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Title = 'The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews';
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<p id="Chapter5" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 5
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<p id="Heb5_1"><a onclick="return mV('Hbr',5,'1-14');">Hbr 5:1-14</a>. CHRIST'S HIGH PRIESTHOOD; NEEDED QUALIFICATIONS; MUST BE A MAN; MUST NOT HAVE ASSUMED THE DIGNITY HIMSELF, BUT HAVE BEEN APPOINTED BY GOD; THEIR LOW SPIRITUAL PERCEPTIONS A BAR TO PAUL'S SAYING ALL HE MIGHT ON CHRIST'S MELCHISEDEC-LIKE PRIESTHOOD.
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<p><b>1. For</b>—substantiating <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',4,15);">Hbr 4:15</a>.
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<br><br><b>every</b>—that is, every legitimate high priest; for instance, the Levitical, as he is addressing Hebrews, among whom the Levitical priesthood was established as the legitimate one. Whatever, reasons Paul, is excellent in the Levitical priests, is also in Christ, and besides excellencies which are not in the Levitical priests.
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<br><br><b>taken from among men</b>—not from among angels, who could not have a fellow feeling with us men. This qualification Christ has, as being, like the Levitical priest, <i>a man</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',2,14,16);">Hbr 2:14, 16</a>). Being "<i>from</i> men," He can be "<i>for</i> (that is, in behalf of, for the good of) men."
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<br><br><b>ordained</b>—<i>Greek,</i> "constituted," "appointed."
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<br><br><b>both gifts</b>—to be joined with "for sins," as "sacrifices" is (the "both...and" requires this); therefore not the <i>Hebrew,</i> "<i>mincha,</i>" "unbloody offerings," but animal whole burnt offerings, <i>spontaneously given.</i> "Sacrifices" are the animal sacrifices <i>due according to the legal ordinance</i> [ESTIUS].
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<p id="Heb5_2"><b>2. Who can</b>—<i>Greek,</i> "being able"; <i>not pleasing himself</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',15,3);">Rom 15:3</a>).
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<br><br><b>have compassion</b>—<i>Greek,</i> "estimate mildly," "feel leniently," or "moderately towards"; "to make allowance for"; not showing stern rigor save to the obstinate (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',10,28);">Hbr 10:28</a>).
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<br><br><b>ignorant</b>—sins not committed in resistance of light and knowledge, but as Paul's past sin (<a onclick="return mV('1Ti',1,13);">1Ti 1:13</a>). No sacrifice was appointed for wilful sin committed with a high hand; for such were to be punished with death; all other sins, namely, ignorances and errors, were confessed and expiated with sacrifices by the high priest.
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<br><br><b>out of the way</b>—not deliberately and altogether wilfully erring, but deluded through the fraud of Satan and their own carnal frailty and thoughtlessness.
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<br><br><b>infirmity</b>—moral weakness which is sinful, and makes men capable of sin, and so requires to be expiated by sacrifices. This kind of "infirmity" Christ had not; He had the "infirmity" of body whereby He was capable of suffering and death.
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<p id="Heb5_3"><b>3. by reason hereof</b>—"on account of this" infirmity.
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<br><br><b>he ought...also for himself, to offer for sins</b>—the Levitical priest ought; in this our High Priest is superior to the Levitical. The second "for" is a different <i>Greek</i> term from the first; "<i>in behalf of</i> the people...<i>on account</i> of sins."
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<p id="Heb5_4"><b>4. no man</b>—of any other family but Aaron's, according to the Mosaic law, can take to himself the office of high priest. This verse is quoted by some to prove the need of an apostolic succession of ordination in the Christian ministry; but the reference here is to the <i>priesthood,</i> not the Christian <i>ministry.</i> The analogy in our Christian dispensation would warn ministers, seeing that God has separated them from the congregation of His people to bring them near Himself, and to do the service of His house, and to minister (as He separated the Levites, Korah with his company), that content with this, they should beware of assuming the sacrificial priesthood also, which belongs to Christ alone. The sin of Korah was, not content with the ministry as a Levite, he took the sacerdotal priesthood also. No Christian minister, as such, is ever called <i>Hiereus,</i> that is, sacrificing priest. All Christians, without distinction, whether ministers or people, have a metaphorical, not a literal, priesthood. The sacrifices which they offer are spiritual, not literal, their bodies and the fruit of their lips, praises continually (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',13,15);">Hbr 13:15</a>). Christ alone had a proper and true sacrifice to offer. The law sacrifices were typical, not metaphorical, as the Christian's, nor proper and true, as Christ's. In Roman times the Mosaic restriction of the priesthood to Aaron's family was violated.
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<p id="Heb5_5"><b>5. glorified not himself</b>—did not assume the glory of the priestly office of Himself without the call of God (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',8,54);">Jhn 8:54</a>).
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<br><br><b>but he that said</b>—that is, the Father glorified Him or appointed Him to the priesthood. This appointment was involved in, and was the result of, the <i>Sonship</i> of Christ, which qualified Him for it. None but the divine Son could have fulfilled such an office (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',10,'5-9');">Hbr 10:5-9</a>). The connection of <i>Sonship</i> and <i>priesthood</i> is typified in the <i>Hebrew</i> title for <i>priests</i> being given to David's sons (<a onclick="return mV('2Sa',8,18);">2Sa 8:18</a>). Christ did not constitute <i>Himself</i> the Son of God, but was from everlasting the only-begotten <i>of the Father.</i> On His Sonship depended His glorification, and His being called of God (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',5,10);">Hbr 5:10</a>), as Priest.
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<p id="Heb5_6"><b>6.</b> He is here called simply "Priest"; in <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',5,5);">Hbr 5:5</a>, "High Priest." He is a <i>Priest</i> absolutely, because He stands alone in that character without an equal. He is "High Priest" in respect of the Aaronic type, and also in respect to us, whom He has made <i>priests</i> by throwing open to us access to God [BENGEL]. "The <i>order</i> of Melchisedec" is explained in <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',7,15);">Hbr 7:15</a>, "the <i>similitude</i> of Melchisedec." The priesthood is similarly combined with His kingly office in <a onclick="return mV('Zec',6,13);">Zec 6:13</a>. Melchisedec was at once man, priest, and king. Paul's selecting as the type of Christ one not of the stock of Abraham, on which the Jews prided themselves, is an intimation of Messianic universalism.
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<p id="Heb5_7"><b>7. in the days of his flesh</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',2,14);">Hbr 2:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',10,20);">10:20</a>). <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',5,'7-10');">Hbr 5:7-10</a> state summarily the subject about to be handled more fully in the seventh and eighth chapters.
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<br><br><b>when he had offered</b>—rather, "<i>in that</i> He <i>offered.</i>" His crying and tears were part of the experimental lesson of obedience which He submitted to learn from the Father (when God was qualifying Him for the high priesthood). "Who" is to be construed with "learned obedience" (or rather as <i>Greek,</i> "<i>His</i> obedience"; "<i>the</i> obedience" which we all know about). This all shows that "Christ glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest" (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',5,5);">Hbr 5:5</a>), but was appointed thereto by the Father.
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<br><br><b>prayers and supplications</b>—<i>Greek,</i> "<i>both</i> prayers and supplications." In Gethsemane, where He prayed <i>thrice,</i> and on the cross, where He cried, My God, my God...probably repeating inwardly <i>all</i> the twenty-second Psalm. "Prayers" refer to the mind: "supplications" also to the body (namely, the suppliant attitude) (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',26,39);">Mat 26:39</a>) [BENGEL].
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<br><br><b>with strong crying and tears</b>—The "tears" are an additional fact here communicated to us by the inspired apostle, not recorded in the Gospels, though implied. <a onclick="return mV('Mat',26,37);">Mat 26:37</a>, "sorrowful and very heavy." <a onclick="return mV('Mar',14,33);">Mar 14:33</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',22,44);">Luk 22:44</a>, "in an agony He prayed more earnestly...His sweat...great drops of blood falling down to the ground." <a onclick="return mV('Psa',22,1);">Psa 22:1</a> ("roaring...cry"), <a onclick="return mV('Psa',22,2,19,21,24);">Psa 22:2, 19, 21, 24</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',69,3,10);">69:3, 10</a>, "I <i>wept.</i>"
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<br><br><b>able to save him from death</b>— <a onclick="return mV('Mar',14,36);">Mar 14:36</a>, "All things are <i>possible</i> unto Thee" (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',12,27);">Jhn 12:27</a>). His cry showed His entire participation of man's infirmity: His reference of His wish to the will of God, His sinless faith and obedience.
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<br><br><b>heard in that he feared</b>—There is no intimation in the twenty-second Psalm, or the Gospels that Christ prayed to be saved from the mere act of dying. What He feared was the hiding of the Father's countenance. His holy filial love must rightly have shrunk from this strange and bitterest of trials without the imputation of impatience. To have been passively content at the approach of such a cloud would have been, not faith, but sin. The cup of death He prayed to be freed from was, not corporal, but spiritual death, that is, the (temporary) separation of His human soul from the light of God's countenance. His prayer was "heard" in His Father's strengthening Him so as to hold fast His unwavering faith under the trial (<i>My</i> God, <i>my</i> God, was still His filial cry under it, still claiming God as His, though God hid His face), and soon removing it in answer to His cry during the darkness on the cross, "My God, my God," etc. But see below a further explanation of how He was heard. The <i>Greek</i> literally, is, "Was heard <i>from His fear,</i>" that is, so as to be saved from His fear. Compare <a href= "#" onclick="return mV('Psa',22,21);">Psa 22:21</a>, which well accords with this, "Save me <i>from</i> the lion's mouth (His prayer): thou hast heard me <i>from</i> the horns of the unicorns." Or what better accords with the strict meaning of the <i>Greek</i> noun, "<i>in consequence of His</i> REVERENTIAL FEAR," that is, in that He <i>shrank from</i> the horrors of separation from the bright presence of the Father, yet was <i>reverentially cautious</i> by no thought or word of impatience to give way to a shadow of distrust or want of perfect filial love. In the same sense <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',12,28);">Hbr 12:28</a> uses the noun, and <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',11,7);">Hbr 11:7</a> the verb. ALFORD somewhat similarly translates, "By reason of His reverent submission." I prefer "reverent <i>fear.</i>" The word in derivation means the <i>cautious handling</i> of some precious, yet delicate vessel, which with ruder handling might easily be broken [TRENCH]. This fully agrees with Jesus' spirit, "If it be possible...<i>nevertheless not My will, but Thy will be done</i>"; and with the context, <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',5,5);">Hbr 5:5</a>, "Glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest," implying <i>reverent fear:</i> wherein it appears He had the requisite for the office specified <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',5,4);">Hbr 5:4</a>, "No man taketh this honor unto himself." ALFORD well says, What is true in the Christian's life, that what we ask from God, though He may not grant in the form we wish, yet He grants in His own, and that a better form, does not hold good in Christ's case; for Christ's real prayer, "not My will, but Thine be done," in consistency with His reverent fear towards the Father, was granted in the very form in which it was expressed, not in another.
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<p id="Heb5_8"><b>8.</b> Though He WAS (so it ought to be translated: a positive admitted fact: not a mere supposition as <i>were</i> would imply) God's divine Son (whence, even in His agony, He so lovingly and often cried, <i>Father,</i> <a onclick="return mV('Mat',26,39);">Mat 26:39</a>), yet He learned <i>His</i> (so the <i>Greek</i>) obedience, not from His Sonship, but from His sufferings. As the Son, He was always obedient to the Father's will; but <i>the</i> special obedience needed to qualify Him as our High Priest, He learned experimentally in practical suffering. Compare <a onclick="return mV('Phl',2,'6-8');">Phl 2:6-8</a>, "<i>equal with God,</i> but...took upon Him the form of a <i>servant,</i> and became <i>obedient</i> unto death," etc. He was <i>obedient</i> already before His passion, but He stooped to a still more humiliating and trying form of <i>obedience</i> then. The <i>Greek</i> adage is, "<i>Pathemata mathemata,</i>" "sufferings, disciplinings." <i>Praying</i> and <i>obeying,</i> as in Christ's case, ought to go hand in hand.
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<p id="Heb5_9"><b>9. made perfect</b>—completed, brought to His goal of learning and suffering through death (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',2,10);">Hbr 2:10</a>) [ALFORD], namely, at His glorious resurrection and ascension.
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<br><br><b>author</b>—<i>Greek,</i> "cause."
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<br><br><b>eternal salvation</b>—obtained for us in the <i>short</i> "days of Jesus' flesh" (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',5,7);">Hbr 5:7</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',5,6);">Hbr 5:6</a>, "for ever," <a onclick="return mV('Isa',45,17);">Isa 45:17</a>).
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<br><br><b>unto all...that obey him</b>—As Christ <i>obeyed</i> the Father, so must we <i>obey</i> Him by faith.
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<p id="Heb5_10"><b>10.</b> <i>Greek,</i> rather, "<i>Addressed</i> by God (by the appellation) High Priest." Being formally recognized by God as High Priest at the time of His being "made perfect" (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',5,9);">Hbr 5:9</a>). He was High Priest already <i>in the purpose of God</i> before His passion; but after it, when perfected, He was formally addressed so.
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<p id="Heb5_11"><b>11.</b> Here he digresses to complain of the low spiritual attainments of the Palestinian Christians and to warn them of the danger of falling from light once enjoyed; at the same time encouraging them by God's faithfulness to persevere. At <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',6,20);">Hbr 6:20</a> he resumes the comparison of Christ to Melchisedec.
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<br><br><b>hard to be uttered</b>—rather as <i>Greek,</i> "hard <i>of interpretation</i> to speak." Hard for me to state intelligibly to you owing to your dulness about spiritual things. Hence, instead of <i>saying many things,</i> he writes in comparatively <i>few words</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',13,22);">Hbr 13:22</a>). In the "we," Paul, as usual, includes Timothy with himself in addressing them.
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<br><br><b>ye are</b>—<i>Greek,</i> "ye have <i>become</i> dull" (the <i>Greek,</i> by derivation, means <i>hard to move</i>): this implies that <i>once,</i> when first "enlightened," they were earnest and zealous, but had <i>become</i> dull. That the Hebrew believers AT JERUSALEM were dull in spiritual things, and legal in spirit, appears from <a onclick="return mV('Act',21,'20-24');">Act 21:20-24</a>, where James and the elders expressly say of the "thousands of Jews which believe," that "they are all <i>zealous of the law</i>"; this was at Paul's last visit to Jerusalem, after which this Epistle seems to have been written (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Hbr/Hbr005.html#Heb5_12">Heb 5:12</a>, on "for the time").
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<p id="Heb5_12"><b>12. for the time</b>—considering the long time that you have been Christians. Therefore this Epistle was not one of those written early.
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<br><br><b>which be the first principles</b>—<i>Greek,</i> "the <i>rudiments of the beginning</i> of." A Pauline phrase (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Gal/Gal004.html#Ga4_3">Gal 4:3</a>; JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Gal/Gal004.html#Ga4_9">Gal 4:9</a>). Ye need not only to be taught <i>the first elements,</i> but also "<i>which</i> they be." They are therefore enumerated <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',6,1,2);">Hbr 6:1-2</a> [BENGEL]. ALFORD translates, "That <i>someone</i> teach you the rudiments"; but the position of the <i>Greek,</i> "<i>tina,</i>" inclines me to take it interrogatively, "which," as <i>English Version, Syriac, Vulgate,</i> etc.
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<br><br><b>of the oracles of God</b>—namely, of the Old Testament: instead of seeing Christ as the end of the Old Testament Scripture, they were relapsing towards Judaism, so as not only not to be capable of understanding the typical reference to Christ of such an Old Testament personage as Melchisedec, but even much more elementary references.
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<br><br><b>are become</b>—through indolence.
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<br><br><b>milk...not...strong meat</b>—"Milk" refers to such fundamental first principles as he enumerates in <a href= "#" onclick="return mV('Hbr',6,1,2);">Hbr 6:1-2</a>. The <i>solid meat,</i> or <i>food,</i> is not absolutely necessary for preserving life, but is so for acquiring greater strength. Especially in the case of the Hebrews, who were much given to allegorical interpretations of their law, which they so much venerated, the application of the Old Testament types, to Christ and His High Priesthood, was calculated much to strengthen them in the Christian faith [LIMBORCH].
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<p id="Heb5_13"><b>13. useth</b>—<i>Greek,</i> "partaketh," that is, taketh as <i>his portion.</i> Even strong men partake of milk, but do not make milk their chief, much less their sole, diet.
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<br><br><b>the word of righteousness</b>—the Gospel wherein "the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith" (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',1,17);">Rom 1:17</a>), and which is called "the ministration of righteousness" (<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',3,9);">2Cr 3:9</a>). This includes the doctrine of <i>justification</i> and sanctification: the first <i>principles,</i> as well as the <i>perfection, of the doctrine of Christ:</i> the nature of the offices and person of Christ as the true Melchisedec, that is, "King of <i>righteousness</i>" (compare <a onclick="return mV('Mat',3,15);">Mat 3:15</a>).
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<p id="Heb5_14"><b>14. strong meat</b>—"solid food."
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<br><br><b>them...of full age</b>—literally, "perfect": akin to "perfection" (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',6,1);">Hbr 6:1</a>).
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<br><br><b>by reason of use</b>—<i>Greek,</i> "habit."
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<br><br><b>senses</b>—organs of sense.
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<br><br><b>exercised</b>—similarly connected with "righteousness" in <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',12,11);">Hbr 12:11</a>.
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<br><br><b>to discern both good and evil</b>—as a child no longer an infant (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',7,16);">Isa 7:16</a>): so able to distinguish between sound and unsound doctrine. The mere child puts into its mouth things hurtful and things nutritious, without discrimination: but not so the adult. Paul again alludes to their tendency not to discriminate, but to be carried about by strange doctrines, in <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',13,9);">Hbr 13:9</a>.
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