Hughes:

1) Hebrews 2:9:

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels [Phil 2:7. 8, 9.] for [or by] the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour [Acts 2:33.]; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man [Jn 3:16 & 12:32; Roms 5:18, & 8:32, 2 Cor 5:15; 1 Tim 2:6, 1 Jn 2:2.].

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels: this second application of the psalmist’s words demonstrates Jesus, the gospel Prophet, to be the man or Adam intended by the Spirit there; and his humiliation and exaltation to be the matter asserted of him: see ver. 7.

For the suffering of death. crowned with glory and honor: the reason or end of his diminution, in respect of angels, for a little while, and of his necessity of his being man, was, that he might be crucified and die, Phil. ii. 7-11, and thereby merit for himself n crown of honor and glory. This was given him for his giving himself to be a sacrifice for sin, and by his own blood to expiate it.

That he by the grace of God; the principle determining. which was God’s good pleasure; he alone, out of his free love and favour to sinners, ordered this, as John iii. 16; 1 John iv. 9. Therefore the Hebrews had no reason of being offended with him as they were, 1 Cor. i. 23.

Should taste death; a metaphor to express to die as a sacrifice, making satisfaction to Divine justice, and expiating sins, Isa. liii.10. All his sufferings in body and soul, which were many and bitter, are here intended, and their completion by death, Matt. xxvi. 39, 42, intimating by his taste of this deadly cup, his sipping of it, but not having swallowed it: and it is a metaphor allusive to the Grecian customs, who put men to death by giving them a cup of poison, as the Athenians executed Socrates.

For every man; to render sin remissible to all persons, and them salvable, God punishing man’s sin in him, and laying on him the iniquities of us all, Isa. liii. 4-6; 1 John ii. 2; and so God became propitious and pleasable to all; and if all are not saved by it, it is because they do not repent and believe in him, 2 Cor. v. 19-21: compare John x. 15. This was evident to and well known by these Hebrews,, as if they saw it, the work, concomitants, and effect of it demonstrating it. And this now in the gospel is evident to faith: it was so certainly visible and evidently true, as not to be denied but by infidels. [Some spelling modernized; italics original; and underlining mine.]

Read the rest of this entry »

Otes:

But to leave this, note that Christ here is called our Lord; which he is two ways:

Iure creationis.
Iure redemptionis.

First, By right of creation [Heb. 1:2.]: for by him God made the world, that he gave his only begotten Son to save the world [John 3:16.]: Hereupon says Fail, “Ye are bought with a price.” Now redeeming is either by price and paying, or by power and force. Christ has done both; he gave a price to God, “And gave himself a ransom for all men,” [Titus 2:6.] “He came by water and blood,” [ 1 John 5.] not by water only, but by water and blood. In water, is signified washing; by blood, redemption.

Secondly, by his Power he redeems, and has taken us from the Devil. So faith the Author to the Hebrews, “He has delivered us from death, and him that has the Lordship of death,” [Heb. 2.] And says John says, that “he saw a great battle in Heaven, Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon, and the Dragon fought and his Angels, but prevailed not, neither was their place any more found in Heaven,” [Apoc. 12:7.]. It was a greater matter to Christ to redeem the World, than to make the World. He made it in six days, but he was thirty and three years in redeeming it; he made all with a word, and the host of them by the breath of his mouth. “By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made, and the host of them by the breath of his mouth,” [Psal. 33:6.]. For the letter (He) in Hebrew is but a breath: But he redeemed it with a great price, not with silver and gold, but with blood, not with blood of Bulls and Goates, but with his own precious Blood [1 Pet. 1:18.]: Gold and silver are but red earth, and white earth, which the error of man has made to be esteemed; but the blood of Christ was so precious, that as a Father, Tanti quid vales? what is of equal value price with it? The least drop of Christ’s blood was of such value, in regards of the person, that it was able to redeem ten thousand world; but less than Christ’s blood could not redeem one Soul.

And there were divers and sundry effusions of his blood. The first blood he shed was at his Circumcision, when he was but eight days old; which S. Bernard calls Maturum martyium, a timely martyrdom [De passione Dom. cap. 36.]: to which he further adds, Vix natus est Coeli glorlia, Coeli divitae, deliciae dulcis Jesus, & ecce recenti ortui crucis dolor copulatur; Scarce was sweet Jesus come into the world; who was the Glory, the Riches, the Delight of Heaven, but he underwent the painfulness of the Cross.

The second effusion of blood was in his Agony, whereof Saint Bernard speaks thus, Ecce quam rubicundus, & quam totus rubicundus, Behold, how red, and how wholly red he is? For Saint Luke affirms, that his sweat was like “Drops of blood” trickling down to the ground.

Read the rest of this entry »

de l’ Espine:

What that
Justifying
Faith is.

But when we speak so of faith, we understand not by this name a bare opinion which we may have of the truth or a simple persuasion and consent, whereby we allow all that is contained in the Scripture: but we understand this Faith a lively apprehension of the truth of God’s promises, and an assurance of his grace and favor in Jesus Christ. Also, a full confidence that is sufficient to bear all the temptations, that can be laid upon us, and to beat down death, the devil, and all the gates of hell, and further, to set itself against wrath, in the judgment and malediction of God, the which it turns from us as a tempest and storm when we are threatened. Now when we hear said that the law contains the promises of God, and in them his undeserved favor and grace, as the eye does color, and the ear the sound, and the other senses their proper object: we understand this of the assurance and certainty only, not of any carnal seeing. For the things that we believe, they can not be felt with the hand, nor seen with the eye, nor by any reason, or other sense of man be comprehended, and yet nevertheless they are more certain, then the things that we feel, because our senses may be deceived. As the eye which will judge a piece of wood in the water to be crooked, although it be very straight: But Faith when it is once grounded, and rests itself upon the word of God, it is assured of all that is therein taught, and specially it embraces Jesus Christ and draws from him everlasting life.

I. de l’ Espine   An Excellent Treatise of Christian Righteovsnes, (Imprinted at London by Thomas Vautrolier dwelling in the Blackfires, 1577), 90-92.

Burkitt:

19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

No sooner did our Savior come within the sight and view of the city of Jerusalem, but he burst out into tears, at the consideration of their obstinacy, and willful rejecting of the offers of grace and salvation made unto them; and also he wept to consider of the dreadful judgments that hung over their heads for those sins, even the utter ruin and destruction of their city and temple. Learn hence, 1. That good men ever have been, and are, men of tender and compassionate dispositions, sorrowing not only for their own sufferings, but for others’ calamities. 2. That Christ sheds tears as well as blood for the lost world; Christ wept over Jerusalem, as well as bled for her. 3. That Christ was infinitely more concerned for the salvation of poor sinners, than for his own death and sufferings: not the sight of his own cross, but Jerusalem’s calamities, made him weep.

William Burkitt, Expository Notes With Practical Observations on the New Testament (Philadelphia: Published by Thomas Wardle, 1835), 1:400. [Some spelling modernized; underlining mine.]