In this section, Christ is seen as being superior to the Aaronic priesthood because He is perfect forever. Priests were to offer sacrifices for themselves (cf. Lev. 4:1-3; 16:6), but Christ offered Himself for the sins of humanity. Furthermore, this sacrifice was once for all.
No matter how devoted and obedient the Aaronic priests were, they could not always meet the needs of all the people. But Jesus Christ perfectly meets all of our needs. Completely. The emphasis here is on His sinlessness. Being perfect, He is able to exercise a perfect ministry for His people. Because of their sins, some of the Old Testament priests not only were unable to serve the people, but actually abused them. This could never happen with Jesus Christ and His people.
The author concludes this chapter with a summary of why Jesus’ priesthood is superior to any other. Exalted above the heaven means Christ is exalted (or higher) above all and sits in glory at the right hand of the Father (1:3; 2:9; 4:14). The high priest offered an annual sacrifice on the Day of Atonement for the atonement of the people’s sins, but the priests also offered sacrifices every day before the Lord. In contrast, Jesus offered Himself once, a perfect, sinless sacrifice for the sins of all. Since Jesus is perfect, He did not have to offer sacrifices for His own sins. The permanent, eternal nature of Jesus’ priesthood established by an oath of God is in sharp contrast to the temporal, weak nature of the Levitical priesthood.
26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens; 27 who has no daily need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because He did this once for all time when He offered up Himself. 28 For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, who has been made perfect forever. (NASB)
Key Takeaways:
- Only Jesus can claim the characteristics of holy, innocent, and pure.
- Jesus is the kind of High Priest we need! We are prone to sin daily, even every hour, minute, and second; and we need to be able to turn to Him for spiritual help. As our High Priest, Jesus Christ gives us the grace and mercy that we need not to sin. But if we do sin, He is our Advocate at God’s throne (1 Jn 2:1–2). If we confess our sins to Him, He forgives us and restores us (1 John 1:9).
- The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was once for all. He does not need to do it over and over again.
Closer Look:
Verse 26: This verse summarizes the qualities of an ideal high priest clearly seen in Jesus. Only those who come to God through Jesus can experience these qualities. Jesus is the kind of High Priest who meets our need. His character is utterly without blemish and He has been “exalted above the heavens.”
First, three personal traits describe the ideal high priest. The first trait refers to personal holiness. Jesus was a perfect accomplishment of all God required. No one could find in Jesus any deficiency or failure. The Old Testament priests were “set apart” for their ministry, so in that sense they were “holy.” But they were not always holy in character. They were sinners like the people to whom they ministered. The second word innocent (or blameless) describes Christ as innocent or without guilt. Jesus had no craftiness or malice. No Jewish priest could claim this distinction or being blameless. The third word undefiled (pure) refers to Jesus as having no moral contamination. These three words describe Jesus as having holiness by nature and also as remaining pure in all His contacts with sinful human beings. When He was ministering on earth, our Lord was a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Matt. 9:10; 11:19), but His contact with them did not defile His character or His conduct. There was contact without contamination. He was not isolated; He was separated. Today, He is “separated from sinners” because of His position (“exalted above the heavens”); but He is not separated from the people to whom He ministers. He is always available to us at His throne of grace.
The second quality of an ideal high priest, in relationship to human beings Jesus was set apart from sinners. Jesus was sinless, and this fact set Him apart from sinful human beings. Jesus’ service in the office of high priest also set him apart from other human beings. The holy High Priest can perfectly serve the needs of a sinful person to come to the holy God for salvation.
The third quality of an ideal high priest, despite Jesus’ likeness to human beings, He nevertheless stands above them, because He is “exalted above the heavens.” Many New Testament passages (Phil 2:9) about Jesus, underscore the exalted nature of Jesus. His exalted standing should cause us to appreciate all the more deeply the glory of His ministry.
A high priest like this fits our condition. He has experienced the complete force of temptation, and He has yielded to none of it. He has the perfect fitness to represent us before God and to secure our acceptance with God.
Verse 27: Jesus’ superiority also appeared in that He did not need daily sacrifices for Himself. The Aaronic high priests offered sacrifices first for themselves “and then for sins of the people.” Since He was sinless, Christ did not need to offer any sacrifice for Himself. He needed only to offer a single sacrifice “once for all time when He offered up Himself” (cf. Heb. 10:10). He offered Himself for sinful human beings, and there was no need for Jesus to offer again repeatedly.
It may have been shocking at this point to introduce the idea that Jesus offered Himself. No high priest offered himself. The priest offered a substitute animal sacrifice. The total unselfishness and commitment of Jesus appeared in His offering up of Himself. Jesus had said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). All who have come to Jesus for salvation have found Him to be a powerful and sufficient Savior.
At first sight verses 27–28 seem to refer to the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16), but that was yearly, not “day after day.” Probably these verses telescope that ritual with the regular sacrificial routine. There seems to be some evidence from Jewish tradition that a high priest was thought to offer daily sacrifice, and the stipulations of Leviticus 6:12–13 may refer to him.
In any case the new High Priest had no need either for sacrifices for Himself or for repeated sacrifices for others. His one act of self-offering was definitive and sufficient. This will be discussed more in Hebrews 9 and 10. Here the author was content to conclude that, in contrast with the Levitical priests, the Son is a perfected High Priest.
Verse 28: This verse summarizes the previous two verses concerning the appointment of the Levitical priests and the Melchizedek order. The Levitical order was appointed by the Law. The order of Melchizedek came by an oath. The difference between the two orders appeared in the character of the priest.
The Levitical order contained men who are weak. Priests did not come from any super race. They came from among ordinary people with all the weaknesses of human beings. The order of Melchizedek had as priest the Son, who has been made perfect forever. With a perfect High Priest like Jesus, Christians may approach God with confidence. Jesus’ character guarantees our access.
The idea is not that Jesus first became perfect and then became High Priest. Jesus’ nature was perfect from the beginning. He came to earth as a perfect High Priest. His earthly life was an exhibition of the moral perfection he always possessed. It is true that his suffering developed in him an ability to understand our needs and to become an even more effective Savior (Heb. 2:10). His eternal perfection allowed him to meet the needs of sinful, wandering human beings. The reference to the fact that He has been made perfect forever recalls 5:8–10. The sufferings of the Son, here referred to as His sacrificial offering of Himself once for all (ephapax, cf. 9:12; 10:10; also cf. hapax, “once” in 9:26, 28), are what have constituted Him “perfect” for His role in God’s presence where He intercedes for His followers. Thus the Law appointed as high priests those who were weak, but the oath, which came after the Law, appointed this kind of Priest. Accordingly the readers could go to Him at all times, fully confident of His capacity to serve their every need.
A final application: why turn away from such an adequate High Priest? What more can you find in any other person? The men who served under the Law of Moses had human infirmities and weaknesses, and they often failed (same as we do). Jesus, our heavenly High Priest, “has been made perfect forever” and there is no spot or blemish in Him. Such a High Priest suits us perfectly! May we make ourselves available to His gracious ministry?