Charles Ellicott Commentary Hebrews 2:5

"For not unto angels did he subject the world to come, whereof we speak." — Hebrews 2:5 (ASV)

For.—There is a very clear connection between this verse and Hebrews 1:14. Angels are but ministering spirits, serving God in the cause of those who shall inherit salvation; for not to angels is the world to come made subject. But the connection with Hebrews 2:2-3 is equally important: the salvation that is now given has been proclaimed not by angels but by the Lord, and it is God Himself who works with the messengers of the Lord; for not to angels, and so on. The word “salvation” binds together this section and the first. (Hebrews 2:2; Hebrews 2:10.)

Has He not put in subjection.—Better, did He subject; for the reference is to the passage quoted in the following verses, which is already in the writer’s thought. “He”: God, speaking in the prophetic Scripture.

The world to come.—The same expression occurs in the English version of Hebrews 6:5, but in the Greek “world” is represented by entirely different words. Here, as in Hebrews 1:6, the meaning is “inhabited earth,” “world of man”; there, the word properly relates to time, “age.”

Is “the world to come” still future, or is it here looked at from the Old Testament point of view? (See Hebrews 1:2.) The following verses make it clear that the period referred to is that which succeeds the exaltation of Christ.

We ourselves cannot but markedly distinguish the present stage of Messiah’s kingdom from the future; but in the perspective of prophecy the two were blended. The thought of this kingdom among men has been present from the first verses of the Epistle onward; hence, of which we speak.

On verses 5-18:

It was needful that Jesus, as Author of salvation to man, should in all points be made like those whom He saves, and in their likeness suffer and die; thus He becomes for them a merciful and faithful High Priest.