Worship, Trust, Covenant Life

Deliberate Order in Hebrews 2:12-13?

He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

12 saying: “ I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”

13 And again: “I will put My trust in Him.”

And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

Does the writer offer a focused pattern of his instruction in this text? It seems so. He moves from our Lord's presence with His people in worship, vs. 12; then to a general affirmation of Christ's trust, vs. 13a, and then back to worship, His being close in identifying with His people, vs. 13b.

There's the centrality of worship, first; take note, Jesus is singing with His people, and then the outflow of faith and faith's life with others--He's not ashamed of worship and life with His children.

The passage shows the pace-setting grid of worship; Jesus Himself took on this pattern. He gave focus on His Father, and then focus on His brethren.

It is worship that provides influential life-training and discipleship.

G. Mark Sumpter

Heeding Counsel

Hebrews 2:1-4 underscores a reason to resist spiritual drifting. In the Old Testament, the reason is the ministry of God's Word through angels. In verses 3-4, another important reinforcement serves as a deterrent to wandering from the Lord and His Word.

Verse 2 down to verse 4 provides a form of parallelism, I've italicized the similar words. The word, spoken and the words, steadfast and confirmed correspond in the respective verses.

vs. 2 if the word spoken by angels



vs. 2 proved steadfast



vs. 3 which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord



vs. 3b and was confirmed


In verse 2, we're to heed the counsel of truth, God's Word, because it was administered at times in the Old Testament by angels (see Acts 7:38, 53), and God proved faithful and demonstrated His accountability about transgressing His Word spoken back then through them.

In verses 3-4, we're to heed God's Word and resist spiritual drifting, because in the day of God's final revelation of His Son, with the dawn of the New Testament, the Word is administered by the Trinity. Here we see greater seriousness about carelessness regarding sin, after all, God Himself gave His final revelation of truth and life.

Look at the triad of the Persons of the Godhead mentioned in connection to the giving of His Word in the New: the Lord (Jesus), God (the Father) and the Holy Spirit.

The Trinity, the fullness of God Himself, with the incarnation of Jesus in view, is to serve as a reinforcement as to why we will not escape His just accountability.

With the Father, Son and Holy Spirit at work, indeed, it is so great a salvation revealed and accomplished!

G. Mark Sumpter