What does Hebrews 2:5 mean?

Some Jewish groups believed that angels would rule the world in the end times. This included the Essenes, the sect which produced the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, according to the writer of Hebrews, the Scriptures which were cited in chapters 1 and 2 prove this is not the case. The One being given power and authority is clearly not an angel. In this passage, the author springs from the idea that Messiah is not an angel to specific evidence that He is actually a man. Prior verses made it clear that this Promised One is divine (Hebrews 1:3), but these upcoming verses will show Him taking on human form (Hebrews 2:14). This is a useful example of how New Testament authors understood God as a Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit.

The purpose of this passage is to show that God, in the form of Jesus, took on a human form in order to perfectly counter Satan's power of death and sin. This allowed Jesus to call mankind "brothers," and to serve as a perfect, ultimate high priest.

As this verse notes, this is not a change in topic. This is the same theme "of which [the book of Hebrews is] speaking." The next verses will provide more Old Testament proof. These references would have been especially meaningful to the letter's audience: Jewish Christians.