Hebrews 2:2-10
This text is a powerful admonition to hold firmly to the things that Christ said early on in his ministry. The speaker calls attention to the awesome magnitude of power offered by the present configuration of the kingdom of God. He remarks how through Christ we have access to a kingdom and dominion that not even the angels or custodians of the former covenant were able to gain.
While a good portion of this sentiment is certainly polemical against Jerusalem proper, the text validly notes the transformation of the nature of the kingdom of God – that it is no longer a location that is even taken care of by the angels any longer.
Through Christ’s suffering, death and victory, as believers we have been elevated to a status that could only be made possible through the willful passage of Christ through the trials of Hades.
Now that Christ has succeeded, the community of the Hebrews are able to fulfill their destiny in a way that the former Hebrews could not under Jewish leadership.
The polemic is also subtle but clear – the author is taking a position of theological displacement with regard to the former generations of God’s people.
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© 2006 Jacob Gorny