Hebrews 5:1-10
New Living Translation
Christ Is Our High Priest (continued)
5 Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins. 2 And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses. 3 That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as theirs.
4 And no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. He must be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was. 5 That is why Christ did not honor himself by assuming he could become High Priest. No, he was chosen by God, who said to him,
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.[a]”
6 And in another passage God said to him,
“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”[b]
7 While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. 8 Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. 9 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. 10 And God designated him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
My thoughts and observations:
Every High Priest is a man.
Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people.
Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God.
He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins.
He is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people.
He himself is subject to the same weaknesses as the people he represents. That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as theirs.
No one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. He must be called by God for this work.
Christ did not honor himself by assuming he could become High Priest. He was chosen by God.
Christ is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
While Jesus was here on earth, he prayed and pleaded to the Father to rescue him from death.
God always heard the prayers of his Son, Jesus.
Jesus had a deep reverence for God.
Jesus learned obedience from the things he suffered.
God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.
Teaching Points from https://studyhebrews.com/hebrews5-1-6.html
1. On behalf of men – Verses 1-4 tell us about the role of high priest, with the point to later show that Jesus fulfilled these roles as our perfect high priest. Here we see that a high priest fulfills his duties on behalf of men. His position of leadership is used not for himself. It is not used for his own benefit, career, or finances. His job is truly “for the people.”
2. In things pertaining to God – The job of the high priest was a spiritual position. I am reminded that when Jesus came to earth at various times the people sought to make Him king. He didn’t let them. Pilate asked if Jesus was a king (John 18:33-36) and Jesus responded that His kingdom is not of this world. In the same way, a high priest doesn’t focus on the affairs of the world. His focus is on the things of God. His focus is on helping God’s people grow closer to God. There is a subtle reminder here that believers are first and foremost citizens of and ambassadors of heaven. John gives the warning in 1 John 2:15-17 about not loving the world and Paul expresses the same thought in Colossians 3:2. Sometimes ministers may have a hard time balancing these two thoughts. Like in many areas of life it is easy to go too far to one side or too far to the other. Some may pay a lot of attention to the earthly needs of man such as visiting orphanages, dispensing medical help, feeding the poor, helping the sick, etc. All of these things are worthy goals. Yet some Christians who focus on them may forget about the “things of God.” Helping the physical issues is a means to an end of helping these people spiritually. There is a Chinese parable. Give a man a fish and he will not be hungry for a day. Teach him how to fish and he can feed a village. You could add a line on to that, “Teach him about God who made the fish and he need never be hungry (spiritually) again.” So this is the job of the high priest. He teaches people the things of God so that their relationship to God can be restored.
3. Offer gifts and sacrifices for sins – One of the ways that a high priest looks out for the spiritual needs of his “flock” is by offering sacrifices for sins. These sacrifices were offered daily on behalf of the people. Also the high priest would once a year go in to the holy of holies for offering atonement for all the people. One of the high priest’s main roles was to represent the people before God as a mediator to bridge the gap that separated sinful humans from a holy God by offering sacrifices for sins. The gifts part could be interpreted as the grain offerings which the people voluntarily offered before God to show their gratitude or as just another synonym for “sacrifice.” Throughout the OT we see this principle that sacrifice must be made for sins. Later in Hebrews 9:22 we learn that “without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
4. Verse 2 – This is a reminder that the normal high priest was one of the people. He was not set apart as being above the people. He came from among them and he was like them. His own weaknesses and sins and mistakes enabled him to treat others with mercy. A priest would often listen to people tell their sins. After all, they may say why they brought an animal and why they needed to offer a sacrifice. He surely would hear about many terrible things that people had done. One part of him would be tempted to pridefully look down on the people he was serving.
He may be tempted to harshly rebuke the people for their sins. Yet a good high priest should remember that he too is a sinner. He too makes many mistakes and has done many foolish things. Remembering that would help him to show mercy and forgiveness to others who had erred. The principle is like the parable of the slave who was forgiven the hugh debt by the master and then went and refused to forgive. The application for us is to remember that we are all sinners. We are not better than any of the people we share the gospel with. We are not better than any of the people we go to church with. We are not better than our unsaved or saved family members. All of us are sinners and all of us need God’s forgiveness. Next time you are tempted to climb up onto your throne and judge others take a moment and look at yourself. Looking at our weaknesses will help us be more patient and kind to others when they make mistakes. This is the lesson Jesus sought to teach the mob who was going to stone the lady caught in adultery. “He among you who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.”
At the same time this is a reminder that we have no excuse for not obeying God and serving Him in the area He has called us to. We might be tempted to make the excuse that we are sinful and therefore not fit to serve God. But even the high priests were sinful and they were still appointed.
5. As for the people, as for himself – The high priest was obligated to offer sacrifices not only for others, but also for himself. A Christian leader must never neglect his own walk with God in order to help others. We will not be able to serve others as effectively unless we have a thriving relationship with God ourselves. Every sermon we preach should be a sermon preached to ourselves first and foremost. Every prayer offered for wisdom, forgiveness, and grace for others should be offered for ourselves as we need the wisdom, forgiveness, and grace as much or more than they do. Every principle we ask others to follow, we should do ourselves. This attitude will not only sharpen our walk with the Lord and help us grow, but it will also humble us and help us become both more dependent on God and more merciful to others.
More Teaching Points from https://studyhebrews.com/hebrews5-1-6.html
Verse 4
1. The high priest is appointed by God – This principle is seen in verse 4 and in the first part of verse 1. We see that this is first of all an honor. It is not a burden to have to serve others, but a privilege to be able to. We also see that a high priest could not enter this vocation of his own volition. It is not just another career path like becoming a farmer, a soldier, or a banker. You could not choose to do this on your own. You could only be chosen for it, just like God chose Aaron as the first high priest and then chose his line to carry on the priesthood. How might it affect a high priest to know they had been chosen by God? How might this knowledge effect the people whom he served?
a) Knowing God chose him, would challenge the high priest to do his best. He should take his position seriously. He should adopt a humble attitude knowing it was not his own ability. He should depend on God who appointed him. He should do it for God and not for man.
b) For people, it put God’s stamp of approval on the high priest. That meant that they should respect and obey him. He was the rightful authority in spiritual matters whom even the king couldn’t usurp (2 Chronicles 26:19).
2. What applications are there for us today?
a) Do not consider going into the “ministry” like any other career path. For a lot of church history it was just a career. We should do whatever God calls us to and do it with all of our hearts. If we do go into the ministry take it seriously and serve God faithfully for His glory.
b) Be respectful and obedient to the God-appointed leaders of the church. Obey in such a way that can give them joy and not grief.
More Teaching Points from https://studyhebrews.com/hebrews5-1-6.html
1. In verse 5 we start to see the connection that the author is making. He first establishes the roles and character of a high priest and then will go forward to prove that Jesus met the appropriate criteria, therefore proving that Jesus is superior since He is the perfect high priest.
2. We see in verse 5 that Jesus was also appointed to become high priest. (Luke 9:35) God the Father appointed Jesus to this. Throughout the gospels we see over and over again that Jesus came to obey the will of His Father. (John 4:34) This required great humility and submission. As we will see, it wasn’t an easy task.
3. According to the order of Melchizedek – The writer goes into greater detail about this in chapter 7. Read cross-reference. For now it is enough to note that Melchizedek was a priest-king. Aaron’s line was priests, but they were not kings. David’s line were kings, but not priests. The two roles were distinct and separate. Melchizedek performed both roles in his office of priest-king. This is the type of high priest that Jesus was, re-affirming once again His supremacy.
More Teaching Points from https://studyhebrews.com/hebrews5-1-6.html
1. Verses 7-10 overview – We see in verses 7-10 Jesus’ humanity. He suffered. He cried. He prayed for deliverance from the cross. As high priest, He came not as a superhuman or alien robot who couldn’t feel pain or understand the human emotions. In the last lesson in verses 2-3 we learned that the high priest was one of the people. Jesus did not sin, but in other ways He is like us. Because of His humanity He can represent us before God as being one of us and having personally experienced the breadth of human emotions and suffering.
2. Verse 7 – I believe this verse is referring to His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asked for the cup to be removed from Him. The request was real and shows Jesus’ human side, the side of Him that wanted to avoid the immense pain and agony of the cross. MacArthur believes that the last part of the verse “He was heard” shows His prayer of not remaining in death was answered. This is one possible explanation since clearly it doesn’t mean that Jesus was able to avoid the fate of crucifixion.
On a side note the first part of the verse says, “in the days of His flesh.” The implication is that the days of Jesus did not only include His time as a human. You wouldn’t say in the time when Abraham Lincoln was a person unless there was a time when he wasn’t a person. Thus this phrase reminds us of the teaching of Christ’s eternal existence.
3. Verse 8 and 9a – See 2:10 – The perfection and learning do not refer to His divine character. Neither does it mean that He was sinful and then became perfect. Rather His sufferings perfected His human nature by giving Him a more personal understanding of what we face so that He can sympathize with us deeper because of His own experiences. I hesitate to say He could do anything better after His experience as a human since He was perfect already. Yet He did experience something He hadn’t before.
At the same time He proved He was sinless and fulfilled all righteousness by successfully resisting every temptation. He also set down the perfect example for us to follow, things we could not have seen in action unless Christ became a person. Therefore it is accurate to say that He accomplished many things better as a human than He could do if He was never incarnated.
4. Verses 9b – Followers of Christ are required to obey Him. True belief will bring obedience. Faith without actions is dead. Are you obeying Christ?
5. Verse 10 – See notes on verse 6.
Steve Holder 