Hebrews · chapter 5 of 13
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Hebrews 5 shows that Jesus meets what is required of a high priest: he was appointed by God and shares in human weakness, and he is priest in the order of Melchizedek. He learned obedience through what he suffered and became the source of eternal salvation. The author then rebukes the readers for being slow to understand and calls them to move from milk to solid food.
Chapter 4 presented Jesus as the great high priest. Now the author explains in what sense he is one and why he does not belong to the priesthood of Aaron. He introduces Melchizedek, a difficult subject that, as he says himself, his readers are slow to grasp, and from this comes a pastoral rebuke.
The author first describes the human high priest: he is taken from among men and appointed to act on their behalf in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward because he himself is beset with weakness, and so he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well. No one takes this honor for himself; he receives it when called by God, as Aaron was.
So also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest, but was glorified by the one who said to him, You are my Son, today I have begotten you (Psalm 2), and in another place, You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110). In the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
The author wants to say more about Melchizedek, but it is hard to explain because the readers have become dull of hearing. By now they ought to be teachers, yet they need someone to teach them again the basic principles of God's word; they need milk, not solid food. Everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. Solid food is for the mature, who have trained their powers of discernment by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
No one takes the honor of being high priest for himself but receives it when God calls him, as with Aaron. The priesthood is a calling from God, not a human ambition.
Although he was a Son, Jesus learned obedience through suffering, and once made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to those who obey him. His obedience in pain fully qualified him as savior.
The readers should have been teachers but needed to be taught the basic principles all over again; they needed milk, not solid food. The rebuke points to a standstill, which is not the same as beginner's ignorance.
Solid food is for the mature, who through practice have trained their senses to tell good from evil. Maturity is formed by exercise, not by learning facts alone.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: From among men. — Hebrews 5:1
Answer: By being called by God, as Aaron was. — Hebrews 5:4
Answer: In the order of Melchizedek. — Hebrews 5:6
Answer: Obedience. — Hebrews 5:8
Answer: The source of eternal salvation. — Hebrews 5:9
Answer: Milk, that is, the basic principles of God's word. — Hebrews 5:12
Hebrews 5 encourages growth. A small group can honestly ask whether, after years in church, they are still feeding only on the basics, and what the next step might be: studying a whole book of the Bible, teaching someone else, serving in something new. The text does not despise the elementary; it asks us not to stay there.
It also comforts. Jesus prayed with loud cries and tears and learned obedience through suffering. Anyone going through trials is not far from Christ but close to the road he himself walked.
Hebrews 5 ends with a rebuke that prepares a graver warning. Chapter 6 calls for moving on to maturity, warns against falling away and offers the firm hope of God's oath, before returning to Melchizedek.
He was king of Salem and priest of God Most High who blessed Abraham, according to Genesis 14:18-20. Psalm 110:4 mentions him as the model of an eternal priesthood, and Hebrews uses him to show that Jesus is priest by God's calling, not by descent from Levi.
Not because he was disobedient before, but because as a man he lived out obedience to God in the midst of suffering, all the way to the cross. That real experience equips him to understand his people and is part of what makes him perfect as savior.
Milk is the elementary teaching and solid food the deeper teaching, such as the priesthood of Christ that the author wants to explain. The problem is not that there are stages but that the readers, believers of long standing, had not moved forward.