Hebrews 5:1-14

How can I get to heaven?

Hebrews

Ian Mackervoy

Chapter 5

Rules for the chief priest 5:1-4

v1 All chief priests are *human. They act as agents between other *humans and God. The chief priest has to give gifts and sacrifices to God for all the *sins that they have done. v2 Such a chief priest can be kind and understanding to people who do not know what is right or wrong. He knows how to help them when they go wrong, for he is weak just like them. v3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for both his own *sins and for their *sins. v4 No man can decide to be a chief priest. God must appoint him, just as he appointed Aaron.

Verse 1 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.

Verses 2-3 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.

Verse 4 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 the new chief priest 5:5-11

v5 So Jesus also did not decide to be the chief priest. God, who said, ‘You are my Son; today I have given you the honour that belongs to someone with that name’ (Psalms 2:7), made him the chief priest. v6 God says, in another part of the Bible, ‘You are always to be a priest like Melchizedek’ (Psalms 110:4).

v7 When Jesus lived on earth, he prayed to God who was able to save him from death. He cried aloud to God with many tears. God heard him because he gave honour to God. v8 Although he was God’s Son, Jesus came to know through pain what it was to obey God. v9 This made him perfect for his work. He is now the source of the *salvation that will never end for all who obey him. v10 God called him a chief priest after the type of Melchizedek.

v11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.

Verses 5-6 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 (Psalms 2:7). Jesus in his birth as a *human came from God his Father. Then God says to him, ‘You are a priest forever’ (Psalms 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.

Verse 7 Although Jesus was the Son of God and the priest of God, he did not have an easy life here on earth. His life was much more difficult than ours. To be a priest for us he had to suffer all the problems of *human life. This helps him to have sympathy with all who suffer. In all his life Jesus talked with God his Father in prayer. When he came to the garden of *Gethsemane, he was in pain in his *spirit. He fell to the ground and cried out to God with loud cries and tears. He knew that he had to die. It was God's plan that Jesus should suffer for all of our *sins. This was why he was in such pain in his mind and *spirit. Yet he said to God, I will do what you want me to do. God was able to save him from death, but Jesus agreed to die. Jesus our chief priest died as the *sacrifice for us.

God heard him when he prayed because he trusted in God. The meaning of this verse is not clear. It seems that Jesus was asking that he might not die. Yet he had to die. What was the answer that God gave? Jesus knew that he had to die on behalf of men and women, and that he came for that purpose. God gave him strength in the garden so that he could go to the cross and die. To hang on a cross was the most awful and painful way to die. Jesus felt all alone when he hung there. Even God left him there on the cross (Matthew 27:46). Yet in three days God brought him back from death to life.

Verse 8 *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.

Verse 9 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.

Verse 10 The writer has shown how Jesus was able to be the chief priest. He became a man and so could know all about *human life. He was the Son of God and so could make the perfect *sacrifice on our behalf. The chief priest for the *Jews had to come from the family of Aaron. Jesus was not of that family, but he is the chief priest of all who trust in him. He is the chief priest because God appointed him. God called him to be a chief priest after the type of Melchizedek. This is greater than the chief priests of Aaron’s family.

Verse 11 The writer could say a lot more about the fact that Jesus is now the chief priest. He could tell them more about the priest Melchizedek and how Jesus was like him. He did not do so because he found it hard to explain it to them in simple enough words. The problem was that they were too slow to learn.

Weak and strong Christians 5:12-14

v12 By this time you ought to be teachers, but you are not able. You need someone to teach you again the basic truths of God’s word. Like babies you still need milk instead of solid food. v13 Christians who still live on milk have not understood the teaching about right living. They are like babies. v14 Solid food is for those who have grown up. They have learned to tell the difference between good and bad.

Verse 12-13 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.

The readers trusted in Christ, but they had still not grasped the elementary *teachings of the word of God. They were like babies, who cannot eat meat yet, but need milk. The writer could not give them any more teaching, because they were not ready for it. They had not advanced, but were still like babies in their *belief. They could take in only the most simple teaching. All who are like this are beginners in the word of God and his ways.

Verse 14 The mature Christian is like a person who can eat solid food. This means that he can understand the things of the *spirit. He studies the word of God and prays. He learns how to see in each situation what is good and what is bad and what God wants him to do. As he does this, he grows strong in his *belief. This is not just the use of the mind. It is the use of both the mind and the *spirit. Then he does what is right and not what is evil. In this way he learns to grow in the Christian life.

sin ~ to sin is to do wrong, bad or evil; not to obey God; sins are the wrong things that we do.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the true God.
worship ~ to give honour to God with praise, thanks and respect.
Jews ~ people who were born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for the people of Israel.
Jerusalem ~ the capital city of Israel; the temple of God was there.
Israel ~ God changed the name of Jacob to Israel (Genesis 35). The sons of Jacob were the beginning of the nation of Israel. The land that God promised to them is the land of Israel.
sacrifice ~ an offering to God, often an animal or bird, by the Jews to ask God to forgive their sins. Jesus gave himself to die as a sacrifice for our sins.
Jews ~ people who were born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for the people of Israel.
sin ~ to sin is to do wrong, bad or evil; not to obey God; sins are the wrong things that we do.
Israel ~ God changed the name of Jacob to Israel (Genesis 35). The sons of Jacob were the beginning of the nation of Israel. The land that God promised to them is the land of Israel.
Jews ~ people who were born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for the people of Israel.
Israel ~ God changed the name of Jacob to Israel (Genesis 35). The sons of Jacob were the beginning of the nation of Israel. The land that God promised to them is the land of Israel.
salvation ~ when God saves us from the result and punishment of our sin; the rescue from sin, as God forgives us and gives us new life in Christ.
sin ~ to sin is to do wrong, bad or evil; not to obey God; sins are the wrong things that we do.
Gethsemane ~ a garden outside Jerusalem where Jesus prayed before his death.
Jerusalem ~ the capital city of Israel; the temple of God was there.
Israel ~ God changed the name of Jacob to Israel (Genesis 35). The sons of Jacob were the beginning of the nation of Israel. The land that God promised to them is the land of Israel.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the true God.
worship ~ to give honour to God with praise, thanks and respect.
Jews ~ people who were born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for the people of Israel.
spirit ~ that part of a person which we cannot see but which can speak to other spirits or to the soul; there are other spirits which can be good or evil.
soul ~ the part of a person that we cannot see that is in us during our life and lives after we die; it is our inner life (not the body); it is that part of people that God speaks to through their spirits.
belief ~ what we accept as true... see faith.
faith ~ to trust someone or something; belief and trust in God and in Jesus his Son; belief that the Bible is true.