Thomas Aquinas Commentary Hebrews 2:9-13

"But we behold him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, [even] Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for every [man]. For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, In the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me." — Hebrews 2:9-13 (ASV)

Previously, the Apostle, desiring to prove Christ’s eminence over the angels, relied on the authority of a prophet who said something related to Christ’s dignity—you put everything in subjection under his feet—and something related to His Passion, namely, you have made him a little less than the angels. However, this seems to work against his main intention, which is to establish Christ's preeminence over the angels. As a result, he explains this more fully in this section, where he does three things. First, he shows in what sense that “lessening” is to be understood. Second, he describes the suitability of the Passion (Hebrews 2:10). In regard to the first point, he does two things: first, he explains a statement he made; second, he describes the Passion (Hebrews 2:9b).

Therefore, he said: What is man that you are mindful of him? You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have subjected all things under his feet. You have made him a little lower than the angels. These are the things the prophet predicted of Christ, and we already see many of them fulfilled. Therefore, it is certain that the rest will be fulfilled, namely, that all things will be subjected under His feet. As Gregory says, “The accomplishments of the past give assurance for the future.”

Then he continues, but we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor for suffering death. This suffering was the cause of His exaltation: For this reason God also exalted him (Philippians 2:9). He says, of death, because He did not endure just any death, but the most bitter and shameful one: Let us condemn him to a most shameful death . Alternatively, the passage can be read another way: We see Jesus, and when asked who He is, the answer is: He Who by suffering death was made a little lower than the angels and then crowned with honor and glory. This lessening was due only to His suffering of death. Nor is this strange, because in this respect He is not only lower than the angels, but lower than men: Despised and the most rejected of men (Isaiah 53:3).

A gloss from Augustine against Maximus says that Christ was made a little lower than the angels, not because of a condition of His nature but because of the Passion. For regarding the nature of the human mind, which Christ assumed without sin, nothing is greater except the Trinity alone. In body He is less than the angels, because He suffered in His body. But this seems to be contrary to Dionysius, who says that angels are greater than men because of their natural participation in light.

The answer is that we can speak about the nature of the human mind and the angelic mind in two ways. In one sense, according to what is natural, the angelic mind is more excellent and nobler than the nature of the human mind, because an angel receives knowledge of divine truth in a more excellent and fuller intellectual light, whereas man receives it from creatures. In another sense, we can consider the nature of each without sin in relation to happiness; they are then equal: They will be as the angels in heaven (Matthew 22:30). Yet because of His excellent grace, Christ in His human nature is greater than the angels. Consequently, His lessening is not in relation to the nature of His divinity nor absolutely according to His human nature, but in the sense that He suffered according to it. We can say that Christ was crowned with a triple glory: first, with the glory of holiness, which He had in the first instant of His conception; second, with the glory of the beatific vision, which He possessed from the first instant of His conception; and third, with the glory of incorruptibility, which He merited after the Passion.

Then (Hebrews 2:9b) he describes Christ’s Passion from three viewpoints: its cause, its utility, and its manner.

The cause was God’s grace alone, for that is what led Him to give His only begotten Son: God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son (John 3:16); But God commends his charity toward us, because when we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Or, according to a gloss of Augustine, the verse means that the grace of God—that is, Christ Himself, Who is the grace of God—might taste death for all. Here, “grace” is in the nominative case. Christ is called grace because He is the author of grace—Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17)—or because He is given freely: A son has been given to us (Isaiah 9:6). In that case, the sense is this: He was made a little lower in order that He Who is the grace of God might taste death for all.

For all: here we see the usefulness. But “for all” can be understood in two ways. First, as applying to all the predestined, since the atonement is efficacious only in the predestined. Second, as applying absolutely to all in terms of its sufficiency, for of itself it is sufficient for all: Who is the Savior of all men, especially of the faithful (1 Timothy 4:10). As Chrysostom says, “He died for all in general, because the price was sufficient for all. And if all do not believe, He nevertheless fulfilled His part.”

Might taste: here we see the manner. A person who has not eaten or drunk much is said to have “tasted.” Therefore, because Christ did not remain in death but rose at once, He “tasted” death: He shall drink of the torrent in the way (Psalms 110:7). One who is on the way hurries. Furthermore, taste is a distinguisher of flavor; hence, one who tastes discerns more than one who drinks. Therefore, to indicate that He truly experienced death and pain—and that His death was not imaginary, as Mani and Apollinaris claim—he says, that he might taste death: O, all you that pass by the way, attend and see, if there be any sorrow like my sorrow (Lamentations 1:12). The manner is also mentioned for two other reasons. First, to express the bitterness of death, which is experienced by taste: The drink shall be bitter to them that drink it (Isaiah 24:9); If it be possible, let this chalice pass from me (Matthew 26:39). Second, just as tasting or not tasting lies in the power of the taster, so also the Passion of Christ was voluntary: I have the power to lay down my life (John 10:18).

Then (Hebrews 2:10) he shows the suitability of the Passion from its usefulness. For God the Father is the cause of Christ’s death, since He is the One by whom all things exist as by an efficient cause, and for whom all things exist, as for a final cause. All things are for Him, because they are for communicating His goodness; this was the cause leading Him to produce things, and thus all things are finally for God: The Lord has made all things for himself (Proverbs 16:4). And effectively, all things are by Him: Who made heaven and the sea and all things in it (Psalms 146:6); I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8); Of him and by him and in him are all things (Romans 11:36). Therefore, it was fitting for Him as the author of all things to provide for all: He has equally cared for all .

Second, it was fitting on the part of the cause, which, as has been stated, was the grace of God. But grace is ordained to glory: The grace of God, life everlasting (Romans 6:23). God from all eternity predestined those whom He would lead to glory, that is, all those who are adopted sons of God, because if sons, heirs also (Romans 8:17). Therefore, he says, who had brought many sons to glory. It is as if to say: He has one perfect Son by nature—Therefore, having yet one son most dear to him (Mark 12:6)—but the others are adopted and, therefore, must be brought into glory. Hence, he says: who had brought, meaning, He foreordained them to be brought.

And what was fitting for Him? This: that He should make perfect the pioneer of their salvation. This salvation consists in two things: that they become sons and be brought into their inheritance. That they are sons they owe to the natural Son: Whom he foreknew he also predestined to be made conformable to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29). But they obtain glory and the inheritance only through Him Whose inheritance it is by right and Who is the brightness of glory. Therefore, because we obtain those two things through the Son, He is fittingly called the pioneer of salvation: He will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21); Looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). It was therefore fitting that the Father send the author of salvation, namely, His Son, Who had brought many sons into glory, to be perfected through suffering—that is, by merit. For He, as the natural Son, is altogether perfect, but because He was lessened in the Passion, He had to be made perfect by the merit of the Passion: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and so to enter into his glory? (Luke 24:26).

Then (Hebrews 2:11) he proves what he had said. Here he does two things: first, he proves his conclusion on the part of the Father sanctifying; second, on the part of the Son sanctified (Hebrews 2:14). In regard to the first, he does two things: first, he states his conclusion; second, he proves it by an authority (Hebrews 2:11b).

He says, therefore: For both he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified have one origin. It should be noted that the Apostle had said three things above: first, that Christ is the cause of salvation, in which he shows that we depend on Him as on a Savior; second, that the Father is the finisher of Christ by the merit of the Passion, so that in this, Christ depends on the Father; third, that the Father brings us into glory, which also shows that we depend on God. Accordingly, the Apostle shows that we depend on Christ, for the one sanctified depends on the sanctifier: Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate (Hebrews 13:12). Therefore, it has been well said that because He is the author and sanctifier, we depend on Him. But He depends on the Father, from Whom He has power to sanctify. And all—namely, He that sanctifies and we who are sanctified—have one origin, namely, the Father: Heirs of God; co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

Then he proves these points with three authorities. First, that Christ, as the mediator and author of salvation, brings God’s gifts to us. Hence, he says, that is why—namely, because He and we depend on the Father—he is not ashamed to call them brethren, because all are of the same Father: Have we not all one Father? (Malachi 2:10); That he might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). Therefore, it is stated in Psalm 22:22: I will declare your name to my brethren; and in John 20:17: Go to my brethren. Note that he says, he is not ashamed to call them brethren, because some born of humble origins are ashamed to recognize their brethren if they attain a higher status: The brethren of a poor man hate him (Proverbs 19:7). But not Christ, for He says, I will proclaim your name to my brethren: Father, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me (John 17:6); The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him (John 1:18).

Then he shows the fruit of this manifestation when he says, in the midst of the congregation will I praise you. It is as if to say: This forms a great Church in the midst of which I will praise you. He says, in the midst, because just as a pillar in the middle of a house supports it, a lamp in the middle of a house gives light, and the heart in the middle of the body gives life, so Christ is in the midst of the Church. Furthermore, He is in the midst because He was not sent to one people, as Moses was—In Judea God is known; his name is great in Israel (Psalms 76:1)—but He was sent for the salvation of all: He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth (Psalms 74:12). Therefore, it is stated in Luke 24:36 that Jesus stood in the midst of His disciples.

On this point, it should be noted that before the Law it was the custom that all the firstborn were priests, and this belonged to the right of the firstborn. But Christ is a brother and firstborn; therefore, He is a priest. A priest who sanctifies the people is a mediator between God and the people: I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at that time (Deuteronomy 5:5). Therefore, it pertains to Him to announce the things of God to the people and to bring the things of the people to God. He does the first by preaching; hence, He says, I will proclaim your name to my brethren, meaning, “I will bring them to know you,” and this is to sanctify them: Sanctify them in the truth (John 17:17). He accomplishes the second when He makes men break forth in praise of God. Hence, He says, in the midst of the congregation will I praise you.

Then, when he says, and again, he shows that Christ Himself depends on the Father by the fact that He says, I will put my trust in him: In you, Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded (Psalms 31:1). He shows the kind of hope He has: a firm hope, which is called trust. For hope, even though it is not concerned with the impossible, sometimes has fear joined to it, and then it is properly called hope. But sometimes hope is firm and without fear; then it is called trust. This is the hope Christ had.

He says, therefore, I will put my trust in him, meaning, “I will have confidence in His help.” But the saints say that in Christ there is neither faith nor hope, but only charity. I answer that hope is one thing and trust another: for hope is the expectation of future happiness, and this was not in Christ, because He was happy from the instant of His conception. But trust is the expectation of help, and in this regard there was hope in Christ, inasmuch as He awaited help from the Father during His Passion. Therefore, whenever we read that Christ had hope, this is not to be understood as referring to its principal object, which is happiness, but as referring to the glory of the resurrection and the glory conferred on His body.

Then when he repeats, and again, he shows that we depend on the Father: Here am I and the children whom God has given me: Yours they were and to me you gave them (John 17:6); Children, have you any fish? (John 21:5). They are called children on account of their purity: If the young men are clean, especially from women (1 Samuel 21:4); and a bit later he continues: “The vessels of the young men were holy.” They are also called children because of their simplicity—Brethren, do not become children in sense, but in malice be children (1 Corinthians 14:20)—and because of their humility: unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). He shows that not only is He from God, but also the children; hence he continues, whom God has given me. This shows that both he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified have all one origin, because it says in John 6:44: No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me draw him.