A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews

Don’t fall away! Don’t Depart! Don’t neglect your salvation! Don’t cast away your confidence! Don’t harden your heart! Don’t drift away! AStudyOf TheApostlePaul’s LetterTo The Hebrews How can we neglect so greata salvation? ~ Hebrews 2:3

Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Person (1:1—4:13) Superior to Prophets (1:1-3) Superior to Angels (1:4—2:18) Superior to Moses (3:1-19) Superior to Joshua (4:1-13) Superior Priest (4:14—7:28) Superior to Aaron (4:14—6:12)but… We’ll only study 5:4-10 today. Superior to Melchizedek (6:13—7:10) Superior to Levi (7:11-28)

Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Pact to Moses’ (8:1—10:18) Superior Promises (8:1-13) Superior Sanctuary (9:1-15) Superior Sacrifice (9:16-28) Superior Results (10:1-18) Superior Principle (Faith) to Moses’ (10:19—13:25) Superior Things (10:19-39) Superior Actions (11:1-40) Superior Relationship (12:1-29) Superior Way of Life (13:1-25)

In our last study we concluded that 5: 1-3provide reasons why Jesus qualifies as a High Priest by comparingHim with Aaron, the first high priest: 1.Both were selected by God. 2.Both were appointed to represent man before God. 3.Both experienced temptation. 4.Both offered up sacrifices. And… 5.Both were to demonstrate compassion.

Now in 5:4-10 Paul demonstrated that Jesus is a superior High Priest by con-trasting Him with Aaron: 1.Only Jesus is called God’s Son. 2. Only Jesus was given an everlasting priesthood. 3.Only Jesus was made a priest after the order of Melchizedek.And… 4.Only Jesus cried out to God as He faced His demise as the Lamb as well as the High Priest.

Hebrews 5:4  And no man takes this honor to him-self, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

Paul was taking the minds of his readers back to the thought in 5:1: Every high priest…isappointed by God; he did this in order toadd some more contrasts be-tween Jesus and Aaron, the head of the Old Testament Levitical priesthood. And no man takes this honor to him-self, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

What’s interesting about this verse is that although the high priest was for man (5:1), man was not allowed to pick his own high priest —only God had that privilege; so when anyone tried to usurp that position, there were severe consequences. And no man takes this honor to him-self, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

First Samuel 13 tells of how king Saul lost his kingdom due in part to presum-ing the work of a priest.(Incidentally, there are many who believe that Paul spoke sarcastically about the high priest Ananias in Acts 23:5 because he was not authorized to be a high priest; and, according to history, he was one of, if not the worst HP to ever occupy the office. Anyway…) First Kings 12 tells of Jeroboam’s insti-tution of an unlawful priesthood, and the kingdom of Israel came to ruin.

Second Chronicles 26 tells of a man named Uzziah who interfered with the priestly office & became a leper. And… Numbers 16 tells of another man called Korah who tired such, and the earth swallowed up him and all his followers; Jude termed this incident the rebellion of Korah (v. 11). By the way, as a side- note about this story… 

Paulalsoreferred to this Old Testament story in reference to the Hymenaeus heresy that the resurrection had al-ready occurred, by AD 65, that is (2 Tim. 2:17-19). Paul used this story in order to prove to Timothy that this false teaching would be clearly proven er-roneous once Jesus came in just a few years to condemn those who attempt-ed to usurp Paul’s authority as an inspired man of God.

Hebrews 5:5  So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.”

This word would be better understood here as exalt; i.e., Jesus didn’t exalt Himself to the role ofhighpriest,rather the One who claim-ed Jesus as His Son exalted Him to that position. So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.”

In this verse Paul again, as in 5:1, quoted from Psalm 2:7. The question I had was, Why not just succinctly say, “It was God who did?” Well, here’s why I think Paul said so much:   So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.”

Recallfromour studyof1:5that Jesusbe-ing begotten & called God’s Son in Psa. 2:7 has reference not to His birth, but to His resurrection from spiritual death. So Paul was implying that Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to God’s right hand (1:1-5) is directly linked to His being worthy of the once-for-all High Priesthood. Why? Be-cause He lives evermore to intercede for the saints, and because He—the Lamb as well as High Priest—endured the lowest depths of human suffering & death in order to be perfected(as,incidentally,5:7-8goontodealwith).

Hebrews 5:6  As He also saysin another place, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Psalm 110:4

Althoughhebrought up the priesthood of Christbeinglikethat of Melchizedek here, hestrayed fromit by the time of verse12, not getting back on this track until 7:1. However…  As He also saysin another place, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

The point here for now is plain: unlike the Aaronic priest-hood,thepriesthood of Jesus is forever, just as that of Mel-chizedek who had no beginning and no ending as far as any record is concerned (7:3). By the way… As He also saysin another place, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Thewordforeverherereferstotheidea of throughout the age. In Exodus 40:15 GodtoldMosesthat theLeviticalpriest-hood would be an everlasting priest-hood defined by God in the next phrase as throughout their generations; and we know that their generations ended at the destruction of Jerusalem. So, be-cause Jesus will never cease to exist, Hispriesthoodisthroughout the entire-ty of the Christian age. Furthermore…

Unlike high priests such as Ananias in Acts 23 (who many believe usurped the of-fice), Jesus, even though He wasn’t of the lineage of Aaron, did not usurp the office,becauseit was appointedbyGod that He would be High Priest hundreds of years before He was even born; be-sides that, His priesthood would be like that of Melchizedek who lived long be-fore Aaron.

Another interesting thought that this verse brings up which will be discussed more in chapter 7 is that Melchizedek wasn’t just a priest like Aaron, but, un-like Aaron, he was also a king (7:2).Je-sus, therefore, is Priest andKing, as Zechariah 6:13 says of Him, He … shall …rule…[and]beapriestonHisthrone. Remember what happened to king Uz-ziah when he tried to be both king and priest? He was struck a leper by God!

Hebrews 5:7  Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and sup-plications with ve-hement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, was heard because of His godly fear.

It seems obvious to me&most commen-tators and scholars thatthisverserefers toChrist’sprayersto God in Gethsemane before He was be-trayed; and it also seems obvious that Paul brought this up to enforce his argu-ment that, although Jesus didn’t commit sinasregularpriests did, He did sufferas they did. Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and sup-plications with ve-hement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, was heard because of His godly fear.

Read Matthew 26: 36-44, remembering that, because things were so tough at this time, Luke add-ed that God sent an angel to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43). Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and sup-plications with ve-hement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, was heard because of His godly fear.

This word was used of the priest who brought a sacrifice to God’s altar; so prayer is a sort of sacrifice—a sacrifice of the lips (cf.13:15), which is why the prayers of the saints are referred to as a type of offering in Rev. 8:3-4. Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and sup-plications with ve-hement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, was heard because of His godly fear.

When used separate- ly, these words are used interchange-ably, but when used together they refer to a prayer prompt-ed by a deep sense of helplessness. Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and sup-plications with ve-hement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, was heard because of His godly fear.

This simply means passionate. Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and sup-plications with ve-hement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, was heard because of His godly fear.

The original term for save means to bring safe forth from, and the original term for frommeansout from within.So what does this mean to or for us today? Well…  Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and sup-plications with ve-hement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, was heard because of His godly fear.

Instead of meaning (as I once thought) that God could save Jesus from dying, it actually means that God could bring Him out from the state of spiritual separa-tion/death; after all, surely it wasn’t phy-sical death the Son of God dreaded, but being cut off from His Father. Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and sup-plications with ve-hement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, was heard because of His godly fear.

Thiswordhereisnot the word which re-fers to being afraid of something; this word highlights the concept of respect, which is why the adjective godly was suitably added. (By the way, the only other place this specific term is used is in 12:28.) Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and sup-plications with ve-hement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, was heard because of His godly fear.

Here’s the idea: Jesus’ prayer to His Father was heard because of His re-spect for Him, not just in His prayer whereinHeclearlyplacedHisFather’s will above His own, but also through-out His entire life. Jesus was raised from the death of Psalm 2:7, taking us right back to verse 5 above.

Hebrews 5:8  Though He was a Son, yet He learn-ed obedience by the things which He suffered.

This word doesn’t refer to Jesus as be-ing the Son of Man here, but to His be-ing the Son of God. Though He was a Son, yet He learn-ed obedience by the things which He suffered.

Learned here refers to understanding as a result of experi-ence, not merely by instinct or instruc-tion; and we can know this because it specificallysaysthat He learned from the sufferings that He experienced. Though He was a Son, yet He learn-ed obedience by the things which He suffered.

The idea is that al-though Jesus as God knew what obedi-encewas as far as “head-knowledge” goes, He didn’t know what it was from experience; i.e., Jesus as deity minus humanity was never tempted to disobey, so He learned obedience from a human per-spective. Though He was a Son, yet He learn-ed obedience by the things which He suffered.

One thing this verse clearly teaches is that suffering is not always the conse-quence of one’s per-sonal sins; rather, adversity is meant to edify us. Also…  Though He was a Son, yet He learn-ed obedience by the things which He suffered.

Here are some thot-provoking questions: If God’s Son had to learn obedience, shouldn’t His follow-ers learn it as well? Andif God’s Son had to obey, should we expect special favors such as the right to disobey, especially with impunity? Though He was a Son, yet He learn-ed obedience by the things which He suffered.

Hebrews 5:9  And having been perfected, He be-came the Author of eternal salva-tion to all who obey Him.

Thebasicideabehind the original word for perfected refers to a person’s attainment ofGod’sgoalforhim; so this initial phrase points to how Jesus reached God’s goal for Him concerning His eternal priest-hood, a goal that was ultimately ful-filled in His death. And having been perfected, He be-came the Author of eternal salva-tion to all who obey Him.

InPhilippians2:8Paul said,beingfound in appearance as a man, Jesus humbled Himself & became obedient to the point of death. As Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem and His death, He told some PhariseesthatHewasheadedtherebe-cause that’s where He would be per-fected (Luke 13:32). The word perfected could also refer to consecration;i.e.,just as Aaron was con- secrated to the priestly office through sacrifices (Exo. 29), so Jesus was conse-crated by the sacrifice of Himself.

Before talking about this phrase, let’s re-call2:10where Paul said of Jesus that it was fitting … to make the Author of salvation perfect through sufferings. And having been perfected, He be-came the Author of eternal salva-tion to all who obey Him.

Although 2:10 is parallel in its primary thought to 5:7-9, yet there is a slightly unnoticeable difference in the NKJV. As I mentioned when we studied 2:10, the NKJV would’ve been better off in this case if it had retained the translation of the old KJV where it was translated as captain; i.e., 2:10 refers to the idea of Jesus being the leader of our salvation—the One who paved the way for us. But the original word for Author here in 5:9 is a word which, although similar in meaning, actu-ally refers to the idea of Jesus being the Cause or Source of our salvation.

Christ’s salvationis describedaseternal; neither the Law of Moses nor the Levi-tical or Aaronic priesthood provided for eternalsalvation —the sins of the people were merely rolled forward until the perfected Jesus could author and captain that perfect salvation. And having been perfected, He be-came the Author of eternal salva-tion to all who obey Him.

Hebrews 7:19a & 11 read, The Law made nothing perfect, and if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood … what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek and not … ac-cording to the order of Aaron? Then 7:28 says, The Law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the Law appoints the Son who has been perfected forever. One more… 

Hebrews 9:12 & 15 say that with His own blood Jesus entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having ob-tained eternal redemption…. For this reason He is the mediator of the new covenant for the redemption of the transgressions under the first cove-nant that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

When we think of this, how can verses 7 & 8 not come to mind? I.e., just as Jesus became Savi-or by obedience, we become saved by obedience. Since Jesus had to obey to become Savior, why would anyone assume he couldbesavedwith-out obedience? And having been perfected, He be-came the Author of eternal salva-tion to all who obey Him.

Hebrews 5:10  Jesus was called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek.”

There isn’t a word in the original for as, and the word for called means to dub or give a name to, such as when par-ents-to-be ask each other, What shall we call him or her?, meaningWhatnameshouldwepick to call him or her by? So…    Jesus was called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek.”

This verse is simply saying that because Jesus reached God’s goal for Him and be-cause He was per-fectly qualified to be theonce-for-all-time High Priest between God and man, God dubbed Him “High Priest after the like- ness of Melchize-dek.” Actually…  Jesus was called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek.”

As the word dubbed suggests, the word for called carries with it the idea of performing this dubbing publicly, meaning that just as God was pleased to call Jesus His Son at His baptism, so He was pleased to call Him High Priest. How was this done publicly? By His resurrection, then His appearances and ascension to God’s right hand. So…  

A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews