提要
欲明白第二章5至18節的關鍵，在於第14節「兒女既同有血肉之體，祂也照樣親自成了血肉之體；特要藉著死，敗壞那掌死權的，就是魔鬼。」
上述經文的解釋如下：上帝為了要一次並永遠地解決人類罪的問題，祂必須成為我們當中的一份子。理由何在？因為人類伏在死亡之下，掌死權的就是魔鬼、撒但。並且為要在撒但的立足點上有效地抵擋牠，上帝於是降卑自己、與撒但同等──在戰場上的第一線上與撒但、魔鬼爭戰。上帝必須把自己縮小成為人的樣式、尺寸才能達成目的，如此一來，祂在撒但的欺凌威脅之下極易被攻擊。然而，祂仍差遣自己獨生子成為血肉之軀，像我們一樣住在人間，且為人人嚐了死味（9節），又因死的苦難，得以完全(10節)。在這段經文之下，指出祂真實的人性，也是終極重要的宣告──如同人死亡，耶穌也死了──祂成為肉身的事是真實無誤的。這也表示祂的救贖（在加略山上的死亡）是真實不假的。因為耶穌所流的寶血滿足了上帝向罪顯出的公義和憤怒，藉此我們得以成聖。又因我們和耶穌都出於一（11節a），被稱為弟兄，是家裡的人；與天使的族類完全不同（9節）。
耶穌既是我們救贖主（10節）也是我們的弟兄（11節）。更榮幸的是耶穌不以我們為恥（11節b）。祂知道人們內心所存的以及人的一切，所以能夠搭救被試探的人（18節）。這就是祂能成為完全之中保的原因──祂既具神性，又具有人性。祂是完美大祭司，也是完全的拯救者和救贖主。
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Overview
The key to understanding verses 5 through 18 of chapter 2 is verse 14: "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil..." (NIV).
Here's the reasoning: In order for God to deal once and for all with man's sin, he had to become one of us. Why? Because men are subject to death, and the one who holds the power of death is Satan, To deal effectively with Satan on his level, God "levelled Himself", as it were — He fought the devil on a level playing field. To do this, he had to reduce himself to our size where He would be vulnerable to! Satan's bullying. He sent His Son to become flesh and dwell among i us, as one of us, in order to "taste death for everyone" (v.9). And this death that Jesus suffered "perfected" Him (v.10) in terms of it being the! ultimate statement of his genuine humanity — humans die, Jesus died — His incarnation was real. This also means His atonement (His death on Calvary) was/is also real. He makes us holy through His shed blood, because it satisfies God's wrath toward sin and because we and Jesus "are of the same family" (v.lla NIV) — the human family — as opposed to the angelic family (v.9).
Even though Jesus is our Saviour (v.10), He is also our brother (v.ll). What's more, He's proud of it (v.llb). He knows what it's like to be human and is "able to help those who are being tempted" (v.18 NIV). That's why He's the perfect mediator — He's both God and man. He's a perfect Priest, and a perfect Saviour.
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Prayer
Jesus, we thank You for becoming one of us. Therefore we know that by faith we've been exalted as members of Your family. Please help us to love You more and more, that we might grow to be more like You in every thought, word, and deed. |
