Hebrews 2:4

4 1while God also bore witness 2by signs and wonders and various miracles and by 3gifts of the Holy Spirit 4distributed according to his will.

Hebrews 2:4 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 2:4

God also bearing them witness
The apostles of Christ; God testifying to their mission and commission, and the truth of the doctrine they preached:

both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles;
such as taking up serpents without hurt, healing the sick, causing the lame to walk, and raising the dead, and casting out devils, and the like; all which were for the confirmation of the Gospel preached by them: a sign, wonder, or miracle, for these signify the same thing, is a marvellous work done before men, by the power of God, to confirm a divine truth; God is the sole author of miracles; and they were done in the first ages of Christianity, when they were necessary, to give evidence of the truth of it, and to establish men in it; and these were various, as before observed: and gifts of the Holy Ghost; such as besides gifts of healing and working miracles, gifts of foretelling things to come, discerning of spirits, speaking with divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues, ( 1 Corinthians 12:8 1 Corinthians 12:9 1 Corinthians 12:10 ) according to his own will; either according to the will of God, who bore testimony by these miracles and gifts; or according to the will of the Holy Spirit, who distributed them to men severally as he pleased, ( 1 Corinthians 12:11 ) .

Hebrews 2:4 In-Context

2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
5 Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
6 It has been testified somewhere, "What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?

Cross References 4

  • 1. [See ver. 3 above]
  • 2. Acts 2:22, 43
  • 3. [1 Corinthians 12:4, 11]
  • 4. [Ephesians 1:5]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.