HEB 5:4 And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. 5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You;”
The honor of serving as high priest was to be given by God Himself through the lineage of Aaron. But by the time of Christ that system had been completely botched. Here’s a description of the state of the High Priesthood in the first century according to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:
“
... until the time of the Maccabees, when a decided change took place. The Syrian Antiochus deposed Onias III and put his brother Jason in his place (174 BC), who was soon displaced by Menelaus. About 153 BC Jonathan the Hasmonean was appointed by King Alexander, and thus the high-priesthood passed to the priestly family of Joiarib (1 Macc 10:18-21). Whether the family of Joiarib was a branch of the Zadokites or not cannot be determined. After the appointment of Jonathan, the office became hereditary in the Hasmonean line, and continued thus until the time of Herod the Great. The latter set up and deposed high priests at his pleasure. The Romans did the same, and changed so frequently that the position became almost an annual appointment” [ Read this at
classic.net.bible.org/dictionary.php?word=Priest, High ]
The High Priesthood had become a human system.
But Christ, v.4 points out, was “called by God even as Aaron was.”
Then v. 5 takes that up another level: God appointed Jesus as High Priest *as His own Son.*
Do you see the full significance here? When the High Priesthood was established in the Old Testament, they were sons of Aaron who were appointed by God. But Jesus is a Son of GOD HIMSELF who was appointed by God! How much more qualified is He to intercede for us! He sympathizes with our struggles and weaknesses. He is perfectly holy. And rather than being a descendant of Aaron, He is a direct descendant of God the Father!
HEB 5:6 just as He says also in another passage, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Plenty has been written about Melchizedek’s significance here. We know nothing about him except three things:
- A King of Salem (which was later renamed Jerusalem!) and a High Priest in the time of Abram/Abraham, he is mentioned in only a single verse (Genesis 14:18). There he blessed Abram after Abram defeated several pagan kings.
- David wrote prophetically that the Messiah/Christ would be “in the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4)
- His name is a compound of the Hebrew words “Malkiy” (King) and Tsedeq (Righteousness) - “King of Righteousness.”
The Hebrews writer described Jesus as a priest in the order of Melchizedek 8 times but didn’t directly draw the similarity. But Jesus is a High Priest, He does bless Abraham through Israel (the church), and He is the true King of Righteousness over Jerusalem (Israel, the church)!
HEB 5:7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
It’s easy to think of this verse describing Jesus in the garden praying that the Father lift the cup of death from Him. But that is far too narrow for what this verse says.
What is being described here happened in the “days” (plural) of His flesh. The whole context leading up to this verse is about Jesus’ perfect struggle against temptation and sin. He feared death – not primarily physical but spiritual!
Can you imagine the weight of His plight? Fully human, tempted at every turn to sin. To lie when asked if He was God’s son or the Messiah. To lust as Mary Magdalene anointed His feet with her hair. To steal when He and His disciples were hungry. To turn away from the demanding crowds the Father had led to Him because He was tired. To retaliate against the enemies who wanted Him dead.
He was capable of sin, but a single sin would damn the entire human race forever and sever Him from the Father. What weight upon His shoulders. What incredible cost if He gave in to temptation even once!
A single sin would – what else? – bring spiritual death upon Him like every human He came to save!!!
He could hold out in only one way – by complete submission to and dependence upon the Father every second of every day of His 33 years, right up to His last breath. So His constant prayers and supplications were “with loud crying and tears” because only the Father could save Him from spiritual death. And this piety, this verse says, caused the Father to hear Him. If physical death were in mind here we couldn’t say the Father “heard” Him because He did die. Spiritual death is in mind here. That is what Jesus the man feared most, and it is that fear from which He came to deliver us (2:15)!
HEB 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. 9a And having been made perfect,
If Jesus came as a man who was never tempted to sin, He would have lacked one qualification of high priesthood mentioned in 5:2: A high priest “can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness.” He would have never had to obey the Father any more than the Father has to obey the Father – being righteous would have just been the way He was. He would not be able to deal gently with us sinners.
So Jesus added “perfect obedience” to all His perfect qualifications for high priesthood described above. He was now the perfect High Priest.
HEB 5:9b He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,
He now provides salvation to everyone who obeys Him.
I’m afraid that the modern church, in reaction to the grace-destroying legalism of nearly a century ago, has minimized the importance of obedience. Jesus Himself made it clear that loving Him and obeying Him were interconnected: “If you love Me you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
Jesus died for everyone who believes, but only obedient believers will be saved in the end. Jesus’ perfect obedience didn’t result in our freedom to sin. It resulted in His ability to extend mercy and grace to us. He became the temple sacrifice for our sins past. We don’t receive His perfection; we receive His mercy. Repentance and obedience until death secure our perfection and eternal salvation. He gave us the Holy Spirit to assist us in that, if we will.
HEB 5:10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Again, Jesus is a High Priest who is also the King of Righteousness, analogous to Melchizedek. God appointed Him to that role.
HEB 5:11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12a For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God,
The Greek in the opening phrase can be translated either “concerning Him” or “concerning this.” The writer has much to say about Jesus as our perfect high priest.
This is a challenging task, though, because the readers were spiritually hard of hearing. That made this topic “hard to understand” (not “hard to explain” as the NASB translated it). They wouldn’t listen in order to understand!
You’ve caught yourself there too, haven’t you? Maybe you were studying the Bible, maybe having a disagreement with someone. You were so focused in justifying your perspective that you prevented new data from helping you grow or opening your mind.
That was the mental state of these original readers. They didn’t accept Jesus being their high priest and they wouldn’t let the writer’s explanation forward their understanding.
This study of Hebrews has challenged and expanded my beliefs in many ways already, and we’re only on chapter 5 of 13! I’m sure it will continue to do so throughout.
These in the original audience had professed faith in God for a long time. They knew their Bibles. They should have grown enough by this time that they could teach others, but they needed someone to teach them the fundamentals again. They started off wrong. If you start buttoning your shirt with the wrong button it will be wrong the whole way down.
We’ll learn what those fundamentals are in 6:1.
HEB 5:12b and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14a But solid food is for the mature,
There’s nothing wrong with a milk diet. We feed it to infants so they can grow up and eat solid food. A diet of milk is necessary and good – if you’re a baby. But if you are 10 or 20 or 30 years old and still can’t eat solid food, there’s a serious problem to address.
The writer doesn’t give up on these mature milk drinkers, however.
HEB 5:14b who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
Isn’t this a rich statement? If you want to be able to digest solid food; if you want a richer understanding of God and what He has been and is doing through history; if you want to understand the things He has shared with us that require spiritual discernment; then you must train your senses to discern good and evil through practice (literally, “habit”).
Adam and Eve, after eating the forbidden fruit, experientially KNEW both good and evil. But to be spiritual mature you must train your senses (this rare Greek word means something like “spiritual receptors”) to DISCERN (or “judge”) between them.
This does not happen passively. It comes through intention and volition. It is spiritual self-discipline. Without it you simply won’t properly or fully understand the deeper things of God.
HEB 6:1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits.
The teachings that the writer considers to be baby food includes recognizing the deadness of our good works, repenting from sin, putting total faith in God rather than earning our own righteousness, being set apart for a special task (that’s the sense of the idiom “washings and laying on of hands”), and understanding that the dead will be raised and that everyone will face eternal judgment.
Are these teachings important? Most certainly! They must never drop from the teachings of the church. They are as important to the church as milk is to a baby!
But they are merely starting points for knowing God more completely. They are the foundation, but if you spend all of your time laying the foundation you will never complete the building.
And so, if time permits, the writer (who appears to be the readers’ discipler) will help them move on to the meat.
