Hebrews 5

To keep things straight you need to go back a few verses to see the context of chapter 5. So let’s go back to 4:14.

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

The Greek reads somewhat different than KJV

It reads he passed through the heavens. Heaven due mostly to religious teaching is really not understood here is how Strong’s concordance defines it:

Definition: heaven, (a) the visible heavens: the atmosphere, the sky, the starry heavens, (b) the spiritual heavens.

Heaven is anyplace above the earth.  Most people at the time thought the earth was flat. They could only go by what they saw a flat horizon heaven above sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit below. Sheol is the kingdom of the grave the rest is Greek paganism which seeped into the word many places. God has to work with us from where we are currently. When we got saved we didn’t have perfect knowledge dropped on us. It has taken me almost 45 years to get to where I am with God. I have had to put aside things I believed or was taught and change my thinking to line up with what god says in his Word. That happens to be the definition of repentance. I bet you never considered that before. When someone shares the word and you lay aside what  you were taught wrongly that is repenting. One thing to consider when you read the word is how limited was the knowledge of the person writing it. Did they know about the Sacred Secret/ mystery when they wrote what they did. Hebrews was written before the mystery was revealed in Ephesians 3. The writer of this book could not go further than what he knew.

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Okay onto chapter five where it explains about Jesus our High Priest yes Jesus not Peter is our high priest. How can he be a priest if he is God? Look at the next verse.

Hebrews 5:1 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

He is selected from among the people like the lamb for passover he has to be a member of the flock not God God is our shepard  according to Pslam 23: The LORD is my shepard I shall not want. Back to Hebrews

2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.

I love how the REV translates these first 3 verses.

1 For every high priest is taken from among the people and is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins on behalf of the people in things pertaining to God. 2 He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and erring, because he himself is also subject to weakness, 3 and this is why he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins for himself as well as for the people.

Now of course Jesus did not sin but the writer is not talking about Jesus he is talking about the priest. You have to keep your pronouns straight. It is something that is how a priest is to operate yet look at the priests in the gospels and they were plotting to kill Jesus. Doesn’t sound all that gentle to me.

4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,

“You are my Son;

today I have become your Father.”

6 And he says in another place,

“You are a priest forever,

in the order of Melchizedek.”

Verse 5 is a gnome it is a quote from the Hebrew Scripture specifically Psalm 2:7

Psalm 2:7

I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Now it is also quoted in Acts 13

Act 13:33

God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee

This is from the commentary in the REV
“Today I have become your Father.” The Greek for “have become your Father” is gennaō (#1080 γεννάω) and Friberg correctly notes that when it is used of men, it means to become the father of; and when used of women it means to give birth to (Friberg, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament).

The understanding of this verse is debated by scholars, but the context seems to make the meaning quite clear. Although there are some very competent scholars (cp. Fitzmyer; Haenchen; Meyer; etc.), who believe that anistemi (“raised up”) refers to the resurrection of Christ, there are also some very competent scholars (cp. Lenski; F. F. Bruce), who believe that in verse 33 the word anistemi (#450 ἀνίστημι), “raised,” does not refer to Jesus’ resurrection, but his birth. We think it is clear that the word anistemi refers to the resurrection in both Acts 13:33 and 13:34.

It is true that anistemi is a very general term for rising up, getting up, put up (a building), and appearing in history (“there arose another Pharaoh”). However, many things militate against it being used for Jesus’ physical birth in this verse. First, the next verse (Acts 13:34) uses anistemi of the resurrection of Christ (“raised [anistemi] him out from among the dead”), and it seems unlikely that two uses of anistemi in such close conjunction would refer to two different events.

Second, if Acts 13:33 were about Jesus’ birth, it would be out of place in Paul’s teaching. Paul was teaching the people of Antioch about Jesus. In Acts 13:27 he spoke of the trial and condemnation of Christ; then in Acts 13:28 he spoke of Jesus’ being put to death; then in Acts 13:29 he said Jesus was placed in a tomb; then in Acts 13:30 he said God raised Jesus from the dead; then in Acts 13:31 he said Jesus appeared to many people who are now witnesses; then in Acts 13:32-33 he said God had fulfilled his promises by “raising up” Jesus. It seems that if Paul wanted to make the point that it was the birth of Christ that fulfilled the promises, he would not have presented the facts about Jesus the way he did, nor mention the birth of Christ between verses about his resurrection (Acts 13:30 and 13:34). People who say Acts 13:33 is about the birth of Christ are forced to say that Paul started his argument over again, but this seems like a weak argument, especially since Paul never mentioned Jesus’ birth earlier, but started with his arrest and condemnation.

Third, the New Testament never uses anistemi of anyone’s birth, but uses it 25 times for Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, and many other times for other people, such as Lazarus, being raised from the dead. This is strong evidence that anistemi is used for the resurrection in Acts 13:33.

Fourth, Acts 13:33 says God has “fulfilled” His promises “by raising up Jesus.” Even in the context it is clear that Jesus’ birth did not “fulfill” the promises made to Israel. One of the promises was that Jesus would be condemned so that he would die for the sins of all people, and that promise was “fulfilled” when the religious leaders in Jerusalem condemned him, as Paul told the people in Acts 13:27. Meyer writes: “By this resurrection of Jesus, God has completely fulfilled to the promise” [Meyer’s Commentary on the New Testament. Emphasis his]. It was Jesus’ resurrection from the dead that “fulfilled” the promises to Israel, not his birth.

We must not be confused by thinking that “become your Father” in this context has to refer to Jesus’ birth. It is clear that Psalm 2 is a prophecy of the future and shows God not only speaking with Jesus, but that in that future time he will be established as king (Ps. 2:6). The word “today” in the quotation from Psalm 2 helps us understand the figurative use of “have become your Father.” If Jesus is reigning as king when God says, “Today I have become your Father,” then “have become your Father” is not speaking of the day of Jesus’ birth. Meyer writes that “have become your Father” here means, “installed Thee into this divine Sonship by the resurrection, Romans 1:4, – inasmuch as the resurrection was the actual guarantee, excluding all doubt, of that Sonship of Christ.” Bengel agrees and says the phrase, “Today I have become your Father,” in this context means: “This day I have definitely declared that Thou art my Son” (Bengel’s New Testament Commentary). On the day of Jesus’ resurrection, God did not literally become Jesus’ Father, but He did from the standpoint that because of Jesus’ resurrection, God’s being the Father of Jesus could no longer be logically doubted, nor could Jesus’ authority as the Son of God be denied. From the people’s perspective, it was the resurrection that declared beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was the Son of God.

http://www.revisedenglishversion.com/Acts/13/33

7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

So there you have why he was made our high priest as well as how.  He had to be of the order of Melchizedek. (Genesis 14:18) who was also a king. Many years after Israel had 12 sons who became the head of the tribes or families of Israel one of whom was Levi and they became the priestly line at the time of Moses many years later. Aron became the first of the high priests of Israel.

Now it says Jesus had to learn obedience he was not born perfect he like Adam had no sin nature. He could have chosen the same route as Adam and go his own way but he chose the fathers way and to find that he needed guidance from his parents as well as from God. This maybe why Joseph and Mary were chosen because God knew they would give their best to teach the child correctly. I am not saying this is what it is but it might be. Jesus could have walked off the cross at any point. He could have asked for and gotten 12 legions of angels who could have stopped the crucifixion and no amount of human beings could have stopped it. 12 legions is 72,000 angeles.

I want you to see the Greek for verse 9

Notice it says having been perfected. It means to bring to an end or goal.  Jesus never started as perfect he stared sinless. He became perfect as he obeyed the father. From Gethsemane on he was tested beyond what we can imagine.

Here are nine and ten from the REV.

9 and having been brought to maturity, he became the author of salvation in the Age to come to all those who obey him, 10 being designated by God as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

There are things happening now but there are also things future spoken of as though they are now. Seated in the heavanlies for instance.

Ephesians 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Both of those are still in the future but are spoken of as current.

Does that mean God doesn’t want us healthy? No here is why I say he wants us healthy:

3 John 2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

According to verse 11 it says they were not even trying to understand anymore. I find that heartbreaking. God could not do anything for these people because they had hardend their hearts. Look at the heads of the temple in the gosples. They thought since they were physical desendeds of Abraham they were in. They had no isea that it is talking about those who believe God and his word were the children of Abraham. You and I are children of Abraham because we believe. Look at Matthew

Matthew 3:9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. (ESV)

The people who he was addressing this should have been teaching the younger believers yet they were not capable of doing this they needed to be taught. I have seen this happen to way to many people. They have been around for forty years yet they have made no or little progress in understanding the word. They are mostly stuck on the I-Land and not concerned with what does it take to move the word of God.

Mature does not mean in age but rather in understanding. I have met many who have been in the word for many years but they stopped growing very quickly. What they are is more important than being concerned with what does God want me to do or how can I best serve God. Put in as a question Do you want to do what will move God’s word or do you want to do what you want to do. The choice is yous to make. As for me and my house we will serve the lord.