Hebrews 5 – Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Hebrews 5:1-6

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. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4 And no one takes this honour 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 for ever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.’

A. Find Out:

1. What was the role of the high priest? v.1
2. Why was he a sympathetic person? v.2
3. What did he have to do for himself? v.3
4. How did he become that? v.4
5. How was Christ qualified? v.5
6. What was he to become? v.6

B. Think:

1. What are we told about the high priest in this passage?
2. How does this flow on from the previous verses?
3. So how do these verses encourage us?

C. Comment:

     The writer keeps intermixing themes. He is constantly referring back to Jesus who is the central focus, but he’s also warning about our possible failures to believe, to respond and to receive all that is supposed to be ours. Having just referred to Jesus as our High Priest he now fills out the analogy, perhaps to remind us that we do have one who can deal with our sins and our failures.

     The high priest (in the Old Testament), he says, was a man chosen by God to represent men before God. His role was to offer sacrifices before God on behalf of the nation. Yet he was very human and had to offer sacrifices for himself as well, because of his own failures. Because of this he did not stand aloof from the rest of those for whom he offered sacrifices, but instead identified with them and felt for them, a clear echo of what the writer said in 4:15 referring to Jesus.

     The writer is clearly building a picture of the nature of the work of Jesus on our behalf. He not only brings warnings but he also seeks to win our hearts by showing us the wonder of Jesus and the wonder of the salvation he has brought. Jesus was also God’s Son (begotten not created) and therefore had the best position to intercede on our behalf in the manner of a priest. (see tomorrow for Melchizedek)

D. Application:

1. Jesus fully understands us and brings us to his Father in heaven.
2. Jesus role is to reconcile us to God.

Passage: Hebrews 5:6-10

6 And he says in another place,

‘You are a priest for ever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.’

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.

A. Find Out:

1. What did the Scriptures say Jesus would be? v.6
2. What did Jesus do on earth? v.7
3. What was he and yet what did he learn how? v.8
4. What did he become and what did he achieve for who? v.9
5. And so what had he been designated? v.10

B. Think:

1. Read Psa 110 What sort of Psalm is that?
2. Read Gen 14:18-20 Who was Melchizedek?
3. Read Zech 6:13 How does that give us a clue about Jesus?

C. Comment:

     Twice in these verses and then in 6;20 and 7:17 the writer declares that Jesus is a priest in the same way as Melchizedek was. Now we’ll see much more reference to Melchizedek in chapter 7 so for now we’ll just take in the basics about this man. First, he was a king, second, he was a priest, third he brought greater revelation of God to Abram (see his description of God in Gen 14:19 and Abram’s subsequent description of God he had not used before in 14:22), and fourth e blessed Abram. Now the writer is going to work a lot of this out later on so for now we’ll simply note he was both a priest and a king. In Psa 110, a Messianic Psalm, God is talking all about the coming one who will be a mighty ruler, yet in the midst of it is the reference we’ve read yesterday and today, of Jesus being like Melchizedek, a priest.

     Packed between the two references to Melchizedek in today’s reading is a description of this priest-king, Jesus, showing how he acted like a priest to become a king. He prayed in anguish like a priest, yet submitted himself to God’s will and suffered death. In that way he earned the right (he already had it as the Son of God from heaven) to be able to rule over men from his Father’s right hand in heaven. Suffering with us, interceding for us, revealing God to us, providing salvation for us, he has earned the right the rule now. (see Rev 5:9)

D. Application:

1. Our high priest earned the right to rule today.
2. He is a priest-king who brings blessing on our lives.

Passage: Hebrews 5:11-14

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.

A. Find Out:

1. Why was it hard to explain these things? v.11
2. What ought they to have been by now? v.12a
3. Yet what did they show they needed? v.12b
4. What does he say is the state of an “infant”? v.13
5. Who are the mature? v.14

B. Think:

1. What does he say is a sign of maturity?
2. What are the signs of immaturity?
3. What does he consider to be the nature of what he’s been saying?

C. Comment:

     The writer speaks plainly about his readers. He considers them immature, still infants in Christ, who have not learnt much, who still need teaching the basics of the faith. In this it seems that this letter must be coming to a clearly distinguishable group of people because he would not say that if this was a general letter going round all the churches. He seems to be addressing a particular group of Jewish Christians that he knows. Who they are we aren’t told.

     He indicates that he thinks that by now they should have grown up and he gives us some indication of what he thinks signs of maturity are. A mature Christian is someone who has learnt the basics of the Christian faith, who understands the word, and by regular use and application of that word have trained themselves to distinguish between good and evil and (by implication) to abstain from evil. In other words, they know about righteousness in their minds AND they live righteous lives. Not only that, they should no longer be merely receivers of the word, but they should now be teaching others that word.

D. Application:

1. Maturity is knowing and doing the word of God. We should go on fro being hearers to doers of the word. Are we?
2. If the church was mature then we would be seeing people regularly added and those of us who have been around longer would be teaching and training those who have just become Christians.