1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins;
2 he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness;
3 and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.
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”;
6 just as He says also in another passage,
“ You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
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.
8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,
10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
“For every high priest from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins”. The high priest was a man, who represented man before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for the sins of man. And “he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness.” Since the high priest is not different from the rest of the people, he himself is a sinner. The only difference is that he is appointed as a representative for all the men. Since he himself is like them in sinfulness and weakness, he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided. As a representative he is not superior to them, but is actually like them. “And because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.” As man’s representative before God he has to make his sacrifices for sins. He offers them for the people of God because of their sin, but he must also offer sacrifices for his own sin. “And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.” Thus, the high priest who represents man before God does not take on honor on his own, but it is given to him when he is appointed by God, like Aaron was, as the high priest of the people.
“So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest”. Christ did not make himself glorious in order to obtain the position of high priest. But He was glorified as high priest with God appointed Him to that work, “but He who said to Him, ’You are My Son, today I have begotten You’; just as He says also in another passage, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ So Christ did not make Himself glorious as to become high priest, but rather, He was made glorious by the Father who called Him “My Son” and pronounced Him as the high priest of the people “according to the order of Melchizedek”. And not only is He a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, He is the high priest forever. There will never be another high priest because Christ has sit down at the right had of the Father and represents man in the things pertaining to God.
“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.” Even during Jesus’ earthly life He was acting toward God as our high priest. He did not simply become our high priest when He was hung to the cross. He had been declared and anointed high priest before His birth. So even while He was alive on earth He was offering up prayers and supplications for the people with loud crying and tears to the Father. Notice here that the Father was able to save Him from death. The Father was more than capable to have spared the life of His Son, but chose not to. And the Father heard the prayers of His Son because of His piety.
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” We must be careful in how we think about this, lest we think that Jesus was lacking in knowledge prior to His suffering. Rather, Jesus was coming to a new level of experience in His sufferings. Like in chapter four verse fifteen where Jesus is able sympathize with us because He was tempted like us, so here He is coming to a new level of experience by suffering. And this suffering is not just the normal sufferings of man, but this is referring to His passion where He was beaten, scourged, hung on the cross and suffered the full wrath of God for sins until He gave up His spirit and died. “And having been made perfect”, that is having accomplished the work set before Him and by doing so “He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” The perfect Son of God who had no flaws is now by the act of suffering the perfect sin offering, the perfect Lamb of God so that all who obey Him will have eternal life with His offering of Himself as the source. And He was able to make this sacrifice of Himself “being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” Because God has designated Him as a high priest He was able to offer up Himself for our sins. Though He was not of the tribe of Levi, He was called a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek forever so that there is no longer need of a new high priest, because He now sits at the right hand of God, and there is no longer need of another sacrifice because the Son of God offered up Himself.
The church as God’s chosen people should constantly remember their High Priest who suffered and died for their sins. No longer are bulls and goats offered up to cover the sins of the people, only to have to come back the next year to do the same thing. But we have a greater sin offering, the Son of God Himself who as our High Priest forever offered up Himself and bore our sins so that we no longer have to make sacrifices year after year. By His own blood He has covered us and now sits at the right hand of God making intersession for us. How great a high priest we have.
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