Bible · Hebrews

Hebrews 5

Double-click any word to look it up

1For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:2Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.3And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.4And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.5So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.6As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.7Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;8Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;9And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;10Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.11Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Study

Notes for this chapter

Historical Background

Hebrews Chapter 5 Study Notes

The fifth chapter of Hebrews stands at a crucial turning point in the letter's argument. The author, writing to Jewish Christians who were being tempted to return to the Levitical system, now carefully constructs a theological case for why Jesus fulfils and surpasses the Aaronic priesthood. The recipients would have been deeply familiar with the Temple rituals still operating in Jerusalem, and the pull of that visible, tangible worship system must have been considerable. Understanding what a high priest was and why Jesus qualifies as one in a far superior sense was not academic for these believers; it was the very foundation of their perseverance in faith.

Core Teaching

The chapter opens by establishing the qualifications of any legitimate high priest. He must be chosen from among men so that he truly represents them before God, able to offer sacrifices on their behalf. Critically, he must be capable of compassion toward those who sin through ignorance or weakness, and this compassion flows naturally from his own experience of human frailty. Matthew Henry notes that the high priest's shared humanity was not incidental but essential: it made him a sympathetic mediator rather than a distant judge.

The offering of sacrifices for his own sins, as required in the Levitical code on the Day of Atonement, underscored this solidarity. Furthermore, no one legitimately claims the office for himself; it must come by divine call, just as Aaron was specifically appointed by God through Moses. These two criteria, genuine human sympathy and divine appointment, set the stage for everything the author wants to say about Christ.

Verses five through ten apply these same criteria directly to Jesus and in doing so elevate the entire discussion to remarkable heights. Christ did not seize the priesthood through self-promotion; the Father appointed Him, citing first the eternal Sonship declared in Psalm 2 and then the mysterious priesthood after the order of Melchizedek announced in Psalm 110. This Melchizedekian order is deliberately introduced here and left tantalizingly unexplained, to be developed more fully in chapters six and seven. What arrests the reader immediately is verse seven, one of the most searingly human descriptions of Jesus anywhere in the New Testament.

The reference to “strong crying and tears” almost certainly points to Gethsemane, where Jesus agonized before the Father with an intensity that shook heaven. Adam Clarke observes that the Greek word for “strong crying” carries the sense of a loud, urgent outcry born of extreme distress. He was heard, not in the sense that He was spared death, but in that He was strengthened through it and ultimately raised from it, because of His reverent submission to the Father. Then comes verse eight, a statement that has puzzled and humbled readers across centuries: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.”

Barnes explains this not as implying prior disobedience but as describing the experiential, felt knowledge of what obedience costs when it is pressed to the uttermost. The eternal Son, entering fully into human conditions, learned through genuine suffering what it means to submit when suffering is the price. This is why He can be “the author of eternal salvation” to those who obey Him; He has walked every step of the path He calls us to walk.

Commentary Insights

Ellen White deepens this understanding considerably in The Desire of Ages, where she writes that in Gethsemane “the fate of humanity trembled in the balance.” Christ's anguish was not performance; it was the real weight of human sin pressing upon a sinless soul. His sympathy for us is therefore not the sympathy of one who has only watched our suffering from a distance but of One who has entered into it completely. This is what makes the Melchizedekian priesthood so significant.

Unlike Aaron's descendants, who served in a temporary, shadow system and offered sacrifices that could never finally remove guilt, Jesus serves as a priest whose qualifications are rooted in His own perfected, glorified humanity and whose intercession never ends. The word “perfect” in verse nine does not imply that Jesus was morally incomplete and then became complete; rather, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain, it refers to His being brought to the full completion of His redemptive mission through the entire course of His incarnate experience, including death and resurrection.

Reflection & Application

The chapter closes with a pastoral rebuke that is frank without being harsh. The author signals that there is much more to say about this Melchizedekian priesthood, but he pauses to address a serious problem in his readers' spiritual condition. They have been believers long enough to be teaching others, yet they still need to be taught the most elementary truths. They have remained in spiritual infancy, content with milk when they should have grown to handle solid food.

The distinction between milk and solid food in ancient educational and philosophical contexts was well understood; it described the difference between basic introductory instruction and mature, developed reasoning. Spiritually, the author is pointing to the danger of arrested development, a condition where familiarity with the beginning of the gospel has not been allowed to grow into deep, transforming understanding. This was not simply an intellectual failure; it had real consequences for endurance. Believers who never mature beyond the basics are poorly equipped to resist apostasy or to understand why Christ's priesthood makes the Levitical system obsolete.

Go deeper — references Classic commentaries on this chapter

Matthew Henry's Commentary Matthew Henry (1662–1714) Adam Clarke's Commentary Adam Clarke (1760–1832) Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871) Barnes' Notes on the Bible Albert Barnes (1798–1870) EGW Writings Ellen G. White Blue Letter Bible Study tools and lexicon

Carry it with you

Everything here, plus the parts that only work when they are yours.

Highlight and save any verse
Write your own notes on every chapter
Search by how you feel, not just by word
A daily reading that keeps your place

Open full verse

CS Talks Here for you | christosamuel.com

Full Screen ↗

Powered by Christo Samuel's writings

Faith Companion

Faith Companion

Here for you | christosamuel.com

Hello, friend. Whatever brought you here today — a question, a struggle, or a need for encouragement — you are welcome. What is on your heart?

Powered by Christo Samuel's writings