7:27
The fundamental difference between Jesus and other high priests is that He did not need to offer sacrifices for His own sin, because He was without sin. The high priest had to offer sacrifices for his own sins first, he needed cleansing before he could cleanse the people. Jesus is not like that. Moreover, He offered Himself as the once for all sacrifice, no one else could dream of doing that. Note that the difference between Jesus and us is not that we are human and He is not, we are both fully human. It is that He is without sin and we are not. When we look at ourselves, or other people, we see fallen human beings, people who are corrupted by sin. When we look at Jesus we see humanity totally untainted by sin. We might look at Jesus and think it is impossible for a man to do that, or be like that. But what we really mean is that it is impossible for a sinful man to do that, or be like that. We do not appreciate just how great an effect sin has on us. The good news is that we are redeemed and are being sanctified, restored. And the work of the Holy Spirit in our life can enable us to be and do things that we think impossible.
7:28
The chapter closes with a summary of the contrast between the old and new covenants. The Law, the Old Covenant, appointed high priests who were weak and sinful, just like all the rest of humanity. In the gospel our high priest is the Son of God, and He is perfect forever. “made perfect” does not in anyway imply He was ever imperfect. Rather it means He was made complete. He was born as a human, lived as a child, then as a man. Lived in perfect obedience to the Father, even to the point of death, so He became the perfect, complete high priest. We need not, and must not, look any further.
No comments:
Post a Comment