Short answer: Hebrews 2:14–18 answers the question with two joined purposes. The children shared flesh and blood, so the Son partook of the same, so that through death he might bring to nothing the one who had the power of death and deliver those held in bondage by the fear of death. He was made like his brothers in all things so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest to make atonement for sins. And because he himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
A sermon in a letter, and the shape of the argument
Hebrews is a sermon sent as a letter. The writer calls it a word of exhortation, and the whole book sounds like a pastor preaching to a congregation whose first enthusiasm has cooled. He does not scold them first. He argues from Scripture, quoting the psalms and prophets, and he keeps comparing Jesus with the great figures of Israel's faith. The opening chapters have already said that God has spoken finally in his Son, that the Son is greater than the angels, and that the coming world is subjected not to angels but to the Son and to those he calls his brothers. Verses 12 and 13 finish that argument by placing the Son in the middle of a gathered congregation, declaring God's name, singing praise, trusting God, and standing surrounded by children God has given him. That picture of family is what verse 14 picks up.
The word used for the readers is children, and the writer takes it seriously. The children share flesh and blood, so the Son took hold of the same thing. The logic is tight and deliberate: shared humanity leads to real death, real death destroys the one holding the power of death, and that destruction releases people who had spent a lifetime enslaved by the fear of dying. Then verse 16 narrows the scope. He does not give help to angels; he gives help to the offspring of Abraham. That phrase reaches back to God's covenant promises, so this is not a vague general kindness offered to everyone in the same way. It is covenant help given to a particular people, and the writer wants his tired readers to know they are inside that family.
Verse 17 introduces the title that will dominate the rest of the letter: high priest. The Son was made like his brothers in all things so that he could serve as a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, making atonement for the sins of the people. Verse 18 then turns the doctrine toward sympathy: because he himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted. Chapter 3 immediately draws the application, calling the readers to consider this Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of their confession, who was faithful as Moses was faithful in God's house. The paragraph is not there merely to inform. It is there to steady attention and endurance in people who were drifting.
Why the Son took on flesh and blood
The writer begins with a shared condition: the children have in common flesh and blood. Then he says the Son partook of the same in the same way. That wording is deliberately strong. He did not merely appear human or borrow a human form for a season; he entered the common human condition, with a real body and a real life. The phrase in the same way matters, because it ties the Son's humanity directly to ours. He did not take on a different kind of flesh, a shielded version of it. He took on the same flesh and blood the children share, and he did so for a purpose stated in the next line.
That purpose is stated with striking language. Through death he would bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. To bring to nothing does not mean to annihilate; it means to strip of power, to render ineffective. The weapon is death itself, the very thing that held people in fear. Notice that the deliverance described is from bondage to fear, not from dying. The writer does not say believers will escape grief, illness or the grave. He says the one who held death's power has been rendered ineffective, so death no longer rules by terror.
Then comes a word that should stop us: obligated. The Son was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest, to make atonement for the sins of the people. Likeness to us was not optional to his priestly work; it was required by it. He does not give help to angels, the writer says, but he takes hold of the offspring of Abraham, language of grasping someone to rescue them. And the ground of that help is his own suffering under temptation: because he suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted. The help promised is a sympathetic high priest, not a guarantee of relief.
Why the Son took flesh and blood
The letter has already argued that God spoke finally in his Son, who is greater than the angels, and that the coming world belongs not to angels but to the Son and to those he calls his brothers. Then the writer puts Scripture in the Son's mouth: he declares God's name among the congregation, trusts God, and stands with the children God gave him (2:12–13). That picture of a family gathered around God sets up the next step. So when 2:14 says the children share in flesh and blood, it is not a new idea dropped in. It is the family language of the quotations becoming the reason for the incarnation.
The purpose is stated plainly. He partook of the same flesh and blood so that through death he might bring to nothing the one holding the power of death, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were enslaved for a lifetime (2:14–15). Notice the order: he took flesh in order to die, and he died in order to deliver. The rescue is covenant help, not vague kindness, since 2:16 says he helps the offspring of Abraham. The defeat of death's power frees people from bondage to that fear; it does not promise that believers will escape grief, illness, or dying.
Verse 17 gives the second purpose: made like his brothers in all things, he became a merciful and faithful high priest to make atonement for the sins of the people. Verse 18 adds that having suffered when tempted, he is able to help those being tempted. Atonement and sympathy belong together. Chapter 3 then tells these holy brothers to consider this Jesus, Apostle and High Priest. The doctrine is meant to hold their attention and steady them, not just fill their heads. He stands before God for his people and beside them in their testing, and that is why he became human.
Where readers differ on the Son who became flesh
Evangelical readers agree on the core of this passage: the Son truly shared flesh and blood, truly died, and truly serves as a merciful and faithful high priest. The disagreements come at the edges. Verse 17 says atonement was made for the sins of the people, while verse 16 says help goes to the offspring of Abraham rather than to angels. Readers differ over how wide to draw that circle, whether the high priestly work is for a particular people or for the world, and how to hold those statements together. The text itself does not resolve that question, so it should not be used to settle it dogmatically.
A second dispute concerns the devil's power of death in 2:14. Some read that power as granted by God and exercised only within his permission. Others see it as usurped, a tyranny that Christ's death breaks. Still others limit it to accusation and intimidation, the fear that keeps people in slavery. The passage says death's power was brought to nothing through dying, but it does not explain the mechanics of how that authority operated. What it does say clearly is that the one who held that power has been defeated, and that those held by fear are delivered.
Verse 15 raises a further question: is the fear of death ordinary dread of dying, or lifelong bondage under the threat of judgment? Both readings find support in the letter's wider argument. Then 2:17 says Jesus was made like his brothers in all things, and readers have long asked what that likeness did not include, especially whether he could have sinned. The text presents him as genuinely tempted and, elsewhere in the letter, genuinely without sin. These debates are worth having carefully, but none of them should be turned into a promise that believers escape grief, illness, or dying. The help promised here is a faithful high priest who suffered temptation and stands with the tempted.
The section closes with 3:1–2, which calls readers to consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of their confession, faithful to the one who appointed him as Moses was in all his house. That call follows the arguments rather than replacing them. Readers may disagree about the extent of atonement, the nature of the devil's power, or the fear that held people in bondage, but the text keeps returning to the same center: the Son became human, died, defeated death's holder, and helps those who are tempted. That center holds even where the details remain disputed.
Why Jesus took flesh: to die, disarm death, and help the tempted
The writer of Hebrews has already said that the Son shared flesh and blood. Here he explains why. The children share flesh and blood, and he partook of the same in the same way. The purpose is stated plainly: through death he might bring to nothing the one who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (2:14–15). The incarnation is not a display of divine sympathy from a distance. The eternal Son took a body so that he could die, and he died to break the grip of the one who held death over people. Rescue is the reason for the flesh.
Notice who receives this help. The writer says he does not give help to angels but to the offspring of Abraham (2:16). That is a statement about God's promise keeping, not about human worthiness. Then comes the priestly logic: he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people (2:17). The sympathy of Christ is not a vague feeling. It is the compassion of a priest who has stood where we stand and has made atonement for the people he represents.
The last verse grounds comfort in Christ's experience: in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted (2:18). The help is real, but the text does not promise that temptation will lift or that suffering will end. It promises a high priest who knows the pressure from the inside and is able to help. Nor does the defeat of death's power mean believers will avoid grief, illness, or dying. It means death no longer rules as a captor. The comfort here rests on what Christ has already done, not on the intensity of our faith.
Consider the high priest who shared your flesh
The passage ends where chapter 3 begins: with an invitation to look. Readers are told to consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of their confession, rather than to stare at the power of death or at their own fear. That is a concrete move, not a mood. Fear of death kept people in bondage their whole lives, yet the Son shared flesh and blood precisely so that he could break that grip. Ordinary weakness and mortality are not obstacles to his help; they are the ground of it. So a believer can bring fear and temptation to him without shame, because he came near on purpose.
His sympathy is not a vague feeling. The text says he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, which means his mercy rests on knowledge gained through suffering. He has been tempted, and he is able to help those who are tempted. That gives a practical shape to faith: ask for help in the moment of temptation, not only after the failure. The grace of his priestly work is the ground of any obedience, and the promise here is help for the tempted, not the removal of every trial or the end of grief in this life.
So expect to keep fighting temptation and to keep trusting a high priest who has already brought death's power to nothing. The text does not promise that believers will avoid illness, grief, or dying. It promises that death no longer holds the final word over those he helps. Consider him, then: bring the fear you actually have, ask for help while the temptation is still in front of you, and let his faithful priestly work be the reason you keep coming back rather than the reason to presume on outcomes God has not promised.
Biblical fidelity check
The passage was read as an argument, not a string of slogans. The writer moves from the children sharing flesh and blood to the Son partaking of the same, then to death, the devil, fear, Abraham's offspring, and the high priest. Two risks are specific here: treating bring to nothing as annihilation rather than the stripping of power the sentence describes, and reading the incarnation as an appearance rather than a genuine entry into common human life. The quotations in 2:12–13 are read as the Son speaking, which shapes how the solidarity is understood.
The real disagreement concerns the extent of the atonement, since 2:17 speaks of the sins of the people while 2:16 names the offspring of Abraham rather than angels. Readers also differ on how the devil holds death's power and on whether the fear in 2:15 is ordinary dread of dying or bondage under judgment. What stays central is that the Son truly became human, truly died, truly defeated the one holding death's power, and truly serves as a merciful and faithful high priest.
Other passages that speak to Hebrews 2:14-18
These verses sit inside a larger argument about the Son's superiority and his solidarity with his people, so it repays reading in context. For further study, compare the quotations he speaks in Hebrews 5: High Priest and Obedience and the confession of the readers in Hebrews 1: God Speaks by His Son, then trace the priesthood theme into Hebrews 11: Faith That Endures and Sees the Unseen and the warning passages in Hebrews 13: Love, Leaders, and Lasting Grace.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Jesus have to become truly human in order to defeat the devil?
Because the children he came to save share flesh and blood, he took on that same flesh and blood, and it was through his death that he brought the devil, who held the power of death, to nothing (2:14). His humanity was not incidental to the victory but the means of it: dying as one of us, he delivered those held in bondage by the fear of death (2:15). He came to help the offspring of Abraham, so he was made like his brothers in every way, becoming a merciful and faithful high priest who makes atonement and, having suffered when tempted, is able to help those who are tempted (2:16–18).
What does it mean that Jesus was made like his brothers in all things?
It means the Son genuinely shared our flesh and blood, not in appearance only, so that his death could free those held in bondage by the fear of death (2:14–15). He did not come to help angels but the offspring of Abraham, and so he had to be made like his brothers in every respect to become a merciful and faithful high priest who makes atonement for sins (2:16–17). Because he himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted (2:18). His likeness to us is real, and it equips him to represent us before God.
How does Jesus help me when I am tempted?
Jesus helps you because he himself suffered while being tempted, so he is able to help those who are tempted (2:18). He shared our flesh and blood and passed through death to break the devil's hold, freeing those held in bondage by the fear of death (2:14–15). Made like his brothers in every way, he became a merciful and faithful high priest who makes atonement for sins (2:17). His help flows from real sympathy, not distance.
