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.

The writer says that all things are for Jesus, and that all things are by Him, i.e., created through Him. As the representative of the race, Psalm 8:4-6 our needs are fully met in Him. It was fitting for Him, then, to make the originator of our salvation perfect through sufferings. The trials our Lord suffered assayed His quality and brought forth for display His inner nature. Verses 11 through 13 speak of how we, the sanctified are one with Christ, who is our sanctifier. The One who sets us apart for service to God also calls us brothers and sisters. And as much as His brothers and sisters had partaken of flesh and blood, being born in Adam’s image, Jesus likewise shared in our likeness. And in that likeness, as the Last Man and Second Adam, He destroyed Satan and the power the devil wields over Adam’s children, who were thralls to the fear of death.

 

The phrase in verse 16 rendered “give aid,” is literally translated “take hold of.” Jesus did not become an angel; He became a Man. He is often called the God-man. This isn’t a Greek perversion of what in the classic mythology we call demigods. He is not the son of a human woman being impregnated by a lusty god. Rather, God the Holy Spirit imparted life into Mary while she was yet a virgin, though after Christ’s birth she consummated the marriage union with Joseph and she would go on to have sons and daughters, Matthew 1:25. Despite the Roman Catholic corruption of the mother of Jesus’ earthly body, she did have intercourse with Joseph, did not remain a perpetual virgin and was not assumed bodily into Heaven. Mary is not the mother of God, but of Jesus in His earthly body during His first incarnation.

 

Our Lord gives aid, or takes hold of, the seed of Abraham. We know in Romans 4:13, 16, that the seed of Abraham are those who share the faith of Abraham and receive imputed righteousness from God by grace, apart from works. The salvation Christ wrought for us through His own death upon the cross and His sanctifying presence are given not to angels but to the spiritual descendants of Abraham. If the KJV version is adhered to this verse reads: “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” The emphasis appears to be given to the nature of Christ’s likeness, or form. He was a Jew, born of a Jewish woman from the tribe of Judah of the house of David, as Matthew and Luke both record in their genealogies. Christ took hold of humanity in general, and Jewry in particular, John 4:22.

 

Can angels be saved then? This slippery topic is not explicitly stated in Scripture, so consider it with caution. I have heard some propose the notion that because angels saw the creation week, including the creation of animal and human life, they were condemned for rebellion when they followed Lucifer. The rationale being that the angels, knowing God, seeing Him and witnessing His creative power and genius, do not need faith but have seen firsthand and are therefore without excuse. The gospel is not preached to angels, but to fallen humanity. The biblical doctrine of shedding of blood for remission of sins seems also to point at the reality that fallen angels (demons) will not be redeemed. Humanity is flesh and blood, whereas angels are spirits without a given physical form. Death remits sin; when the perpetrator is dead justice is satisfied. Angels will not know the second death until they are cast, with unsaved humanity, the Antichrist, false prophet and eventually Satan himself, into the Lake of Fire, Revelation 20:10, 14. For those who zealously study angelology I would offer caution. Scripture offers little insight into the ultimate fate of angels. We are told that, “we (the saints) shall judge angels,” 1 Corinthians 6:3, as well as the world, verse 2. The Greek for “judge” is “krino” and means, “to decide judicially, or to try, condemn, or punish.” When the saints have been perfected and we stand beside our Lord administering judgment, the angels, it would seem, are not exempt.