Hebrews 2:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

By this he expresses that the former salvation was not great. Therefore he fittingly added, “so great.”

Now, he says, God will not deliver us from war or give us land and earthly goods. Rather, there will be the destruction of death, the ruin of the devil, the Kingdom of Heaven, and eternal life.

He expressed all this briefly in the words: “if we neglect so great a salvation.”

Next he speaks of the reliability of what was said: “which at first began to be spoken by the Lord.” That is, it took its beginning from the very source, because no man brought this salvation to earth, nor any created power, but the Only-begotten Himself.

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” There it was a word; here it is salvation. If there too there was salvation, it was not great. They were delivered from enemies and received earthly goods. Here, however, there is something far greater.

Therefore he said: “so great.” For the destruction of death, the ruin of demons, and the Kingdom of Heaven all come to you through the word of the Son.

“Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.” Giving credibility to his words, he says that this salvation was proclaimed not through prophets or angels, but by the Master of all Himself.

Here he is clearly trying to show, from the difference of persons, what superiority the evangelical preaching has over the shadow of the Law (Heb 10:1).

For if, as he says, such authority, τὸ ἀξιόπιστον, belonged to the laws commanded through angels that those who dared to violate them were liable to the severest punishment, then is not the one who is found transgressing what was commanded through the Son far more deserving of punishment, as much as the Son surpasses the angels in honor?

If it is necessary to consider the measure of each, the one group stands before the throne, sings, and are “ministering spirits sent forth to serve” (Heb 1:14). The other is hymned together with the Father, being enthroned with Him, reigning with Him, and receiving the ministry of angels.

Every transgression and every disobedience to the Law of Moses, given through the mediation of angels (Acts 7:53), received just recompense, that is, punishment, in the Old Testament before the Nativity of Christ.

If the word spoken through angels, the Mosaic legislation, was firm, that is, had such binding force that no one could violate it with impunity, then how shall we Christians escape judgment and punishment if we neglect so great a salvation?

This salvation was first preached by the Lord. In us His teaching was confirmed and clarified through the apostles, who heard the living speech and saw the miracles of the Savior Himself.

How then shall we escape punishment if we neglect so great a new life? It received the beginning of its proclamation from the Lord Himself. That is, the Lord of the angels Himself began to speak to us of it, and those who heard Him, namely the apostles, confirmed it among us.

To the exhortation the Apostle again adds a comparison and shows how much higher the Gospel teaching is than the ordinances of the Law. Angels served in the giving of the Law (Heb 2:2), but here the Master of the angels Himself first brought the saving teaching. Those who were counted worthy of apostolic grace received it. The Law was a word showing what must be done, but the Lord's teaching grants eternal salvation.

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” How shall we escape recompense for our negligence toward so great a salvation?

By the words “so great,” the Apostle showed that the salvation dependent on the old Law is less significant than the salvation dependent on the Gospel. For that salvation freed from visible enemies, but this one from spiritual enemies.

That salvation served earthly and temporal happiness, but this one serves heavenly and eternal blessedness.

“Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord.” For Christ Himself first announced salvation and first began the preaching concerning what is necessary for salvation.

"If we neglect so great a salvation." Not the goods of the promised land, as in the Old Testament, are granted, but the Kingdom of Heaven and sonship. By "salvation" he means the salvation shown and revealed by Christ, that is, faith in Him. He says "so great a salvation" to show that salvation in the Old Testament was not like this. "Which began to be spoken by the Lord." Then he shows its truth. For no one else served it, as Moses did in the Old Testament, but Christ Himself. "By those who heard." What was brought to us by those who heard was made firm and received with faith. Who are "those who heard"? Clearly, the divine disciples. So as not to trouble them, he does not say that he himself also heard from Christ, though he did hear.

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” See how strongly Paul proves that those who do not obey the evangelical legislation and transgress it await unavoidable condemnation.

If, he says, the word spoken by angels was confirmed by the outcome of events, and all transgressors were punished, how can we escape punishment if we neglect the so greatly saving word of Jesus Christ, which is the word of the Gospel?

Then, in the following saying, he shows how this saving word was made firm: “Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.”

“It was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.” In these words some find a clear indication that the writer of the Epistle was a disciple of the Apostles, and not an Apostle himself, that is, not Paul.

For Paul always speaks of his direct instruction from the Lord, and not from those who heard Him (Gal 1:12, 17).

But it is enough to read this one verse as a whole to see that here, according to his accepted custom, the Apostle places himself together with his readers and speaks in adaptation to their situation.

The Hebrews to whom he wrote had received the Gospel not directly from the Lord, but from the mouth of His disciples.

Through a mutual comparison of the Gospel and the Old Testament Law, the holy Apostle Paul sets forth the following features of the superiority of the former over the latter.

The first feature is this: the word of the Law was spoken by angels. Or, as the Apostle says elsewhere, the Law was ordained by angels. Or, as it is said in Acts, the Law was received by angelic ordinance, that is, through the ministry of angels (Acts 7:53; cf. Gal 3:19).

The Gospel, however, was given directly by the Lord Himself, without any outside participation.

In what did the angels’ participation in giving the Old Testament Law consist? This is not fully explained in Scripture.

It is all the more necessary to fear falling away from the Gospel, because we cannot possibly escape the punishment appointed for this.

For if a Hebrew was already subjected to strict punishment for violating each commandment of the Law of Moses, which was given through the mediation of angels (cf. Gal 3:19), then disobedience to the word proclaimed not by servants, but by the Master Himself, deserves an incomparably greater penalty.

That word was confirmed among Christians by those who were immediate hearers of the Lord Himself.

The fact that the Lord’s disciples proclaimed His Gospel, adding no human inventions, is witnessed by this: God confirmed their preaching with signs and wonders.

Or, in the Apostle’s expression, He bore witness together with Christ’s disciples, that is, He joined His special and mighty testimony to the testimony of the apostles, συνεπιμαρτυροῦντος τοῦ Θεοῦ.