Hebrews 7:11-28: Explanatory Notes

I'm a week behind schedule...
______________
7:11 Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood—for on the basis of it the people have been placed under law—what need would still arise to speak of a different priest after the order of Melchizedek and not after the order of Aaron?
The concept of perfection is clearly important for Hebrews. Thus far we have heard of the perfection of Christ as his becoming complete as a cause of eternal salvation. We have also heard the author admonish the audience to bring on "perfection" understood as maturity. In this central argument of the sermon (7:1-10:18), the perfection of individuals as the cleansing of their sins will recur.

The Levitical priesthood, the author argues, was unable to bring about this perfection, this actual cleansing of sins. If the Levitical priesthood had been sufficient, why would Psalm 110:4 speak of a different priesthood relating to the Messiah? The author infers from this fact that the Levitical priesthood must have been incomplete, imperfect.

In this chapter, Hebrews thinks of the Law somewhat differently from the way Paul does. When Paul speaks of the Mosaic Law, issues like circumcision and food laws are rarely far from view. Further, Paul does not speak of the replacement (or abolition of the Law; Ephesians 2:15 is a departure from Paul's standard rhetoric). In both of these respects, Hebrews differs from Paul. Most important for understanding Hebrews 7 is the fact that Hebrews' argument here virtually equates the Law with the Levitical system.

7:12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity a change of law also takes place.
Key for Hebrews is an essential connection between the Levitical priesthood and the Mosaic Law. Since the Law was put into effect on the basis of the Levitical priesthood, a change of priesthood implies a change of law. You cannot remove or replace one without doing the same to the other. Since Hebrews is arguing for a change of priesthood, a change of law is implied as well.

7:13-14 For about the one whom these things are said, he has partaken of a different tribe from which no one has gripped the altar. For it is clear that our Lord has arisen from Judah, about which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.
The author of Hebrews wishes to argue that the death of Christ is not simply one sacrifice among the many sacrifices of time. He wishes to argue that Christ's sacrifice is the only sacrifice to work of all time. He is placing Christ against the entirety of the Levitical system, something the rest of the New Testament does not clearly do.

Part of this strategy is to show that Christ is not simply the only effective sacrifice, but also that he is the priest to end all priests. The difficulty with this position is of course that Jesus was from the tribe of Judah--a prerequisite for him to be the messianic king. How then can he be a priest? He is not a Levite or a descendant of Aaron.

The author's answer of course is that Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, a priesthood superior to any priesthood Moses enacted as part of the Law. God's enactment of the priesthood of Christ thus implies a change of the Law--a change from the Mosaic Law with its Levitical priesthood.

7:15-17 And it is even more obviously clear [that a change of law is necessary] if a different priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has not come into existence according to the law of the fleshly commandment but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed that "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Here is the punchline we have anticipated. Because God has brought about a priest after the order of Melchizedek, a king-priest, God has thus changed the law. We should not read the phrase "fleshly commandment" in Pauline terms, as if the commandment itself is sinful. Fleshly here, as we will see in chapter 9 tells us that these commandments only cleaned the flesh. They were not able to cleanse the "conscience" because they had actually taken away sins.

The "power of an indestructible life" reminds us of the key characteristic of a Melchizedekian priest for the author of Hebrews--such a priest never dies but "always lives" and "remains a priest forever" because he has no "end of days." Christ's never ending life is thus key to the ultimacy of his priesthood.

7:18-19 For on the one hand, a rejection of the preceding commandment comes because of its weakness and uselessness—for the Law made nothing perfect—on the other hand, comes the entrance of a better hope through which we might draw near to God.
The author here, more radically than Paul, breaks with the Law, although it is clearly the sacrificial system of the Law that he has in mind. The Law was unable to perfect those who offered sacrifices--it did not actually take away sins. The introduction of a Melchizedekian priest thus implies that the Levitical commandments are no longer in force. They were unable to do what they were thought to do and thus were weak and useless.

At the same time, the introduction of a new priesthood is the entrance of a better hope. This is not a hope that is ineffective, like the Levitical sacrifices. It is a priesthood that can actually bring one effectively to God, into His Holy of Holies (cf. 4:14-16). It can actually take away sins.

7:20-21 And to the degree that it was not without oathtaking. For the others have become priests without oathtaking. But he [became a priest] with oathtaking through the One who said to him, "The Lord swore and will not change His mind, 'You are a priest forever.'"
As at the end of chapter 6, the author returns to the surety of his claims because of the oath God has taken, in this case the oath of Psalm 110:4. God never made an oath with the Mosaic Law or with the "old" covenant to guarantee its permanency. He is thus not dishonest or violating any promise he made when he replaces the Levitical cultus with a new priesthood. God cannot lie, and so the certainty clearly lies with Christ rather than with the Levitical priests.

If we are right to locate Hebrews in the period not long after Jerusalem's destruction, these words were surely meant to encourage the audience. If they were discouraged that God would allow the temple to be destroyed, especially if they were Gentile converts so discouraged, the author bolsters their confidence by assuring them that God never intended the temple system to be permanent. They have no cause for worry, for the reality toward which that system has always pointed is Christ.

7:22 According to such a great oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
The author now introduces language of covenant for the first time. He will develop the idea of the new covenant more extensively in the next chapter. The old covenant in this context is the covenant God made with Israel through Moses on the basis of the Levitical system. The new covenant, by contrast, is a covenant God is making through Jesus on the basis of his priesthood.

7:23-24 And the majority of those who become priests are prevented from staying priests because of death. But he, because he remains forever, has a permanent priesthood.
Again, the key characteristic of a Melchizedekian priest is the fact that such a priest remains a priest forever. Here is a clear indication that the "historical" Melchizedek himself was not such a priest. Christ on the other hand has a permanent priesthood. God has brought him up from the dead and he remains forever at God's right hand. Aaronic and Levitical priests cannot offer this sort of priesthood to the people, since they eventually die and another must take their place.

7:25 Therefore he is also able to save completely those who approach God through him, since he always lives to intercede on their behalf.
We suggested in our comments on 4:14-16 that Christ's intercession seems primarily in relation to atonement. The Holy Spirit seems more the primary intercessor for more diverse issues of need, as Romans 8:26 seems to indicate. Christ as priest, however, sits at God's right hand with a definitive atonement for sins in hand.

The rest of Hebrews would suggest that this atonement is not unending in terms of covering any and all sins that a believer might commit for the rest of his or her life. The "sacrifice for sins" can be used up (cf. 10:26). Matters of Christ always interceding--or later sanctifying--are not iterative for Hebrews, as something Christ repeatedly does for the same individual as that individual sins anew. Rather they stand as a one time, yet permanent cleansing.

7:26-27 For he was such a great and fitting high priest—holy, pure, unblemished, set apart from sinners and having become higher than the heavens—who does not have necessity daily—like [other] high priests—first to offer for his own sins and then those of the people. For he did this by offering himself once and for all.
The author now for the first time in this chapter refers to Christ not just as priest but as high priest. Psalm 110:4 of course does not refer to Christ as a high priest but only as a priest. But as he approaches the argument of chapters 8-10, he begins to shift toward a different Old Testament background, namely, that of the Day of Atonement. Christ is thus not only a priest after the order of Melchizedek but in fact a high priest after the order of Melchizedek (so 5:10).

With slight irony, the author now describes Jesus' high priesthood in categories drawn from the requirements of Leviticus in relation to both priests and sacrifices. He is pure and unblemished as both a priest and sacrifice. But unlike the Levitical priests, he is completely without blemish. He was without sin. He does not need to offer sacrifices for himself.

His sacrifice not only does not have to apply to himself daily. His offering is a once and for all sacrifice. It is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.

The mention of his priesthood as "higher than the heavens" alludes to the theme of Christ entering into the heavenly sanctuary and into the heavenly Holy of Holies. 4:14-15 has spoken of Christ as priest passing through the heavens. The picture is that of Christ moving through layers of sky on his way to the highest heaven.

This verse speaks of Christ as a priest having gone higher than the skies, higher than the heavens. It is of course possible, as some have suggested, that the picture here relates the lower skies to the outer part of the heavenly sanctuary. In any case, Christ's passage through the created heavens to the indestructible highest heaven implies that he is now "higher than the skies."

7:28 For the Law appoints humans as high priests who have weakness, but the word of oathtaking that is after the Law appoints a Son who has been perfected forever.
This general statement closes the author's presentation of Christ as a priest in the order of Melchizedek. The Mosaic Law with its Levitical priesthood involves high priests with weakness, which refers to sin in the author's use of the word (cf. 5:2).

Christ does not have this problem. The priest that God has appointed by oath was without sin and has been perfected by his suffering of death. This change of priesthood entails a change of law, a change that is forever.