Beginning Hebrews 5, the author warms up to his subject: Christ, our High Priest. He has had the occassion to review what his audience knew about Christ: that he is the Son of God (1:5-14) while at the same time also son of man (2:5-18). He first mentions the phrase "high priest" alluding to Christ in 2:17. He again refers to Christ as high priest in 3:1 as if it were already a datum of the faith. It is in 4:14-5:10 where he formally introduces the topic, after exhorting his audience to hold onto the faith. We have explained Hebrews 4:14-16 and its relationship to 5:7-10. We now turn to Hebrews 5:1-10.
Hebrews 5:1-6 can be divided into two parts: the high priest in Israel (1-3); the honor of high priest applied to Christ (4-6). The author had already insisted previously that the Christian community has a compassionate high priest in Christ (2:17;4:15), who identifies himself with those he calls "brothers" (2:14) and is able to expiate their sins (2:17). In vv. 1-3, he describes how the high priest is in Israel. First, he says that he is taken "from among men", that is from among his brother Levites. Second, because he is human, he can be patient with others because sharing in their weakness. It is because of this that he offers sacrifices not only for the sins of the people but also for his own. The sin offering envisaged here is the one that is offered for the Day of Atonement as will be described later on by the author in 9:1-10.
In vv. 4-6, the author applies the title to Christ who received the honor from God himself. Here, the author employs two messianic psalms -- Psalm 2:7 and Psalm 110, 4 -- as he emphasizes the Sonship of Christ and his being High Priest in the Order of Melchizedek.
Son
Psalm 2 is a royal psalm presenting the king for crowning. In dramatic form, God warns the rebellious about the king He has installed on Zion (1-6) and the newly crowned king himself declares how God has called him "Son" (7) about the promise He has made about giving him all the nations (
and the power and authority he will wield over them (9). Verse 7 is the formula by which the king is adopted Son of God. Previously in 1:5, the same verse was applied to Christ in combination with 2 Samuel 7:14 -- a reference to the heir of David -- to show the superiority of Christ over the angels. This is followed in 1:8 by a quote from Ps. 45:6 which addresses the Christ as "God" in reference to His throne. In 2:6, Psalm 8 is quoted to show how the Christ was for awhile placed beneath the angels as the author recalls his passion and death. In 3:6, Jesus is compared with the trustworthy Moses. In this comparison, Jesus stands out as the Son of the household while Moses is a servant. These passages prepare for the use of Ps. 2:7 in 5:5 which the author employs once more so as to highlight what he is going to say next: that this Son is also High Priest.
Priest in the Order of Melchizedek
Psalm 110 is another royal psalm where the king is also presented as priest. In verse 4, Melchizedek is mentioned by name. The author will dedicate Hebrews 7 to the figure of Melchizedek as a type of Christ. Psalm 110:1 figures in the synoptics as a dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees:
As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said
How do the scribes claim that the Messiah is the son of David?
David himself inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:The Lord said to my Lord
Sit at my right handuntil I place your enemies under your feet.David himself calls him "Lord". So how is he his son?
The great crowd heard this with delight. (Mark 12:35-37; see also Matthew 22:41-45; Luke 20:41-44)
The point of the argument is that the Messiah has a transcendent character and is greater than David. The author of Hebrews concentrates on Psalm 110:4 so as to highlight the pre-existence of Christ (see Hebrews 7:3; 10:5-10). Also, by recalling the figure of the High Priest, the author anticipates a possible objection to his thesis: high priests are taken from the tribe of Levi while Jesus is -- by Davidic descent -- from the tribe of Judah. Israel has known king-priests only during the Hasmonean dynasty. During the time of Jesus, a remnant of this monarchic priesthood were represented by the Sadducees (priests of the line of Zadok) who were hated by both Pharisees and the Essenes of Qumran. Since the Hasmonean dynasty, there had been a constant resistance to an idea of priest-king -- the joining of the privilege of Levi and Judah in one person -- in Israel. By invoking the line of Melchizedek, the author goes back to a pre-Israelite era, to the king of Salem -- "King of Peace" explains the author (Hebrews 7:2) -- where a priesthood appears that surpasses that of the Levites (cf. Heb. 7:4-10).
In the Catechism
| 5:1-10 | 1564 Whilst not having the supreme degree of the pontifical office, and notwithstanding the fact that they depend on the bishops in the exercise of their own proper power, the priests are for all that associated with them by reason of their sacerdotal dignity; and in virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, after the image of Christ, the supreme and eternal priest, they are consecrated in order to preach the Gospel and shepherd the faithful as well as to celebrate divine worship as true priests of the New Testament. |
| 5:1 | 1539 The chosen people was constituted by God as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." But within the people of Israel, God chose one of the twelve tribes, that of Levi, and set it apart for liturgical service; God himself is its inheritance. A special rite consecrated the beginnings of the priesthood of the Old Covenant. The priests are "appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. |
| 5:3 | 1540 Instituted to proclaim the Word of God and to restore communion with God by sacrifices and prayer, this priesthood nevertheless remains powerless to bring about salvation, needing to repeat its sacrifices ceaselessly and being unable to achieve a definitive sanctification, which only the sacrifice of Christ would accomplish. |
| 5:4 | 1578 No one has a right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. Indeed no one claims this office for himself; he is called to it by God. Anyone who thinks he recognizes the signs of God's call to the ordained ministry must humbly submit his desire to the authority of the Church, who has the responsibility and right to call someone to receive orders. Like every grace this sacrament can be received only as an unmerited gift. |
| 5:6 | 1537 The word order in Roman antiquity designated an established civil body, especially a governing body. Ordinatio means incorporation into an ordo. In the Church there are established bodies which Tradition, not without a basis in Sacred Scripture, has since ancient times called taxeis (Greek) or ordines. And so the liturgy speaks of the ordo episcoporum, the ordo presbyterorum, the ordo diaconorum. Other groups also receive this name of ordo: catechumens, virgins, spouses, widows,. . . |
