Hebrews 5
Jesus Appointed By God As High Priest; A Call to Christian Maturity
This section is a continuation of the previous chapter. The author is fully developing an explanation of how Jesus was appointed by God as the superior high priest, the greater Intercessor towards Whom all the Aaronic order patterned and predicted (1-10). There is much the author would continue to explain, but he feared that the Hebrews had not yet reached a level of spiritual maturity to grasp it (11-14).
In this chapter…the subject of the priestly office of Christ is continued and further illustrated. It had been introduced Hebrews 2:16, Hebrews 2:18; Hebrews 3:1; Heb 4:14-17. The Jews regarded the office of high priest as an essential feature in the true religion; and it became, therefore, of the highest importance to show that in the Christian system there was a High Priest every way equal to that of the Jews. - Albert Barnes
Jesus - Declared to Be High Priest
Clothed in Weakness
Vs. 1-3 - Every high priest…is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also clothed with weakness. Because of this, he must make an offering for his own sins as well as for the people.
The author had just emphasized Jesus’ temptation and suffering and how His purity and perseverance qualified Him as a merciful and empathetic high priest, willing and ready to extend grace to these struggling Hebrew Christians. His comparison and contrast of Jesus, the greatest high priest, to those of the Aaronic order of Judaism will continue through chapter 7.
The Israelite high priest, since he acted on behalf of the people, needed to have a sympathetic nature and an awareness at all times that he too was a sinner who needed God’s forgiveness. His high priesthood was an office to which he was appointed, not one he chose for himself. All this was true of Christ, except that he, having no sin, did not offer sacrifices for his own cleansing. - Don Fleming
Appointed By God
Vs. 1 - every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God for the people
Vs. 4-5 - No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest
The author’s next emphasis was that Jesus did not choose the high priestly role for Himself. He was not self-appointed. And this was a very important distinction for this audience. Jewish priests were never self-appointed. They were specifically male descendents of Aaron, from the tribe of the Levites.
Disaster befell those individuals who took it upon themselves to perform high priestly duties without divine authorization (Korah, Numbers 16; Saul, 1 Samuel 13:8-14; Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 26:16-21). The writer stressed the essential humility of the high priest who stood in his privileged position only by divine appointment. - Thomas Constable
The author quoted Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 here, interpreting them as Messianic, to prove that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God and appointed as a priest of God forever.
Psalm 2:7 - I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.
Psalm 110:4 - The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back: “You are a priest forever…”
It seems that the author addressed skepticism towards the legitimacy of Jesus’ priesthood starting in this section and continuing through the end of chapter 7. Jewish priests were descendants of Moses’ brother Aaron and always of the Levite tribe. The author will continue to tackle this subject in greater detail, arguing that God, in sending the Messiah, initiated a new covenant and law with a new high priest who looked very different from the others.
The writer seems to be aware that people may have criticized the early Christian movement, and Jesus himself, for apparently snatching at a position which belonged, uniquely and forever, to the Temple in Jerusalem and to the officials (high priests, priests and all the rest) who served there. It will indeed become clear that the Christian belief about Jesus upstages, and thus makes redundant, the Temple and all that goes on there, and the present argument is one step towards that conclusion.
But the point of the present passage is that the priesthood which Jesus holds, because he is the Messiah, was always intended by God. The scriptures make it clear that, when God eventually sent the Messiah, he intended to make him a priest, and a new sort of priest at that. - N.T. Wright
Perfected By God
Vs. 8-9 - Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.
To say Jesus learned obedience is not to suggest he was at one time disobedient. Rather it emphasizes Jesus’ experience as a human being who learned what it was like to obey God even in the midst of great suffering—an experience that allowed him, at a later point, to be “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). - Michael Kruger
This experience perfected Jesus Christ in the sense that it completed Him by giving Him experiential knowledge of what human beings must endure. - Thomas Constable
Remember that the writer of Hebrews is writing to them a “word of exhortation” (13:22). Their lives are very difficult because they are followers of Jesus. They are being challenged in their faith because of the difficulties they are experiencing in trying to do what is right in a world that is reviling them. What is the point? Being a Christian does not mean avoiding suffering but going through suffering. Being a child of God and belonging to the Father in that privileged relationship does not mean that suffering will be avoided but that you will be put directly in the fire of suffering.
Just as Jesus learned obedience in his earthly suffering, he calls people to respond in obedience through their suffering. Just as Jesus persevered, reverently bending his will to that of the Father in spite of extreme suffering, so Christians are called to total abandonment to the divine will. - Brent Kercheville
Order of Melchizedek
Vs. 10 - he was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Again in verse 10, the author quickly referenced the “order of Melchizedek,” but he will not offer further explanation of this obscure biblical character until chapter 7.
Psalm 110:4 - The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back: “You are a priest forever according to the pattern of Melchizedek.”
The appeal to Melchizedek, who as the first priest mentioned in Scripture is the archetype of all priesthood, validates Jesus’ priesthood as different from and superior to the Levitical priesthood. - William L. Lane
Hebrews - Too Lazy to Understand
There is a pattern of exposition and exhortation in this sermon. The author frequently pauses his arguments to warn his audience of the dangers of unbelief, of rejecting the truth they had previously accepted. This warning section continues through 6:12.
You Ought to Be Teachers
Vs. 11 - We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand.
In the coming chapters, the author will continue to explain Jesus’ appointment as high priest and the mysterious priesthood of Melchizedek. But he paused here to express his concern that the Hebrews were not ready for or mature enough to process his teaching.
Vs. 12 - Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again.
The author seemed frustrated here that he needed to re-explain what he considered “basic principles” of Christianity to these Hebrew believers. They had apparently already been taught how Jesus had fulfilled what Judaism had “figured,” but, in their persecution and challenging context, they needed to hear it again. They needed to relearn the basics.
If you are an immature Christian, you cannot always separate right from wrong. If you are not a good listener, if you are selfish and forgetful, if you are not skilled in God’s word, and if you are not maturing, then you are susceptible to deception. You cannot distinguish good from evil very effectively—like a toddler who runs out into the street, unaware of the danger. This is what leads to the possibility of apostasy. - Michael Kruger
You Need Milk
Vs. 12-13 - You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.
The meaning is, that they were incapable of receiving the higher doctrines of the gospel as much as little children are incapable of digesting solid food. They were in fact in a state of spiritual infancy. - Albert Barnes
