2:11 For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
In talking about the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified, the writer is referring back to the previous verse, “in bringing many sons to glory.” This embraces both the original meaning of the term “sanctify”, to set apart for God, and the derivative meaning, to purify or make holy. It is awesome to think that God can take the fallen, sinful, corrupt and broken race of man, and both set apart for Himself and cleanse and purify both individuals and a corporate body, the Church. Yet for Him to do that, he had to become one with man. He had to descend to the level of man in order to raise man back to his standing in the image of God. That could only be accomplished by Christ, who took on humanity in its fullness.
The fact that Christ humbled Himself to become man, and more than that to suffer as man on behalf of man, does not in any way diminish His eternal glory. Those who looked at the man and saw someone lower than the angels (and therefore less worthy of honor) were missing the point. This whole humiliation was for a purpose, that by identifying with us He might bring us to a place of identification with Him.
He is not ashamed to call them brothers.
The Pharisees of Jesus’ day would cross to the other side of the road rather than be seen even in proximity to one they considered a “sinner.” To allow such a “sinner” to touch them, as did the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair at the house of Simon the Pharisee, was cause for great alarm and dismay. To have identified with them to the point of calling them brothers would have been utterly unthinkable.
Yet Christ, the only one to Whom the term “sinner” could not ultimately be applied, did not share their problems. The very reason He came was to identify with sinners. His purpose was to make them sons of His Father. So, even to those who were not currently in that relationship, He speaks, “calling the things that are not as though they are”, and calls them His brothers.
v12. saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the congregation I will sing your praise.”
The Gospels do not record Jesus as personally speaking this quotation from Psalm 22:22. The Psalm is one of those that clearly refer to the Messiah, and the writer here is taking the fact that the Psalm refers to Messiah as speaking these words to mean that Messiah actually spoke those words, even if it was in His pre-incarnate existence rather than during His earthly life. This is an interesting insight into the level of authority that the Scripture writers attributed to the Word. As far as the writer to Hebrews is concerned, it is not merely the attitudes or principles of the Psalm that are true, but the very exact words, to the extent that they can validly be used to give support to his current argument.
I will declare Your name
In the Bible, a name is far more than just an identifying tag. The name shows – and in some cases even shapes – the character of the person. Thus Abram (the exalted father) becomes Abraham (the father of many), Jacob (the supplanter) becomes Israel (who wrestled with man and God), Simon (the reed) becomes Peter (the rock.) The name also carries the full weight of the authority of the one who bears it.
So when Christ came to declare the name of the Father, He was not just identifying God as YHWH – something they had known for centuries. Rather, He came to reveal the character of YHWH. In Him they saw a side of God that they had never known nor even imagined. We have only to look at the differences between Jesus and the religious leadership of the day to realize how unlike their understanding of God, God really was.
Not only did Christ reveal aspects of God’s character that they had never imagined, He also revealed a name of God that they had never known: Father. They were incensed that Christ should refer to God as His Father, and totally baffled when He talked about men becoming sons of God. Yet it was precisely this relationship that He came to restore, and precisely within the context of this relationship that He could refer to those He redeemed as “brothers.”
Beyond this revelation of God’s character, Christ came in God’s authority. The thing that characterized His ministry, that made Him stand out from the scribes and rabbis of the day, was His authority. The people had never seen such authority and power. Even the stories of Moses and the prophets paled by comparison.
Among the congregation I will sing your praise.
At first glance this part of the quote seems to have no relevance to the writer’s argument, and it could be that it was included simply to complete the thought. Yet when we look at it more closely, we do see a further strengthening of the theme. It is in the midst of the congregation, the people of God assembled together to worship, that Messiah praises the Father. He could well have placed Himself at the front of the congregation, as their leader and priest. That is, after all, His rightful place. Yet He does not assume it, but rather stands in the midst, one of the crowd, identified totally with those around Him.
v13. Again, “I will put my trust in him.” Again, “Behold, here I am with the children whom God has given me.”
This quote is taken from Isaiah 8:17b-18. It was written as Isaiah struggled unsuccessfully to turn the nation back to God. The implication appears to be that what Isaiah, and indeed all of the prophets, could not do, Christ could do by His identification with man. The emphasis changes slightly, for here the redeemed are not Christ’s “brothers” but His “children”, born from the struggle and blood of His death, carrying His spiritual DNA, bound to Him eternally. Why? Because He trusted the Father enough to lay aside all that it meant to be God, and fully enter in to what it meant to be man; trusted the Father sufficiently to enter into a place from which He could not by Himself return, unless the Father was with Him; trusted the Father to the point where He could not even produce His own results (children) but was dependent upon the Father to give them to Him.