Chapter 4 was a lengthy exhortation to remain steadfast in the faith, and the conclusion was that we can approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, thanks to the perfect work of our “great high priest,” Jesus Christ. Chapter 5 – and into chapter 6 because we are slow to learn – elaborates on Jesus’ role as high priest. Our confidence in approaching God should be based on our perfect high priest. Let’s take a look:
1) V1-6 – 1Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. 5So Christ also did not take upon Himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to Him, “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father [or have begotten You]” [Psalm 2:7]. 6And He says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” [Psalm 110:4].
Having mentioned the important role of high priest, and how Jesus fulfills that role for us, a couple times already in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author now elaborates more fully. He describes the selection process, the role, and the skill set of the high priest in general (v1-4). Just as when the author contrasted Jesus and Moses, and he did not downplay the honor that Moses deserves, so here he honors the priesthood, not making less of it in comparison with our great high priest Jesus, but all the more exalting the perfection of Jesus in fulfilling this most crucial role.
The high priest is “selected from among men and… he must be called by God, just as Aaron was.” “No one takes this honor upon himself.” He is “appointed to represent” people “in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins,” including “for his own sins.” He must be “able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.” The author says that Jesus “did not take upon Himself the glory of becoming a high priest;” rather, God the Father called Him to the role in the Covenant of Redemption made before creation amongst the Godhead. Because of this eternal and everlasting covenant, because Jesus is our high priest forever, believers can confidently approach the throne of grace. Quoting Psalm 2:7 and 110:4, the author connects Jesus as the only begotten Son of God to His role as priest, not temporarily in the order of Levi as a descendant of Aaron, but forever in the order of Melchizedek, a higher order that will be explained later.
2) V7-10 – 7During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. 8Although He was a son, He learned obedience from what He suffered 9and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him 10and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
This meaty passage continues to elaborate on the high priesthood of Jesus, further commenting on His role and the fulfillment of it. The “prayers and petitions” of God the Son were offered to and heard by God the Father (by God the Spirit, nonetheless) “because of His reverent submission” (v7). Ligon Duncan says, “We are heard because of the grace of God; that’s why the Lord listens to our prayers. Christ’s intercession is heard because of His godliness. In other words, we are being told that God the Father hears His Son because His Son deserves to be heard… For the Father not to hear the Son’s plea would be to go against justice because the Son has earned the right to be heard through His obedience, through His godliness, through His piety.” Still today, as the author will say later, Jesus “is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25; John 17).
The author recalls Jesus’ loud cried and tears in His petitions and calls God the Father “the One who could save [Jesus] from death.” Of course, your mind should take you to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus sweated blood as He repeatedly cried out, “If there is any other way, let this cup of wrath pass from Me; but not My will. Your will be done.” Although the author emphasizes Jesus’ divinity, there is no escaping His full humanity here either. V8-9 are controversial, because the author says, “Although [Jesus] was a son, He learned obedience from what He suffered, and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.” There seems to be some implication there that Jesus was somehow imperfect (“once made perfect”), lacked understanding (“learned obedience”), or was missing an important quality that prevented Him from accomplishing a task (“became the source of eternal salvation”).
Jesus is God; there never was a time when He did not exist in the fullness of deity. However, when Jesus took on humanity, He emptied Himself of the glory that goes along with divinity. He did something God doesn’t do, or at least something that humanity would never expect divinity to do. He suffered. God suffered. And prior to His suffering, Jesus couldn’t save us. Why not? God is just. Whatever the method of salvation, it couldn’t make light of God’s justice, righteousness, and holiness. That’s why God couldn’t just forgive and forget. He had to deal with sin in the only right way, which was justice, wrath, and punishment. But in order to save humanity from His righteous indignation (wrath), God required a substitute, a representative to bear the wrath due humanity on their behalf. And that substitute, in order to fulfill justice, had to be blameless. More than that, the substitute had to prove His blamelessness through trial and testing. That’s why Jesus couldn’t die as an infant; He had to be tried, tested, and proven as our perfect high priest. He had to obey perfectly, and He had to suffer, in order to be considered the perfect sacrifice. We may never know why it took 33 years of living as a man, instead of 23 or 43 or 83, but you can be sure that is was enough.
Jesus was, is, and always will be perfect, but He had to be conditioned to fit the role of high priest that He agreed to fulfill. In that sense, He “learned obedience from what He suffered,” and He was “made perfect.” That perfect life of suffering and resisting temptation on our behalf earned Him the rightful designation as our high priest in the order of Melchizedek, again something that will be addressed soon. In the end, we are saved by works, just not our works. We are saved by Christ’s works, and they are applied to us by grace through faith in Him.
3) V11-14 – 11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Here the author would like to go right into a further discussion on the high priesthood, especially on the importance of Melchizedek’s order. His Jewish audience would be wondering how Jesus, who comes from the tribe of Judah as the regal descendant of King David, could also be the high priest, since He did not have ancestral links to the tribe of Levi, or Aaron. The author will eventually offer the explanation, but he takes a moment with this final passage in chapter 5 to rebuke his audience for their slowness to learn (v11). They should have already understood this truth and been teaching it to others; instead, they “need someone to teach…the elementary truths of God’s word all over again” (v12). Ligon Duncan paraphrases the author of Hebrews saying, “Look, you ought to be at the stage in your spiritual lives where you are turning to younger Christians, spiritually speaking and helping them along in the basics of the faith and yet you are not there.”
1 Peter 2:2-3 says, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” New Christians who have tasted the Lord’s goodness need milk, the elementary truths of God’s word. And there’s a sense in which we all need milk from time to time. But here we read, “You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature.” It’s a rebuke of the audience for not being capable of handling solid food, for being immature, incomplete, lacking something important from their knowledge of the things of God – “the teaching about righteousness” – and, therefore, from their application of those things – being able “to distinguish good from evil” (v13-14). Hebrews says that doctrine is important, because it serves as the foundation for consistent application (2 Peter 1:3-11). And we’ll see more about that picking up in chapter 6.
Footnotes
- 5:5 Or have begotten you
- 5:5 Psalm 2:7
- 5:6 Psalm 110:4
Bible text from Gospelcom.net. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.