Hebrews 2:17 Commentary and Bible Study

It was his purpose to give aid to the seed of Abraham and there was no more effective way in which he could do this than to become their high priest. But in order to be made their high priest, he must be selected by God from among them. He must therefore be like them in every respect except that he was without sin. He must be able to meaningfully represent them and this he could only do if he possessed their nature. He must possess a rational soul and a true physical body. He must be subject to the same weaknesses that we are subject to, so that he could sympathise with us, for sympathy with his people would be a large part of his motivation in pleading for us. He must therefore be capable of experiencing sorrow, hunger, thirst, pain, sickness and the whole range of emotions that human beings suffer as part of the misery that is a consequence of the fall. Because we are alienated from God from birth, and separated from him by our sin, and because we are so insensible of our situation that we will not plead our own cause or even begin to seek the Lord until he first draws us to himself, we are in need of great mercy. Mercy must take the initiative in seeking our true good. Mercy must pity us in spite of our guilt and shame and must be willing to take the place of a mediator between us and God to reconcile us to God. He is a faithful high priest, faithful to God and to those he represents. He is faithful in carrying out all the duties assigned him as our high priest. He will do nothing that contradicts the righteousness of God but will act only in a way that is consistent with God’s law and which honours all the attributes of God. Nevertheless he will be faithful to his people, bearing their names on his breast and on his shoulders. He will never leave or forsake us. He has completed the work that was given him by his Father, and has become so united with us that even the guilt of our sin has been credited to him. He has taken our nature not just for time but for eternity. The completion of the work was to make propitiation for the sins of the people, his people. He has paid the price demanded by the law of God and the wrath of God has been poured out upon him. Those who dislike this doctrine and say that it represents God as unreasonably vindictive do not know God. They do not understand God’s attribute of justice, that it is inflexible and cannot be relaxed even to spare those whom God loves.