Before GPS, SOS, and CPUs, the stars and land were essential to navigation of sea. There were few things more terrifying to a sailor than a storm causing the ship to drift off course and away from land. If both were lost, especially for an extended time like fourteen days, the situation would be nearly hopeless. How much more terrible is it to drift off course from the Gospel of Jesus Christ? The consequences of drifting from land are temporal, but the consequences of drifting from Christ the Savior are eternal, the misery indescribable. 

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

Hebrews 2:1-4

The Primary Theme

The epistle to the Hebrews is shrouded in a measure of mystery. Questions begin even with, who wrote the book?[1] What was the occasion for its being written? When was the book written? We will have to wait for answers to the questions that God has not yet revealed. The theme of the book, however, is anything but mysterious: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.”[2] From the opening verse, the absolute supremacy of Christ Jesus as prophet, priest, and king over all things is the beginning, middle, and the end of the whole matter.[3]

The supremacy of Christ is emphasized in His being and His work. In His being, Christ is supreme over all else because of His perfections. Seven perfections of the Son (1:2-3) promote His completeness and the “sevenfold glory of the Mediator.”[4] 1) The Son has been appointed heir of all things; 2) the Son made the world; 3) the Son is the brightness of God’s glory; 4) the Son is the express image of God’s person; 5) the Son upholds all things by the Word of His power; 6) the Son purged our sins; and 7) the Son sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

From His being, the supremacy of the Son extends over all His creatures, the work of His hands. The Son is supreme over the prophets (1:1-2), the angels (1:4-14), Moses (3:3), Joshua (4:8-9), the Old Testament priesthood (7:20-25), the Tabernacle (9:11), and the sacrificial system (9:12). There is nothing in heaven or earth that is over Christ, for He is both Lord and God, the receiver of all worship. His throne alone is “forever and ever” (1:8).

Next to this central theme of the Son’s superiority is the second theme that is like the first – namely, the perfect work of salvation accomplished by the Son. He has “by Himself purged our sins” (1:3). “He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (7:25). “But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself…so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many” (9:26, 28). “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God” (10:12). The perfect salvation was accomplished by the perfect Christ for the perfection of the many sons whom He brings to glory (2:10).

The Primary Concern

With the primary themes established, Hebrews 2:1-4 comes from the writer, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, with a concern for his readers that is present throughout the book – “Do not drift away!”. They have heard the gospel of Christ. They have heard something of His being and work. Now they must pay more abundant attention to what they heard. Failure to take heed will lead to drifting away from Christ and the great salvation which He has provided through His blood.

Five times in Hebrews, the writer deals with the danger of falling away from Christ and His salvation.[5] Five times He warns the reader against coming up short. The application of Hebrews is so strong that Richard Phillips refers to the book of Hebrews as a sermon on the theme, “Do not fall away.”[6] The abundant warning against coming up short of eternal life is a direct contrast to the abundant gift which would be lost by doing so—namely salvation through Jesus Christ. You have heard the gospel. You must pay more abundant attention to it, lest you drift away.  

The Urgency of the Matter

Having laid the foundation for the gospel of God in chapter one, several key words are used to draw our earnest attention to the matter at hand and address questions raised by the opening argument. What type of attention must we render to God and the gospel of His Son? The phrase,περισσοτέρως προσέχεινis, is rendered “the more earnest heed” in the NKJV and “must pay much closer attention” in the ESV.[7] The use of the word περισσοτέρως (more earnest) denotes an exceptionally strong attention. Lexicons translate the word, “far more, far greater,”[8] “more abundantly,”[9] and “more superabundantly.”[10] While it is somewhat awkward for English speakers to add “more” to a superlative (i.e. more fastest), the goal of the text is to grab our attention by the weightiness of the matter.[11] Like the double red flags at the beach warning potential swimmers of deadly currents, the sense of the text is that our life depends on the manner of attention we render to the message. The whole beach is filled with red flags! Take that kind of heed!

The following word προσέχειν means “to give close attention to something.”[12] The closeness of the attention is not merely, or even primarily, referring to proximity to the object of attention, but rather to the application of oneself to the object.[13] The Scripture says of Lydia, “The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14). John Owen described Lydia as attending “with readiness, humility, and resolution to obey the Word.”[14] The Westminster Shorter Catechism highlights the same type of resolute attention to the Word when in answer 90 it says, “That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer; receive it with faith and love, lay it up it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives.”[15] Attention must be given with great diligence, for our life depends upon it.

What happens if we do not pay more superabundant attention?  The final word of 2:1 gives the warning, παραρυῶμεν (lest we drift away). This is the only time the verb is used in the Bible. It is a nautical word meaning “slip away,” “be washed away,” or “drift away.”[16] Whether it is a boat drifting at sea, washed clean by water, or unknowingly departing off course, the aorist active subjunctive form of the verb gives the sense of a present possibility of departure from where one should be. “The metaphor in mind here seems to be that of allowing the current to carry one away from a fixed point through carelessness and unconcern…of failing to maintain a secure anchorage which will keep one from drifting from the gospel”[17] Secure your anchor firmly to Christ, the sure foundation, lest you be carried away by the current to your own peril.  

To what should we give more abundant attention? From what would we drift away? Τηλικοῦτος σωτηρίας(“so great a salvation”). The emphasis of the word τηλικοῦτος (“so great”) is in the degree of importance.[18] Speaking of the salvation of God, Paul uses the word to describe God who “delivered us from so great a death” (2 Cor. 2:10). We are not giving attention to something weak but extremely powerful, namely, σωτηρίας (“salvation”). Here the salvation in mind is that of “Messianic Salvation,” which is to say the free, full, and finished work of God in Christ.[19]  

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