What Does Hebrews 2:11 Mean?
For both the one who sets apart and those who are set apart are all from one. For this reason he does not blush to call them brothers.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,THE KEY
The one who sets you apart does not stand at a distance from you: he calls you kin without shame.
THE MEANING
The one who sets you apart and you, being set apart, are “all of one.” The difference between the one acting and those receiving the action remains, yet he calls you brother without shame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being set apart means being kept at a distance, or that the one who sets you apart is ashamed to claim you.
THE ROOT
ὁ ἁγιάζων
ho hagiazōn
GROWS FROM
ἁγιάζω
Set apart; dedicate.
The same verb family describes both sides: one sets apart, and others are being set apart. “All of one” places that difference within shared belonging; the act does not make those set apart strangers to its source.
ALSO GROWS
hagios: Set apart.
ἅγιος
This related word names the state of being set apart, linking the action in the verse to the identity of those who receive it.
hagiasmos: Setting apart; consecration.
ἁγιασμός
This noun names the setting-apart itself, making the shared action visible across the word family.
ἀδελφούς
adelphous
GROWS FROM
ἀδελφός
adelphos
Brother; a sibling, traditionally understood as one of the same womb.
“brethren” in this verse is adelphous. The verse ends with a family name, not merely a shared status: those being set apart are called brothers by the one who sets them apart. Difference in role and closeness in kinship stand together.
ALSO GROWS
adelphē: Sister.
ἀδελφή
The feminine form shows the same kinship word family can name a sibling relationship beyond brothers.
adelphotēs: Brotherhood; sibling community.
ἀδελφότης
This related noun describes a community as kin, echoing the belonging named at the end of the verse.
THE PATTERN
Set-apartness comes from God and gathers its recipients into shared belonging.
And keep my statutes, and do them. I am the LORD who sets you apart.And for their sake I set myself apart, that they also might be set apart through the truth.To the assembly of God dwelling in Corinth, to those set apart in Jesus the Anointed One, called to be set-apart ones, with all who call upon the nature of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One in every place, both theirs and ours.THE THREAD
And for their sake I set myself apart, that they also might be set apart through the truth.The same Greek verb family appears twice: the speaker sets himself apart, and his followers are set apart through the truth. Hebrews makes the kinship explicit: those receiving this act are called brothers by the one who sets them apart.
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