Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Hebrews 7:24

ὁ δέ, “but He.” The A.V. “but this man” is not felicitous.

ἀπαράβατον, “hath his priesthood unchangeable” (Oecumen. ἀτελεύτητον, Theoph. ἀδιάδοχον, sempiternum Vulg.): a rendering which is more in accordance with usage than “untransmissible,” “a priesthood that doth not pass to another,” as it is rendered in the margin of our Revised Version. The rendering “not to be transgressed against,” or “inviolate” (intransgressibile, Aug.), is not tenable here. The word belongs to later Greek, is not found in the LXX., and here only in the N.T. This is the SEVENTH particular of superiority. I think it quite needless to enter into tedious modern controversies as to the particular time of Christ’s ministry at which He assumed His priestly office, because I do not think that they so much as entered into the mind of the author. The one thought which was prominent in his mind was that of Christ passing as our Great High Priest with the offering of His finished sacrifice into the Heaven of Heavens. The minor details of Christ’s Priestly work are not defined, and those of Melchisedek are passed over in complete silence.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Hebrews 7:24

Old Testament

New Testament