Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 2:4

"God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will." — Hebrews 2:4 (ASV)

The third and clinching point about our “great salvation” is that God himself has also “testified” to it. Preachers are not left to bear their witness alone. No less a one than God himself has shared in this. In John’s gospel we have the bold thought that God has borne witness to Christ . Since anyone who bears witness commits himself by that very act, God has gone on record, so to speak, that he too is a witness to the great salvation of his Son. Here, however, we have an even bolder thought: God has been pleased to commit himself through the original disciples. He gave the “signs” (GK 4956) or miracles that attested their preaching. The Gospel is not a human creation, and the early hearers were not left in doubt as to its origin. They actually saw the miraculous way God attested it. Miracles were not pointless displays of power but they pointed beyond themselves to the message of salvation. “Wonders” (GK 5469) emphasizes the marvelous aspect of the signs. They were such that no mere person could produce them, nor were they explicable on merely human premises. It is this wonder-producing aspect that comes spontaneously to mind when we think of miracles. “Miracles” (GK 1539) is properly “mighty works” and is the term usually employed in the Synoptic Gospels. It brings out the truth that in Christ’s miracles there is superhuman power. They prove something about the Gospel because they are not of human origin and thus show that the Gospel they attest is not human either. It is not clear whether “gifts of the Holy Spirit” refers to gifts that the Holy Spirit gives (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:11) or the gift of the Holy Spirit himself (cf. Galatians 3:5). Either way, there were manifestations of the Holy Spirit in believers, and the author sees these as confirming the Gospel. Most likely the author is speaking about God as giving people the gift (and the gifts) of the Holy Spirit. The supreme God does this as he wills.