them. This proceeds from the corruption of our nature, temptations, worldly cares, and pleasures. Sinning against the gospel is neglect of this great salvation; it is a contempt of the saving grace of God in Christ, making light of it, not caring for it, not regarding either the worth of gospel grace, or the want of it, and our undone state without it. The Lord’s judgments under the gospel dispensation are chiefly spiritual, but are on that account the more to be dreaded. Here is an appeal to the consciences of sinners. Even partial neglects will not escape rebukes; they often bring darkness on the souls they do not finally ruin. The setting forth the gospel was continued and confirmed by those who heard Christ, by the evangelists and apostles, who were witnesses of what Jesus Christ began both to do and to teach; and by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, qualified for the work to which they were called. And all this according to God’s own will. It was the will of God that we should have sure ground for our faith, and a strong foundation for our hope in receiving the gospel. Let us mind this one thing needful, and attend to the Holy Scriptures, written by those who heard the words of our gracious Lord, and were inspired by his Spirit; then we shall be blessed with the good part that cannot be taken away.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-4
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let [them] slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard [him]; 4 God also bearing [them] witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
 | Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source: Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry |
And having spoken concerning the Son, both what related to the Economy, and what related to the Creation, and to His sovereignty, and having shown His co-equal dignity, and that as absolute Master He rules not men only but also the powers above, he next exhorts them, having made out his argument, that we ought to give heed to the things which have been heard. Hebrews 2:1 Wherefore we ought to give more earnest heed (says he) to the things which we have heard. Why more earnest? Here he meant more earnest than to the Law: but he suppressed the actual expression of it, and yet makes it plain in the course of reasoning, not in the way of counsel, nor of exhortation. For so it was better.
 | Author: John Chrysostom Rank: Bishop AD: 407 |
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
