Hebrews 2:1-8

Hebrews 2:1-8

The author continues his teachings of the superiority of Christ over angels, but in this moment he digresses. Digressions will happen five times in this book, and these are always a warning about leaving faith in Christ for something else. Remember the original readers were under intense pressure to leave the Christian faith and return to Judaism. In this warning about the dangers of leaving the faith, the author uses a powerful metaphor from the experience of maritime travel. We read this nautical warning and may not recognize its naval roots. The phrase “because of this…,” that is, Christ’s superiority over angels, “…we must pay closer attention” is much more expressive and passionate in the original language than it is in English. The picture or warning is that we must be completely and passionately focused on Christ. This phrase could be translated, “It is our passionate duty to superabundantly” pay attention. The word translated “pay close attention” is a deeply personal word; sometimes it was used to describe paying attention to clothing or even pregnancy. It was primarily a word used to describe the way a ship’s pilot had to pay close attention as the ship approached the harbor. Without constant attention to his task, the pilot might find the ship drifting away. The word “drift away” describes a ship that is pushed off course by the currents. Rather than going into the harbor, the ship is carried down the coast, out to sea, or into a sandbar. By momentary inattention, the ship is lost.

It is important to note that those who leave the faith, who go off into the life of sin, or who become apostate, don’t do so in a moment or in an instant. The preacher who leaves his wife and runs away with another woman had a long and likely secret history of emotion or physical infidelity. Long before their flight out of state, there was a flight of fancy. The Christian who is discovered to be scamming the innocent for money, drifted into corruption with a few nibbles here or there. Heretics don’t begin with radical false doctrines; they make a small twist to a small interpretation first.

If we don’t pay close attention to the message of Christ, we are in danger of drifting inch by inch away either morally, doctrinally, personally, and/or spiritually. It is in the attention to the little things that we help secure the right course for the larger things. If we want a great faith, it must begin by being faithful in small things.

“Lord, help me keep my heart loyal to you in every detail. AMEN”