but we see Jesus, who [was] made some little inferior to angels on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; so that by the grace of God he should taste death for every thing.
Psalm 8 said God would put everything under man's feet, but no one sees that world today. Verse 9 answers with a different sight: one Man, already crowned, and the death that brought Him there.
The psalm has not failed. Part of it has already come true, and that part guarantees the rest.
We do not yet see everything this psalm announces: that all things should be put under His feet. But a part is already fulfilled, and this is a guarantee to the heart that the whole will be. Made a little lower than the angels to suffer death, He is crowned with glory and honour. He has suffered death, and He is crowned as the reward for His work. By that work He perfectly glorified God in the place where God had been dishonoured. And He saved man — those who believe in Him — where man was lost.
He did not merely receive the crown. He has a right to it.
He has rights because of His suffering — He tasted death for everything (Hebrews 2:9). He is now crowned with glory and with honour. The cross entitles Him to the crown.
The "seeing" in this verse is not the ordinary kind of sight.
"But we see Jesus." This is faith's language. We see with the eyes of a believing heart. What we see is the Person of the Son of Man at the right hand of God. Since it is truth, then truth in the heart responds to it. He chose to be made a little lower than angels, though in nature He is infinitely higher than they are. Now He is crowned with glory and honour.
One reason took Him below the angels. That reason also shows why no angel could take His place.
It was "for the suffering of death" that Jesus was made lower than the angels. What a low abasement for the Son of God! What was Adam's highest honour was only the first immeasurable step down for God's Fellow. That descent for our sakes ended in the grave. Death has no power over angels. It never reached so high. Its prey is man. God appointed it so, judging His sinful creature with a penalty that could be paid — if only someone fit could be found to stand in his place.
Every person tastes death. The words "by the grace of God" show why His tasting of it was not like ours.
His work had to be real, matching the responsibility He had taken on Himself. It also involved the glory of God in the place where sin was. So He had to suffer; He had to taste death. It is by the grace of God that He did so — we, because of sin; He, because of grace for sin.
Commentators differ over the last words. The ESV reads "for everyone." An older translation reads "for every thing," and some hold that the wider sense fits the context best.
How blessed and exact are the words added: "that He by God's grace should taste death for every thing"! This rendering, rather than "man," seems to suit the drift of the context best. It means the whole sphere — not just a universe, but "every thing" that His death brings under its reconciling power. The following verse brings in persons, and different language is used there.
That wide reach raises a question. Does it mean every person can say their sins were borne?
Both things are blessedly true of the death of Christ — He died for all, and by the grace of God He tasted death for every man. But according to the teaching of Scripture, only believers are entitled to say that He bore their sins in His death on the cross. That claim involves faith in His work. It also involves the benefits of His death coming to those who have that faith.
- Down. He was made lower than the angels for one reason — death. Angels are beyond death's reach; only a man could die, and He became one to do it.
- Death. We taste death because of sin; He tasted it by grace, for sin. The same experience, opposite causes.
- Reach. That death touches "every thing" — the whole scene that will come under His feet. But only faith in His work lets a person say He bore my sins.
- Crown. The glory is the reward of the suffering, not a substitute for it. The cross is what entitles Him to the crown.
- Sight. We cannot yet see all things under Him. We can see Him. That half-fulfilled psalm is the guarantee that the rest is coming.
For it became him, for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are] all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings.
Hebrews 2 has just shown Jesus crowned with glory and honor after He tasted death. Verse 10 asks why God chose that road. The answer is not that suffering was unavoidable. It was fitting. It matched who God is.
The verse starts with God's own character, not with our need. One writer explains the word, then follows it to the goal God had in view:
That word "became" means it was consistent with all that He was. It was suited to the character of God. Look at what He was going to do. He was going to bring people to glory. That was God's great object. And whom is He going to bring to glory? Many sons. He is not satisfied to bring a few men to glory, nor even to bring many. When they are brought to glory they are to be in an eternal relationship of sonship with Himself. We can easily imagine God redeeming us without bringing us into the relationship of sons. He might have given us a distant place in His glory. But God's thoughts go far beyond that. He will have a family of children around Himself.
The verse names God as the One all things come from and exist for. So why not lift people to glory by sheer power? One writer answers that God's own nature sets the terms for what His power does:
A Saviour from sin must be a sufferer. Power alone is not enough. The divine nature has its own necessities, and they set the terms on which divine power goes out... All things look to Him in their origin and their end... The moral conditions required a penalty. God's holiness must be vindicated at personal cost, but God's love is set on bringing sons to glory. There could be no perfecting of His blessed Person. But the conditions required for becoming a Saviour had to be met.
The ESV says "founder." Older translations say "captain." One Greek word lies behind both, and it is used of Christ elsewhere:
Archegos means "beginner, leader." In Acts 3:15 it is "prince" (the margin says "author"): the Lord Jesus is the originator of life. In Hebrews 12:2 the Lord Jesus is the "leader" and completer of faith. He began and finished the whole course. In Hebrews 2:10 older English versions read "captain": He was "leader" of their salvation through suffering.
A leader goes ahead of his people. How far ahead did this one go? One writer compares Him with David, who led a band of followers through hardship:
The Captain or Leader of the band must therefore pass through those sufferings Himself. Notice one point here. David was the captain of his band, and he suffered much. But he and his followers suffered together, so from time to time they must have met new experiences. Our Captain suffered it all first, and in doing so He did not stop short of death.
The phrase troubles many readers. How can the sinless Son be made perfect? Every writer here agrees that nothing was lacking in Him, but they stress it differently. One puts the perfecting in His work as Saviour:
It was not His Person that had to be perfected, for He is perfect. But He had to be perfected through suffering as a Saviour... Before the foundation of the world, knowing the coming ruin of man, He purposed to bring many sons to glory. This is divine love.
Another ties the word to the outcome God had in view:
It was fitting for Him to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. "Perfect" here means the full result of glory: to bring Him into the state of a glorified Man, if He would bring sons to glory. In Himself He was the perfect One. He is always in the bosom of the Father.
God Himself set what a Saviour must be. So the Saviour He gives meets that standard:
It was fitting for the glory of God to give you a perfect Saviour. Do you believe it? What thoughts rise in the soul when we come to that! Do you have Him, so that you are never tempted, even in a single thought, to look beyond Him? We have a salvation that cannot be questioned and cannot fail, one that will stand the shock of every coming day.
- Fitting. The cross suited God's own character. God chose that road by what He is, not only by what we needed.
- Sons. The goal was never a distant place in glory but a family: many sons, in eternal relationship with Himself.
- Suffering. Power alone could not do it. God's holiness had to be vindicated at personal cost. So a Saviour from sin had to be a sufferer.
- Leader. The word means beginner and leader. He starts the salvation. Unlike David with his men, He went through every suffering first, all the way to death.
- Perfect. Nothing was added to His Person. God perfected Him as Saviour and Leader. Commentators differ on where the stress falls: on His fitness to save, or on His place as glorified Man. Either way, we get a salvation that will stand every coming day.