FOR ASSUREDLY HE DOES NOT GIVE HELP TO ANGELS: ou gar depou aggelon
epilambanetai (3SPMI)
:
Spurgeon comments that...
Christ’s great mission was not to save angels, but to save men. Therefore He
came not in the nature of angels, but in the nature of men.
He so took upon His flesh and blood as to die in our nature, that thus He
might slay death, and might set us free from all fear of death. Do you not
see that, if the representative Man, Christ Jesus, died, He also rose again,
and that so also will all who are in Him rise, too? If you are in Him, you
shall rise again. Therefore, fear not to lie down in your last sleep, for
the trumpet shall awaken you, and your bodies shall be molded afresh like
unto His glorious body, and your soul and body together shall dwell in
infinite bliss for ever. “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
Assuredly (1222)
(depou) conveys the ideas of doubtless, "as is well known" or
"Now in some way."
Give help (1949)
(epilambanomai from epí = upon + lambáno = to take)
means take hold of or grasp, with focus upon the goal of motion. To seize
for help, injury, attainment or any other purpose.
The idea is literally, to help by taking one by the hand or to draw one to
one's self to help. The
present tense
implies continuous activity of Jesus our Mediatorial High Priest.
The old word "succour" would be a good rendering of epilambanomai for
succour means specifically to give help or assistance especially in time of
hardship, distress or difficulty. A archaic but still picturesque meaning of
succour is reinforcements of troops (ponder this thought as it
applies to this passage in Hebrews!) See notes on the related idea of "come
to the aid of" in
Hebrews 2:18
(and also
Hebrews 4:16)
on for more on this picture of our Great High Priest coming to our rescue in
our time of testing and need.
While
epilambanomai
in this verse does not have the idea of violent grasping which it carries
elsewhere, the ideas of help and deliverance are clearly conveyed. One gets
the picture of a person drowning in quicksand, ready to go under, but able
to hold their hand above the surface. The Deliverer grasps the hand of
the one in need and lifts it up.
Wuest has a helpful note on the meaning writing that epilambanomai...
By a metaphor drawn from laying hold of another to rescue him from peril,
the word came to mean “to lay hold of for the purpose of helping or
succoring.” It is used in this latter sense here.
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans)
It is not angels that He is helping but it is the seed of Abraham that He is
helping. As Spurgeon says "Angels were passed by and men redeemed. Wondrous
sovereignty this!"
Jesus, who pass'd the angels by,
Assumed our flesh to bleed and die;
And still He makes it His abode;
As man, He fills the throne of God.
Our next of Kin, our Brother now,
Is He to Whom the angels bow;
They join with us to praise His name,
But we the nearest interest claim.
Spurgeon writes that...
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, when He came from heaven to die, did not
take upon Himself the nature of angels. It would have been a stoop, more
immense than if a seraph should have changed himself into an emmet, for the
Almighty Son of God to have been clothed in the garb of even the archangel
Gabriel, but His condescension dictated to Him, that if He did stoop, He
would descend to the very lowest degree; that if He did become a creature,
He would become, not the noblest creature, but one of the most ignoble of
rational beings, that is to say, man; therefore, He did not stoop to the
intermediate step of angelship, but He stooped right down and became a man.
If Christ had taken upon himself the nature of angels, He could never
have made an atonement for man. Setting aside the thought that if He
came to save man it would have seemed improper if He had come in the garb of
angels, you must allow, that if He had done so, he could not have seen
death. How could angels die? We can suppose that their spirit may become
extinct, if God should will it; we can suppose the entire annihilation of
that to which God Alone supplies immortality; but since angels have no
bodies, we cannot suppose them capable of death, for death is the separation
of the body and the soul; therefore, it behooved Christ that He should take
upon Himself the form of a man, that He might become obedient to death, even
the death of the cross. Had angels been standing by, they would have said,
“Oh! mighty Master, take our radiant robes. Oh! take not the poor every-day
garb of humanity, take our glittering garments all bedight with pearls.”
And Gabriel would have said, “Come, take my wings, thou mighty Maker, and I
shall count myself too honored to have lost them for thy sake. There, take
this crown and this mantle of azure, wherewith to clothe thyself, thou Son
of God, put my silver sandals on thy feet; become not man, but an angel, if
thou wilt stoop.” “But, no,” he would have said, “Gabriel, if I were in
thy dress I could not fight with death, I could not sleep in the tomb, I
could not feel the pangs and agony of dissolution, therefore, I must, I
will, become a man.” “He took not on him the nature of angels; but he took
on him the seed of Abraham.”
Had our Savior become an angel, we must note, in the next place, that he
would never have been a fitting example for us. I cannot imitate an
angelic example in all points, it may be very good, so far as I can imitate,
but it cannot, in all points, be my pattern. If you would give me something
to imitate, give me a man like myself; then I may attempt to follow him. An
angel could not have set us the same holy and pious example that our Savior
did. Had He descended from on high in the garb of one of those bright
spirits, He might have been a fine example for those brilliant cherubs who
surround his throne, but we, poor mortal men, condemned to drag the chain of
mortality along this earthly existence, would have turned aside and said,
“Ah! such a thing is too high for us, we cannot attain unto it;” and we,
therefore, should have stopped short. If I am to carve marble, give me a
marble statue which I am to copy, and if this mortal clay is to be cut out
into the very model of perfection, as it is to be by God’s Spirit, then give
me Man for my example, for a man I am, and as a man, I am to be made
perfect. Not only could not Christ have been a Redeemer, but He could not
have been our Exemplar, if He had taken upon Himself the nature of angels.
Sweetly, also, let us remember that if Christ had been an angel, he could
not have sympathised with us. In order to sympathise with our
fellow-creatures we must be something like them. Suppose a man made of iron,
or of brass; could he sympathise with our wearied lungs, or with our aching
bones? Let such a man be told of sickness or of illness: could he understand
it? I would not have him for a nurse; I would not care to have such a being
for my physician; he could not feel for me; he could not sympathise with me.
No, even our own fellow-creatures cannot sympathise with us unless they have
suffered as we have done. I have heard of a lady who never knew poverty in
all her life, and consequently she could not sympathise with the poor. She
heard the complaint that bread was extremely dear, when it was running up to
fourteen-pence a loaf. “Oh!” she said, “I have no patience with the poor
people, grumbling about the dearness of bread. If bread is so dear, let them
live on penny buns; they are always cheap enough.” She had not been in the
position of the poor, and, therefore, she could not sympathise with them,
and no man can sympathise with another, to any great extent, unless he has
been in some measure in the same position, and endured the same trouble.
“It behooved Him, therefore, that He should be made in all points like unto
his brethren that he might be a faithful high priest;” “for we have not an
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, for
He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” But if He
had been an angel, what sympathy could He have had for me? Suppose I should
tell an angel that I could scarcely resist my corruptions: the angel would
look at me, and wonder what I meant. If I should tell him that I find this
world a vast howling wilderness: how could he believe me, for he has never
heard howlings, his ears have only been saluted by golden harps and sweet
choral symphonies of praise. If I should tell him that I found it hard work
to hold on my way, and keep close to my Savior, the angel could only say,
“I cannot sympathise with you, for I am not tempted as you are; I have no
clogging nature to abate my ardent zeal, but day without night, with
unflagging wing, I circle His throne rejoicing, nor have I a wish nor will
to depart from my great Maker.” There you see the Savior’s wisdom. He would
become a Man and not an angel. (Read the full message which includes a well
reasoned rational on divine election --
Men Chosen--Fallen Angels Rejected)
BUT HE GIVES HELP TO THE DESCENDANT OF ABRAHAM: alla spermatos Abraam
epilambanetai (3SPMI)
:
But - introduces a striking contrast. Christ did not come to save
fallen angels but to give help to men.
Descendant of Abraham - Some commentators interpret this referring to
Jews but it could include Gentiles, specifically Gentile believers (See
passages below). In any event the point is that Jesus helps men not angels!
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by
faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE
NATIONS SHALL BE BLESSED IN YOU." (Galatians 3:8)
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say,
"And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your
Seed," that is, Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
And if you (speaking to Jewish and Gentile believers) belong to Christ, then
you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians
3:29)
Descendant (4690)
(sperma) refers to seed sown as containing the germ of new fruit, but
here is figurative referring to the posterity.
The Believer's Study Bible writes that...
Seed
of Abraham usually refers to the physical descendants of Abraham, but
the absence of the article in Greek before "seed" may emphasize the
character of the people, thus the spiritual seed of Abraham: Gentiles and
Jews (Gal. 3:29). The same expression in John 8:33, however, obviously means
"Jews." (Ed note: Thus as always correct interpretation is critically
dependent on the
context
of the word, phrase or verse being
interpreted!)
(Criswell,
W A. Believer's Study Bible: New King James Version. 1991. Thomas Nelson)
In support of this phrase descendant of Abraham as referring to believers,
Jew or Gentile, we read in Galatians Paul that...
For you are all sons of God (Full adults and heirs because of adoption into
God's family - see note
Ephesians 1:5)
through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized (not water
baptism but spiritual baptism into Christ, so that He is now our identity -
this is which accomplished at conversion) into Christ have clothed
yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female (in the divine economy,
our position in Christ is completely independent of any such matters); for
you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you
are Abraham's offspring (Greek = sperma = seed), heirs (sharers by lot) according to promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)
(Comment: Christ is the Seed of Abraham as Paul explains in Galatians 3:16
and it follows that being in Christ, baptized into Him, identified with Him,
one with Him in the New Covenant, makes the believer a descendant of
Abraham and an heir of the promise of justification by faith. Note however that
the national promises made to Abraham and through him to Isaac and
Jacob [Israel] are not in
view in this verse and await the time yet future when all Israel will be
saved [see notes
Romans 11:26]).
Those who are of the seed of Abraham are
those who have Abraham's faith, In Genesis 15:6 note that the Hebrew word faith
is "aman" which has the basic meaning of certainty or firmness (Think
of the derivative word "Amen" - so be it!) Aman conveys the idea of "leaning
entirely" on
God and this is manifest by trust in His immutable, inerrant word of
promise. His promise to Abraham was that of the "seed", which as discussed
ultimately reflected Abraham's belief in "the Seed", the Messiah (although
we cannot now know how much of Messiah's work on the Cross Abraham
understood). The point is that Abraham was looking forward to the Cross with
eyes of faith, while believers today (his offspring) look back to the
almighty, eternal cross. In regard to the Hebrew word "aman" not only does
it convey the idea
of certainty but as Genesis 22 shows Abraham's faith (aman) included the
idea of obedience as he prepared to sacrifice Isaac,
fully trusting in the fact that God would resurrect the promised son Isaac
if necessary (see notes
Hebrews 11:17;
18;
19)
In short, the spiritual (in contrast to those who are only physical) descendants of Abraham have believed God's promise, placed their
whole weight upon His Word, just as Abraham did and as a result they have
entered into the New
Covenant, which is the NT amplification of the Abrahamic Covenant. Note also that the
writer is not saying here that the church has replaced Israel or that
Israel has
forfeited the OT promises regarding the land of Israel - such aberrant teaching has led to many
tragic errors in
interpretation and application (eg, such an errant interpretation has been
used for justification of the bloody massacre of many Jewish men, women and
children in historical dramas such as "the Medieval Crusades", "the holocaust
of Hitler",
etc.) (See related study
The Israel of God)
