Hebrews Chapter Three, Faithful In The Father's House

 

Hebrews 3:1b consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, [2] who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses was faithful in all His house.

 

The author commends us to consider (reflect on or contemplate) our Apostle and High Priest, Jesus. In Hebrews 2:17 Jesus was previously referred to as High Priest. We know from the Old Testament that the high priest was charged with the responsibility of atoning for the sins of Israel on the Day of Atonement. That day, and that day alone, the high priest would go behind the veil of the Holiest of All to the Ark of the Covenant with blood, shed on behalf of his people’s sins, him included.

Hebrews Chapter Three, Partakers Of The Heavenly Calling

 

Hebrews 3:1a Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,

 

The holy brethren are the ones who are partakers of the heavenly calling. This begs the question: what is the heavenly calling? Jesus explained this calling in a parable from Matthew chapter 20, describing the kingdom of Heaven. It is the parable that begins the chapter, Matthew 20:1-16.

Considering Original Sin, Part 2 (of 2)

 

Original Sin reveals that no free moral agent apart from God is capable of infallibility and perfection. God made man with the ability to accept or reject Him; He gave us the power to refuse His offer of salvation, as many do because we prefer the lure of the sin nature’s immediate gratification, even if our pleasures are always uncertain, and sprinkled with grief while the fear of death’s approach is always on the horizon.

Considering Original Sin, Part 1 (of 2)

 

The doctrine of Original Sin is something that has long been contested in Christendom. Because the Roman Catholic Church stood as a champion of the doctrine might have been a contributing reason for Christians to consider rejecting it wholesale. But Rome did not originate the doctrine: the Bible did.

Hebrews Chapter Two, Jesus: Our Propitiation

 

Hebrews 2:17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. [18] For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

 

We are informed that Jesus had to be made like us “in all things,” so that He would be a merciful and faithful High Priest. Jesus our Lord became a Man. In His sinless humanity He ministered the gospel, worked His miracles and offered Himself as a sin offering for the world.

Hebrews Chapter Two, Giving Aid

 

Hebrews 2:16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

 

Backtracking to verse 9, let’s place this verse in simple context. Verse 9 begins with Jesus, incarnated as a Man, in a position lower than angels. His purpose was the suffering of death (man’s punishment for sin) crowned with glory upon His triumph over it, since we are told that He tasted death for everyone.

Hebrews Chapter Two, Bondage To Fear

 

Adam has begotten all of humanity. From one blood arose all nations on earth, Acts 17:26. Since we are physically born we are made in Adam’s image and receive his inheritance. This is what Jesus refers to as being born by water. The second birth, the spiritual birth, grants us what Paul describes as bearing the image of the heavenly Man. “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” John 3:5, 6. There are two types of births on this planet.

Hebrews Chapter Two, Destroying The Devil

 

Hebrews 2:14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, [15] and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

 

We read in a parallel passage, “The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man,” 1 Corinthians 15:47-49.

Hebrews Chapter Two, The Children God Has Given Him

The next three verses in Psalm 22 are a petition to the Father that He be not far from the suffering Servant in His moment of pain and shame, with verse 21 being a simple and comforting: “You have answered Me.” Verse 22, an introduction to the latter half of the Psalm, says, “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” After our Lord’s suffering we are told God answered Him, and He responds by saying how He will declare the Father’s name amidst His brethren. In Psalm 68:18 we read, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men,” see also Ephesians 4:8. 

Hebrews Chapter Two, Sanctified By The Word

 

Hebrews 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, [12] saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.” [13] And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”

 

Here we see the fulfillment of what John records of Jesus’ prayer when our Lord says, “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth…that they all may be one (who believe in Him), as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us,” John 17:19, 21.

Hebrews Chapter Two, Jesus: The Source Of Salvation

 

Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.

 

Context is necessary to understand this verse more clearly, and for that we will quote verse 18. “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” Jesus, the captain (originator or author) of our salvation, was made perfect through suffering. And this suffering came in the form of temptation. I believe this word, “tempt,” can be sorely misunderstood.

Hebrews Chapter Two, Tasting Death

 

Mankind (male and female) has been crowned with glory and honor. We are made in God’s image, Genesis 1:26. God forbade idolatry. He commanded Israel, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth,” Exodus 20:4. While the boundaries of human government are demarcated in Genesis and Psalm 8, we find a parallel in Exodus.

Hebrews Chapter Two, Under Man's Feet

 

Hebrews 2:7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. [8] You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

 

The author of Hebrews, applying this OT passage, explains that God created us lower than the angels. The angelic hosts are God’s messengers, servants and guards in the heavens. Mankind, created in a position lower than angels, has been made custodians of the created order, as is explained in Psalm 8:7, 8, “All sheep and oxen—even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.”