Hebrews 7:11 - Meaning and Application

This shows how necessary it was for God to raise up another priest, one after the order of Melchizedek and not after the order of Aaron, through whom the perfection the old system could never provide would finally come (Hebrews 7:11, Hebrews 7:12). The Levitical priesthood had to change, and with it the whole system of worship and law.

First, perfection could not come through the Levitical priesthood and the law. They could not bring the people who came to them into the full blessing of the good things they promised. They could only point the way toward them. So another priest had to be raised up, after the order of Melchizedek, through whom perfection could come to all who obey him. Thanks be to God, in Christ we may have complete holiness and complete happiness under the covenant of grace, because we are complete in him.

Second, if the priesthood changes, the law must also change. The priesthood and the law were closely tied together, so the same religious system could not continue under a different priesthood. A new priesthood required a new arrangement, guided by rules suited to its own nature and order.

Third, the change is not only stated, but proven (Hebrews 7:13, Hebrews 7:14). The priesthood and law that could not bring perfection have been set aside, and a priest has risen up with a new dispensation, or ordered way of dealing with God, by which true believers may be made perfect. This change is clear in several ways.

One change is in the tribe from which the priest came. Before, the priesthood came from Levi. But our great high priest came from Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests coming from that tribe (Hebrews 7:14). That alone shows a real change in the law of the priesthood.

Another change is in the way priests were appointed. Under the Levitical priesthood, they were made by the law of an outward command, a law tied to natural descent. When a father died, his office passed to his eldest son. None of those high priests had life and immortality in themselves. They had both a beginning and an end. Their succession followed the ordinary order of human birth and inheritance. But Christ was appointed priest by the power of an endless life. The life and immortality in him were his right to the priesthood, not his family line from earlier priests.

This makes a great difference in the priesthood and in the whole system, and it gives the clear advantage to Christ and the gospel. The very law that set up the Levitical priests showed that they were weak, mortal, and unable to keep their own lives forever. They could only live on through their children. Much less could they give spiritual life and blessing to those who came to them. But the high priest we confess holds his office by the living power that never ends. He not only lives forever himself, but also gives spiritual and eternal life to all who depend on his sacrifice and intercession.

Some understand the law of an outward command as referring to the visible rites of setting priests apart and to the animal offerings made under the old covenant. But the power of an endless life points to the spiritual worship and living sacrifices that belong to the gospel, and to the spiritual and eternal blessings purchased by Christ, who was set apart by the eternal Spirit.

Third, there is a change in the power and success of the priesthood. The former priesthood was weak and useless in the sense that it could make nothing perfect, but the latter brought in a better hope, by which we draw near to God (Hebrews 7:18, Hebrews 7:19). The Levitical priesthood could not complete anything. It could not justify people, meaning declare them righteous before God, from guilt. It could not sanctify them, meaning make them holy inwardly. It could not clean the conscience of worshipers from dead works. It could only lead them on to Christ, the true fulfillment.

Christ’s priesthood brings in a better hope. It shows us the true basis of the hope we have in God for pardon and salvation. It reveals the great things we hope for more clearly, and so it stirs up a stronger and livelier hope of being accepted by God. By this hope we are encouraged to draw near to God, to enter into covenant union with him, and to live in fellowship with him. We may now come near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts cleansed from an evil conscience. The former priesthood kept people at a distance and left them under a spirit of slavery.

Fourth, God has acted differently in this priesthood. He swore an oath to Christ, which he never did to any of Aaron’s line. He never gave them that same assurance that their priesthood would last forever. He never bound himself by oath to keep it forever, so they had no reason to expect it would never end. It was always more like a temporary law. But Christ was made priest with God’s oath: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek’” (Hebrews 7:21). In this oath, God declared the unchanging, greater, effective, and eternal nature of Christ’s priesthood.

Fifth, there is a change in the covenant that the priesthood secured and for which the priest served as surety, that is, the one who guarantees the agreement. This means there is a change in the way that covenant is administered. The gospel dispensation is fuller, freer, clearer, more spiritual, and more powerful than the law. In this gospel covenant, Christ is our surety both to God for us and to us from God. He sees that the terms are fulfilled on both sides. As surety, he united divine and human nature in his own person, giving assurance of reconciliation. He also united God and man in the bond of the everlasting covenant. He calls people to keep their covenant with God, and he pleads with God to fulfill his promises to people, which God is always ready to do in a way that fits his majesty and glory, through a Mediator, one who brings two parties together.

Sixth, there is a striking change in the number of priests under the two orders. Under Aaron, there were many priests, and many high priests, not at the same time, but one after another. Under Christ, there is only one, the same priest forever. The reason is plain. The Levitical priests were many because death kept stopping them from continuing in office. Their office, though high and honorable, could not keep them from dying. So when one died, another had to take his place, and then another after that, until the number became very great.

But our high priest remains forever, and his priesthood is unchangeable. It does not pass from one person to another, as the former priesthood did. It is always in the same hands. There can be no break in this priesthood, no hour or moment when God’s people are left without a priest to present their spiritual needs in heaven.

Such a break would be very dangerous and harmful to them. But their safety and joy are found here, that this ever-living high priest is able to save completely, at all times and in every situation, all who come to God through him (Hebrews 7:25). So we see a clear change, and it is a change for the better.

There is also a striking difference in the moral character of the priests. The priests from Aaron’s line were not only mortal men, but sinful men too. They had moral weaknesses as well as natural weakness, and they had to offer sacrifices first for their own sins, and then for the people’s. But our high priest, who was appointed by God’s oath, needed to offer sacrifice only once for the people, never for himself. He has not only an unchanging appointment to his office, but also perfect holiness in his own person. He is the kind of high priest we needed, holy, blameless, undefiled, and more, as Hebrews 7:26-28 says.

Here we should notice three things. First, as sinners, we needed a high priest who could make satisfaction for us and speak for us before God. Second, no priest could fit that need unless he was perfectly righteous in himself. He had to be righteous personally, or he could not be a propitiation, that is, one who turns away God’s wrath, or our advocate with the Father. Third, the Lord Jesus was exactly the high priest we needed, because his personal holiness is completely perfect.

The text describes Christ’s holiness in several ways, and each word highlights his purity. He is holy, completely free from any inward principle of sin. There is not the least sinful bent in his nature. No sin lives in him, though it does live in the best Christians, not even the smallest sinful desire. He is harmless, completely free from any actual wrongdoing. He did no violence, and no deceit was found in his mouth. He never did the least wrong to God or to people.

He is undefiled. He was never involved in other people’s sins. It is hard for us to stay pure and avoid sharing in the guilt of other people’s sins, whether by helping in them or by failing to stop them when we should. Christ was undefiled. Though he took our sins upon himself as our substitute, he never shared in their guilt by any fault of his own.

He is separate from sinners, not only in his present state, having entered as our high priest into the holy place where nothing unclean can enter, but also in his personal purity. He has no natural or covenant bond with sinners that would bring original sin upon him. We inherit original sin through our connection with Adam, the first man, by ordinary birth. But Christ was separated from sinners by his miraculous conception in the virgin Mary. He took true human nature, yet the way he was conceived placed him on a separate footing from all other people.

He is made higher than the heavens. Most interpreters understand this as pointing to his exalted state in heaven, seated at God’s right hand, completing the purpose of his priesthood. Dr. Goodwin, however, thought it could also point to Christ’s personal holiness, which is greater than that of the heavenly host, meaning the holy angels themselves. They are free from sin, but they are not, in themselves, beyond the possibility of sinning. That is why Scripture says God does not place full trust in his holy ones, and he charges his angels with folly, meaning weakness and the ability to fall (Job 4:18).

This view may seem too strained, and the phrase may more naturally refer to Christ’s exalted place rather than the holiness of his person, especially since the text says he was made higher. Still, the other descriptions clearly refer to his personal perfection in holiness, in contrast to the sinful weakness of the Levitical priests, and it seems fitting to read this phrase the same way if the sense allows it. This is even more likely because Hebrews 7:27 shows the power and effectiveness of Christ’s priesthood in his complete selflessness. He did not need to offer sacrifice for himself. His mediation was completely disinterested. He pleaded for mercy for others, though he did not need that mercy for himself.

If he had needed it himself, he would have been a party to the case and could not have been a mediator. He would have been guilty and could not have served as an advocate for sinners. For his mediation to be fully impartial and selfless, it seems necessary not only that he had no present need for the favor he asked for others, but that he could never come to need it. If he did not need it today, but might need it tomorrow or later, he could still be thought to have some concern for his own benefit.

That would weaken the pure zeal he showed for God’s honor and the tender compassion he showed for lost sinners. I am not trying here to follow every note of that excellent writer whose work we are using, but I have taken the liberty to defend this view of Dr. Goodwin from objections made against it. I have done so especially because, if this view stands, it gives us more proof that the Mediator had to be God. No mere creature is naturally possessed of that moral inability to sin, which would place him beyond any possible need of mercy or favor for himself.