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For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Hebrews 2:11 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB 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,
  • KJV For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
  • ESV For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
  • NKJV For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
  • NASB For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,
  • NLT So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The one who sanctifies and those He sanctifies share a common origin, so Jesus is not ashamed to call believers His brothers. Christ identifies Himself closely with His redeemed people.

Overview

Because Jesus took on true humanity, He and those He makes holy belong to one family. His willingness to call them 'brothers' expresses the intimacy and dignity of redemption. This solidarity with His people is essential to His role as the high priest who represents them before God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 17

  • Rom 8:29For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
  • Heb 10:10And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
  • Heb 10:14because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.
  • John 20:17“Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”
  • Heb 13:12And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood.
  • Matt 12:48–50But Jesus replied, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?”
  • John 17:19For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.
  • John 17:21that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
  • Acts 17:26From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
  • Matt 25:40And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
  • Heb 2:14Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,
  • Gal 4:4But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
  • Heb 11:16Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
  • Acts 17:28‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’
  • Mark 8:38If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
  • Matt 28:10“Do not be afraid,” said Jesus. “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see Me.”
  • Luke 9:26If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Hebrews videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Hebrews 2:11YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on HebrewsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.

How Hebrews 2:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.