Hebrews Chapter 2

vs 1

This verse is obviously aimed at addressing a problem with people sticking to the faith. This verse is problematic to some people who have issues with the whole assurance of salvation thing. But drifting away is the theme here for the moment.

I wonder how many Jewish Christians had slipped back into their Jewish ways? How difficult would it be to be doing very similar religious activities, and to only add a name to a saviour that you were supposedly expecting anyway? More difficult than you think, it seems. Because with Christ came a change of focus - towards salvation and eternal life, towards faith rather than community. I'm not saying that community is not part of Christianity - but Judaism was about being a member of a commuity of faith which existed at least partly through bloodline, and at least partly through following tradition. Instead, Christ was adamant that it was faith that brought you to him, not your ancestry or the pig you didn't eat.

I wonder how many Jewish Christians had slipped back into their Jewish ways?

vs 2

Which message are we talking about that was spoken through angels? The author could be talking about the Law, I guess. Angels seem to be fairly busy in the prophets. Hard to say, really. The Christian gospel specifically has its fair share of angels, perhaps they mean the salvation message? I think the Law is more likely, though, because of the mention of punishment. But then, I still have 1 Cor 10 rattling around in my head, so that might cause me to think in that way. If the shoe fits, though...

vs 3

The message of punishment (and punishment itself) seems to have been meted out by angels. But the message of salvation came through Christ. Now it also comes through those who heard it and have passed it on. That's the thing - the Jews were very familiar with the first half of the message - that of violation and punishment. They were also aware of the physical blessings through the land that were spoken of. But the way of salvation is new, coming through Christ. Not that it didn't exist in the OT at all, but it is vocalised now.

vs 4

These were not only accompanying Christ, but also his followers. Paul tells us, interestingly, in 1 Cor 1 that it is Jews that demand miraculous signs, while Greeks seek wisdom. Well, there was plenty of miraculous signs!

vs 5

I assume we're talking about God again now, and we are wrapping up the argument about angels. They aren't the ones who are taking over responsibility of the world. It's Christ. Christ, therefore, is superior.

vs 6-8

We of course recognise Psalm 8 here. There are three footnotes in the TNIV v8, changing "them" to "him", in what I feel was complete overkill of footnotes. Anyway, the point is that this psalm is backing up the statement that the author just made about Christ, not angels, being put over everything. It's a good verse for that. He even goes so far as to point out that we might not see this happening everywhere at this point, but this is just a present condition.

vs 9

What do we see? Jesus - made a little lower than angels (born of a man), and his resurrection shows us his crowning with glory and honour. The idea being, I suppose, that we have seen two out of three, so we should see the third coming in good time, and be expectant.