Hebrews 5

Jesus Christ—Supremely Qualified to Show Compassion

I. INTRODUCTION The Healing Power of Compassion

A. The Office of the High Priest (vv. 1–4)

SUPPORTING IDEA: God called the high priest to offer sacrifices for sinful human beings.

First, the high priest represented people before God. No angel could do this job.

No superhuman need apply. This job required a man who could understand and feel the pain and guilt of sinners.

THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR PRIESTHOOD (5:1–10) The contrast between the Aaronic priesthood and Christ continues, as we see the extent to which the Lord has fulfilled the original qualifications (5:1–4) and gone beyond them (vv. 5–10).

The author wants his readers to realize Jesus’ faithfulness to his priestly calling and his vast superiority to the Aaronic priests. We are now in the central section of the book, and Christ’s high priestly office is at the core of the argument (4:14–10:25), for it encompasses both the christological and soteriological dimensions: as high priest, Christ offered himself as the atoning sacrifice and provided salvation for sinful humanity.

So verses 1–4 describe the general qualifications for the Aaronic office of high priest, and verses 5–10 presents the way Christ fulfills those qualities. He goes beyond because he is “a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (vv. 6, 10), from Psalm 110:4. There is a typological relationship between Jesus and the office of high priest, and he fulfills that for all eternity. There is no longer a need for an earthly high priest.

Second, the high priest was selected. God made the choice. God never intended that the office of high priest be filled by democratic selection. He designated his own person. Sadly, in the time of Christ the high priesthood had become a political prize, often going to the highest bidder. This description was of the work of the high priest in its Old Testament intention.

Third, the high priest served in matters related to God. He was a mediator who represented God to men and men to God.

Third, the high priest served in matters related to God. He was a mediator who represented God to men and men to God.

The high priests in the line of Aaron had a feeling for sinners because they were subject to weakness. The high priest was clothed with the weaknesses of his people. Although Jesus was a human being, he was not surrounded with weakness. Jesus himself was never ignorant or going astray, but he understood those who were.

Consider the weakness of Aaron, who gave a feeble excuse to Moses for yielding to the people’s demands for a visible god to worship. His words were, “They gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf” (Exod. 32:24). A man like this could certainly understand human weakness, for he was weak himself. However, it required a Savior like Jesus Christ to deal effectively with human sinfulness.

Christ’s Qualifications for High Priest (vv. 5–10)

SUPPORTING IDEA: Christ’s ability to sympathize with sinners and his call from God qualify him to be our high priest.