For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Parallel translations
- WEB For most certainly, he doesn’t give help to angels, but he gives help to the offspring of Abraham.
- BSB For surely it is not the angels He helps, but the descendants of Abraham.
- NKJV For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.
- NASB For clearly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendants of Abraham.
- NLT We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham.
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
Christ came to help not angels but the descendants of Abraham. His saving aid is directed to human beings, the people of faith.
Overview
The author clarifies that the Son's redemptive mission was for humanity, specifically 'the offspring of Abraham,' the line of God's covenant people. This explains why He took human nature rather than angelic. Understood in light of the wider New Testament, this 'offspring' embraces all who share Abraham's faith in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Gal 3:29And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
- Gal 3:16Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
- Rom 4:16–25Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
- Gen 22:18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
- Heb 6:16For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
- Rom 2:25For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
- Heb 12:10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
- Matt 1:1–17The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
- 1 Pet 1:20Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
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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 2:16 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
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