The Chosen High Priest

Hebrews 5:1-10

Main Idea: Christ’s appointment as high priest was greater than any other high priest’s appointment; therefore, he can grant eternal salvation to all who obey him.

1. The Typical High Priest (5:1-4)
   1. The gentle and solidary high priest
   2. The obligated and called high priest
2. Our Appointed High Priest (5:5-6)
3. Our Perfect High Priest (5:7-10)

Chapter 5 continues the line of thought the author began in 4:14. Whereas Hebrews 4 showed us Christ’s superiority in his sinlessness as high priest and in his ability to sympathize with us in our weaknesses, Hebrews 5 focuses on the superiority of Christ in his appointment as high priest—an appointment that comes from God alone. Hebrews 5, like the final verses of chapter 4, continues explaining why Christians can hold fast their confession: they have a better high priest.

The Typical High Priest

Hebrews 5:1-4

Hebrews 5:1 identifies one of the defining marks of Judaism. Israel could trace a succession of high priests back to Aaron. Aaron, brother of Moses, was the first high priest and representative of the people, chosen “from among men.” But who chose him? Did the people through some kind of democratic process choose him? No. Only God appointed high priests. This process was no different with Jesus. God, just as he had with every other prior high priest, appointed Jesus singularly. The Father chose and assigned him to his priestly task.

Israel saw the appointment of the high priest as a demonstration of God’s sovereignty. Although God used angels and other agents to declare Christ’s divine appointment, God alone ultimately appointed him. The purpose of God appointing high priests was so that the high priest could act “for the people”; it was thus necessary for the high priest to be chosen from among the people. He represented the people as he ministered in the most holy place before God. When the high priest performed sacrifices, burned incense, offered gifts, and did other priestly duties, he did them on behalf of Israel. He did them in the people’s place.

The Gentle and Solidary High Priest

“Those who are ignorant and are going astray” paints the picture of unfaithful people and highlights the high priest’s solidarity with sinful human beings. The “ignorant” identified in this verse probably refers to those who were ignorant due to their lack of knowledge of God. No Israelite should have been unfamiliar with the covenant, the law, and God’s requirements. The Lord commanded Israel to know the law, to train their children in it, to meditate on it night and day, and to write it on their hearts (Josh 1:7-8; Deut 6:4-9; Prov 7:1-3). Moreover, God instituted festivals for Israel that included the public reading of the Law and public recitation of his deeds precisely so that the Israelites would better know and fear him (Deut 31:9-13). Thus, to be an Israelite and to be ignorant of God meant deliberately disregarding and forsaking God’s law.

Knowledge of God alone, however, does not demonstrate faithfulness. The faithful follower of God must also apply that knowledge to the situations of everyday life. Not to apply knowledge was to go astray. The word astray does not necessarily mean acting in outright rebellion against God. It can refer simply to being wayward in our thoughts or habits and allowing ourselves to wander from the things of God. The high priest identifies with the ignorance and waywardness of his people because he too is a finite human beset with weaknesses. He can deal gently and compassionately with their ignorant and wayward sinfulness because he himself understands it.

The Obligated and Called High Priest

If the comprehensive solidarity of the high priest with the people was not clear enough from the previous verses, the author makes it perfectly clear in verse 3—the high priest even shares with his people in his own sin. Just as the people were beset with sin, so also was the high priest beset with sin. Therefore, he was obligated to offer up sacrifices for his own sin before he could offer up sacrifices for the sins of the people. His own sin required atonement before he could enter the most holy place. It tarnished him to the point that he could not enter God’s presence and intercede on behalf of the people without first purifying himself through sacrifice.

Verse 4 reiterates that the priesthood was not a volunteer position. The priest did not just take the position for his own honor. He only assumed the position after God “called” him, just as God called Aaron. Aaron did not apply to become high priest. He was not elected for the people by the people. God called him to become high priest (Exod 28:1). God’s calling emphasizes the servant nature of the high priest’s role. Even though the high priest held an exalted office, his office was motivated by service and marked by humility.

Our Appointed High Priest

Hebrews 5:5-6

Here the author shifts focus from the human high priest to the God-man high priest, Jesus Christ. Jesus is like all other high priests in his appointment. This is what the quotation from Psalm 2:7 highlights. Jesus did not exalt himself to be high priest or seek his own glory in any way. The Father sovereignly appointed the Son, and the Son obediently accepted the role.

But then, you may ask, What does Melchizedek have to do with the high priesthood of Jesus? Who is Melchizedek anyway? Melchizedek is a rare figure in the Old Testament. He appears in only two specific Old Testament texts. We first meet him in Genesis 14:17-24:

After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King’s Valley). Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest to God Most High. He blessed him and said:

Abram is blessed by God Most High,

Creator of heaven and earth,

and blessed be God Most High

who has handed over your enemies to you.

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but take the possessions for yourself.”

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand in an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or sandal strap or anything that belongs to you, so you can never say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ I will take nothing except what the servants have eaten. But as for the share of the men who came with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre—they can take their share.”

Melchizedek appears and then disappears quickly. Genesis first identifies him as a king of Salem, a Gentile and pagan territory. Melchizedek is a king and yet performs a task not common to kings: offering bread and wine. Genesis then identifies Melchizedek as a priest of God Most High. Thus, in some mysterious way, God appointed a priest from a foreign people unto himself. He then brought this foreign king who was a priest to Abraham, the one with whom God had established his covenant. Melchizedek first blesses Abraham, and Abraham responds by giving him a tenth of everything. Then Melchizedek abruptly disappears.

He appears again in Psalm 110:

This is the declaration of the Lord to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion.

Rule over your surrounding enemies.

Your people will volunteer on your day of battle.

In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn,

the dew of your youth belongs to you.

The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back:

“You are a priest forever

according to the pattern of Melchizedek.”

The Lord is at your right hand;

he will crush kings on the day of his anger.

He will judge the nations, heaping up corpses;

he will crush leaders over the entire world.

He will drink from the brook by the road;

therefore, he will lift up his head.

This psalm’s immediate fulfillment happened in David’s own kingship, but its ultimate fulfillment came later in David’s line—in the one who sits at the Father’s right hand, Jesus Christ. Given that Melchizedek seemingly has little to do with the messianic nature of this psalm, the inclusion of his name likely would have surprised the original audience.

“A priest forever” points to the messianic figure who fulfills this prophecy and distinguishes the order of Melchizedek’s priesthood from other priesthoods. Other priesthoods had a termination date because all other priests died. Death prevented them from serving as priests forever. Jesus Christ, however, on account of his resurrection from the dead, serves as a priest forever. His priesthood knows no end.

What does it mean for Jesus’s priesthood to be “according to the order of Melchizedek”? While it is tempting to think that “according to the order” refers to a Melchizedekian line of priestly succession or that Jesus came from outside the tribe of Israel as Melchizedek did, this is not the case. There was no Melchizedekian line of priestly succession, and only someone from within Israel could fulfill the Davidic monarchy. Therefore, “according to the order” must mean that Jesus’s priesthood, like Melchizedek’s, is born out of the sovereign purposes of God. The order—that is, the nature—of Jesus’s priesthood is of a sovereign order, a sovereign nature. Like Melchizedek, Jesus did not take the honor of priest upon himself; he was sovereignly appointed. And in his appointment and service as high priest, he was exalted above all others.

Our Perfect High Priest

Hebrews 5:7-10

Here the author steps away from the theological groundwork he has been laying to turn his attention to the incarnated life of Jesus. “During his earthly life” points the reader to the ministry of Jesus. Even though Jesus was totally without sin, this did not make him exempt from the frailty of human experience. Even Jesus was beset with the heartache and grief associated with human existence. This is what Jesus’s prayers and supplications signaled. They signaled that he depended on God to meet his needs and to sustain him at all times. Jesus was just like any other human being in this regard.

“With loud cries and tears” recalls Jesus’s experience in the garden of Gethsemane. “To the one who was able to save him from death” certainly corresponds with this thinking. But this reference does not limit Jesus’s loud cries and tears to his experience in Gethsemane, for Jesus faced the anguish of becoming sin for those who believed in him and bore the burdens of human existence all the days of his flesh. Scripture shows us Jesus offering up prayers and supplications even before the cross. One example of this is in the high priestly prayer of John 17. Loud cries and tears were regular features in Jesus’s prayer life.

Christ’s prayers to “the one who was able to save him from death” were not prayers expressing a desire to escape the cross and the grave. He predicted his own death many times throughout the Gospels and said that death was the purpose for which he was sent into the world (John 12:27). Jesus did not pray in order to be saved from dying; he prayed in order to be saved out of death through the resurrection. Jesus’s prayer to be saved from death was a prayer to be raised from the grave. The One who was able to save Jesus from death answered his prayer when he delivered him from death in the resurrection.

The Father was not deaf to the loud cries and tears of his Son. He heard and answered the Son’s prayers “because of his reverence.” A good way to think of this reverence is in terms of awe, devotion, or submission. The Father heard the Son because Jesus feared God and because he totally submitted his will to his Father’s.

In verse 8 the author explains that Jesus learned obedience to God through what he suffered, even though he was God’s Son. That Jesus learned obedience should not cause us to think that Jesus needed to be taught obedience because he was disobedient at one point. Hebrews is clear that Jesus never disobeyed. Rather, this verse highlights his humanity. As Jesus experienced the trials associated with human existence, he learned how to obey his Father in them. Suffering taught Jesus how to submit his will to his Father’s will. We see this lesson at its sharpest point in Gethsemane and on Calvary. The cross meant terrible agony of heart and body for Christ, but he remained resolute in his willingness to be obedient, even obedient to the point of death (Phil 2:8). By faithfully enduring the suffering ordained by the Father’s plan to redeem sinners through his own blood, Jesus learned obedience.

Verse 9 tells us that Jesus “was perfected” through suffering—so much so that “he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” What does it mean that Jesus was made perfect? Wasn’t he already perfect? Furthermore, what does it mean that Jesus became the source of eternal salvation? We have already seen how suffering played a part in Jesus’s perfection in Hebrews 2:10. The author is echoing the same reality in this verse. Jesus was not made perfect in the sense that his nature was once impoverished and needed to be improved. Rather, he was made perfect in the sense that learning obedience through suffering was a prerequisite for becoming a qualified and sufficient high priest. In being made perfect through suffering and death, Jesus became “the source of eternal salvation.” This simply means that Jesus’s suffering stands as the basis for our salvation. Christ as the source of our salvation is synonymous with Christ as the founder of our salvation (cf. 2:10).

The eternal salvation that Jesus pioneers is only granted “for all who obey him.” It is fitting that the One who learns obedience through what he suffered would stand as the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. In keeping with one of the major themes of the book, the author of Hebrews is once again encouraging his people to obey Jesus and not abandon the faith.

The writer concludes his discussion about the priesthood of Jesus by returning to the reality that God designated Jesus to be a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. The assurance of our faith is in the fact that Christ himself is a priest forever after this order. Thus, the assurance of our salvation and our standing before the Father are rooted in Jesus’s priesthood—a priesthood that sovereignly comes from the Father’s appointment. It is a priesthood that was made perfect through suffering and death on a cross.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What was the purpose of Old Testament priests? In what ways did Jesus fulfill these duties in his service as high priest of the people? What similarities does this passage show between Jesus’s priesthood and typical priesthoods?
2. Why was the divine appointment of the high priest significant? How does Jesus’s priesthood relate to Melchizedek’s in this regard, and what does it tell us about God’s purposes?
3. Why does the author compare Jesus to Melchizedek? What does it mean for Jesus to be according to the order of Melchizedek?
4. What part does Jesus’s humanity play in his priesthood? How does it help him be the best possible high priest for us?
5. Explain how Jesus can be weak and dependent in his human existence yet remain sinless.
6. How are the ignorance and waywardness of the people related to the high priest? How might you guard against ignorance and waywardness in your own life? How does the priesthood of Jesus help us in our ignorance and waywardness?
7. How do Jesus’s prayers and supplications during his earthly life show his solidarity with human beings?
8. What does it mean for Jesus to be a priest forever? How does Jesus’s remaining a priest forever assure our faith and help us endure?
9. In your own words, explain what it means for Jesus to be made perfect through suffering.
10. Why was it necessary for Jesus to learn obedience through suffering? What part do suffering and death play in Jesus’s perfection? His sonship? What part do they play in his becoming the source of eternal salvation?