Hebrews 5:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have a description of the priestly office in general, though it clearly points to the Lord Jesus Christ. First, the high priest had to be taken from among men. He had to be one of us, sharing our nature, so he could stand with us before God. This shows that people have sinned, that sinful people cannot come to God on their own, and that God was pleased to appoint one from among us to open the way.

The high priest served for people in things that relate to God, for God’s honor and for people’s good. He stood between God and man. Christ did this perfectly, so we should never try to come to God in any other way, and we should expect no favor from God apart from Christ. Every blessing from God comes to us through him.

The priest was also appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Gifts were freewill offerings brought to God as an act of thanks and acknowledgment that everything comes from him. This means our giving to God must be willing, not forced, and it must come through the high priest as the one who represents us. The sacrifices for sin were made to bring atonement, that is, to cover sin so it could be forgiven and the sinner received.

Christ fulfills both of these purposes. Our good works must be presented through him so that both we and they are acceptable to God. Our evil deeds are taken away by the sacrifice of himself, so they do not condemn us. If we want acceptance with God and forgiveness, we must come to him by faith through this great high priest.

The high priest also had to be able to show compassion to two kinds of people. He had to be patient with the ignorant, including those who sinned through lack of understanding. He also had to be tender toward those who had gone out of the way, away from truth, duty, and happiness, and help lead them back. That kind of care requires deep patience and mercy. The high priest also had to be surrounded by weakness himself, so he could understand human life from the inside and sympathize with us.

Christ was fit for this work. He took on our human weakness, though without sin. That gives us strong encouragement to come to him in every trouble, because he understands our condition. In all the afflictions of his people, he is afflicted.

The high priest also had to be called by God. No one could take this honor for himself, because no one could lawfully claim it on his own. If anyone did, he would be an intruder. The priesthood was a great honor, because the priest stood between God and man, representing God to people and people to God in matters of highest importance. Since God is the source of all true honor and authority, only those he calls can expect his help, his welcome, and his blessing in their service.

This applies to Christ as well. Christ did not glorify himself by taking the office on his own. He could truly say, “I do not seek my own glory” (John 8:50). As God, he could not receive more glory. As man and Mediator, he did not run ahead without being sent. If he would not take it upon himself, then others should be even more careful not to do so.

The apostle then shows that Christ is greater than Aaron, both in the way he was called and in the holiness of his person. God said to Christ, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” (Psalm 2:7). This points to his eternal relation as God, his wonderful conception as man, and his full fitness as Mediator. It also shows God’s love for him, his public appointment to this office, and his approval of all he did and would do in it. God never said this to Aaron.

God also said, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4). Melchizedek was a priest-king whose order points to a higher, lasting priesthood. Aaron’s priesthood was temporary and passed from one man to another. Christ’s priesthood is lasting and personal. He is priest forever, without any succession from father to son, and without end in his office. This will be explained more fully in the seventh chapter.

Christ is also greater than Aaron in holiness. The other priests had to offer sacrifices for their own sins as well as for others. Christ did not need to offer for himself, because he had done no wrong and had no deceit in his mouth (Isaiah 53:9). Such a high priest was exactly suited to us.

We are then shown Christ’s work in this office and what came from it. In the days of his flesh, that is, during his earthly life in a weak human body, he offered up prayers and pleas.

Here we can see several things clearly. Christ took on human flesh and lived in it for a time. He became a real human being who measured life by days, and that should teach us to value each day and do each day’s work while we have it.

In the days of his flesh, Christ also submitted himself to death. He hungered, he was tempted, he bled, and he died. His body is now in heaven, but it is a glorious, spiritual body.

God the Father was able to save him from death. He could have kept him from dying, but he chose not to, because that would have ruined the great plan of his wisdom and grace. If God had saved Christ from dying, what would have become of us? The Jews mocked Jesus and said, “Let him save himself now, if he will have him” (Matthew 27:43). But the Father did not let that bitter cup pass from him, because that was the only way we could be saved from drinking its full weight ourselves.

Christ, during his earthly life, offered up prayers and requests to his Father. This was a sign of the intercession, that is, his pleading for us in heaven. We have many examples of Christ praying. This includes his prayer in the garden and during his suffering (Matthew 26:39, Matthew 27:46), and his prayer before his suffering in John 17, where he prayed for his disciples and for all who would believe in his name.

These prayers and requests were joined with loud cries and tears. In this, he sets us an example, not only to pray, but to pray with deep feeling and urgency. How many dry prayers we offer, and how few prayers that come from the heart.

Christ was heard in what he feared. How was he heard? He was answered by being given strength in his agony, by being carried safely through death, and by being raised from the dead in glory. He had a deep sense of God’s wrath and of the weight of sin. His human nature was ready to sink under that heavy load, and it would have sunk if God had not helped and comforted him. But he was heard in this: he was upheld in the suffering of death. And there is no true deliverance from death except to be carried through it well.

We may recover many times from sickness, but we are not fully saved from death until we are brought safely through it. Those who are saved in this way will one day be fully delivered by a glorious resurrection, and Christ’s resurrection was the pledge and first sign of that.

By these sufferings, Christ learned obedience, even though he was a Son (Hebrews 5:8). He was the only-begotten Son of the Father, and one might think that would have spared him from suffering. But it did not. So no child of God should expect a life free from suffering. “What son is there whom his father does not discipline?”

Christ also gained something by his sufferings. By his willing suffering, he showed perfect obedience. He never once disobeyed, but he showed the full meaning of obedience when he became obedient to death, even death on the cross. In this, he left us an example. We also should learn obedience through our troubles, and our afflictions should teach us humble submission to God’s will.

By his sufferings, Christ was made perfect and became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him (Hebrews 5:9). He was set apart for his office through suffering, and, in a sense, consecrated by his own blood. By suffering, he completed the work he had to do on earth, making peace for sin. In that way, he was made perfect, meaning a complete and perfect sacrifice for sin, a perfect propitiation, that is, an offering that turns away sin’s guilt.

Through this, he became the source of eternal salvation for people. He purchased a full rescue from sin and misery, and a full share in holiness and joy for his people. He has made this salvation known in the gospel. He offers it in the new covenant, and he sends the Spirit to enable people to receive it.

But this salvation is given only to those who obey Christ. It is not enough to know the facts about him, or even to profess faith in him. We must listen to his word and obey him. He is appointed to rule us as a prince, meaning a kingly ruler, as well as to save us as a Savior. He will save no one who will not have him rule over them. He will count the rest as his enemies and deal with them as such. But to those who obey him, who give themselves to him, deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him, he is the great cause of their salvation, and they will praise him for it forever.