Commentaries:
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Hebrews 2:10-11
A keyword in these verses is "author," from the Greek word archegos, which is translated variously as "captain [KJV], author, pioneer, trail-blazer, and founder." One basic concept threads its way through all of the uses of this word: An archegos is one who begins something so that others may enter into it.
An archegos can found a school that others may follow him into learning. An archegos can found a city that others may dwell in. An archegos can blaze a trail that others may follow. An archegos can begin a family that others may be born into it.
If a ship is foundering on the rocks, and the only way to save the crew and passengers is for someone to swim ashore with a line and secure it to a tree or a rock so that others may gain the safety of the beach, the one who swims with the line is the archegos. He did a deed so that others may follow.
Jesus is the archegos of our salvation. He blazed the trail! He set the pattern! He entered into God's Family that others may follow! And in blazing the trail, setting the pattern, entering God's Kingdom—He too was perfect! That is what the author of Hebrews writes.
The author of our salvation was made perfect through suffering. Our Savior and High Priest completed His training in this way. Having done so, He is fully able to be the pioneer of our salvation, to ensure that we also will enter salvation and to be as He is.
According to this verse, God did this to bring many sons to glory—the same glory that the Trailblazer, the Pioneer, the Author, the Captain has.
Related Topics: Archegos | Author of Salvation | Captain of Salvation | First of the Firstfruits | Firstfruits | Forerunner | Trailblazer
Hebrews 2:10-11
God sanctifies us through Jesus Christ and graciously justifies us by means of Christ's blood, providing us with His Son's righteousness and granting us entrance into a relationship with Him. The sanctification process writes the laws of God in our hearts and minds, making His righteousness real and practical to daily life. During this process, which requires our cooperation with Him in His purpose, we literally become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. The overwhelming majority of Christian works come to the fore within this process as part of the preparation for God's Kingdom.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Power Belongs to God (Part Two)Related Topics: Conformed to God's Image | Conforming to Christ's Image | Conforming to God's Will | Laws Written in Hearts and Minds | Sanctification | Sanctification as Growth | Sanctification as Process | Transformation | Transformed into His Likeness
Hebrews 2:5-10
Now, since we are co-heirs with Christ, we are co-heirs with Him of all things—everything that God made through Jesus Christ: the universe and everything that is in it! Are we, in the rush of life, forgetting who we are? Are we neglecting the fact that God will turn the governance of the things He has made—this awesome universe—over into our hands? When that happens, we will not be as poor and pitifully weak as we are now.
But we should not undervalue what we are. If we do, we will not take Passover in the right attitude, because what Passover represents was done for us so that we would be in a position to inherit all things. We do not have to feel like we just crawled from under a rock! We have been blessed beyond our wildest imaginations, but for now in God's plan, we are a little lower than Elohim. Yet, what a future lies before us!
Even now, we are the "apple of God's eye," the focus of His attention. We are so important to Him that His Son died for us. Truly, He died for the whole world, but right now, before He calls and converts the whole world, it is for you and me that the Creator died so that we could become co-heirs with Him. He wants to share what He made with us because He likes what He made. It is beautiful and has awesome potential, and just as any artist who makes something beautiful wants to share his creation with others, so does Jesus Christ, so that we can appreciate it and emulate it in our own works.
John W. Ritenbaugh
A Pre-Passover LookRelated Topics: Apple of God's Eye | Co-heirs with Christ | Family of God | God's Family | Heirs According to the Promise | Heirs of God the Father | Heirs with Christ | Passover | Passover, Taking Unworthily | Preparation for Future Role | Preparation for Rulership | Reward of the Saved | Rulership, Preparation for | Subjection of All things | Universe, Rule over the
Hebrews 2:9-12
Hebrews 2:9-11 opens to us a spiritual reality that we must come to understand and appreciate if we are to make the most of this wonderful opportunity of salvation that God gave to us completely unbidden. Because of our disobedience and the resulting curse of death placed on us, we could never experience what is said of us in Psalm 8:4-8, which the author of Hebrews refers to here. However, Jesus suffered death and gained the victory for us. As a result, He wears the crown of glory and rules the universe. We know this Being as God-in-the-flesh, but the author uses His earthly name, Jesus, so that we can see the historical setting of His victory.
"Jesus" calls to mind the concept of salvation, as it means "savior." The author writes that Jesus accomplished the redemption of His people by "tast[ing] death," not—interestingly—by merely "dying." To taste death is a graphic illustration of the painful way He suffered and died. He was not spared this excruciating trauma because He was the Son. He experienced suffering, both physical and emotional, to the very marrow of His bones.
In Hebrews 2:10, we find that the "everyone" of verse 9 is, in reality, not in this context the whole world, but it is limited to the "many sons" being brought to glory—in other words, the church. He bore the suffering that should have come upon us as the wages of our sins. He is the Author, the Pioneer, the Trailblazer, the Forerunner, going before us to our salvation. He is the One clearing the path, as it were, as we make our way following our calling. In Hebrews 12:2, He is called "the author and finisher [or perfecter] of our faith." The Father made Him pass through gruesome suffering in our behalf.
He completed His preparation for the responsibility that He now holds as our High Priest; the Father has charged Him with the task of preparing many others to share life with them in the Kingdom of God. Jesus, therefore, is the One who makes men holy. The path to sanctification lies in obedience to doing God's will, and that obedience is to be given out of gratitude because one understands and knows the Father and Son from within an intimate relationship (John 17:3).
Verse 12 quotes Psalm 22:22, putting the words in Jesus' mouth: "I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praises to You." In the holy Family of God, this spiritual relationship supersedes all human aspects. Jesus died for our sins; He redeemed us from the curse of sin; He forgives our sins; He gives us gifts; and He leads us to glory. Because of His sacrificial work, He is not ashamed to give us the name "brothers"! This implies that we, in turn, may call Jesus our Brother. What a privilege to be called brothers of the Son of God!
John W. Ritenbaugh
Where Is God's True Church Today?Related Topics: Jesus as God in the Flesh | Jesus Christ as Author and Finisher of Faith | Jesus Christ as Elder Brother | Jesus Christ as Forerunner | Jesus Christ as Pioneer | Jesus Christ as Redeemer | Jesus Christ as Savior | Jesus Christ as the Author of Salvation | Jesus Christ as Trailblazer | Sanctification | Sanctification as Obedience in doing God's Will | Tasting Death
Hebrews 2:9-11
The "He who sanctifies" is Jesus Christ, as can be seen by following the flow of the pronouns that are being used within their context.
Contained within these verses is the overall reason for suffering. The entire wilderness experience of the Israelites, when God freed them from their slavery, was to prepare them for living in the Promised Land. In like manner, God has willed that we suffer because, as it did for Jesus, it prepares us for what lies ahead. It helps complete us for the Kingdom.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Wilderness Wandering (Part Five)Related Topics: "He who Sanctifies" | Israel's Wilderness Wanderings | Jesus Christ is "He who Sanctifies" | Purpose for Suffering | Reason for Suffering | Suffering | Suffering and Growth | Suffering and Sanctification | Wilderness Wanderings
Hebrews 2:10
The NKJV reads "captain of their salvation." The KJV reads "author of their salvation," and He was made "perfect through sufferings." The word "author" or "captain" is translated from the Greek term archegos. It is a word capable of many translations. In secular Greek, in their pantheon of gods, Zeus was called "archegos" of the gods, meaning he was the head or the chief of all the gods. Incidentally, "head" or "chief" is archegos' simplest literal meaning.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Wilderness Wandering (Part Five)Related Topics: Archegos | Archegos as Head or Chief | Author of Salvation | Captain of Salvation | Israel's Wilderness Wanderings | Jesus Christ as Author of Salvation | Jesus Christ as Captain of Salvation | Jesus Christ as the Archegos | Jesus Christ Made Perfect through Suffering | Made Perfect through Suffering | Wilderness Wanderings | Zeus
Hebrews 2:10
Where did this suffering come from? It came as a result of having to live in this world of despair that Solomon lived in and wrote about. He had to be subject to circumstances that were beyond His control. If everything had been under the control of a righteous person like Jesus Christ, many events would never have happened. But surrounded by sin and despite His righteousness, He was subject to the futility, vanity, and meaningless of this world.
What did He do? He rose above it because He believed and lived the principle that is found in Romans 8:28.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Ecclesiastes and the Feast of Tabernacles (Part 1)Related Topics: Futility of this World | Meaninglessness of this World | Solomon | Suffering | Suffering for Righteousness Sake | Suffering for Unrighteousness | Suffering, Learning through | Trials | Trials, Purpose of | Trials, Shaping Power Of | Vanity | Vanity of Physical lifeOther Forerunner Commentary entries containing Hebrews 2:10:
Genesis 1:26
Genesis 14:20
Proverbs 23:7
Matthew 16:21-23
Matthew 28:19
John 1:14-18
John 14:1-6
John 14:6
John 20:1
Acts 3:15
1 Corinthians 12:13
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Galatians 4:4
Philippians 2:4
Hebrews 2:9-12
Hebrews 2:14-15
Hebrews 6:1
Hebrews 6:20
James 1:12-18
Revelation 5:1-7
Revelation 6:11
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What Does Hebrews 2:10 Mean?
Jesus, as the archegos or captain of salvation, pioneers the path for others to follow into God's family and glory, as described in Hebrews 2:10. Through His sufferings, He was made perfect, setting the pattern and blazing the trail for salvation. Enduring a world of despair and vanity, He rose above it, subjected to circumstances beyond His control yet remaining righteous. His role as archegos, meaning head or chief, underscores His leadership in bringing many sons to glory. Through sanctification, God's laws are written in hearts and minds, conforming believers to Christ's image, preparing them for God's Kingdom as part of this divine purpose.