Hebrews 2:14–17

Context

The Epistle to the Hebrews is a New Testament letter of unknown authorship. It was written to Christians who were in danger of abandoning their faith amid persecution and discouragement, and its recipients are commonly identified as Jewish believers. Chapter 1 declares that the Son is superior to the angels. Chapter 2 quotes Psalm 8 to explain why the Son was made "a little lower than the angels" for a time. After verses 11–13 state that Christ is not ashamed to call believers "brethren," this passage sets out the purposes for which he took on "flesh and blood": to destroy the devil, to deliver those held in bondage by the fear of death, and to become a merciful and faithful high priest who deals with the sins of the people. The title "high priest" appears here for the first time in the epistle and is developed at length from chapter 4 onward.

Interpretation

• Incarnational reading: The passage is read as a key text demonstrating that Christ was truly human. It stands in contrast to Docetism, which held that Christ's body was merely an appearance, and it accords with the confession formulated by the Council of Chalcedon that Christ is "truly God and truly man." This view is widely accepted across denominations.
• Christus Victor reading: Verses 14–15 emphasize victory over death and the devil. The passage is often cited in support of what the Swedish Lutheran theologian Gustaf Aulén called the "classic" theory of the atonement, which understands the atonement as the event in which Christ overcame the powers of sin, death, and the devil.
• Propitiatory and substitutionary reading: The verb in verse 17 (Greek hilaskesthai) belongs to the same word family as "propitiation." Reformed and evangelical interpreters generally emphasize the sense of "propitiation," the turning away of God's wrath. Others understand it in the sense of "expiation," the cleansing and removal of sin. In the English-speaking world, the debate between C. H. Dodd and Leon Morris is well known.
• Pastoral reading: The deliverance of those "who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:15) is read as a source of comfort in the face of death.

Debates and Issues

• Translation of verse 16: Older translations such as the King James Version rendered the word now commonly translated "help" or "take hold of" as "took on him the nature of," treating it as a reference to the Incarnation itself. Modern translations generally render it "help" or "take hold of."
• Translation of the verb in verse 17: Among Korean translations, the Korean Revised Version renders it "to redeem," while the New Korean Revised Version renders it "to ransom."
• Scope of "the seed of Abraham": Some read the phrase as referring to Israel by physical descent. Others, following Galatians 3, read it as referring to those who have become descendants of Abraham through faith.
• "In all things… like unto his brethren": Hebrews 4:15 adds that he was "yet without sin." Views differ on whether the human nature Christ assumed was unfallen or fallen. Karl Barth and others held that Christ assumed fallen human nature, while others reject this view.

Related Passages

• Hebrews 2:18
• Hebrews 4:14–16
• 1 John 3:8
• 1 Corinthians 15:22–26
• Galatians 3:26–29