Hebrews 2:1-4. The Danger of Drifting Away

The Superiority of Gospel Over Law

The author of Hebrews compares the gospel, as the message of Christ, to the Mosaic Law, as the testimony of angels.  Interestingly, the law's transmission is never attributed to angels in Exodus, but that is clearly the belief of Jews by the second century B.C., and it is clearly the belief of Paul and the author of Hebrews.  Accepting that angels had a role to play, this passage warns us that, if the law has severe penalties for its transgression, we should take the words of Jesus all the more seriously and heed the call of grace in the gospel.    My notes follow the video

Pew 2014 Religious Landscape Study

Hebrews 2:1-4

1. Cautionary notes are inserted five times in the midst of thematic blocks in Hebrews.  
1. Others: 3:7–4:13; 5:11–6:12; 10:19-39; 12:14-29
2. Always surrounded in same topic, not standing alone.
3. Here: Jesus is greater than the angels, so pay attention to his words!
2. Jews (including Paul and the author of Hebrews) believed that Angels were the agents of the delivery of the law.  
1. New Testament text:
1. Gal 3:19
2. Acts 7:53
2. LXX:
1. Psalm 68:17
2. Deut 33:2
3. No direct evidence of this in the Masoric OT manuscripts, but the NT authors did believe this, and so did their audience.
4. Josephus states in his antiquities that “the firmest authorities of our faith were delivered by angelic ambassadors”
5. The book of Jubilees, a second-century Hebrew text, states that all revelation from God is through the “Angel of his presence,” which is identified as the Angel of the Lord later in the text.
6. If Jesus, as “The Angel of the Lord” gave the law, then the analogy breaks down.
7. If The Angels delivered the law to Moses, then what does it mean that he saw God face to face? Or that the tablets were written by the finger of God?
1. Ex 31:18
2. Deut 9:10
8. Not only did the author of Hebrews believe this, but the Holy Spirit allowed it to serve as the basis for an argument in scripture, not as a passing detail.  
9. Somehow, it’s true!
3. Following the theme, then, that Jesus > Angles, his dispensation > theirs.
4. The law, given by angels, was
1. For all time, perfect tense: λαλέω laleō: spoken once and for all.
2. binding:  βέβαιος bebaios
3. Came with “just retribution” for not obeying it.
1. Deut 32:25
2. Transgression: παράβασις parabasis: stepping outside the line
3. Disobedience: παρακοή parakoē:not willing to hear it.  
5. The dispensation of Jesus is:
1. Focuses not on the retribution, but on the salvation.
2. A “great salvation” as opposed to the law.
1. Gal 3:24
2. Rom 8:1-3
3. Testified to by Jesus himself first (Luke 4:43; Mark 1:48)
1. “Declared” in perfect tense, as above.
2. 1 Cor 11:23
4. Then entrusted to faithful apostles, pastors, and teachers.
1. 1Jn 1: 1-3
2. John 1:14
3. 2 Tim 2:2
4. Author includes himself in one who heard from the Apostles.  Not Paul (1Cor 11: 23; 15:8)
5. God the Father also testifies to the greatness of the salvation worked by Christ:
1. Lit: “accompanied by the simultaneous testimony of God”
2. “Signs and wonders” common phrase [Ex 7:3; Deut 6:22; Deut 26:8; Neh 9:10; Psa 135:9; Jer 32:20-21; Dan 4:2; Dan 6:27; Mat 24:24; Mar 13:22; Jh 4:48; Acts 4:30; 5:12; 14:3; 15:12; Rom 15:19; 2 Cor 12:12; 2Th 2:9]
3. “Diverse Powers” seen as a summary of all the gifts of power at work in the early church and the lives of the apostles. (1Cor 12;28)
4. “Distributions of the Holy Spirit”
1. Does not use “gifts,” Charisma.  Instead focuses on the giving of the Holy Spirit to all believers in their measure.
2. Jesus received the Holy Spirit without measure (John 3:34)
3. We, believers in Christ, receive the Holy Spirit according to the measured will of God and the measure of our faith (Rom 12:3, 6; 1Cor 12:4-11)
4. The only other place in scripture where “diverse powers” are combined with “signs and wonders” in the NT is 2Th 2:9, where the complete list is seen as evidence of apostolic authority.  
6. Warning Passage #1:
1. Vs 2-4 are one sentence, the main phrase of which is “How will we escape?”
2. We will not escape judgment if we ignore this gospel.  
3. To whom is it written?  The unconverted.  Those who are saved have not ignored the gospel.
4. The unconverted Hebrew, attending a Christian church out of curiosity, were torn between the new freedom of the gospel and the familiar traditions and experiences of the Levitical system.
5. This particular passage is not about falling away, but about letting the gospel pass by you while you remain unaffected.
6. “Lest we drift away” in the English implies that it is the listener who has moved, but the greek παραρρέω (only time in the NT) more often implies that something has drifted by a stationary observer, as in a river.
1. lest the salvation which these things heard show us how to obtain, slip away from us
2. “Slipped my mind.”
3. “Got away from me.”
4. “Left me behind.”
7. The warning is that the church age is happening.  The gospel is available, but the times are changing!  Don’t let this pass you by.  Don’t let it leave you unchanged.
7. Have you responded? <Gospel Presentation>
8. Are there people in your life whom you love but are letting the river of grace pass by them without a clear appeal for a decision on Christ?
   
   
   

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