Hebrews 5:1 - Every high priest

 5:1

The writer has mentioned Jesus as our great high priest on three occasions already (Heb 2:17; 3:1; 4:14), with the end of the last chapter being the strongest, and highlighting how He is such a great high priest. Now a substantial segment of the letter will be devoted to this theme. The focus of the argument is on how Jesus is a better high priest (infinitely so!) than the Levitical priesthood. It will also demonstrate that this was always God’s plan, with the first mention in this chapter of Melchizadek, and chapter 7 will go into Melchizedek in a big way. In this verse we are told what the primary purpose of the high priest is, and this is to

• Represent people in matters related to God;

• To offer gifts;

• To offer sacrifices for sins

Jesus does all of these, but in a far superior way to that of the Levitical priests. It is perhaps worth dwelling on the latter purpose, offering sacrifices for sins. Later on the letter will emphasise how Jesus is the perfect once for all time sacrifice, as against the repeated sacrifices of the Levitical system. But let’s dwell for a moment on the fact that the Law had continual sacrifices, and these were a central part of the Law. The Law was given for a sinful people, and the gospel is good news for a sinful people. We sin every day, even when we do good things it is rare that all our motives are one hundred percent pure, or we do anything perfectly. Daily we need to be forgiven, but in Christ God has made perfect provision for that. This does not mean we can take the attitude “it doesn’t matter that I’ve sinned, God will forgive me”. If that is our attitude then we have understood nothing. But each day we become aware of our sinfulness, and the closer to Christ we get the more aware of our sin we become. God has provided the perfect solution for our sinfulness.