Christ Our High Priest
CHRIST OUR HIGH PRIEST
HEBREWS 5:1-11
How does the description of Christ’s earthly experiences reassure us?
The thought of high priesthood is continued. First, we are reminded of the things that characterize earthly high priests (the high priests of the Old Testament are chiefly in mind). The principal thing is the offering of sacrifice (5:1), but there is an important qualification before a priest can do this. He must himself experience the weakness of those on whose behalf he ministers (5:2). This enables him to “deal gently” with those who fail. Of course, in earthly priests this means moral weakness, too, and such priests must offer sacrifices for themselves as well as for others (5:3). Soon, the writer will bring out the point that this is not the case with Jesus, but for the moment it is the sharing of nature and the ability to understand that he stresses. To this he adds the necessity of the divine call (5:4). It is not possible to have an Aaronic high priest without these qualifications.
With Christ, the author takes up the two points in the reverse order. Jesus did not take the initiative in order to make himself a high priest, but was called by God (5:5f.). The first Scripture quoted to demonstrate the point does not however mention priesthood. We must remember that it is the author’s basic concepts that control his way of writing, not strict conformity to the illustrations he is using. It matters to him immensely that Christ is God’s Son, so he reverts to a passage he has already used (1:5) to bring out again that Christ stands to God in the relation of Son. We must never lose sight of the fact that Christ transcends all that is meant by “priest.” He is God’s Son, and that comes first. But to this is added a further quotation that does see him as a priest, a priest “after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4; see also Genesis 14:18). Though Christ’s priesthood resembles the Aaronic in some respects, it is Melchizedek and not Aaron who gives the significant model.
Next, the author turns to Christ’s earthly experiences which show him to be one with us. The “loud cries and tears” (5:7) presumably refer to Gethsemane. They certainly show that he understands our weakness. He “learned obedience,” which must be taken in the sense of his being made perfect (2:10). The meaning is not that he was once disobedient and became obedient, but that there is a quality of obedience known only through actually undergoing the costly act of obedience. It was in this way that he secured salvation for his people (5:9).