Having established Melchizedek’s greatness both personally and in comparison with Abraham and Levi, the writer was ready for a new point. This superiority was needed, since the Law was superseded. The inadequacy of the legal and Levitical systems had to be replaced by something better.
Part 1:
Part 2
To summarize what we will see in this next bigger section of Hebrews 7, we start by asking why does Christ, the priest after Melchizedek’s order, replace the Levitical priesthood? Interpreting Psalms 110:4 phrase by phrase, the author of Hebrews gives the answer: Christ’s priesthood was prophesied (vv. 11-14); His priesthood was based on the power of an endless life (vv. 15-19); the oath of God established Jesus’ priesthood (vv. 20-22); Christ has no successor but continues forever (vv. 23-25). Under this new plan, the law (v. 12) has been replaced by a better hope (v. 19) and a better covenant (v. 22).
11 So if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? 12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. 13 For the one about whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses said nothing concerning priests. 15 And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is attested of Him, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” 18 For, on the one hand, there is the nullification of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the Law made nothing perfect); on the other hand, there is the introduction of a better hope, through which we come near to God. (NASB)
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- The priesthood of Aaron was temporary, while the priesthood according to Melchizedek was forever and superseded Aaron’s.
- Hebrews designated Jesus as a priest even though no one who served as a priest had ever come from Jesus’ tribe, the tribe of Judah.
- Jesus’ priesthood is superior (indestructible and eternal) because of God’s oath.
- Christ’s priesthood made it possible for sinners to draw near to God
- Christ became a priest not because of genealogy or ancestry, but on the basis of a life which could never be destroyed.
CLOSER LOOK:
Verse 11: Verse eleven makes sure the reader will recall the quotation of Psalm 110 already made in Hebrews 5:6. Psalm 110:4 states that God by His oath will establish an eternal priesthood based on the order of Melchizedek. This prophecy proves that God never intended the Aaronic order to be the permanent one. This section here is the writer emphasizing one point, and that is the perpetuity of this priesthood. Psalm 110 is crucial as it is the one that refers to Christ being of the order of Melchizedek and the author wants to remind the readers that Christ is a priest forever after that order.
While Melchizedek was a superior personality, this would not establish him as a successor to Aaron. Someone could object that the priesthood of Aaron was established and respected. the author argued for the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood on the basis of God’s promise (recorded in Ps. 110:4) that a new Priest would arise belonging to an order other than Aaron’s. Aaron’s priesthood had to be replaced because it could not produce godly character in its followers. The Levitical priesthood could not lead sinners to their God. Such a poor product demanded a completely new order of priesthood.
If perfection was through the Levitical priesthood, what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? Look at the logic used here, it is wonderful. God had already ordained the order of Aaron. Centuries later, we come to Psalm 110, a Psalm written by David, “YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK” If perfection was meant to be attained through the order of Aaron, why did God ever promise another priesthood? The order of Aaron must be temporary because there is another priesthood forever, “according to the order of Melchizedek,” meaning the order of Aaron was temporary. The theology of this is very clear. If God had already ordained the Aaronic priesthood, centuries later, then the promise of another priesthood, indicated the Aaronic priesthood was not a forever.
Psalm 110:4 showed the inability of the Levitical priesthood. They were so inept that God established another order of priesthood to replace them. Jews would understand this argument well, and the type of thought presented here suggests that Hebrews was written primarily for Jewish people.
“Perfection” here contains two assumptions. First, it assumes that perfection is a desirable experience with God. The longings of God’s people in Hebrews 11:13–16 showed that the Old Testament saints had longed to know God. Second, it assumes that the Levitical priesthood could not lead its participants to produce this perfection. If the Levitical priesthood had been able to bring people to perfection, then a superior priest from the order of Melchizedek would not have been needed. If the priests under the law of Moses could offer permanent reconciliation between God and His people, there would be no need for a coming Messiah, One who would restore the Israelites to their relationship with God. The Levitical system provided a means for imperfect people to approach God, but it could not provide them victory over their sin. At best, it could only expose the sin (Heb. 10:3).
Verse 12: The theological deduction of verse twelve is even more sweeping! The law of Moses and the Aaronic order are inextricably bound together. If the Aaronic order is temporary, so must be the law of Moses!Theologians basically divide the Law into three parts. There is first the ceremonial law (i.e. sacrifices, the priesthood, even the Tabernacle). Then, the civil law, that is, the law that governs Israel. The third is the moral law, especially seen in the Ten Commandments.
Side Note:
Everybody agrees that we are not under the ceremonial law. You will hardly hear anybody that says we are under the laws of sacrifices; under the laws of the priest; the laws of the priestly days and so on. But there are some who believe we are under the civil law and the moral law. These people are called theonomic reconstructionists. (Theos means God; Namos means Law). Essentially, the theonomic reconstructionists is God’s law reconstructing society. They believe that we, as Christians, ought to get such a say in government that we take over the government and then put in the laws of the Old Testament to govern the United States today, so if somebody’s guilty of prostitution, kill them. If the sin does not meet these laws, you stone them or put them to death (capital punishment). They say we would take the laws of Moses and apply them today, and it’s interesting. It is just a small, smallfraction, but it’s a very vociferous loud movement that’s been causing no little stir in the reform movement with theonomic reconstructions (was gaining traction then have seen a decline). By the way, they are also post-millennialists meaning we are going to get better and better and better. It follows that we are going to take over more and more governments, and one day, we will bring the kingdom to this world. They say we’re getting better and better all the time.
Our writer saw that a different priesthood demanded a different law. God’s designation of the order of priesthood after Melchizedek abolished the meaningless ceremonies of the Levitical priests. Even with a change in the law, Christianity stands in continuity with what God had long ago promised to do. We cannot understand the significance of Christ and His work unless we see the temporary status of the Law.
Well, we are not at a civil law and we realize this as we study the Scriptures (and we will see more of this in Hebrews). There are those in the reformed movement that believe we are still under the moral law as seen in the Ten Commandments, and so they put Christians under the Ten Commandments.
There are groups outside the reformed group that believe Christians are not under any part of the Law. One often referenced fallacy that arises out of this is that because they do not believe Christians are under any part of the Law, people think they believe in licentiousness. They do not because every one of the Ten Commandments is repeated in the New Testament except the law of the Sabbath. So we have nine of the ten repeated in the New Testament. One could say, “well, if you say that, why don’t you say we’re under the moral Law of Moses?” This group would say because it’s another system. The Law of Moses as one system, and the New Testament Covenant is another system. An illustration is how there are the same laws in different states. Each will have a law against stealing, murder, perjury, and so on. While those laws are the same, they are different systems.
Now let’s try to put ourselves in their mindset. Pretend you are a Jew, and you have heard that the laws are forever. Then you hear this; You would be absolutely shaken to your core. How can that Law be something that’s temporary? How can it be changed? And you can see why this would be a tremendous struggle for these readers. The trouble is we read it as Gentiles in the church. We don’t stop to think what it was for a Jew to become Christian. It is incredible some of the thinking and way of life had to change.
“When the priesthood is changed” describes more than the transfer of the office from one person to another. An entirely new kind of priesthood was appearing, disclosing a fundamental difference between the priesthood of Melchizedek and that of Aaron and the Levites. Since there was a priesthood change, it follows that the whole legal system on which the Levitical institutions were predicated also had to be changed. The word “changed” means “removal” (12:27). If the Melchizedek priesthood removed the Levitical priesthood, then the Mosaic Law is also removed. Here the writer virtually affirmed the Pauline truth that “you are not under Law” (Rom. 6:14), though the Hebrews author approached it from a different angle. In short, the believer is not under the Law, but instead relies on the righteousness of Jesus. Any system of religion that tries to be under the law cannot have Christ because Christ does not minister the law. It is either Christ or the law but not both.
The priesthood of Aaron and the Levites developed under the Mosaic Law. If the Levitical priesthood were temporary, then the Law supporting it must also be temporary. Paul also felt that the Law was a temporary provision (Gal. 3:24–25). The designation of the Messiah as a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek implied that the new priestly order had replaced the old order of Aaron.
Verse 13: Anticipating that someone would say, “Jesus can’t be superior to Aaron because He did not come from a priestly tribe,” Hebrews designated Jesus as a priest even though no one who served as a priest had ever come from Jesus’ tribe, the tribe of Judah. Jews would surely feel that the ministry of Christ could never take place at Jewish altars because He did not belong to a priestly tribe.
David and Solomon came from the royal tribe of Judah and offered sacrifices (2 Sam. 6:12–13; 1 Kgs. 3:4), but their offering was occasional and not their regular function. Only the tribe of Levi provided priests for serving at the altars during the Old Testament period. This sets the stage for declaring that Jesus became the High Priest of an entirely new order of priesthood despite his genealogical difference to descend from a priestly tribe.
Verses 13-17 apply the theology to Christ. It may be assumed the whole Aaronic priesthood came to an end with the tearing of the veil. Once again the writer uses “another” (heteros, seen in v. 11 for “another priest”) to indicate the order of Melchizedek is of another tribe than the Aaronic (v. 13).
Verses 13-17 give two evidences that the priesthood (and therefore the law) was changed. First, the Messiah was to be a priest, but His tribe was different from the Levitical tribe (vv. 13-14). Second, the Levitical priesthood was constituted on the basis of physical requirements, but the order of Melchizedek required a priest who functioned on the basis of an indestructible life (vv. 15-17).
Verse 14: Revelation 5:5 designates Jesus as a descendant of the tribe of Judah. The narrative in Matthew 2:6 assumes the same fact. The descent of Jesus from Judah was an acknowledged part of tradition. The genealogies in Matthew and Luke provide support for this.
Psalm 110:4 addresses the Messiah (see Matt. 22:41–46). Clearly the words of this psalm refer to Jesus. The psalm declares Jesus to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. The writer of Hebrews found no precedent for this turn of events. Levitical priesthood was superseded by the fact that “our Lord descended from Judah, a tribe” that had no role in the Levitical institutions, and the things God had said about the new Priest applied to One from Judah, which is proof that a change was made. The writer saw that the Levitical priesthood had been replaced by another order. Nothing that Moses had said in the Pentateuch had prepared for this change of events. This produced amazement at the uniqueness of the divine plan.
The greatness of Jesus’ priesthood appeared in at least two features. First, Jesus was an eternal High Priest (7:8, 16, 24). Because Jesus was eternal, He always loved to pray for His people. Second, Jesus’ high priestly ministry was effective not merely for earthly ordinances but also for heavenly realities. Jesus entered into heaven itself and carried on His work for us in God’s presence (Heb. 9:24).
An eternal High Priest who can bring us to God! That is what we need. In Jesus that is what we have.
In verses 15-16, A further proof (“and this is clearer still”) is found in the consideration that the new Priest has “an indestructible (akatalytou) life.” Psalm 110:4 was here quoted again to show that such an unending life is an inherent part of the order of Melchizedek. (The author probably had this text in mind when they made the statement about Melchizedek in Heb. 7:8.) Thus the new Priest does not hold His office on the basis of a law of physical requirement. The writer seems to mean that the Law which regulated the priestly institution and succession was “carnal” or “fleshly,” not in the sense of being evil, but in the sense that it pertained to people of flesh who died.
Verse 15: The failure of the old has established the necessity of a new priesthood. Verse 15 is based on two assumptions. First, the priesthood of Christ is accepted without dispute. Despite His origins from the tribe of Judah, Jesus had a right to the priestly office, a right transcending tribal qualifications.
Second, it is assumed that in Melchizedek we have evidence for an earlier priestly order accommodating the ministry of Christ. The priesthood of Melchizedek foreshadowed the priestly ministry of Christ in a way that Aaron’s successors never did. Psalm 110 provides clear evidence that God had planned for another priestly order which had no connection with the laws of Moses. The spiritual ineffectiveness and temporary nature of the Levitical priesthood made the initiation of another priestly order a necessity.
Verse 16: This verse gives two contrasts between the priesthood of Aaron’s successors and that of Christ in the order of Melchizedek. First, Christ became a priest through His personal moral power. A legal requirement established the successors of Aaron. This legal requirement could not guarantee that the individuals were morally worthy of assuming the office. Many of them demonstrated no inward personal power toward holiness. This was not true of Jesus Christ. His life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension were magnificent demonstrations of vital power. No fleshly ordinance had established Christ as a priest, but He assumed the office due to His own personal power.
Second, Christ became a priest not because of genealogy or ancestry, but on the basis of a life which could never be destroyed. No mere regulation had installed Jesus in His position. The Law which established the Levitical priesthood was a system of earthly rules and only amounted to a regulation as to His ancestry. Death removed the descendants of Aaron from serving. Jesus continued forever because He was alive eternally. The Aaronic priesthood was temporary and ineffective, but the priesthood of Jesus was permanent and effective.
Jesus did experience death, but His resurrection presented Him as indestructible. Jesus is able to continue His priestly ministry because of His resurrection and ascension into God’s presence. Death could not restrain Jesus, nor did it destroy His priesthood. Jesus discharged His ministry for His people with a life which knew no destruction.
Verse 17: A renewed quotation of Psalm 110:4 (see 5:6) comes here because the word forever in the quotation supported the claim in verse 16 that a priest after the order of Melchizedek had an indestructible life. The priesthood of Aaron might continue throughout all generations (Exod. 40:15), but no individual priest lasted forever. The physical requirement was Aaron, not line. But when you go down that genealogy, they had to be of a certain line. If you go down that genealogy, we see death after death after death. But not Melchizedek and that is the argument, and this in on the basis of an indestructible life. He lives forever is the point.
The fact that Psalm 110:4 was an oath provided a foundation for permanent security of Christ’s priesthood. No oath from God will ever be revoked. We find nowhere a greater evidence of security. Jesus became the priest mentioned in Psalm 110:4 because He was the person described in Psalm 110:1. Jesus’ own use of the psalm indicated His belief that it spoke of Him (see Matt. 22:41–46).
Verses 18–19: In verses 18-19 the contrast is made between the two systems of Aaron and Melchizedek. The one is ineffective and the other makes it possible for believers to draw near to God. This contrast is seen in the phrasing of “on the one hand…on the other hand.” Because of the better hope Christians have faith to draw near to God.
Verse 18 shows the weakness of the Law, while verse 19 describes the new hope which Christ’s priesthood provides. Verse 18 makes three statements about the Law and the priesthood connected with it: (1) weak, (2) useless, (3) annulled. The Law provided a standard by which a person could evaluate moral condition, but in its weakness it could not provide life and spiritual vigor to anyone. It was merely a diagnostic tool. It was useless because it could not provide a constant means of access to God. These two deficiencies made it necessary to set the Law aside.
This does not mean that the Law was annulled in that it no longer had any use. It served the function of revealing sin (Rom. 3:20), but it could not bring perfection. It could only demonstrate imperfection. It reminded sinners of their sin. The establishment of a new priesthood meant that the old Levitical priesthood no longer had divine authority. A new priesthood which could give power over sin had come into operation. Thus the writer established the point that the Law which made nothing perfect was replaced by a priestly institution which can accomplish its objectives in those who approach God through it.
Verse 19 introduces a theme of hope (cf. 6:19). The hope Christ provided was better than the empty regulations of the Levitical priesthood and the commandments which produced it. Christ’s priesthood made it possible for sinners to draw near to God (see 10:22 and often in Hebrews).
Wandering sinners seeking for God find much hope in Hebrews. The new priesthood of Melchizedek provided a foundation for such optimism. Believers can draw near to God even though “God is a consuming fire” (12:29). Seekers can actually find God.