Hebrews 5
About Hebrews
Hebrews is a sermon, written down and sent. The writer calls it a word of exhortation (13:22), the name for a synagogue sermon, and never signs it. Paul, Barnabas, Apollos and Priscilla have all been suggested, and the honest answer is that nobody knows. What we do know is that the writer knew the Old Testament deeply, wrote polished Greek, and was close enough to the readers to say “I will come with him to see you.”
The letter does not name its readers or their city. They were Christians deeply formed by Israel’s Scriptures, and many think they had a Jewish background. They had not heard Jesus themselves; the gospel came to them from people who had (2:3). They had already suffered for following Him: public insults, prison, property taken (10:32 to 34). Now they were tired and in danger of drifting from what they had confessed. Not curiosity. Exhaustion.
That is why Moses and angels keep coming up. Going back did not feel like leaving God. It felt like returning to what God had already given: the Law that came through angels, Moses, the priests, the sacrifices, the temple. So the writer does not knock any of it down. Jesus is greater than the prophets, greater than the angels, greater than Moses, a better priest offering a better sacrifice under a better covenant. Understand that one word, better, and you have the spine of the letter.
It moves in three parts. Chapters 1 to 4: God has spoken in His Son, who is greater than the angels and greater than Moses; do not drift, do not harden your heart, and enter His rest. Chapters 5 to 10: Jesus as high priest in the line of Melchizedek, offering one sacrifice once for all. Chapters 11 to 13: faith, endurance and ordinary life, the long roll call of people who trusted God, then how to keep running.
Five warnings are threaded through it (2:1 to 4; 3:7 to 4:13; 5:11 to 6:12; 10:26 to 39; 12:14 to 29). They are sharp. They are also written to people the writer plainly loves.
Before you read Hebrews 5
What makes a high priest, and why Jesus qualifies: God called Him, He knows our weakness from the inside, and He was appointed in the order of Melchizedek. Then the writer stops to tell the readers they have grown slow to learn and need to grow up.
The Perfect High Priest
Every high priest is appointed from among men to represent them in matters relating to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and misguided, since he himself is subject to weakness. That is why he is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not take upon Himself the glory of becoming a high priest, but He was called by the One who said to Him:
“You are My Son;
today I have become Your Father.”
And in another passage God says:
“You are a priest forever
in the order of Melchizedek.”
During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him and was designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Milk and Solid Food
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain, because you are dull of hearing. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!
For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.