Hebrews 5:2

Hebrews 5:2

Qualifications for High Priesthood

1 For every high priest taken from among men ^ais appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

2 He can¹ have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to ^aweakness.

3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for ^ahimself, to offer sacrifices for sins.

4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as ^aAaron was.

A Priest Forever

5 ^aSo also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:
^b“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.”

6 As He also says in another place:
^a“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek”;

7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had ^aoffered up prayers and supplications, ^bwith vehement cries and tears to Him ^cwho was able to save Him from death, and was heard ^dbecause of His godly fear,

8 though He was a Son, yet He learned ^aobedience by the things which He suffered.

9 And ^ahaving been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

10 called by God as High Priest ^a“according to the order of Melchizedek,”

11 of whom ^awe have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become ^bdull of hearing.

Spiritual Immaturity

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the¹ oracles of God; and you have come to need ^amilk and not solid food.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Hebrews 5:3 >>

Who can—Greek, "being able"; not pleasing himself (Romans 15:3).

have compassion—Greek, "estimate mildly," "feel leniently," or "moderately towards"; "to make allowance for"; not showing stern rigor save to the obstinate (Hebrews 10:28).

ignorant—sins not committed in resistance of light and knowledge, but as Paul's past sin (I Timothy 1:13). 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.

out of the way—not deliberately and altogether wilfully erring, but deluded through the fraud of Satan and their own carnal frailty and thoughtlessness.

infirmity—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.

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Hebrews 5:2:**

1 Timothy 1:13
Titus 3:3
Hebrews 2:18
Hebrews 5:1
Hebrews 10:26

<< Hebrews 5:1

Hebrews 5:3 >>

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