Hebrews 2:3

Hebrews 2:3. By the Lord, rather through, by the instrumentality of. When instrumentality is clearly expressed in the context, as when it is said, ‘By whom He made the worlds' (chap. Hebrews 1:2), no change is needed; but when, as here, ‘by' is ambiguous, making it uncertain whether it describes a mere agent or the originating cause, it is important to mark the distinction. The Lord is here regarded as the divine messenger, whose message God Himself attested (Hebrews 2:4).

The Lord. The title thus given to Christ has special dignity, and is not common in this Epistle, being found only in Hebrews 7:14; Hebrews 13:20, and perhaps in Hebrews 12:14. It is the word used in the Septuagint to translate Jehovah.

Was confirmed unto us has been quoted to prove that Paul did not write this Epistle, he having affirmed elsewhere that he received his doctrine directly from Christ Himself (Gal 1:12; 1 Corinthians 9:1, etc.) There is, however, no inconsistency. The writer is here speaking of the Gospel as attested by many human witnesses whom he, and those he is addressing, had heard.

So great salvation. Nothing is said here of the greatness of the salvation beyond the qualities immediately named. viz. that the Gospel began with the teaching of the Lord, and was confirmed by the testimony and experience of those that heard it; still farther by the variety and the diffusion of miraculous and spiritual gifts God's own witnesses. A gospel originated in this way, and sustained by such evidence, has the strongest claim on our attention. The primary evidence of Christianity is Christ and Christians the character of Him who first taught it, and next the testimony of men who have believed it, and who can tell of its fitness to bring peace and to produce holiness; and all this evidence is permanent, as clear and as strong now as in the first age.

Neglect. The sin rebuked here is not the rejection of the Gospel or contempt of it. It is simply neglect or indifference. The hearers did not care to examine the truths and duties it revealed. Tell men what God is and what God has done to make them happy and good, and the character of men is as fully tested by their indifference as by their formal rejection of the truth. Not to care about a message of reconciliation and holiness decides the character and the destiny of many who have heard but will not regard. We have only to ‘neglect' salvation and we lose it, as in the previous verse we have only to take no heed; and we are carried away to our ruin in both cases.