Hebrews 2:11-13 – Christ became a human like us

Verses 11-13 set out to affirm the humanity of Jesus Christ. To set the premise right, we must know that Jesus is not only truly God, but that He is also truly man. Christ became a man to establish the way that would bring us to God.

The connective “for” in verse 11 redirects us to verse 10 where Jesus Christ, the Author of our salvation, was made to go through suffering. As God, Christ could not die, so He became man so that He could go through suffering and die for sinful mankind. However, we need to note, though He was divine even when He became man, He chose to laid aside His divine attributes such as His omnipresence, and relied completely on the Holy Spirit to lead and guide Him.

To be the Sanctifier, Christ has to be without sin. As God, He has no sin, hence, He could sanctify us. Note also in verse 11 (NASB) that the word “Father” is in italic. It means that this word is inserted by the translators. Without the insertion, the verse should read, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are from one …” This is to be preferred than the insertion. Why? Because it is more natural to accept that the author wanted to convey the fact that both Jesus Christ and believers share a common nature, our humanity. He has to take on human nature in order to offer Himself as our substitute. However, the difference between Him and us believers, is His holy and sinless character. This gives Him the right to be our sanctifier. Because of our sin nature we need to be sanctified, hence, we are the object of His sanctification.

Since we share a common nature, our humanity, Christ is not ashamed to call believers His brethren. The author continued by quoting three Old Testament passages in support of Christ’s oneness with humanity.

Verse 12, a quote from Psalm 22:22, shows that Christ proclaimed God’s name to us, His brothers. God’s name would be His character and attributes. The author seemed to be referring to God’s grace and mercy demonstrated on the Cross. The two words brethren and congregation are referring to the same group of people. This tells us that the brethren of Jesus are those members of the congregation, the people of the church, bought by His Blood.

Verse 13, quoting from Isaiah 8:17, the author wanted his readers to see that Jesus in His humanity, demonstrated to them how one ought to rely on the Father and to trust Him completely. Without a doubt, we know that Jesus’ earthly life was marked by His dependence and total trust in the Father. His dependence demonstrated that we also ought to rely and trust our heavenly Father, especially in the midst of trials.

The second half of verse 13, quoting from Isaiah 8:18, demonstrates that as Jesus is the Son of God, we believers are the children of God. As our brother, Jesus thanked God for giving us, the spiritual children of God, to Him. Hence, we are all spiritual brothers and sisters of Jesus.

Christ is not only our Lord and savior, He is also our brother. He has set the pace for us leaving us an example to walk in His steps. Hence 1 John 2:6 tells us that, “Whoever says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” So let’s just do it!