Bible Gem 2053 – Those Little Joining Words Make Sense of the Whole (Heb 2:9-18)

⁹ But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of His suffering death crowned with glory and honour, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. ¹⁰ For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the originator of their salvation through sufferings.¹¹ For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, ¹² saying,

“I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BROTHERS,
IN THE MIDST OF THE ASSEMBLY I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE.”

Psalm 22:22

¹³ And again,

“I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM.”

Isaiah 8:17

And again,

“BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME.”

Isaiah 8:18

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.¹⁶ For clearly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brothers so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

Hebrews 2:9-18 [NASB]

You will see I have given you the same passage as in the previous Gem, coloured in the same way. The blue text are the words of the writer of Hebrews, the black text are the quotes from the Old Testament, including the text numbers which were not put in by the writer, but added centuries later. The green text are the little joining words (conjunctions), which make sense of the whole.

Here are our remaining questions:

• How does this initial argument link to what follows?
• Ian, I counted 5 “for’s”, 2 “therefore’s” and a “so that” in the passage? How do they all fit together?
• Actually we have: a “but”, 3 “for’s”, 1 “for this reason”, 2 “therefore’s”, 2 “so that’s” and a “for since”.
• How is the writer using the quotes from Psalm 22 and Isaiah 8?
• And Ross’ added question: How can we suffer with him, sharing in his death for we are mere mortals?

In order to make all of the above clear I will have to use Propositional Analysis, which I am aware confuses some of you. I will try to make it as clear as I can. Here is the flow of author’s thought:

Let me unpack the propositions for you:

• But we do see Jesus made lower than the angels . . . because of His suffering death for us – contrasted with man being a little lower than the angels now.
• We see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honour . . . so that, by the Grace of God, he might taste death for everyone
• For it was fitting for God . . . to perfect the originator of their salvation . . . through sufferings . . . in [order to] bring many sons [and daughters] to glory
• For God perfects both He who sanctified [them], (Jesus) . . . and those who are sanctified (us) because we are all from one Father (one family).
• For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them / us brothers and sisters.

Now we come to the Old Testament quotes. How is the writer using these passages? He has skilfully clipped Psalm 22:22 from the passage related to the Son (Messiah) where it reads appropriately “I will proclaim Your name to my brothers” – making it clear Messiah is stating God’s children are brothers and sisters to Him. This verse maintains the right filial relationship between Father God, Son Jesus and us as His brothers and sisters. Very clever. Following that, he chose the passage from Isaiah where in the original context Isaiah was referring to himself and his children, Shear Yashub and Maher Shalal Hash Baz, as signs to Ahaz. But in the way he has clipped the end of verse 17 of Isaiah 8 and attached it to the following verse, it is clear the author’s intention is for us to think of ourselves as Messiah’s children, and Messiah as the One in Whom we put our trust. How right and appropriate is that! By quoting just the end of verse 17 and placing it with verse 18 in the context of the prophet and his children, he preserves the family connection of the children of God and makes it clear they are family because they trust in Him (Jesus, This Son). That is all he is doing so we don’t need to delve deeper into the original text of the quote. The family link of Jesus to redeemed man (mankind) has been established. The children are God’s children by virtue of the fact that they have been sanctified by Christ and are therefore part of the family.

Now it remains for us to make sense of the last portion of the author’s own words. This section is easier because it has been broken into four Greek sentences so there are not the layers of relative clauses and relative pronouns that we encountered with Ephesians 1:3-14 in the Gem series One Greek Sentence (Gems 600–633). Nor like That Majestic Passage of Philippians 2:5-11. (Gems 1923 – 1949)

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

Having established redeemed mankind as children of God who are flesh and blood, Jesus likewise had to become flesh and blood in order to destroy the power of death over us by freeing us from the fear of death.

¹⁶ For clearly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendants of Abraham. 

The writer returns to what he has said before (1:14) to emphasise again that angels are servant spirits. He is making sure the Jewish Christians get the message not to think in Old Testament terms of venerating angels. The comment is an extra thought re-emphasising a point he has made before.

¹⁷ Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brothers so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 

Therefore, because Jesus had to be made like his brothers, he became flesh and blood. That is the reason for the incarnation. In order to be a merciful and faithful high priest Jesus had to know what it was like to be human. Thus He could be merciful because he understood our temptations and our sufferings and as our high priest He could turn away God’s anger at our sin. In this verse we meet one of the old English terms ‘propitiation’ and ‘expiation’.

• Propitiation carries the idea of turning away anger (appeasing or placating). That which turns away God’s righteous anger.
• Expiation means to wipe away sin or the removal of sin. [hilastērion] is seen as the “expiatory sacrifice” – that which takes away sin.

The use of propitiation here is referring to Jesus actions as both the High Priest and the sacrifice. By coming as the High Priest, a point the writer is going to expand on in later (Heb 4:14 onwards), He understands us and deals with our separation from God because of sin. As the once for all offering, He pays the price for our sin and separation from God.

¹⁸ For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

In this part of the argument the writer is focused on Jesus role as High Priest and not being the sacrifice. He goes on to say “since He experienced temptation while he suffered, and given the fact that He took on flesh and blood”, He completely understands us and comes to our aid when we are tempted. We can’t have help greater than that. It is possible that the writer’s repetition of the comment about angels is reinforcing the notion of This Son being so much greater than angels. However my hunch is that he is no longer focused on the case for Christ being greater than angels and is now on the verge of broadening his argument to cover other comparisons he wants to make with This Son.

Now finally to answer Ross’ question: How can we suffer with him, sharing in his death for we are mere mortals?

I began with the following answer I gave him in the Comments Section of the previous Gem:

“If God could use Christ’s suffering to perfect Him who was perfect as God, in order for the archegos (originator or perfector) to leave us with an archetype and a way, then surely the process of glory through suffering applies to us too.”

My point is that Jesus was not made more perfect by suffering as God. Being in the form of God He was already as perfect as He was at the beginning. Rather what is in focus is the process he went though as a human being. It is the example while enduring suffering in order to take up our cross and follow him. It is not that we have to die by crucifixion, rather He understands our suffering in whatever we are going through. He is our example to follow when we go through suffering, being merciful and faithful to us while we remain faithful to Him. Knowing too that He has taken the sting of death away and through death we will appropriate the resurrection from the dead.

Now you have to admit that should make any suffering bearable, if we truly hang on to Him and believe all that He has done for us. He is after all our High priest and our sacrifice.

The devil knows your name but calls you by your sins; God knows your sins but calls you by your name.

Ally Alexandra

If you want a glimpse of your future, don’t look for the size of your dream, but for the size of your sacrifice. 

Jeffrey Rachmat

Jesus delights in you as you give yourself as a living sacrifice to Him to use, in response to all He has done for you. As your High Priest He totally understands you.

Ian

Never desire another’s success until you know the sacrifice, pain & pressure they went through to achieve it.

Rick Warren