Hebrews 2:3

how shall we escape The "we" (being expressed in the original) is emphatic wewho are sons, not servants. The verb means "how shall we succeed in escaping," or, "make good our escape" namely, from similar, but yet more awful punishment (comp. Hebrews 12:25).

if we neglect Rather, "after neglecting," or "when we have neglected."

so great salvation The transcendence (Hebrews 7:25) of the safety provided is a measure of the guilt involved in ceasing to pay any attention to it (Hebrews 10:29; John 12:48). It came from Christ not from Angels, its sanctions are more eternal, its promises more divine, its whole character more spiritual.

which at the first began to be spoken Literally, "seeing that it, having at the first been spoken."

by the Lord The Gospels shew that Jesus was the first preacher of His own Gospel (Mark 1:14). "The Lord," standing alone, is very rarely, if ever, used as a title for Christ in St Paul. (1Th 4:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Timothy 4:18, are, to say the least, indecisive.)

was confirmed The "wordof this salvation" the news of this Gospel was ratified to us (comp. 1 Corinthians 1:6), and so it becomes "steadfast." The verb is derived from the adjective so rendered in Hebrews 2:2.

by them that heard We did not indeed receive the Gospel at firsthand, but from those who were its appointed witnesses (Luke 24:47-48; Acts 1:8; Acts 5:32). This verse, as Luther and Calvin so clearly saw, furnishes a decisiveproof that St Paul was not the writer of this Epistle. He always insistedon the primary and direct character of the revelation which he had received as his independent Gospel (Galatians 1:1; Galatians 1:12; Acts 22:10; Act 26:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23; 1 Corinthians 15:3, &c.). To talk of "accommodation" here is quite beside the mark.