NOTES for Heb 2:5-12

In today's reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews, a psalm is quoted in which the psalmist spoke about the destiny and greatness of the human person. The Lord created the human person a little lower than the angels; He gave him authority over all creation. He destined the human person for glory. Yet we know that sin entered the world, and therefore, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, not everything is now subject to the human person. The order of the world created by God was violated, and it could be restored in only one way. The consequence of sin - death - could be taken upon Himself only by the One who had committed no sin. Anyone else would merely have borne a deserved punishment. He, the only sinless One, bears our sin upon Himself - and in this way returns to the human person the lost freedom and glory, making each of us His brother.