seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Hebrews 5:1 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.
5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
“You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.”[a]
today I have become your Father.”[a]
6 And he says in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”[b]
in the order of Melchizedek.”[b]
7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Footnotes:
This is from the easy English site.
In the old times the chief priest had to be from the family of Aaron. He was just a man like us, but he had a special place in the Hebrew’s religion. He was to be God’s agent on behalf of men and women. Once a year he went into the most holy part of the *temple to meet with God on behalf of the people. He wore special clothes and followed the special rules that God gave to Aaron in the desert. He had to offer special gifts and sacrifices to God. Then God would pardon the people for what they had done wrong in the past year.
The chief priest was a man just like other men. As a human, he too was weak and had to confess his own sins as well as the sins of others. So he would know how people felt and what their needs were. There had to be a balance in his attitude to them. He could be gentle both to the ones who knew little and to the ones who had done wrong. He could not just neglect sin or act as if it did not matter. Wrong is always bad to God and must be so to the priest. The chief priest on earth was one with his people and as weak as they were. Like them he could not live a perfect life before God. He was just as likely to do wrong as any person. This was why he had to make a sacrifice for himself first. He had to get his own pardon from God and then he could go to God for the people.
To be the chief priest was a great honour. It was also a great responsibility. No man had the right to take the job for himself. God chose and appointed Aaron as the first chief priest (Exodus 40:12). From then on, the chief priest for the Jews had to be from the family of Aaron.
Jesus could not make himself the new chief priest. Only God could appoint the chief priest. If Jesus had tried to make himself the chief priest, he could not have been the agent between us and God. In fact God did appoint Jesus to be the new chief priest. First, he tells us that Jesus, as a human, is his Son (Psalm 2:7). Jesus in his birth as a human came from God his Father. Then God says to him, ‘You are a priest forever’ (Psalm 110:4). Jesus is not a priest of the type of Aaron, for he did not come from that family. There was a priest of God who lived before the time of Aaron who had blessed Abraham. This man was Melchizedek. We shall look at him again in chapter 7. He was a greater priest than Aaron, as we shall see in that chapter. God made Jesus a priest after the type of Melchizedek to be the chief priest for all time.
Human discipline always includes having to suffer. Jesus was the Son of God. Yet he had to learn, as a human, what it meant to obey God completely, in every situation. It is not that there ever was a time when Jesus failed to obey God. He was always one with God, so the need to obey did not happen until he came to the earth. To do what God wanted, Jesus had to suffer. In doing it, he knew what it was to obey his Father by his own choice. He chose to suffer and to die, because that is what God asked him to do.
The Son of God has always been perfect. He obeyed God and this has made him fit to be the chief priest for all who obey him. By his death he has made a complete and full sacrifice on our behalf. When God raised him from the dead, Jesus became the source of new life. Jesus gives people this new life, when they put their trust in him. This is the life of the world to come. It begins in us now and will go on forever.
The readers had been Christians for some time and should by now have been able to teach others. They were not yet able to teach, because they had not grown strong as Christians. As we grow strong through the word of God, we should be able to teach other people. If we do not grow and learn, we shall need to learn the first lessons again. If we do not go ahead in our belief, we shall go back. We cannot stand still.
Now see... I always thought that Jesus was from the same line as Moses' brother Aaron and that's why Jesus was called a "chief priest"... and now I see that I am wrong. Jesus wasn't just "next in line".... Jesus was chosen.
Moses had a problem. He was lousy at public speaking. He might have even had a stutter.... but when God told Moses that he had to "tell the people" Moses said.... "I can't.... I'm horrible at it". Not being a public speaker is not really a sin.... it's a shortcoming... it's a trial to deal with but it's not a sin. If God wanted to He could have just fixed the problem.... but Moses would have plenty to do.... so God chose Aaron and his family to do the work of the priest. When one of Aaron's family couldn't do it anymore... the next one up would take the job. The Priesthood was a family affair.
Then came Jesus. Jesus wasn't from Aaron's family. God had to appoint Jesus just as God appointed Aaron. Jesus was chosen by God to be a priest for life and since Jesus had eternal life, Son of God and all, Jesus would be a Chief Priest forever. The chief priest had to "feel" the sins he was going to talk to God about. If I were to confess my own sin.... I would know how it made me feel. I could stand up and explain it for myself.... but the priest has to explain what others did and how it made them feel. A chief priest had to "be that guy' who had sinned so he could tell God about it. No one could go in the Holy of Holies but the Chief Priest.... and that's where all the sins were discussed. Joe Schmoe couldn't just go talk to God. Joe Schmoe had to tell the priest what he did and the priest had to talk to God about it. That's what the priest did. He was a stand in. So.... Jesus was appointed by God... from outside the family of Aaron.
So... since I have been confused about this.... let me see if I can get this straight. The first time I saw Melchizedek was back in Genesis 14. Abram [Abraham before God renamed him] had a cousin who's name was Lot. Lot lived in Sodom.... yep... that Sodom. Anyway... Abram [Abraham] got word that Sodom had been invaded and Lot was taken prisoner. So Abram[Abraham] had to go rescue his cousin. There was an alliance formed.... with the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and a couple others against five other kings of other towns. Of course Abram[Abraham] was successful. He rescued his cousin and was awarded a good deal of bounty. That's where the Melchizedek priest comes in.
There was a lot of miraculous stuff going on before the days when God obliterated Sodom. There were angels and special priests with missions under the direct supervision of God Himself. God had to be involved in the story. Some of the commentaries seem to say that this Melchizedek priest guy was actually Jesus. It's called a Christophany.
It's over my head.... that's probably why I never got it before.
I find it interesting that right after this chapter introduces a Christophany.... then it goes right into a diatribe about how most of the people.... in the church when this letter to the Hebrews was written... didn't have a clue. The author of the letter to the Hebrews says right out [paraphrased].... "I've got a lot more to tell you but you just wouldn't understand.... obviously you weren't listening the first time."... it's in verse 11.
So... according to the book of Hebrews.... Jesus was appointed as Eternal Chief Priest. He's not a direct descendant of Aaron.... so He's not an every day chief priest.... He's an Eternal Chief Priest.... no one is going to take His seat.... He's there for us forever.
Personally.... I can understand not being able to understand. Before a Nazarene preacher showed me the NIV translation of the Bible... I couldn't make head or tails of what was going on in the KJV. All those the's and thou's got in my way. The fancy language caused my mind to shut down almost as quickly as it did when they tried to teach me Shakespeare in school.
So... I still don't understand where Melchizedek came from and how he got appointed by God to be a chief priest put in that spot to receive a tithe from Abram[Abraham] after he rescued his cousin Lot. I find it interesting that the king of Sodom and Abram had an alliance..... and maybe that's why a Christophany was necessary.
This seems to be another one of those messages I'm supposed to accept.... like solving for pi. It's a rabbit hole.... and understanding it.... doesn't change anything. I believe that Jesus is the Eternal Chief Priest.... and I bet there's more to this story in the next couple of chapters.
I do believe... only Jesus could really be the Eternal Chief Priest. The way I figure it.... the chief priest had to go have a conversation with God about what Joe Schmoe did... but... as an ordinary human assigned to an extra-ordinary job.... the ordinary human couldn't get his own sins cleared away so he could really stand in for Joe Schmoe and "be that guy".... so he could really explain the situation to God and get the matter forgiven. Jesus didn't have any sins in His way. Jesus knew what the temptation felt like.... and Jesus knew what a struggle it would be as a human to deal with holding that sin waiting for forgiveness. Jesus knew what if felt like to be human. God didn't.
Jesus is the Eternal Chief Priest because Jesus has a clean slate.... and when He goes to talk to God about Joe Schmoe.... there's no sin sitting in the way.... so Jesus can "Be that guy" and stand in for him with God.
Jesus can "Be that guy".
