Study No. 3 Brothers of Jesus Hebrews 2:1-18
Letting things (beliefs we once held dear) slip … is a bit different than being afraid to own up to certain doctrines for fear of persecution. These Hebrew Christians had, to the best of their ability, removed themselves from threat of persecution. They were resettling their lives. They were trying to experience normal day to day living. That included rubbing shoulders with the world (the Gentiles) and with members of their former Jewish religion. The Jews had synagogues in some very remote areas at this time. How easy it might be to forget and think, what was all the fuss about anyway?
Sometimes 'forgetting' is a good thing. In the past, church history has revealed many church 'splits'. Splits over what kinds of issues, we might ask? Actually, there is almost an infinite variety of teachings and sub-teachings over which divisions took place. The result has been what I call the development of two 'lists' within each church. There is the long list. And there is the short list.
In the long list is, for example, the apostles creed.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen
These are just a few the basic doctrines of the long list. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of things taught in the bible that all Christians accept. The 'long list' of things on which most churches and denominations agree includes what we believe about God, about Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the crucifixion of Jesus for the sin of the world etc.
Those who accept this long list includes even the mainline churches1.
There is another 'long list' for the evangelical churches2. Added to this long list would be agreement to what constitutes salvation.
The 'short list' would be anything besides this long list. These would become the 'distinctives' which set us apart from others. They are the things that stand out. They are the things of which we are proud. They are things over which we will divide if necessary.
Here are just a few 'short list' items.
Is baptism by immersion, sprinkling or pouring? Is salvation permanent? How are spiritual gifts emphasized in today's church? Is it right for Christians to take up arms and go to war? Is the second coming of Jesus going to be in two phases, set apart by about 7 years? What kind of music is right for a church? Is using musical instruments in a church service biblical and correct for our day? Does it matter what names we use to address God? Is what we wear to church important? Do we believe that there is any difference of roles for church leaders as far as male and female is concerned? How important are religious holidays? Etc.
Does this list look long? That's only because I have grouped these together. In truth, a church can be identical to ours but lift up one of these from the short list and use it as the reason to remain separate from us. That is, they might agree on every point except one; they believe in sprinkling for baptism, and because of that remain a separate denomination.
Paul is not talking about letting these things slip. Actually, letting some of these things go … is a good thing. This has been the case with many denominational distinctives. Eventually, second or third generation believers become the church … and since they were not there for the initial 'fight' that resulted in division and the development of their beloved distinctives … they let them go. The end result is that there is no longer that much difference between some of the denominations. That is a good thing.
But Paul is talking about letting slip some of the major things from our long list. The biggest thing that we could let slip would be the doctrine of salvation through only one person, Jesus Christ - the salvation that is not of works.
How shall we escape is Paul's question. What is he driving at? What could possibly happen to us?
Paul is reminding the Hebrews (and us) that serious consequences befell those who ignored the words of the prophets and those who ignored the commandments of God. “Every transgression and disobedience received a reward”, and then he directly connects and compares the past with the present, by asking the question … How shall we escape? So many of us assume that in the age of Grace that God overlooks things now. Or that He automatically covers them. There will be more on this subject in chapter six.
So, while we should not be dividing fellowship over things in the short list of distnctives, we must not shy away from studying them so that we can in fact, achieve greater unity in all things. God is not suggesting that we leave things out in the name of unity, but rather that we continue to look to His word for clarity and if we still disagree … agree to disagree in love and still fellowship with one another.
We can get some clarity on this by turning to Romans 12. As Paul begins this chapter he addresses the importance accepting one another within the body of Christ. He points out that there are some individual that he calls 'weak in the faith'. These are the ones who have many rules about things they deem to be questionable behaviour for believers. These rules about particular practices may have come from a past pre-Chirstian life, or a time spent in another religion. These rules are often based on feelings. In this case a person just does not feel comfortable doing a certain thing. Why? Because in their past experience it was just considered to be wrong and even though the church they are now in makes no issue about it, they simply feel very uncomfortable about joining in.
Paul gives a couple of examples that were prominent in his day; one was the practice of treating some days as holy whereas others treated all days as holy. One person believes all types of food are permissible to eat while others have rules that command them to stay away from certain food. (Those with strong Jewish roots would stay away from eating pork, etc.)
To 'flaunt' one's liberty before another person, Paul said is wrong. To encourage a person to do something that they think is wrong, by our telling them ... there's nothing wrong with ... go ahead and do it. So then they go ahead and do it ... and end up with a smitten conscience. We have cast a stumbling block in front of them. Paul says, this is wrong! He adds, when a person does something they THINK might be sinful ... it is. It becomes sin for them.3
When it comes to emphasis upon things that belong in the short list ... those teachings that have no effect on the long list of who God is, what Jesus did for us on the cross, the fact that he has risen from the dead ... and on and on ... here is what Paul suggests.
Keep these things to yourself4
In a neutral situation ... teach what God's word says about it5.
In contrast to how God spoke to Israel in Moses' day (i.e. by Angels!) how has God spoken to 'us'? (primarily, the 'us' refers to these early scattered Christians and not to 'us' in this century)
God spoke in person by Jesus … and then by those who personally heard Jesus. This does not include the writer of Hebrews, as he says 'by THOSE who heard them'. He would have said 'by WE who heard him, if he had been there at the time. As we know, Paul was not there until after Jesus had ascended.
To us in this present day, we cannot say we heard Jesus personally and we cannot say that we heard those had been taught by Jesus. However, we have been spoken to by God by all of the past rolled together into one book, the Word of God.
In verse 9. Did Jesus 'taste death' for
a) all who would be saved, according to divine election, in keeping with the doctrine of 'Limited Atonement'? Or
b) for everyone, indicating that anyone and everyone can be saved, provision made in a universal sense.? - See I Timothy, 2:46 …. all to be saved? II Peter 3:97.
What does verse 10 mean … make the captain of their salvation 'perfect'? Captain is referring to Jesus. The word 'perfect' is more properly translated 'complete'. Most translations, however have missed this. The original word includes, finish, carry through completely or bring to an end.
Paul is emphasizing the unity we have with Christ ... He calls us 'brothers', v11. He brings to our attention Psalm 22.22. The old Testament verse uses the word 'assembly'. The new testament word in Ekklesia, or in English, the word 'church'. To show the closeness of Jesus to His brethren, the verse mentions singing together.
When did Jesus sing praises? Where – in the midst of the assembly? Church? How could Jesus sing in the midst of the church … when there was no church yet … would not be a church until Pentecost. By then Jesus was already in heaven. So when did Jesus 'sing in church'? See Matthew 26:30. So did the church 'begin' at Pentecost or was it created earlier than that?
For the answer we have to look to scripture and tradition or logic.
Note: There is no scripture that says the church began, was born, or started at Pentecost.
There IS scripture that says the church was EMPOWERED on Pentecost.
There IS scripture that tells us how loving discipline is to be carried out in the church. The context does not indicate surprise or question by the disciples, such as 'Church? What do you mean?'
There IS evidence of the literal meaning of Ekklesia developing in Jesus' personal ministry. Ekklesia is a compound word. Ek means OUT. KALLEO means to call. Literally the word means 'called out'. A group, called together for a purpose was termed an EKKLESIA. Jesus approached John the Baptist and the crowd ... called people to follow Him. He came by the seaside, saw fishermen (who had already been baptized by John the Baptist) and He called them ... for a purpose. The purpose was to make them into fishers of men. Later, as his called out group (of disciples) was growing to be quite a size, he asked them to remain at the foot of a mountain while He would ascend alone, and there pray. He prayed all night. In the morning he called the disciples together and picked out twelve and called them apostles. This action is mentioned by Paul. And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, various kinds of tongues. 1Co 12:28
For Jesus to SET or APPOINT apostles in the church ... there had to be a church to set them into. He did not wait until Pentecost to install apostles. They were already apostles and had been called that for about 3 years.
So when did Jesus sing in church? Answer Matt 26:30 and/or Mark 14:26. By the way, having a correct understanding of when the church was formed affects our understanding of other things such as dispensationalism8 and even eschatology.
The teachers of dispensationalism agree that the church was 'born' at Pentecost. Some have said that any reference to the church PRIOR to Pentecost is referring to the church while it was in an embryonic state. Makes sense? If the church had a 'birthday' then it could also have existed as en embryo. The actual truth is ... there are no biblical references to the church ever having been 'born'.
Verses 14 - 18
Could Jesus have sinned …. given in to temptation? Someone asked whether any of the 'good' angels could have the potential to sin. We pointed out that the situation for all angels is the same today as it ever was. At one point all were good angels. When Lucifer reasoned in his heart that, with support, he could replace God by overpowering Him and taking His throne. He convinced a number to support him. Note: none had the 'sin-nature' that we are all born with. The 'good' angels who remain were all present and fought in the rebellion. They are not tempted by a fallen sin nature.... but they have the ability to reason.
What about Jesus – God and man. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. Could He have sinned? I think you will agree that the answer is, yes. Jesus did not have our sin-nature. For him to have sinned it would have had to have been through following a reasoning process. It would have to have been intentional. The temptations by Satan were designed to do just that. They were real alternatives aimed at real solutions. Solution to present hunger. Solution to being recognized for who He, in fact, was. The solution to receiving the kingdoms of the world ... without having to suffer and die.
If Jesus could not have sinned, these were no test at all.
As it is, He aids, helps, understands, encourages us in all of our temptations and tests.
1Co 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
1Presbyterian, Lutheran. Anglican, Catholic. (The United church has moved totally away from the authority of the Bible)
2Alliance, Baptist, Pentecostal, Mennonite, Evangelical Free, Associated Gospel, Evangelical Missionary, Many Community interdenominational churches, etc.
3Ro 14:23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
4Ro 14:22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
51Co 8:4 ¶ So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.1Co 8:7 ¶ But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.1Co 8:9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling-block to the weak.
61Ti 2:4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
72Pe 3:9 ¶ ... He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
8Dispensationalism: Is an approach to understanding scripture which states that God used different methods of reaching people throughout history. These methods have been views as eras or ages. They have identified 7 or 8 ages, the main two being the age of Law (Israel) and the age of grace (church Age ). The teaching includes the understanding that Israel and the church will remain totally separate for all of history. Eschatology is affected in that the future 7 years of predicted end-times are viewed as belonging to Israel, so therefor the church cannot be here.v
Sometimes 'forgetting' is a good thing. In the past, church history has revealed many church 'splits'. Splits over what kinds of issues, we might ask? Actually, there is almost an infinite variety of teachings and sub-teachings over which divisions took place. The result has been what I call the development of two 'lists' within each church. There is the long list. And there is the short list.
In the long list is, for example, the apostles creed.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen
These are just a few the basic doctrines of the long list. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of things taught in the bible that all Christians accept. The 'long list' of things on which most churches and denominations agree includes what we believe about God, about Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the crucifixion of Jesus for the sin of the world etc.
Those who accept this long list includes even the mainline churches1.
There is another 'long list' for the evangelical churches2. Added to this long list would be agreement to what constitutes salvation.
The 'short list' would be anything besides this long list. These would become the 'distinctives' which set us apart from others. They are the things that stand out. They are the things of which we are proud. They are things over which we will divide if necessary.
Here are just a few 'short list' items.
Is baptism by immersion, sprinkling or pouring? Is salvation permanent? How are spiritual gifts emphasized in today's church? Is it right for Christians to take up arms and go to war? Is the second coming of Jesus going to be in two phases, set apart by about 7 years? What kind of music is right for a church? Is using musical instruments in a church service biblical and correct for our day? Does it matter what names we use to address God? Is what we wear to church important? Do we believe that there is any difference of roles for church leaders as far as male and female is concerned? How important are religious holidays? Etc.
Does this list look long? That's only because I have grouped these together. In truth, a church can be identical to ours but lift up one of these from the short list and use it as the reason to remain separate from us. That is, they might agree on every point except one; they believe in sprinkling for baptism, and because of that remain a separate denomination.
Paul is not talking about letting these things slip. Actually, letting some of these things go … is a good thing. This has been the case with many denominational distinctives. Eventually, second or third generation believers become the church … and since they were not there for the initial 'fight' that resulted in division and the development of their beloved distinctives … they let them go. The end result is that there is no longer that much difference between some of the denominations. That is a good thing.
But Paul is talking about letting slip some of the major things from our long list. The biggest thing that we could let slip would be the doctrine of salvation through only one person, Jesus Christ - the salvation that is not of works.
How shall we escape is Paul's question. What is he driving at? What could possibly happen to us?
Paul is reminding the Hebrews (and us) that serious consequences befell those who ignored the words of the prophets and those who ignored the commandments of God. “Every transgression and disobedience received a reward”, and then he directly connects and compares the past with the present, by asking the question … How shall we escape? So many of us assume that in the age of Grace that God overlooks things now. Or that He automatically covers them. There will be more on this subject in chapter six.
So, while we should not be dividing fellowship over things in the short list of distnctives, we must not shy away from studying them so that we can in fact, achieve greater unity in all things. God is not suggesting that we leave things out in the name of unity, but rather that we continue to look to His word for clarity and if we still disagree … agree to disagree in love and still fellowship with one another.
We can get some clarity on this by turning to Romans 12. As Paul begins this chapter he addresses the importance accepting one another within the body of Christ. He points out that there are some individual that he calls 'weak in the faith'. These are the ones who have many rules about things they deem to be questionable behaviour for believers. These rules about particular practices may have come from a past pre-Chirstian life, or a time spent in another religion. These rules are often based on feelings. In this case a person just does not feel comfortable doing a certain thing. Why? Because in their past experience it was just considered to be wrong and even though the church they are now in makes no issue about it, they simply feel very uncomfortable about joining in.
Paul gives a couple of examples that were prominent in his day; one was the practice of treating some days as holy whereas others treated all days as holy. One person believes all types of food are permissible to eat while others have rules that command them to stay away from certain food. (Those with strong Jewish roots would stay away from eating pork, etc.)
To 'flaunt' one's liberty before another person, Paul said is wrong. To encourage a person to do something that they think is wrong, by our telling them ... there's nothing wrong with ... go ahead and do it. So then they go ahead and do it ... and end up with a smitten conscience. We have cast a stumbling block in front of them. Paul says, this is wrong! He adds, when a person does something they THINK might be sinful ... it is. It becomes sin for them.3
When it comes to emphasis upon things that belong in the short list ... those teachings that have no effect on the long list of who God is, what Jesus did for us on the cross, the fact that he has risen from the dead ... and on and on ... here is what Paul suggests.
Keep these things to yourself4
In a neutral situation ... teach what God's word says about it5.
In contrast to how God spoke to Israel in Moses' day (i.e. by Angels!) how has God spoken to 'us'? (primarily, the 'us' refers to these early scattered Christians and not to 'us' in this century)
God spoke in person by Jesus … and then by those who personally heard Jesus. This does not include the writer of Hebrews, as he says 'by THOSE who heard them'. He would have said 'by WE who heard him, if he had been there at the time. As we know, Paul was not there until after Jesus had ascended.
To us in this present day, we cannot say we heard Jesus personally and we cannot say that we heard those had been taught by Jesus. However, we have been spoken to by God by all of the past rolled together into one book, the Word of God.
In verse 9. Did Jesus 'taste death' for
a) all who would be saved, according to divine election, in keeping with the doctrine of 'Limited Atonement'? Or
b) for everyone, indicating that anyone and everyone can be saved, provision made in a universal sense.? - See I Timothy, 2:46 …. all to be saved? II Peter 3:97.
What does verse 10 mean … make the captain of their salvation 'perfect'? Captain is referring to Jesus. The word 'perfect' is more properly translated 'complete'. Most translations, however have missed this. The original word includes, finish, carry through completely or bring to an end.
Paul is emphasizing the unity we have with Christ ... He calls us 'brothers', v11. He brings to our attention Psalm 22.22. The old Testament verse uses the word 'assembly'. The new testament word in Ekklesia, or in English, the word 'church'. To show the closeness of Jesus to His brethren, the verse mentions singing together.
When did Jesus sing praises? Where – in the midst of the assembly? Church? How could Jesus sing in the midst of the church … when there was no church yet … would not be a church until Pentecost. By then Jesus was already in heaven. So when did Jesus 'sing in church'? See Matthew 26:30. So did the church 'begin' at Pentecost or was it created earlier than that?
For the answer we have to look to scripture and tradition or logic.
Note: There is no scripture that says the church began, was born, or started at Pentecost.
There IS scripture that says the church was EMPOWERED on Pentecost.
There IS scripture that tells us how loving discipline is to be carried out in the church. The context does not indicate surprise or question by the disciples, such as 'Church? What do you mean?'
There IS evidence of the literal meaning of Ekklesia developing in Jesus' personal ministry. Ekklesia is a compound word. Ek means OUT. KALLEO means to call. Literally the word means 'called out'. A group, called together for a purpose was termed an EKKLESIA. Jesus approached John the Baptist and the crowd ... called people to follow Him. He came by the seaside, saw fishermen (who had already been baptized by John the Baptist) and He called them ... for a purpose. The purpose was to make them into fishers of men. Later, as his called out group (of disciples) was growing to be quite a size, he asked them to remain at the foot of a mountain while He would ascend alone, and there pray. He prayed all night. In the morning he called the disciples together and picked out twelve and called them apostles. This action is mentioned by Paul. And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, various kinds of tongues. 1Co 12:28
For Jesus to SET or APPOINT apostles in the church ... there had to be a church to set them into. He did not wait until Pentecost to install apostles. They were already apostles and had been called that for about 3 years.
So when did Jesus sing in church? Answer Matt 26:30 and/or Mark 14:26. By the way, having a correct understanding of when the church was formed affects our understanding of other things such as dispensationalism8 and even eschatology.
The teachers of dispensationalism agree that the church was 'born' at Pentecost. Some have said that any reference to the church PRIOR to Pentecost is referring to the church while it was in an embryonic state. Makes sense? If the church had a 'birthday' then it could also have existed as en embryo. The actual truth is ... there are no biblical references to the church ever having been 'born'.
Verses 14 - 18
Could Jesus have sinned …. given in to temptation? Someone asked whether any of the 'good' angels could have the potential to sin. We pointed out that the situation for all angels is the same today as it ever was. At one point all were good angels. When Lucifer reasoned in his heart that, with support, he could replace God by overpowering Him and taking His throne. He convinced a number to support him. Note: none had the 'sin-nature' that we are all born with. The 'good' angels who remain were all present and fought in the rebellion. They are not tempted by a fallen sin nature.... but they have the ability to reason.
What about Jesus – God and man. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. Could He have sinned? I think you will agree that the answer is, yes. Jesus did not have our sin-nature. For him to have sinned it would have had to have been through following a reasoning process. It would have to have been intentional. The temptations by Satan were designed to do just that. They were real alternatives aimed at real solutions. Solution to present hunger. Solution to being recognized for who He, in fact, was. The solution to receiving the kingdoms of the world ... without having to suffer and die.
If Jesus could not have sinned, these were no test at all.
As it is, He aids, helps, understands, encourages us in all of our temptations and tests.
1Co 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
1Presbyterian, Lutheran. Anglican, Catholic. (The United church has moved totally away from the authority of the Bible)
2Alliance, Baptist, Pentecostal, Mennonite, Evangelical Free, Associated Gospel, Evangelical Missionary, Many Community interdenominational churches, etc.
3Ro 14:23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
4Ro 14:22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
51Co 8:4 ¶ So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.1Co 8:7 ¶ But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.1Co 8:9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling-block to the weak.
61Ti 2:4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
72Pe 3:9 ¶ ... He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
8Dispensationalism: Is an approach to understanding scripture which states that God used different methods of reaching people throughout history. These methods have been views as eras or ages. They have identified 7 or 8 ages, the main two being the age of Law (Israel) and the age of grace (church Age ). The teaching includes the understanding that Israel and the church will remain totally separate for all of history. Eschatology is affected in that the future 7 years of predicted end-times are viewed as belonging to Israel, so therefor the church cannot be here.v