Jesus was made perfect forever

JESUS WAS MADE PERFECTFOREVER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
HEB. 7 27Unlikethe other high priests, he does not
need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own
sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed
for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
28Forthe law appoints as high priests men in all their
weakness;but the oath, which came after the law,
appointedthe Son, who has been made perfect forever.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The High PriestIn Whom Man's NeedIs Met
Hebrews 7:26-28
W. Jones
For such a High Priestbecame us, holy, harmless, etc. By way of introduction
let us glance atthree truths which are either expressedor implied in the text.
1. That man needs a high priest.

(1) As the offerer of sacrifices onhis behalf. The awakenedconscience,
sensible of its guilt, feeling that sin merits suffering, cries out for sacrifice for
its sin.
(2) As his representative with God. The sinner who is alive to his own
characterand condition feels that be needs some one to representhim with the
holy God.
2. That the high priest who would satisfactorilymeetman's need should
possesscertainqualities, Any priest will not do. There should be a fitness
betweenthe holder of the office and the duties of the office - betweenthe
priesthood and the human needs to which it would minister.
3. That these qualities are found in Jesus Christ. His priesthood answers to
man's needs. "Such a High Priestbecame us," i.e. was suitable to us, was
appropriate to our condition and need. Let us now look at the qualities which
render our Savior the appropriate High Priestfor man, as they are here
specified. It is important to remember that some essentialattributes of our
greatHigh Priest have alreadybeen mentioned in this Epistle (Hebrews 4:15).
I. HE IS PERFECT IN HIS CHARACTER. "Forsucha High Priestbecame
us, holy, harmless, undefiled," etc.
1. Holy. Our Lord was truly and inwardly holy. His holiness did not consist
merely in his consecrationto his office, but in the perfectsanctificationof his
whole being. The Jewishhigh priest had "Holiness to the Lord" inscribed
upon his miter; but in Christ it was interwovenwith every fiber of his being,
and stamped upon every expressionof his life.

2. Harmless. The Jewishhigh priest was sinless only in this way, that he
offered sacrifice forhis own sin before offering for the sins of the people, and
that he cleansedhimself ceremoniallybefore appearing before God on behalf
of others. But Jesus was perfectlyfree from sin. In all his relations with men
he was guileless. And no wrong was everdone by him in any wayto any one.
3. Undefiled. Sin is a polluting thing. Ceremonialpurity was required in the
Jewishhigh priests. But our Lord was undefiled both legallyand morally. In
thought and feeling, in word and action, in inward heart and. outward life, he
was stainless. The Jewishhigh priests needed to offer sacrifices fortheir own
sins; but our greatHigh Priesthad no personalguilt to expiate, or sins to
confess, orimpurities to purge.
4. Separate from sinners. The Jewishhigh priest was required scrupulously to
refrain from associationwith any person who was ceremoniallyunclean
(Leviticus 21:10-15). OurLord was "separatedfrom sinners." We do not
regard this as meaning localseparation. He did not shun associationwith
sinners during his life upon earth. It was charged againsthim by the self-
righteous religionists of his day, "This man receivethsinners, and eatethwith
them." "They murmured, saying, He is gone in to lodge with a man that is a
sinner." "A friend of publicans and sinners." His separationfrom sinners was
far higher and diviner than any merely localor physical isolation. "Christ in
his intercourse with sinners," as Ebrard says, "remained inwardly free from
all participation in their sinfulness, inwardly untouched by its contagion;
notwithstanding that he mingled with men in all their varieties of character
and situation, he yet never let drop, for a moment, that inner veil of chaste
holiness which separatedhim from sinners. This is what is meant by the
expression, 'separate from sinners.'" His moral health was so vigorous, his
spiritual purity so intense, that he could associatewith the morally corrupt
and degradedwithout contracting even the slightestmoral defilement. How
sublime is our greatHigh Priestin the perfection of his character!Of all the
sons of men, of him alone can it be said that he was "holy, harmless, undefiled,

separatedfrom sinners." How immeasurably superior is he to Aaron and
every other Jewishhigh priest! Their perfectionwas only ceremonialand
symbolical; they were "men having infirmity;" they were liable to sin; they
were subject to death, and to the termination of their priesthood. But our
Savior had no moral infirmity. In his characterand conduct, in his person and
office, he was gloriously perfect. He is now "perfectedfor evermore."
II. HE IS PERFECTIN HIS POSITION. "And made higher than the
heavens." This exalted position which our greatRepresentative occupieshas
already engagedour attention (see on Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 2:9; and cf.
Hebrews 8:1; Philippians 2:9; Revelation5:12).
III. HE IS PERFECTIN HIS SACRIFICE. "He needeth not daily, like those
high priests, to offer up sacrifices," etc.
1. The value of the offering. "He offered up himself." Alford has pointed out
that "this is the first place in the Epistle where mention is made of Christ's
having offeredhimself. Henceforwardit becomes more and more familiar to
the reader:'once struck, the note sounds on ever louder and louder'
(Delitzsch)." The value of this offering is seenin two things:
(1) The sacrifice which was offered- "himself." Not a thing, but a person; not
a sinful person, but the "holy, harmless, undefiled" One - the richest, most
beneficent, and most blessedpersonallife.
(2) The spirit in which this sacrifice was offered. Our Saviorwas both the
Sacrifice and the Priest; both the Offering and the Offerer. And his sacrifice
was a voluntary one. He freely "gave himself a ransom for all" (cf. John
10:17, 15).

2. The finality of the offering. "This he did once for all, when he offered up
himself." His sacrifice will never be repeated.
(1) Its repetition is not necessary. The Jewishsacrificeshad to be repeatedday
after day and yearafter year, because they were imperfect. But the sacrifice of
our greatHigh Priestis complete, gloriously and perpetually efficacious,and
needs no repetition, and admits of neither improvement nor addition.
(2) Its repetition is not possible. When Christ appears againit will be, not in
humiliation, but in glory; not as the great Sacrifice, but as the supreme
Sovereign. - W.J.
Biblical Illustrator
Such an High Priestbecame us.

Hebrews 7:26-28
The priest whom we need
A. Maclaren, D. D.
I. WE ALL NEED A PRIEST, AND WE HAVE THE PRIEST WE NEED IN
JESUS CHRIST. In fair weather, when the summer seas are sunny and
smooth, and all the winds are sleeping in their caves, the life-belts on the deck
of a steamermay be thought to be unnecessary, but when she strikes on the
black-toothedrocks, andall about is a hell of noise and despair, then the
meaning of them is understood. When you are amongstthe breakers you will
need a life-buoy. When the flames are flickering round you, you will
understand the use and worth of a fire-escape,and when you have learned
what sort of a man you are, and what that involves in regard of your relations
to God, then the mysteries which surround the thought of the High Priesthood
and sacrifice ofJesus Christ will be acceptedas mysteries, and left where they
are, and the factwill be graspedwith all the tendrils of your soul as the one
hope for you in life and in death.
II. WE NEED FOR A PRIEST A PERFECT MAN, AND WE HAVE THE
PERFECTPRIESTWHOM WE NEED IN JESUS CHRIST. The writer goes
on to enumerate a series of qualities by which our Lord is constituted the
priest we need. Of these five. qualities which follow in my text, the three
former are those to which I now refer. "He is holy, harmless, undefiled."
Takengenerally, these three characteristicsreferto the priest's relation to
God, togethermen, and to the law of purity. "He is holy"; that is to say, not so
much morally free from guilt as standing in a certainrelation to God. The
word here used for "holy" has a specialmeaning. It is the representative of an
Old Testamentword, which seems to mean "devotedto God in love." Such is
the first qualification for a priest, that he shall be knit to God by loving
devotion, and have a heart throbbing in unison with the Divine heart in all its
tenderness of pity, and in all its nobleness and loftiness of purity. And, besides
being thus the earthly echo and representative of the whole sweetnessofthe
Divine nature, so, in the next place, the priest we need must, in relation to
men, be harmless — without malice, guile, unkindness; a Lamb of God, with

neither horns to butt, nor teeth to tear, nor claws to wound, but gentle and
gracious, sweetand compassionate;or, as we read in another place in this
same letter, "a merciful High Priestin things pertaining to God." And the
priest that we need, to bridge over the gulf betweenus sinful and alienated
men and God, must be one "undefiled," on whose white garments there shall
be no speck, onthe virgin purity of whose nature there shall be no stain; who
shall stand above us, though He be one of us, and whilst "it behoves Him to be
made in all points like unto His brethren," shall yet be "without blemish and
without spot." I pass on just to notice, in a word, how this assemblageof
qualifications which, takentogether, make up the idea of a perfect man, is
found in Jesus Christfor a certain purpose, and a purpose beyond that which
some of you, I am afraid, are accustomedto regard. Why this innocence;this
G d-devotedness;this blamelessness;this absence of all selfishantagonism?
Why this life, so sweet, so pure, so gentle, so running over with untainted and
ungrudging compassion, so conscious ofunbroken and perfect communion
and sympathy with God? Why? What He might, "through the EternalSpirit,
offer Himself without spot unto God";and that by His one offering He might
perfect for ever all them that put their trust in Him.
III. WE NEED A PRIEST IN THE HEAVENS, AND WE HAVE IN CHRIST
THE HEAVENLY PRIEST WHOM WE NEED. The two last qualifications
for the priestly office included in my text are, "separate from sinners; made
higher than the heavens." Now, the " separation" intended is not, as I
suppose, Christ's moral distance from evildoers, but has what I may call a
kind of half-local signification. and is explained by the next clause. He is
"separate from sinners," not because He is pure and they foul, but because
having offeredHis sacrifice He has ascendedup on high. He is " made higher
than the heavens." Scripture sometimes speaks ofthe living Christ as at
present in the heavens, and at others as having " passedthrough " and being
"high above all heavens";in the former case simply giving the more general
idea of exaltation, in the latter the thought that He is lifted, in His manhood
and as our Priest, above the bounds of the material and visible creation, and "
setat the right hand of the Majestyon high." Such a priest we need. His
elevationand separationfrom us upon earth is essentialto that greatand

continual work of His which we call. for want of any more definite name, His
intercession. The High Priestin the heavens presents His sacrifice there for
ever, We need no other; we do need Him. Oh, friend! are you resting on that
sacrifice? Have you given your cause into His hands to plead?
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
SinlessnessofJesus
A. Whyte, D. D.
He was without sin, as a child, as a youth, as a man. In the synagogue, when
they were singing psalms, with tears on their cheeks, I wonder how He felt,
and what He did. lie would have liked to join them, but lie could not. He knew
nothing of the remorse and misery of the young men and grey heads coming
up with the week's sinon their heads. He knew the sin was there: He saw it in
every eye, saw it in the workshopsodin the street, in the malice and ill-will
hat made riots there; but He did not feelit in Hires, if.
(A. Whyte, D. D.)
The unstained life of Jesus
T. Guthrie, D. D.
His life resembled a polished mirror, which the foulest breath cannot stain,
nor dim. beyond a passing moment.
(T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Christ undefiled
R. M. McCheyne.

Christ walkedthrough the midst of sinners undefiled. Like a beam of light
piercing into a foul dung, on, or like a river purifying and fertilising, itself
untainted, so did Christ pass through this world.
(R. M. McCheyne.)
The sinless High Priest
C. Stanford, D. D.
A priest who could be chargedwith the slightestinfraction of the law would
have been no Saviour. The hopeless debtorcan never be a surety for a debtor;
the helpless slave never liberates his companion slave; nor the fallen lift the
fallen from the dust. So that all our religion, with its perfection'of
righteousness andinfirmity of consolation, depends upon the single factthat
Christ is the Hey One of God.
(C. Stanford, D. D.)
The excellence ofJesus
C. Clemance, D. D.
According to Renan, the excellence ofJesus was due to the climate and soil of
Palestine I But he forgets to ask how it is that the climate and soilof Palestine
have never produced such another!
(C. Clemance, D. D.)
Holy
The holiness of Christ
C. Bradley, M. A.

I. THE REALITY of our Lord's holiness is most clearly and strongly declared
in Scripture.
1. We are told that He came into our world with a holy nature.
2. His life, too, was holy.
II. THE PECULIARITY of His holiness.
1. It was holiness amidst sin and temptation, perfect holiness amidst
abounding sin and the utmost possible temptation.
2. His was holiness also amidst weaknessand suffering.
III. Let us come now to THE IMPORTANCE ofChrist's holiness. The
characterHe had to sustain, and the work He had to perform, required it.
1. It was necessaryin order to constitute Him a real manifestation of God.
2. It was needful to make Him an effectualsacrifice for our sins.
3. But our Lord's office as our greatRedeemerwas not to end with His life on
earth, He was to go into the eternal heavens in the same characterthat He
bore here, and to carry on there, though in a different manner, the same
work. We sometimes think of Him as simply entering there into His glory and
joy, but He is intent on our salvationin the midst of His glory and joy; as

much engagedin it on His throne as He was on His cross. The apostle
accordinglyrepresents Him in this passageas ourHigh Priestin the heavens,
"everliving to make intercessionfor us"; and tells us that it became Him to be
holy in order to qualify Him for this heavenly office and work.
4. As the pattern and example to which all His people are to be conformed, it
was needful that our Lord should be holy. We want a perfectionlike His, the
perfect on of holiness, and earthbound as our affections sometimes are —
nothing below this will satisfyus. But now there is this perfectionin the hey
Jesus, a sinless perfection. We cannot look higher. Be is purity itself, the
Divine purity embodied. To be made like unto Him comprehends m it all that
is blissful and glorious. We feel that we shall indeed be satisfiedwhen we
awake withHis likeness. Lessons:
1. Let us rejoice in His holiness, and admire and adore Him for it.
2. Let us seek forourselves a share in this holiness of Christ.
3. And let us banish from our minds for ever the thought, that though living
ungodly lives, we may yet be followers ofthis holy Saviour.
(C. Bradley, M. A.)
The doctrine of the Incarnation
G. Mitchell, M. A.
While the sacredwriters inform us that "Jesus Christthe Righteous" came
into the world to save sinners, and to take upon Him our infirmities, they are

most careful to tell us that He Himself was without sin. Ever since order and
beauty arose outof chaos, only two who might properly be termed perfect
beings have appearedin, our world. The first Adam was of the earth, earthy.
The other the Lord from heaven, produced not out of nothing, or of the dust.
but conceivedin a supernatural and miraculous manner by the direct power
and overshadowing ofthe Holy Ghost. That in every point He might be like
us, with the exceptionof sin, He was born a babe, underwent all the weakness,
s peculiar to our infantine years, and passedin progressionthrough the very
steps that we do from youth to manhood. Now, He behoved to be thus like us
in advancing to maturity; yet His whole thoughts, sayings, and doings,
through all the progressionto which He submitted were in entire conformity
to the Divine will and commands. Had the Lord our righteousness beenman,
of a sinful nature, that He must have proved for us an unsuccessful
representative is but too evident, when we reflect that the trial of Christ Jesus
was of a severernature than that endured by Adam; for whilst our first
progenitor had merely one objectplaced before his eyes as a trial of
obedience, the man of sorrows had a continued conflict of sufferings, from the
manger to His crowning act of obedience in Geshsemane and on the cross. If
sin had been interwoven in His nature, it would have manifested something of
its existence;and surely in His interesting history, there were not wanting
occasions awfullytrying, when betrayed by a fed wet, desertedby friends,
assailedby the powers of wickedness, andsuffering an eclipse by the hidings
of His Father's countenance in the hour and powerof darkness. Buthere let
us considerhow it became requisite for this Divine personage to assume the
nature of man, and to take upon Him the likeness ofsinful flesh. As it was
man who had transgressed, it was necessarythat the penalty should be paid
by man — not that the punishment should be endured by a nature different
from that which had fallen. Accordingly, that our iniquities might be all put to
His account, and expiated by Him, He took to Himself a true body, and a
reasonable soul, and died, the just for the unjust. Probably, had He interposed
on behalf of intelligences of a higher order, instead of us who had sunk so low
in the mire of sin, He would have assumedthe nature of those intelligences.
Betweenthe personof Christ and His blessedwork, betweenthe inherent
splendour and excellencyof His character, and the exalted dignity of His
station, there is therefore an intimate and beautiful connection. The being who

would redeem another from misery and ruin by yielding a vicarious
righteousness, mustbe one who is not himself under any obligations to obey,
or to endure the penalty of the law on his own behalf. Apply this principle in
reference to Christ Jesus, who undertook our cause, and you will see that He
could not be chargeable with presumption or disaffectionto the Divine
government, by His laying claim to the characterof independence and self-
existence;for He was "in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be
equal with God." No exactions ofa personalkind could hay, been required of
Him who, of His own free choice, was made under the law, and who magnified
it and made it honourable. Could this perfect and unchangeable law have
been fulfilled if the secondAdam had not been altogetherindependent, holy,
and Divine, and thus placedin the most favourable circumstances to ensure
our salvo, ion? But we are to remember that Christ not only required to be
independent and self-existent, to make an atonementat all, but also to be a
person of the highest worth, in consequence ofthe demerit of sin as an offence
againstall the glorious perfections of infinite and unblemished purity, whose
name is holy, and who is altogetherglorious in holiness;and this being an
unchangeable perfectionof His nature, it would seemthat a Redeemerwas
required, equal in dignity and worth to the Mighty Being offended, and to the
extent of the evil committed. But who in heaven or earth could be fit for the
undertaking but the incarnate God, the Man that was Jehovah's fellow?
(G. Mitchell, M. A.)
Separate from sinners
Christ's detachment from sinners
Homilist.
Look at Christ's detachment from sinners —
I. As A VAST FEELING IN THE MIND OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES.
(Luke 4:14-27;Matthew 8:5-13;Matthew 21:12;John 8:1-11.)

1. This feeling of distance which they had in relation to Him cannot be
accountedfor on the ground of —
(1)Miraculous manifestations;
(2)His socialsuperiority;
(3)His non-sociality.
2. It was purely moral. His incorruptible truthfulness, exquisite sensibilities,
calm reverence, overflowing benevolence,unconquerable love of eternal right,
invested Him with that Godlike air and bearing which made them feelthat He
stoodat an unapproachable moral distance.
II. AS AN UNDOUBTED FACT REALISED BY HIMSELF. This is seenin
—
1. His frequent personal withdrawal from men in order to hold fellowship
with His Father.
2. Much of the language He addressedto men, "Ye are from beneath; I am
from above." "I and My Father are one."
III. As ARE ESSENTIALPOWER IN HIS REDEMPTIVE
UNDERTAKING.

1. It was just that power which rendered His services as a Redeemer
acceptable to God.
2. It was just that power that rendered His services as a Redeemerefficacious
to man.
(Homilist.)
Christ as separate from the world
H. Bushnell, D. D.
With us of to-day it is the commendation of Jesus that He is so profoundly
humbled, identified so affectinglywith our human state. But the powerHe
had with the men of His time moved in exactlythe opposite direction, being
the impressionHe made of His remoteness and separatenessfrom men, when
He was, in fact, only a man, as they supposed, under all human conditions.
With us it is the wonder that He is brought so low. With them that He could
seemto rise so high, for they knew nothing as yet of His person, consideredas
the incarnate Word of the Father. What I propose, then, for my present
subject is — The separateness ofJesus from men; the immense powerit had
and must ever have on their feeling and character. I do not mean by this that
Christ was separatedas being at all withdrawn, but only that, in drawing
Himself most closelyto them, He was felt by them never as being on their level
of life and character, but as being parted from them by an immense chasmof
distance. These impressions were not due, as I have said, to any distinct
conceptions they had of Him as being a higher nature incarnate, for not, even
His disciples took up any such definite conceptions ofHis nature till after His
death and ascension. It was guessed, indeed, that He might be Elias, or some
one of the old .prophets, but we are only to see, in such struggles ofconjecture,
how powerfully He has already impressedthe sense ofHis distinction or

separateness ofcharacter, forsuch guessesorconjectures were evenabsurd,
unless they were instigated by previous impressions of something very
peculiar in His unearthly manner requiring to be accountedfor. His miracles
had undoubtedly something to do with the impression of His separateness
from ordinary men, hut a greatmany others, who were strictly human, have
wrought miracles without creating any such gulf betweenthem and mankind
as we discoverhere. It is probably true also that the rumour of His being the
Messiah— the great., long-expectedPrince and Deliverer — had something to
do in raising the impressions of men concerning Him. But their views of the
Messiahto come had prepared them to look only for some greathero and
deliverer, and a kind of political millennium under His kingdom. There was
nothing in their expectationthat should separate Him speciallyfrom mankind
as being a more than humanly superlative character.
I. Pursuing, then, our inquiry, let us notice, in the first place, How THE
PERSONSMOST REMOTEAND OPPOSITE,EVEN THEY THAT
FINALLY CONSPIRED HIS DEATH, WERE IMPRESSED OR
AFFECTED BYHIM. They deny His Messiahship;they charge that only
Beelzebub could help Him to do His miracles;they are scandalisedby His
familiarity with publicans and sinners and other low people; they arraign His
doctrine as a heresy againstmany of the most sacredlaws oftheir religion;
they charge Him with the crime of breaking their Sabbath, and even with
excess in eating and drinking; and yet we can easilysee that there is growing
up, in their minds, a most peculiar awe of His person. And it appears to he
excited more by His manners and doctrine and a certainindescribable
originality and sanctity in both, them by anything else.
II. TURN NOW, SECONDLY, TO THE DISCIPLES, AND OBSERVE HOW
THEY WERE IMPRESSEDOR AFFECTEDBY THE MANNER AND
SPIRIT OF JESUS. And here the remarkable thing is, that they appear to be
more and more impressed with the distance betweenHim and themselves the
longerthey know Him, and the more intimate and familiar their acquaintance
with Him.

III. WHAT NOW IS THE SOLUTION OF THIS PROFOUND
IMPRESSIONOF SEPARATENESSMADE BY CHRIST ON THE
WORLD? That His miracles and the repute of His Messiahshipdo not wholly
accountfur it we have already observed. It may be imagined by some that He
produced this impression artificially, by means of certain scenes and
observancesdesignedto widen out the distance betweenHim and the race; for
how could He otherwise obtain that power over them which He was properly
entitled to, have by His own realeminence, unless He took some pains to set
them in attitudes in which His eminence might be felt. In o her words, if He is
to have more than a man's power, He must somehow be more than a man.
Thus, when He says to, His mother, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?
My hour is not yet come";or when, being notified that His mother and
brethren are standing without waiting to see Him, He asks,"Who, then, is My
mother, and who are My brethren?" it will be imagined that He is purposely
suggesting His higher derivation and His more transcendent affinities. But,
even if it were so, it must be understood only that He is speaking out of His
spiritual consciousness, claiming thus affinity with God, and with those who
shall embrace Him in the eternal brotherhood of faith; now, as boasting the
height of His natural Sonship. The remarkable separation. therefore, ofChrist
from the sinners of mankind, and the impression He awakenedin them of that
separation, was made, not by scenes, norby words of assertion, nor by
anything designedfor that purpose, but it grew out of His life and character
— His unworldliness, holiness, purity, truth, love; the dignity of His feeling,
the transcendentwisdom and grace ofHis conduct. He was manifestly one
that stoodapart from the world in His profoundest human sympathy with it.
He often spent His night, in solitaryprayer, closetedwith Godin the recesses
of the mountains. He was plainly not under the world, or any fashions of
human opinion. He was able to be singular, without apparently desiring it,
and by the simple force of His superiority.
1. How greata thing now is it that such a Being has come into our world and
lived in it — a Being above mortality while in it — a Being separate from

sinners, bringing unto sinners by a fellow-nature what is transcendent and
even deific in the Divine holiness and love. Yes, we have had a visitor among
us, living, out, in the moulds of human conduct and feeling, the perfections of
God! What an importation of glory, and truth! Who that lives a man can ever,
after this, think it a low and common thing to fill these spheres, walk in these
ranges of life, and do these works of duty which have been raised so high by
the life of Jesus in the flesh? The world is no more the same that it was. All its
main ideas and ideals are raised, b kind of sacredglory invests even our
humblest spheres and most common concerns.
2. Consider, again, as one of the points deducible from the truth we have been
considering, how little reasonis given us, in the mission of Christ, toe the hope
that God, who has such love to man, will not allow us to fail of salvationby
reasonof any mere defector neglectof application to Christ. What, then, does
this peculiar separatenessofChrist signify? Coming into the world to save it
— taking on Him our nature that He may draw Himself as close to us as
possible — what is growing all the while to be more and more felt in men's
bosoms but a sense of ever-widening, ever-deepening, and, in some sense,
incommunicable separatenessfrom Him? And this, you will observe, is the
separateness,not of condition, but of character. Nay, it grows out of His very
love to us in part and His profound oneness with us, for it is a love so pure and
gentle — so patient, so disinterested, so self-sacrificing — that it parts Him
from us in the very act of embrace, and makes us think of Him even with awe!
How, then, will it be when He is met in the condition of His glory, and the
guise of His humanity is laid off? There is nothing then to put Him at one with
us or us at one with Him, but just that incommunicable and separate
characterwhich fills us even here with dread. If He was separate before, how
inevitably, insupportably separate now.
3. Consider, also, and accuratelydistinguish, as here we may easilydo, what is
meant by holiness, and what especiallyis its power, or the law of its power.
Holiness is not what we may do or become in mere self-activity or self-culture,

but it is the sense of a separatedqualify in one who lives on a footing of
intimacy and oneness with God.
4. But the greatand principal lessonderivable from this subject is, that
Christianity is a regenerative powerupon the world only as it comes into the
world in a separatedcharacter — as a revelation or sacredimportation of
holiness. This brings me to speak ofwhat is now the greatand desolating
error of our times. I mean the generalconformity of the followers of Christ to
the manners and ways, and, consequently, in a greatdegree, to the spirit of
the world. Christ had His power, as we have seen, in the fact that He carried
the impressionof His separatenessfrom it and His superiority to it. He was no
ascetic, His separationno contrived and prescribed separation, but was only
the more realand radical that it was the very instinct or freestimpulse of His
character. A true Christian, one who is deep enough in the godly life to have
his affinities with God, will infallibly become a separatedbeing, The instinct
of holiness will draw him apart into a singular, superior, hidden life with God.
And this is the true Christian power, besides which there is no ,thee. And
when this fails everything goes withit. Neither let us be deceivedin this matter
by our merely notional wisdoms, or deliberative judgments, for it is not a
mat,st to be decidedby any considerationofJesuits — the question never is,
what is really harmful, and so wrong, but what will meet the living and free
instinct of a life of prayer and true godliness? There is no greatermistake, as
regards the true manner of impression on the world, than that we impress it
being homogeneous with it. If in our dress we show the same extravagance, if
our amusements are theirs without a distinction, if we follow after their
shows, copytheir manners, busy ourselves in their worldly objects, emulate
their fashions, what are we different from them? It seems quite plausible to
fancy the greathonour we shall put on religion, when we are able to set it on a
footing with all most worldly things, and show that we can be Christians in
that plausible way. This we call liberal piety. It is such as canexcelin all high
tastes, and make up a figure of beauty that must needs be a great
commendation, we think, to religion. It may be a little better than to be openly
apostate;but alas I there is how little powerin such a kind of life! If we are to
impress the world we must be separate from sinners, even as Christ our

Masterwas, -r at leastaccording to our human degree, as being in His Spirit.
Oh, that we could take our lessonhere, and plan our life, order our pursuits,
choose ourrelaxations, prepare our families, so as to be truly with Christ, and
so, in fact, that we ourselves cansay, eachfor himself, "The prince of this
world cometh, and hath nothing in me." And this exactly is our communion
with Jesus;we propose to be one with Him in it. In it we connectwith a Power
transcendent, the Sonof Man in glory, whose image we aspire to, and. whose
mission, as the Crucified on earth, was the revelation of the Father's love and
holiness. We ask to be separatedwith Him and setapart to the same greatlife.
(H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Christ separate .fromsinners
A. S. Patterson.
There are certain sensesin which Jesus was not"separate from sinners."
1. He was not separate from them in respectof nature. It was a true, though
immaculate, humanity which He assumed, and in which He tabernacledin the
midst of men.
2. He was not "separatefrom sinners" in respectof residence. He lived on
earth. He laboured in Galilee;and Galilee was proverbially bad. He preached,
and suffered, and died in Jerusalem;and the voice of Jerusalem's crimes
"enteredinto the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth."
3. He was not "separatefrom sinners" in respectof society. As one who came,
"not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance," He held intercourse
with wickedmen. The Physicianwas found beside the sick-bed. The Deliverer
of guilty and ruined souls "ate and drank with publicans and sinners."

4. He was not "separatefrom sinners" in respectof His personalexperience at
the hands of men, or even at the hands of God. He sharedin the ordinary
trials incident to sinful man. He was the object of harsh reproachand
contumelious scorn. He was judicially condemned to a tremendous kind of
death. And it was, literally, in the midst of malefactors that He died. What,
then, is meant by the statement that Christ was "separate fromsinners"?
Plainly, that in respectof characterHe was altogetherdifferent from them.
Partakerofthe same humanity as they, in Him, characteristicallyand
exclusively, it was immaculate; and thus, even while He moved in the midst of
sinners, and was come to "seek andto save that which was lost," His Spirit, in
some sense, dweltapart. Christ was morally perfect in all the parts of His
constitution. His intellect was filled with pure and lofty thoughts. His
consciencewas true to the dictates of eternal rectitude — quick to discern the
right, and bold and strong to choose andfollow it. His heart was the home,
alike of the mild, and the majestic, forms of feeling. His ears were ever wont to
hearkento the plaint of sorrow. With a simplicity to which ostentationand art
were strangers, His eyes were bedewedwith tears for human wretchedness
and sin, and anon lifted up in prayer to Heaven. His hands — how busy were
they in the cause ofgoodness andof God! And even as, in the ark, the stony
tablets of the law were kept, so in the soul of Jesus that goodand: righteous
law found a habitation and a home.Everyclass ofvirtues was nobly realisedin
Christ.
1. In Him the devotionalvirtues were perfect awedcomplete. Prayerwas His
recreationand delight. Even when "it pleasedthe Lord to bruise Him," He
gave Jehovahthanks (Luke 22:17, 19). And "truly," His "fellowshipwas with
the Father."
2. In Him. too, the active virtues were gloriously displayed. The exclamation
of His boyhood might serve as a generalmotto for His earthly history: —
"Wistye not that I must be about My Father's business?" His aims were high,

His heart was earnest, and His hand was busy. "The work of Him that sent
Him" was His regular, His uniform pursuit. He "wentabout doing good"
(Acts 10:38).
3. And in the passive virtues, how pre-eminently greatwas Jesus!How "meek
and lowly in heart"! How calmly did He bear the abuse of man! How patiently
did He submit to the hand of God! "Abba, Father, not My will, but Thine be
done," "The cup which My Father giveth Me, shall I not drink it?" were not
only the memorable expressions of His tongue, but also the genuine spirit of
His soul. It is indeed a glorious character, the characterofChrist — fitter for
a seraphic harp than for a human pea to celebrate. In His gentleness He was
great, in His greatnessHe was gentle. Truly, He was " the Lamb of God," and
yet "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" (John 1:29; Revelation5:5). The moral
glory of Divinity, and the perfect virtue of an unsullied human nature, met in
Him.
(A. S. Patterson.)
Made higher than the heavens.
The transcendentmajesty of Christ
Homilist.
In what sense is Christ higher than the heavens?
I. In a MATERIAL sense. Is not the painter greaterthan his painting; the
engineerthan his machine; the architectthan his building; the author than his
book? So Christ is higher than the heavens, becauseHe createdthem.

II. In a MORAL sense. The untold myriads of unfallen and redeemedspirits
that populate those heavens are very good, very affluent in holy thoughts and
Divine aspirations;but Christ, in goodness, is higher than them all.
1. Their goodness is derived. Christ's is original — His is the primal fount
whence theirs flows;His the sun whence their radiance beams.
2. Their goodness is measurable. "The Spirit is not given to Him by measure."
3. Their goodness is contingent. Christ's is absolute.
III. In a POSITIONALsense. He is in the midst of the throne. He is to all
what the sun is to the planets — the centre round which they all revolve, and
from which they all derive their life, strength, beauty radiance, joy.
(Homilist.).
He offered up Himself.
The only offering for sin
J. Irons.
I. THE OFFERINGAND THE OFFERER. "He offeredup Himself." I never
knew any other priest do that. Priests under the law offer costlythings; but
they plunder the people for them. They do not even offer their own property,
much less offer themselves. But here is the gracious, glorious High Priestof
our professionwho, because no other offering could be found suitable, and
acceptable, andsufficient, offered Himself — "the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world." Oh, pause a moment over this precious offering,

and note the voluntary manner in which it was offered — an offering
adequate to the purpose for which it was intended. The other priests offered
offerings, first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people — this
glorious Priestfound in the one offering of His own precious body and soul an
adequate amount of merit for all the sins of all the electionof grace, and
presentedit as such to God the Father. Pass onto mark that this offering, so
valuable and perfect and acceptable to God the Father, is administered to the
faith of God's electby the Holy Ghost. It is expresslyHis work to plant faith in
the heart of a poor, ruined sinner; which faith is to bring nothing, to find
nothing in the creature, to come empty-handed, just to receive the application
of blood Divine, by the Holy Ghostadministered to personalexperience;so
that in the offering itself is found all that is adequate for the sinner's salvation,
and redemption of the Church of God, in the Father's acceptanceofit, a
receipt in full of all demands for the whole Church, and in the Holy Spirit's
ministry, the application of it to the hearts of all the electionof grace. Now
look at the offerer — "He offeredHimself." It is the business of a priest to
offer a sacrifice. He goes forth as our Priest, after the order of Melchisedec,to
offer Himself a sacrifice acceptable unto God.
1. Here is, first of all. affection. He so loved the Church that He gave Himself
for it. The Father sends the Son, and the Son comes voluntarily.
2. Moreoverthere was affinity. Christ loved His Church as the apostle exhorts
husbands to love their wives;as Christ also loved the Church and gave
Himself for it, that He might washit, and cleanse it, and present it to Himself
a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.
3. Forone moment glance at the agony which this voluntary act involved. The
whole amount of Divine wrath poured out like a cataractupon His soul — all
the vengeance ofstern justice waiting with its sword to smite Jehovah's fellow
was felt when He bowed His head and died — all the curse of the law, like
barbed arrows, penetratedHis very soul. He endured all this for His Church.
Go a little further, and you find Him typified under the Old Testament

dispensation, and becoming Himself the fulfilment of all its types. Time would
fail me here to enter largely upon them, but I will just mention the morning
and evening lamb. Ages of offerings of the blood of animals never blotted out
one sin — they only pointed to Christ — but the six hours of a precious Christ
on the cross carriedback a flood of atoning blood to Adam's day, and it rolled
its tide forward to the end of time, that the whole electionof grace might be
for everexoneratedby that one offering. "He hath obtained eternal
redemption for us," saith the apostle. I dwell upon that phrase with peculiar
delight. "Eternal." Canyou put a termination to it? It runs backwardto the
first transgressor, and it runs forward to the end of time, and then into
eternity with its blessings. "Eternalredemption." "Aye," sayyou, "that little
word 'us,' I dare not claim it." Why not? "Having obtained eternal
redemption for us." Who was it for? I want the appropriation put forth by
you and me upon simple principles. How do you know that some poor slave,
under a foreign yoke of tyranny, was redeemed? How would he know it
himself? Why, in the first place, he would be thoroughly sick and tired of his
chains; in the next place, he would know that the price has been paid for his
ransom; and, in the third place, he would be set free; and when a man is set
free he will not stay under the yoke of the tyrant any longer, he will be off to
his owncountry. Now you and I may know it in the same manner. "Having
obtained eternal redemption for us." Lay hold of it by faith, if God enables
you, and go and plead it at the throne, and never fear losing it — it includes
all the blessings ofthe gospelfor time, all the fulness of the covenantfor
enriching the Church, and all the glories of heaven for everlasting possession.
Well, this He did officially, relatively, not as a common-place sufferer, but
under appointment, and, consequently, under responsibility. This He did as
the covenantHead, in the name and on befall of His whole Church; and He
did it openly in His life and death, before all worlds.
II. THE ILLUSTRIOUS TRIUMPHS OF THIS ONE OFFERING. The
apostle, in addressing the Colossians, tells them concerning these illustrious
triumphs, that He spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them
.openly on His cross, triumphing over them in it. The triumphs are vast and
extensive, and they shall never be subdued. The first feature of these triumphs

we see in new covenantterms of salvationmet and fulfilled. Terms? say you.
Yes, terms — not made with man, though, nor left to man. If they were, woe
to the whole race of Adam. Away with all conditions and terms only as they
belong to Christ. Still, there ale terms of salvation, and let me mark what they
are. Why Jehovahsays He will by no means clearthe guilty; then if a man be
savedat all his guilt must be clearedaway, or there is no salvation for him, for
God says He will by no means clearthe guilty. Jesus met the terms, allowed
the whole mass of guilt and transgressionwhich pertained to His Church to be
laid upon Him, and the FatherHimself did it. "The Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all." Go on to mark that in these New Testamentterms which
are met there is another condition — "without holiness no man shall see the
Lord." What a mercy that this is not left to you or me! Our glorious High
Priest, who offered Himself, impart, His own life, His own nature and will,
sends down His Holy Spirit, to take possession, ofthe souls of all for whom He
bled, that they may stand complete in the holiness of God. Moreover, if I may
mention a third term, I would say it is the being clad in a spotless, perfect,
sinless righteousnessfor justification. Where is the man to getit? Hear what
Jehovah, by His prophet Isaiah, says. The prophet was directed to set it down,
that everything pertaining to the creature should wearout as a garment, and
that the moth should eat up all creature excellencies;but, says God, "My
righteousness shallbe for ever, and My salvation shall not be abolished." That
is an everlasting righteousness. Paulperfectly understood it, and blessedly
appropriated it, when he said, "That I might be found in Him, not having
mine own righteousness, whichis of the law, but the righteousness whichis of
God by faith." Again, His enemies are all vanquished, and an expiation
accomplishedin behalf of all His Church. "O death, I will be thy plague; O
grave, I will he thy destruction," saidHe. "He must reign till He hath put all
enemies under His feet." The conquestof the heart is one of Jesu's triumphs.
Moreover, the expiation coupled with it includes the whole Church of God.
"He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of
the whole world." Oh, the prospectis bright while Jesus is kept in view. Only
let the Sun of Righteousnessshine upon us, and our prospects foreternity
must be brightened. Just pass on to observe that this glorious High Priestof
our professionhas opened His new and living way unto the throne of God for

all that the Fathergives into His hands, and will infallibly bring them all home
to everlasting glory.
III. THE SINFULNESS OF EITHER REJECTING OR MOCKING THIS
ONE OFFERING FOR SIN. I cannot possibly look for merit in the creature
without believing ,hat the merit of Christ is not sufficient — without
announcing, in that wry act, that I am not satisfiedthat Christ spoke the truth
when He said, "It is finished." If it is finished, an eternal redemption is obtain
d; any pretension to add to it is nothing less than a blasphemous insult to
Christ. Negotiationwith the Fatheris not attainable by any human power, but
in and by this offering. "No man comethto the Father but by Me." Go to the
footstoolofDivine mercy, guilt-burdened sinner, and name the blood and
righteousness ofChrist. Go and print the Father to His sufferings in
Gethsemane and on Calvary. Go and tell what Christ has done perfected for
ever them that are sanctified, and dare assert, under all the load of your guilt,
"Lord, I believe in the efficacyand power of that offering";and go on till you
are enabled to say, "I believe it was offered for me." Then begins your peace
and happiness. I pray you to mark, once more, that all our negotiations must
be successfulwhen the name, and merit, and righteousness ofJesus are
pleaded. This leads me to the last, thought, that the trust and confidence of all
the electof God will be found placed there.
(J. Irons.)
Our Lord's offering
W. Milligan, D. D.
Our fundamental conceptionof the offering of Him who ascendedthe cross of
Calvary to die must be, that it was an offering of life, not of death. It began
with the cross, withthe moment when He was lifted on high out of the earth;
and then, separatedfrom all that was material, local, or limited, He was able

to enter upon a spiritual, universal, and everlasting priesthood. Then, as One
bearing, the sins of all who had committed, or should afterwards commit,
themselves to Him in faith, He yielded up His own life, and theirs in His, as the
penalty due to sin. For Himself and for the members of His body He accepted
the sentence, "The soulthat sinneth shall die"; while at the same time He
bowed Himself in submission to the law so mysteriously linked with that
sentence, that, as things are in a present world, it is only through death that
we can conquer death and find the path to life. On the cross He gave Himself
for us, the just for the unjust; so that when we think of Him as the Victim
upon which our help is laid, and identify ourselves with Him by faith, we may
see that in Him our sins are expiated, and that they no longer bar our
admission to the Divine presence and favour. All this, however, was no more
than the first stage of the offering made for us by our heavenly High Priest;
and the mistake of many is to think that, as the offering was begun, so also it
was finished on the cross. In reality, only the initial step was takenwhen Jesus
died. As the blood, or in other words the life, of an animal sacrificedunder the
law was liberated in death, not merely that the offering might be completed,
but that the true offering might be made by the sprinkling; so the blood, or in
other words the life, of Christ was liberated on the cross, that His true
offering might be made by the surrender of that life to God in a perpetual
service of love, obedience, and praise.
1. The conceptionof Christ's priesthood as a heavenly priesthood, and of the
life that He now leads in heaven as the consummation of His offering, alone
gives us the accomplishment, and that too in their appropriate order, of
everything that was involved in the separate offerings of the law. In the life
now offered to the Father and before the Father's throne we see, not only the
perfectedSin and Trespass, but the perfectedBurnt and Peace-offerings.
There the life won through death is surrendered into the Father's hands.
There it burns in the never-ceasing devotionof love and praise. There it is
passedin the enjoyment of a fellowship with God undisturbed and glorified.
And thence it descends to all the members of the body, so that they find, in
Him who gave and still gives Himself for them, reconciliation, union,
nourishment for a heavenly service, and the comfort and joy of a heavenly
feast.

2. As an offering of life Christ's offering is complete, embracing in its efficacy
the whole life of man. In this respectthe offerings of the law were necessarily
incomplete, and so also must be the offering presented in any single act of the
life of Christ. But when, as our High Priestand Representative, Jesus offers
His life to God, that life covers every stage or department of our life. There is
no part of our life in which, by the very fact that He lived a human life, the
Redeemerof the world did not share. Must we labour? He laboured. Must we
suffer? He suffered. Must we be tempted? He was tempted. Must we have at
one time solitaryhours, at another move in socialcircles?He spent hours
alone upon the mountain top, and He mingled with His disciples as
companions and friends. Must we die? He died. Must we rise from the grave?
He rose from it on the third morning: Must we appearbefore the Judge of all?
He appeared before Him who sent Him with the record of all that He had
accomplished. Mustwe enter into eternity? Eternity is now passing over Him.
More even than this has to be said; for our High Priestnot only moved in
every one of these scenes, He has also consecratedthem all, and made them all
a part of His offering in heaven. In eachHe was a conqueror, and the fruits of
His conquestin eachare made ours.
3. As an offering of life Christ's offering is everlasting. His life is presented
continually to God; and in it the children of God, whose ownit is made by
faith, are kept consecratedfor evermore. The efficacyof the legalofferings
lastedfor a time. This offering never ceases, andits efficacynever fails.
4. As an offering of life Christ's offering is made once for all, and cannotbe
repeated. It is simply impossible to repeatit, for we cannotrepeat what has
not been first brought to an end; and since the offering on the part of the
eternal Sonis His life. it follows that His offering must be as eternal as
Himself. That offering of our Lord, then, which is the leading function of His
priesthood, was only begun, and not completed, on the cross. It is going on
still, and it will go on for ever, as the Divine and perfect sacrifice in which our

greatRepresentative and we in Him attain the end of all religion, whether
natural or revealed, as that sacrifice in which we are made one with His
Father and our Father, with His God and our God.
(W. Milligan, D. D.)
The Son, who is consecratedfor evermore
D. Dickson, M. A.
He giveth a specialreasonwhy it beseemethnot us under the gospelto have a
sinful man for our priest, because ibis is the very difference betwixt the law
and the gospel.
1. The law maketh men which have infirmities high priests; but the word of
the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, and none but the Son, who
is consecratedfor evermore.
2. He maketh the difference of the law and the gospelto stand amongstother
things in the difference of priests, so as the gospelcannotadmit such priests as
the law admitted.
3. The differences, as the apostle setteththem down here, are —(1) The course
takenabout priests under the law was alterable, they were made without an
oath, the lawgiverdeclaring it to be his will to change that course when he saw
fit; but the course takenabout the priests -f the New Testamentis with an
oath, and so cannotbe changed.(2)The next difference he maketh this: The
law admitteth men in the plural number, a plurality of priests; but the gospel
admitteth no plurality of priests, but the Son only to be priest. Melchisedec's
order in the type hath no priest but one in it, without a suffraganor
substituted priest. Therefore Christ, the true Melchisedec, is alone in His
priesthood, without partner or deputy or suffragan. Then, to make plurality

of priests in the gospelis to alter the order of Melchisedec, and to renounce
the mark setbetwixt the law and the gospel,
3. The third difference:The law maketh men priests;but the evangelicaloath
maketh the Son of God priest for the gospel. Then, to make a man priest now
is to mar the Son of God's privilege, to whom the privilege only belongeth.
4. The fourth difference: The law maketh such priests as have infirmity; that
is, sinful men. But the evangelicaloathmaketh the Son, who is able to save to
the uttermost all that come to God, through Him. Then to make a sinful and
weak man a priest now is to weakenthe priesthood of the gospel, and make it
like the law.
5. The fifth difference: The law makethmen priests which have infirmities
over whom death had power, that they could not be censer, ratedbut for their
sliestlife time. But the evangelicaloathmakeththe Son, whom the sorrows of
death could not hold, and hath consecratedHim for evermore. Then as long as
Christ's consecrationlasteth, none must meddle with His office.
6. The last difference: The law instituting priests was not God's last will, but
might suffer addition. But the evangelicaloathis since the law, and God's last
and unchangeable will. Therefore to add unto it and bring in as many priests
now as did serve in the temple of old, is to provoke God to add as many
plagues as are written in God's book upon themselves and their priests also.
(D. Dickson, M. A.)

COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(27) This verse carries on the description, presenting what follows from this
purity and sinlessness.
As those high priests.—The high priest’s offering up sacrificesfirst for himself
and then for the people constituted a chief part of his duty upon the Dayof
Atonement. (See Hebrews 5:3.) The annual recurrence ofthat day is distinctly
referred to more than once in this Epistle (see Hebrews 9:25; Hebrews 10:1;
Hebrews 10:3): hence the words now before us, which seemto imply daily
sacrifices thus offered by the high priests, have given rise to much discussion.
Neither the morning and evening sacrifices northe daily meat-offering of the
high priest could have been spokenof in the terms here used, which in their
natural meaning suit the ritual of the Day of Atonement, and that alone. It is
true—and passagesofPhilo and the Talmud are appositely quoted to
illustrate the fact—that, as the high priest was representedby all other
priests, their actions were counted as his; but it seems impossible to think that
the words have no more significance than this. Either we must take “daily” as
equivalent to “day by day” (as the Jews were accustomedto speak ofthe Day
of Atonement as “the day”),—which will give us the meaning, “on each
recurrence of this sacredday;” or we must connectthe word, not with the
Jewishhigh priests, but with Jesus alone. The order of the Greek would of
itself suggestthis latter arrangementof the words. If it is correct, the choice of
the word “daily” presents but little difficulty. There could be no question of
years in regard to the ministration of the Lord Jesus in the heavenly
sanctuary; and “daily” was perhaps the most natural word in such a case,
when the frequently stated repetition of a sacrifice was the thought to be
expressed.
For this he did once.—Rather, once forall. These words and those that follow,
“when He offered up Himself,” are best understoodas a parenthesis. The

truth stated in the former part of the verse, that Jesus needethnot, like the
high priests, to offer up sacrifices,first for His own sins and then “for those of
the people,” finds its explanation in Hebrews 7:28, “Forthe Law,” &c. But,
having introduced the thought of a sacrifice for the sins of the people—a
thought not yet expresslymentioned in any part of the Epistle in connection
with Jesus, though virtually presented, as we have seen, in many earlier
words—the writer will not pass on without the most emphatic statementthat
such a sacrifice was offered, once for all, in the sacrifice ofHimself.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
7:26-28 Observe the description of the personalholiness of Christ. He is free
from all habits or principles of sin, not having the leastdisposition to it in his
nature. No sin dwells in him, not the leastsinful inclination, though such
dwells in the best of Christians. He is harmless, free from all actual
transgression;he did no violence, nor was there any deceitin his mouth. He is
undefiled. It is hard to keepourselves pure, so as not to partake the guilt of
other men's sins. But none need be dismayed who come to God in the name of
his belovedSon. Let them be assuredthat he will deliver them in the time of
trial and suffering, in the time of prosperity, in the hour of death, and in the
day of judgment.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests - As the Jewishpriests. This is an
additional circumstance introduced to show the superior excellencyof the
High Priestof the Christian profession, and to show also how he was suited to
our wants. The Jewishhigh priest was a sinful man. He had the same fallen
and corrupt nature as others. He needed an expiatory sacrifice forhis own
sins as really as they did for theirs. When he approached Godto offer
sacrifice, it was needful to make an atonement for himself, and when all was
done it was still a sacrifice offeredby a sinful man. But it was not so in the
case ofJesus. He was so holy that he neededno sacrifice forhimself, and all

that he did was in behalf of others. Besides,it was necessarythat the sacrifices
in the Jewishservice should be constantly repeated. They were imperfect.
They were mere types and shadows. Theywho offered them were frail, sinful
men. It became necessary, therefore, to repeatthem every day to keepup the
proper sense oftheir transgressions, andto furnish a suitable
acknowledgmentof the tendency to sin alike among the people and the priests.
Neither in the nature of the offering, nor in the characterof those who made
it, was there any sufficient reasonwhy it should ceaseto be offered, and it was
therefore repeatedday by day. But it was not so with the Lord Jesus. The
offering which he made, though presented but once, was so ample and perfect
that it had sufficient merit for all the sins of the world, and needed never to be
repeated. It is not probable that the Jewishhigh priest himself personally
officiatedat the offering of sacrifice every day; but the meaning here is, that it
was done daily, and that there was need of a daily sacrifice in his behalf. As
one of the Jewishpeople, the sacrifice was offeredon his accountas well as on
the accountof others - for he partook of the common infirmities and
sinfulness of the nation.
For this he did once - That is, once for all - ἐφάπαξ ephapax. He made such an
atonement that it was not needful that it should be repeated. Thus, he put an
end to sacrifice, forwhen he made the greatatonementit was complete, and
there was no need that any more blood should be shed for human guilt.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
27. daily—"day by day." The priests daily offered sacrifices(Heb 9:6; 10:11;
Ex 29:38-42). The high priests took part in these daily-offered sacrifices only
on festival days; but as they representedthe whole priesthood, the daily
offerings are here attributed to them; their exclusive function was to offer the
atonement "once everyyear" (Heb 9:7), and "yearby yearcontinually" (Heb
10:1). The "daily" strictly belongs to Christ, not to the high priests, "who
needeth not daily, as those high priests (year by year, and their subordinate
priests daily), to offer," &c.

offer up—The Greek term is peculiarly used of sacrificesforsin. The high
priest's double offering on the day of atonement, the bullock for himself, and
the goatfor the people's sins, had its counterpart in the TWO lambs offered
daily by the ordinary priests.
this he did—not "died first for His own sins and then the people's," but for
the people's only. The negationis twofold: He needeth not to offer (1) daily;
nor (2) to offer for His ownsins also;for He offered Himself a spotless
sacrifice (Heb 7:26; Heb 4:15). The sinless alone could offer for the sinful.
once—ratheras Greek, "once forall." The sufficiency of the one sacrifice to
atone for all sins for ever, resulted from its absolute spotlessness.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
In this verse the Spirit shows the ground of his intercessionwork in heaven,
and why he doth not sacrifice as a High Priestthere; therein setting his far
above the Aaronical priesthood.
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice;he had no
necessity, being so holy as he was, to multiply sacrifices.
First for his own sins, and then for the people’s;for himself, being sinless, and
having no infirmity to atone for, as the Aaronicalpriesthood had, who
annually on the day of atonement did offer sacrifice for themselves, being
sinners, and needing pardon as well as the people, Leviticus 9:7. And he had
no need anually on a day to offer for the people’s sins, as Aaron and his
successors had, and did continue to do, till his sacrifice took place and
abolishedthem; he having once offereda sacrifice for the sins of the people,
which outweighedall their multiplied sacrifices.

For this he did once, when he offeredup himself; and this he did once when he
himself died a sacrifice forsins, when he offered up the human nature by the
eternal Spirit without spot, a propitiatory sacrifice to God, when his body
hung on the cross, and his soul ascendedand entered into the throne of God in
the holy of holiestin heaven, with the blood of the testament, and atoned him
for all his people. How transcendentwas this sacrifice to all the Aaronical
ones, whereby sinners were reconciledunto God for ever! Hebrews
9:11,12,14,24-26. Onthis offering was he exalted by God fitr above all
heavens, confirmed by oath in his office, and his intercessionbecame so
powerful and effectualto save all his people from their sins, and the
consequents ofthem.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests,.... Theybeing sinners, and he
not:
to offer up sacrifice first for his ownsins and then for the people's;as they did
on the day of atonement; see Leviticus 16:6 upon which place the Jews (c)
make the same remark the apostle does here;
"he (the high priest, they say) offers sacrifices forthe sins of the people, for his
own "first", "and afterwards for the sins of the people":''
which was one reasonof the imperfection and insufficiency of their sacrifices;
but Christ needed not to offer for his own, nor could he, for he had none of his
own; what he had was by imputation; wherefore he only needed to offer, and
he only did offer, for the sins of the people; not of the Jews only, but of the
Gentiles also, evenof all God's covenant people;nor did he need to do this
daily, as they did; they offeredsacrifice daily, the common priests every day,
morning and evening, and the high priest on a statedday once a year, on the
day of atonement:

for this he did once, when he offered up himself; and in this also he differed
from them; they offered not themselves, but what was inferior to themselves,
and what could not take awaysin, and, therefore, was repeated; but Christ
offered himself, his whole human nature, soul and body, and both as in union
with his divine nature; and this being offered to God freely and voluntarily, in
the room and steadof his people, was acceptableto God: hereby justice was
satisfied;the law fulfilled; sin takenaway, and complete salvation obtained; so
that there never was since any need of his offering again, nor never will be;
which shows the perfection and fulness of his priesthood, and the preference
of it to the Levitical one.
(c) Zohar in Lev. fol. 26. 4.
Geneva Study Bible
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, firstfor his
own sins, and then for the people's:{13} for {l} this he did {m} once, when he
offered up himself.
(13) Another argument, which nonetheless he handles afterward:The
Levitical priests offeredsacrifice aftersacrifice, first for themselves, and then
for the people. Christ offered not for himself, but for others, not sacrifices,but
himself, not repeatedly, but once. This should not seemstrange, he says, for
they are weak, but this man is consecratedas an everlasting Priest, and that
by an oath.
(l) That sacrifice which he offered.
(m) It was done so that it need not be repeatedor offered againany more.

EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Hebrews 7:27. In the πρότερονὑπὲρ τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτιῶν, ἔπειτα τῶν τοῦ λαοῦ
there is an apparent allusion to the sacrifice ofthe high priest on the greatday
of atonement (Leviticus 16.), comp. Hebrews 9:7. We are prevented, however,
from referring the words to this alone (perhaps to the including of the sin-
offering prescribed, Leviticus 4:3 ff.) by καθʼἡμέραν, instead of which, as at
Hebrews 9:25, Hebrews 10:1; Hebrews 10:3, κατʼἐνιαυτόνmust have been
placed. For καθʼἡμέραν can signify nothing else than “daily” or “day by
day.” To foist upon it the signification:“yearly on a definite day” (“καθʼ
ἡμέραν ὡρισμένην or τεταγμένην”), with Schlichting (secundum diem, nempe
statam ac definitam, in anniversario illo videlicet sacrificio), Piscator, Starck,
Peirce, Chr. Fr. Schmid, M‘Lean, Storr, and others; or to take it in the
attenuated sense, as equivalent to “saepissime, quoties res fert” (Grotius,
Owen), or “πολλάκις” (Böhme, Stein), or “διὰ παντός” (de Wette), or in the
sense of“one day after another” (Ebrard, who supposes the author is
overlooking a successionofcenturies, and so a successionofdays present
themselves to his eye, in which the high priest again and again offers a
sacrifice!), is linguistically unwarranted. In like manner it is a mere
subterfuge and arbitrary misinterpreting of the words, when Delitzsch, Riehm
(Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 438), and Alford, concurring in the suggestionof
Hofmann (Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 404 f., 2 Aufl.), seek to put into them the sense:
that Christ needeth not to do daily that which the high priests do once every
year, but which He—if He is to be a constant mediator of an all-embracing
expiation of sin—must needs do day by day. For all that is expressedis the
fact that Christ needs not to do daily that which the Levitical high priests need
to do daily.[84] Nordoes it avail anything that Kurtz will take καθʼ
ἩΜΈΡΑΝ in conjunction only with ΟὐΚ ἜΧΕΙ ἈΝΆΓΚΗΝ, since these
words do not occupy an independent position alone, and only acquire their
more precise definition by that which follows. Forthat ΚΑΘʼ ἩΜΈΡΑΝ has
“nothing whatever to do with the ΘΥΣΊΑς ἈΝΑΦΈΡΕΙΝ,” is a mere
assertionon the part of Kurtz; and his contention, that only the “daily

renewaland daily pressing necessity,”ofthe O. T. high priest on accountof
his daily sinning, the necessity, “ere (on the greatday of propitiation) he could
offer for the sin of the whole people, of first presenting a sacrifice forhis own
sins,” was to be brought into relief, is a violent perversion of the words,—
admitting as they do of no misapprehension,—fromwhich even the
ΠΡΌΤΕΡΟΝ,ἜΠΕΙΤΑ, expressive of a relation of parity, ought to have kept
him; in place of which, in order to bring out the subsidiary characterofthe
one half of the statement, πρὸ τοῦ with the infinitive, or ΠΡΊΝ (ΠΡῚΝ Ἤ),
must have been written. We have therefore to conclude, with Gerhard, Calov,
Seb. Schmidt, Braun, Wolf, Carpzov, Bleek, and Tholuck, that the author had
present to his mind, besides the principal sacrifice onthe greatday of
atonement, at the same time the ordinary daily sacrifice ofthe Levitical
priests (Exodus 29:38-42;Numbers 28:3-8), and by reasonof an inexact mode
of expressionblended the two together;to which he might the more easily be
led, in that, according to Josephus, the high priest—not indeed always, but yet
on the Sabbaths, new moons, and other festivals (according to the Mishna tr.
Tamith, vii. 3 : in generalas often as he was so minded)—went up with the
other priests into the temple, and took part in the sacrificial service. Comp.
Josephus, de Bello Judaico, v. 5. 7 : Ὁ δὲ ἀρχιερεὺς ἀνῄει μὲν σὺν αὐτοῖς ἀλλʼ
οὐκ ἀεί, ταῖς δʼ ἑβδομάσι καὶ νουμηνίαις, καὶ εἴ τις ἑορτὴ πάτριος ἢ πανήγυρις
πάνδημος ἀγομένη διʼ ἔτους. To be compared also are the words of Philo,
who, Quis rer. divin. haer. p. 505 A (with Mangey, I. p. 497), remarks that in
the daily sacrifice the priests offered the oblation for themselves, but the
lambs for the people (Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἐνδελεχεῖς θυσίας ὁρᾷς εἰς ἴσα διῃρημένας,
ἥν τε ὑπὲρ αὑτῶν ἀνάγουσινοἱ ἱερεῖς διὰ τῆς σεμιδάλεως καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ
ἔθνους τῶν δυοῖνἀμνῶν, οὓς ἀναφέρεινΔΙΕΊΡΗΤΑΙ), and de Speciall. Legg.
p. 797 E (with Mangey, II. p. 321), equally as our passage, ascribesto the high
priest the offering of a daily sacrifice (οὕτω τοῦ σύμπαντος ἔθνους συγγενὴς
καὶ ἀγχιστεὺς κοινὸς ὁ ἀρχιερεύς ἐστι, πρυτανεύων μὲν τὰ δίκαια τοῖς
ἀμφισβητοῦσι κατὰτοὺς νόμους, εὐχὰς δὲ καὶ θυσίας τελῶν καθʼ ἐκάστην
ἡμέραν). Recently also Delitzsch(Talmudische Studien, XIII., in Rudelbach
and Guericke’s Zeitschr. für die luther. Theol, u. Kirche, 1860, H. 4, p. 593 f.)
has further drawn attention to the fact that likewise, Jer. Chagiga, ii. 4, and
Bab. Pesachim, 57a, it is said of the high priest that he offers daily.

τοῦτο]namely, ΤῸ ὙΠῈΡ ΤῶΝ ΤΟῦ ΛΑΟῦ ἉΜΑΡΤΙῶΝ ΘΥΣΊΑΝ
ἈΝΑΦΈΡΕΙΝ. So rightly—as is even demanded by Hebrews 7:28 (comp.
Hebrews 4:15)
Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Clarius, Estius, Piscator, Clericus,
Seb. Schmidt, Owen, Peirce, Carpzov, Whitby, Storr, Heinrichs, Böhme,
Kuinoel, Klee, Bleek, de Wette, Stengel, Bloomfield, Bisping, Delitzsch, Riehm
(Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 463), Alford, Kurtz, and others. Less suitably do
Beza, Jac. Cappellus, Limborch, Bengel, and Ebrard supplement τὸ θυσίας
ἀναφέρειν; while, altogetherwrongly, Schlichting, Grotius, Hammond, and
Hofmann (Schriftbew. II. 1, 2 Aufl. pp. 405, 401 f.) refer back τοῦτο to the
whole proposition ΠΡΌΤΕΡΟΝ… ΛΑΟῦ. Forin the application to Christ, to
explain the ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑΙ as the “dolores, qui solent peccatorumpoenae esse, et
quas Christus occasione etiampeccatorumhumani generis toleravit, et a
quibus liberatus estper mortem” (Grotius), or as “Christi infirmitates et
perpessiones”(Schlichting, Hofmann, according to which latter in connection
with ἙΑΥΤῸΝ ἈΝΕΝΈΓΚΑς, besides Christ’s suffering of death, His prayer
in Gethsemane (!) is at the same time to be thought of), becomes possible only
on the arbitrary supposition of a double sense to the preceding words, and is
equally much opposedto the context (Hebrews 7:28) as to the linguistic use of
ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑΙ.
ἘΦΆΠΑΞ] once for all; comp. Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 10:10; Romans 6:10.
Belongs to ἐποίησεν, not to ἈΝΕΝΈΓΚΑς.
ἙΑΥΤῸΝ ἈΝΕΝΈΓΚΑς]in that He offered Himself. Christ is thus not only
the High Priestof the New Covenant, but also the victim offered. Comp.
Hebrews 8:3, Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 9:25 f., Hebrews 10:10;
Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 10:14;Ephesians 5:2.

[84] The unsatisfactorycharacterofthe above expositionwas afterwards
acknowledgedby Delitzschhimself, and the explanation retracted by him (in
Rudelbach and Guericke’s Zeitschr. f. diegesammte luther. Theol. u. Kirche,
1860, H. 4, p. 595).
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
27. daily] A difficulty is suggestedby this word, because the High Priestdid
not offer sacrificesdaily, but only once a year on the Day of Atonement. In
any case the phrase would be a mere verbal inaccuracy, since the High Priest
could be regardedas potentially ministering in the daily sacrificeswhichwere
offered by the inferior Priests;or the one yearly sacrifice may be regardedas
summing up all the daily sacrificesneededto expiate the High Priest’s daily
sins (so that “daily” would mean “continually”). It appears howeverthat the
High Priestmight if he chose take actualpart in the daily offerings (Exodus
29:38;Exodus 29:44; Leviticus 6:19-22;Jos. B. J. Hebrews 7:5-7). It is true
that the daily sacrificesand Mincha or “meatoffering” had no recorded
connexion with any expiatory sacrifices;but an expiatory significance seems
to have been attachedto the daily offering of incense (Leviticus 16:12-13,
LXX.; Yoma, f. 44. 1). The notion that there is any reference to the Jewish
Temple built by Onias at Leontopolis is entirely baseless. BothPhilo (De Spec.
Legg. § 53)and the Talmud use the very same expressionas the writer, who
seems to have been perfectly well aware that, normally and strictly, the High
Priestonly offered sacrifices onone day in the year (Hebrews 9:25, Hebrews
10:1; Hebrews 10:3). The stress may be on the necessity. Those priests needed
the expiation by sacrifice for daily sins; Christ did not.
he did once]Rather, “once forall” (Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews
9:28, Hebrews 10:10;Romans 6:10). Christ offeredone sacrifice, once offered,
but eternally sufficient.

when he offeredup himself] The High Priestwas also the Victim, Hebrews
8:3, Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 9:25, Hebrews 10:10;Hebrews
10:12;Hebrews 10:14;Ephesians 5:2 (Lünemann).
Bengel's Gnomen
Hebrews 7:27. Οὐ, not) The Negationhas a double force, and is thus to be
explained: He has no necessityto offer, 1. daily: 2. for His own sins also. Not
daily, for He has done that once for all. Not for His own sins, for He offered
Himself, a holy sacrifice. There is besides in it an inverted Chiasmus. The first
follows from the second, the secondis confirmed by the 28thverse. Often in
Scripture two positions (theses)are laid down, and are proved by the γὰρ, for,
twice following them.—καθʼ ἡμέραν, daily) κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν, yearby year,
properly, ch. Hebrews 10:3. The Hebrews speak ofthe day, instead of the day
of expiation; whence some translate καθʼἡμέραν, on every day of expiation:
but it retains here its usual meaning, so that there is as it were a kind of
indignant hyperbole (such as at ch. Hebrews 10:1, εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς, for ever),
intimating that the high priest was of no more avail by offering yearly on a
statedday, than if he had offered daily with the common priests, ch. Hebrews
9:6-7.—τοῦτο)this is simply to be referred to His offering, not to His offering
also for Himself.—ἐφάπαξ, once)Romans 6:10, note; so below ch. Hebrews
9:12, Hebrews 10:10.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 27. - Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice,
first for his own sins, and then for the people's:for this he did once for all,
when he offeredup himself. The expression"daily" (καθ ἡμέραν) is not in
strictness applicable to the high priest, who did not offer the daily sacrifice.
The reference throughout what follows being to the high priest's peculiar
functions on the Day of Atonement, κατ ἐνιαυτόνmight have been expected.
There are two tenable solutions:

(1) that the daily offerings of the priests are regardedas made by the high
priest, who representedthe whole priesthood, on the principle, qui facit per
altos tacit per se;
(2) that καθ ἡμέραν (as is suggestedby its position in the sentence)belongs not
to οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς, but only to Christ: "who has no need daily, as the high priests
have yearly:" for his intercessionbeing perpetual, an offering on his part
would be neededdaily, if needed at all. This view is supported by the fact that
the daily sacrificesare not spokenof in the Law as including a specialone in
the first place for the priest's own sin. "This he did." Did what? Offer for his
own sins as well as for the people's? No;for, though it has been seenabove
(Hebrews 5:7) how the high priest's offering for himself might have its
counterpart in the agony, the Sinless One cannot be said to have offered for
sins of his own. And, besides, he having offered himself (ἑαυτὸνἀνενέγκας),
the offering could not be for himself. We must, therefore, take "this he did" as
referring only to the latter part of the preceding clause, while ἐαυτὸν,
προσενέγκας answers to the former part; or as implying generally, "did all
that was neededfor atonement."
Vincent's Word Studies
Who needeth not daily (καθ'ἡμέραν)
Apparently inconsistentwith Hebrews 9:7 : but the sense is, "who hath no
need day by day as the high priest had (year by year) to offer sacrifices,"etc.
The greatpoint is repetition, whether daily or yearly.
Once (ἐφάπαξ)
Rend. once for all. Contrastedwith daily.
When he offeredup himself (ἑαυτὸνανενέγκας)

A new thought. Forthe first time Christ appears as victim. Comp. Hebrews
9:12, Hebrews 9:14; Ephesians 5:2.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BRUCE HURT MD
Hebrews7:27 Who does not need daily *, like those high priests, to offer up
sacrifices,first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because
this He did once for all when He offered up Himself (NASB: Lockman)
Greek:os ouk echei(3SPAI) kath' hemeran anagken, hosperoi archiereis,
proteron huper ton idion hamartion thusias anapherein, (PAN) epeita
(3SAAI) ton tou laou; touto garepoiesen(3SAAI) ephapax heauton
anenegkas. (AAPMSN)
Amplified: He has no day by day necessity, as [do eachof these other] high
priests, to offer sacrifice first of all for his own [personal]sins and then for
those of the people, because He [met all the requirements] once for all when
He brought Himself [as a sacrifice]which He offered up. (Amplified Bible -
Lockman)
KJV: Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first
for his own sins, and then for the people's:for this he did once, whenhe
offered up himself.

NLT: He does not need to offer sacrificeseveryday like the other high priests.
They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But
Jesus did this once for all when he sacrificedhimself on the cross. (NLT -
Tyndale House)
Wuest: Who does not have daily need, even as those high priests, first for their
own sins to be offering up sacrifice, thenfor those of the people, for this He
did once for all, having offered up Himself.
Young's Literal: who hath no necessitydaily, as the chief priests, first for his
own sins to offer up sacrifice, then for those of the people; for this he did once,
having offeredup himself;
WHO DOES NOT NEED DAILY LIKE THOSE HIGH PRIESTS TO
OFFER UP SACRIFICES FIRSTFOR HIS OWN SINS AND THEN FOR
THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE:hos ouk echei(3SPAI) kath hemeran hosper
(just as, even as, like) hoi archiereis proteron huper ton idion hamartion
thusias anapherein (PAN) epeita (3SAAI) ton tou laou: (Heb 7:10; Heb 10:11;
Ex 29:36-42;Nu 28:2-10)(Heb 5:3; 9:7; Leviticus 4:3-35; 9:7-24; 16:6,11)
(Leviticus 4:13-16;9:15; 16:15 )
Heb 10:11-note And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time
after time the same sacrifices, whichcan never take awaysins.
Who does not need - Greek negative is absolute = Jesus does absolutelynot
need to offer sacrifices!

Need(compulsion) (318)(anagkefrom ana = up, again, back, renewal,
repetition, intensity, reversal+ agkale = arm when bent) refers to any
necessityor compulsion, outer or inner, brought on by a variety of
circumstances. It canmean necessityimposed either by external conditions or
by the law of duty.
Sacrifices (2378)(thusia from thuo/thyo = to slay, sacrifice or kill a sacrificial
victim; to bring a religious offering to a deity) refers literally to animal
sacrifices thatwere slain and offered on the altar.
Sins (266)(hamartia)literally conveys the idea of missing the mark as when
hunting with a bow and arrow (in Homer some hundred times of a warrior
hurling his spear but missing his foe). Later hamartia came to mean missing
or falling short of any goal, standard, or purpose. Hamartia in the Bible
signifies a departure from God's holy, perfectstandard of what is right in
word or deed (righteous). It pictures the idea of missing His appointed goal
(His will) which results in a deviation from what is pleasing to Him. In short,
sin is conceivedas a missing the true end and scope of our lives, which is the
Triune God Himself. As Martin Luther put it "Sin is essentiallya departure
from God."
Our Lord, was perfectand sinless and did not need to offer sacrificesfor
Himself, but instead, He offered Himself as the Sacrifice forour sins once for
all.
First for his own sins - Mosesreceivedinstructions for the priests when they
sinned writing that...

If the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer
to the LORD a bull without defectas a sin offering for the sin he has
committed. 4‘And he shall bring the bull to the doorwayof the tent of meeting
before the LORD, and he shall lay his hand on the head of the bull, and slay
the bull before the LORD. 5‘Thenthe anointed priest is to take some of the
blood of the bull and bring it to the tent of meeting, 6and the priest shall dip
his finger in the blood, and sprinkle some of the blood seventimes before the
LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. 7‘The priest shall also put some of
the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense which is before the
LORD in the tent of meeting; and all the blood of the bull he shall pour out at
the base of the altar of burnt offering which is at the doorwayof the tent of
meeting. 8‘And he shall remove from it all the fat of the bull of the sin
offering: the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat which is on the
entrails, 9and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the
loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys 10(just
as it is removed from the ox of the sacrifice of peace offerings), and the priest
is to offer them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering. 11‘Butthe hide of
the bull and all its flesh with its head and its legs and its entrails and its refuse,
12that is, all [the rest of] the bull, he is to bring out to a cleanplace outside the
camp where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where
the ashes are poured out it shall be burned. (Lev 4:3-12-seecommentary)
The high priest did not make daily sacrificesforhis sins, but when he did
sacrifice onthe Day of Atonement, it was necessaryto offer first for himself
(ReadLev 16:6-11-seecommentary). Christ always intercedes forHis people
but never offers sacrifice for Himself.
Then for the sins of the people - Moses wrote
‘Now if the whole congregationofIsraelcommits error, and the matter
escapesthe notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which

the LORD has commanded not to be done, and they become guilty;14 when
the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assemblyshall
offer a bull of the herd for a sin offering, and bring it before the tent of
meeting.15 ‘Then the elders of the congregationshalllay their hands on the
head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be slain before the
LORD.16 ‘Thenthe anointed priest is to bring some of the blood of the bull to
the tent of meeting;17 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and
sprinkle [it] seventimes before the LORD, in front of the veil.18 ‘And he shall
put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the LORD in
the tent of meeting; and all the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar
of burnt offering which is at the doorwayof the tent of meeting.19 ‘And he
shall remove all its fat from it and offer it up in smoke on the altar. 20 ‘He
shall also do with the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; thus
he shall do with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall
be forgiven. (Lev 4:13-20-seecommentary)
BECAUSE THIS HE DID ONCE FOR ALL WHEN HE OFFEREDUP
HIMSELF: touto gar epoiesen(3SAAI) ephapax heauton anenegkas
(AAPMSN): (Heb 9:12,14,25,28;10:6-12;Isaiah 53:10-12;Romans 6:10;
Ephesians 2:22; Titus 2:14)
Titus 2:14-note (Christ) gave Himself for us, that He might redeemus from
every lawless deedand purify for Himself a people for His own possession,
zealous for gooddeeds.
For - Always pause to ponder this strategic term of explanation.
Once for all (2178)(ephapaxfrom epi = upon, at + hapax = once, a compound
of "ha-" [="heis" in compounds] and "pax" [pegnumi = make firm, bring
together]= giving hapax the fundamental meaning of numerical singularity

and completeness whichneeds no additions) means once and for all or all at
once.
Friberg says that ephapax is used "as a religious technicalterm for the
uniqueness and singularity of the Christ's death and the resultant redemption
once and for all (Heb 10:10)
Ephapax - 7x in NT and all but 2 refer to Jesus'finished work - Ro 6:10; Heb
7:27; 9:12; 10:10; 1Pet3:18; Jude 1:3, 5.
Beloved, Christ does not need to be "re-sacrificed" as if such a thing could
even happen. Once for all means once for all time and forever. When Christ
shouted "It is finished" (Jn 19:30-note), He servednotice that once and for all
time, the price for sin and sinners was "Paidin Full!" Let us rejoice in the
sure word - "once for all!"
John Piper - This is a greatword (ephapax)—“once forall.” The effectit has
is to make Jesus the center of history. Every work of God’s grace in history
before the sacrifice ofChrist lookedforwardto the death of Christ for its
foundation. And every work of God’s grace since the sacrifice of Christ looks
back to the death of Christ for its foundation. Christ is the center of the
history of grace. There is no grace without him. Grace was planned from all
eternity, but not without Jesus Christat the center and his death as the
foundation. Paul says in 2 Timothy 1: 9 that God’s “grace … was granted us
in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”
Offered up Himself - Something no Levitical priest was everaskedto do! The
Levitical priests were the shadow of which Christ is the substance (Col2:17-

note). Jesus, as our GreatHigh Priest, offered up the sacrifice ofHimself by
bringing His body up to the Cross.
Spurgeon- Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world, and “offeredup
Himself” as a sacrifice forsin. The greatHigh Priest, who officiated on the
occasionofthat wondrous and unique sacrifice, was JesusChristHimself. he
offered up himself When He bowedHis head, it was because He would do it,
and willingly yielded up His soul, committing His spirit to the Father—not
under constraint, but “he offered up himself.” Oh, this makes the sacrifice of
Christ so blessedand glorious! They draggedthe bullocks and they drove the
sheepto the altar; they bound the calves with cords, even with cords to the
altar’s horn. But not so was it with the Christ of God. None did compel Him to
die; He laid down his life voluntarily, for He had powerto lay it down, and to
take it again. So far as Christ was Himself alone concerned, there was no
necessitythat He should die. He was infinitely glorious and blessed. “He
offered up himself,” but not for Himself; then, for whom did He die? For men.
We are told that He took not up angels, but He took up the seedof
Abraham—He took up sinful men.
Offered (399)(anaphero from ana = up, again, back + phero = bear, carry)
literally means to carry, bring or bear up and so to to cause to move from a
lowerposition to a higher position. It serves as a technicalterm for offering
sacrifices offerup (to an altar). Figuratively (as in 1Pe 2:24-note) anaphero
means to take up and bear sins by imputation (act of laying the responsibility
or blame for) as typified by the ancientsacrifices. Jesus ourGreat High
Priests bore our sins as our substitutionary sacrifice, dying in our place, in
order to bring about atonement for our sins. The priests in the Old Covenant
could not bear our sins.
It is interesting to note that the Jewishpeople did not crucify criminals. They
stoned them to death. But if the victim was especially evil, his dead body was

hung on a tree until evening, as a mark of shame (Dt 21:23). Jesus died on a
tree—a cross—andbore the curse of the Law (Gal 3:13). The force of ana =
up, appears in the fact of the altar was in fact elevated.
Anaphero is used in Heb 9:28-note of Jesus "bearing the sins of many", to
offer up a sacrifice of praise in Heb 13:15-note, of Abraham offering up Isaac
James 2:21-note, of believer priests offering up spiritual sacrificesacceptable
to God through Jesus Christ in 1Pe 2:5-note , and lastly of Jesus Himself Who
"bore our sins in His body on the cross, thatwe might die to sin and live to
righteousness (1Pe 2:24-note).
Anaphero is used frequently in the Septuagint (LXX) to translate the Hebrew
verb qatar, which means to offer up (offer up in smoke). Thus a majority of
the uses of anaphero are in passagesthat refer to the Levitical sacrifices (Lev
2:16-note; Lev 3:5, 11, 16-note;Lev 4:10, 19, 26, 31-note, Lev 6:15-note, Lev
7:5, 31-note;Lev 8:16, 20-21, 28-note;Lev 9:10, 20-note;Lev 16:25-note;Lev
17:6-note)
Isaiahuses anaphero in a prophecy of the Suffering Servant, the Messiah
As a result of the anguishof His soul, He will see it and be satisfied;By His
knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will
bear (Heb = sabal = to bear a load; carry burdens as a slave, used in Isa 53:4;
Lxx = anaphero) their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the
great, and He will divide the booty with the strong, because He poured out
Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors.Yet He Himself
bore (Hebrew = nasa - to lift, to take away;Lxx = anaphero) the sin of many,
and intercededfor the transgressors."(Isa 53:11-12, cpIsa 53:4-6)

When John the Baptist saw "Jesus coming to him" he declaredthe fulfillment
in essenceofall the OT animal offerings when he declared"Behold, the Lamb
of God who takes awaythe sin of the world!" (Jn 1:29)
Hebrews 7:28 For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the
word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect
forever (NASB: Lockman)
Greek:o nomos gar anthropous kathistesin(3SPAI) archiereis echontas
(PAPMPA) astheneian, o logos de tes horkomosias tes meta ton nomon huion
eis ton aiona teteleiomenon. (RPPMSA)
Amplified: Forthe Law sets up men in their weakness[frail, sinful, dying
human beings]as high priests, but the word of [God’s]oath, which [was
spokenlater] after the institution of the Law, [choosesandappoints as priest
One Whose appointment is complete and permanent], a SonWho has been
made perfect forever. (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
KJV: For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the
word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated
for evermore.
NLT: Those who were high priests under the law of Moses were limited by
human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an
oath, and his Son has been made perfectforever. (NLT - Tyndale House)

Wuest: Forthe law constitutes high priests men having infirmity, but the
word of the oath which was since the law, constitutes One who is in character
Son (a High Priest), who is perfected forevermore.
Young's Literal: for the law doth appoint men chief priests, having infirmity,
but the word of the oath that is after the law appointeth the Son--to the age
having been perfected.
FOR THE LAW APPOINTS MEN AS HIGH PRIESTS WHO ARE WEAK:
ho nomos gar anthropous kathistesin(3SPAI)archiereis echontas (PAPMPA)
astheneian:(Heb 5:1,2; Exodus 32:21,22;Leviticus 4:3)
For - Always pause to ponder this term of explanation.
Law (03551)(nomos)has the primary meaning of that which is conceivedas a
standard or generallyrecognizedrule of civilized conduct. Clearly this refers
to the Old Covenantand the regulations of that called for the establishmentof
the Levitical priesthood(e.g., see commentary on Leviticus 8:1-33).
Appoints (put in charge, made) (2525)(kathistemifrom katá = down + hístēmi
= to setor stand) means literally “to stand or set down". Mostof the NT uses
of kathistemi are figurative and refer to "setting someone downin office" or
appointing or assigning a person to a position of authority. To put in charge
or to appoint one to administer an office.
High priests (749)(archiereusfrom arche = first in a series, the leader or ruler,
idea of rank or degree + hiereus = priest - hieros is that which is determined,
filled or consecratedby divine power) refers to the priest that was chief over

all the other priests in Israel. This office was establishedby God through
Moses instructions in the Pentateuch. The high priest functioned as the
mediator betweenJehovahand Israel(cp new order under the New Covenant
- 1Ti 2:5) performing sacrifices andrituals like other priests, but in addition
acting to expiate the sins of the nation on the annual Day of Atonement (See
commentary on Lev 16:1-34)
When he officiated, the OT high priest wore an ephod (see Hebrew word for
ephod), an elaborate vestmenton which were two onyx stones, eachinscribed
with the names of six of the tribes of Israel. (See consecrationceremonyof the
priests in Lev 8:6-33-seecommentary) Attached to the ephod by goldchains
was a breastplate, on which were twelve more precious stones representing
the twelve tribes. Therefore wheneverhe went into the presence ofGod, he
carried with him all the tribes of Israel. The high priest symbolically bore the
children of Israel to God on his heart (his affections)and on his shouders (his
strength). This representedwhat the priesthoodwas to be: first, a heart for
the people, and secondly, the strength to bring them to God. Many of these
priests no doubt had a heart for the people. But none of them was able to
bring the people to God. They could not even bring themselves to Him.
Cole on priests who are weak - Those priests were weak (Heb 7:28) sinners,
standing before God with their ownsacrifices before they could represent
other sinners. But Jesus didn’t need a sacrifice be-cause He was without sin.
Rather, He offered Himself as the sacrifice, and that, once for all!
Spurgeon- Our High Priest is of such dignity that none canbe comparedwith
Him. He is the Son of the Highest, the equal of the Father. I want you to think
of this truth, because it may help you to see how greatmust have been the
merit of the sacrifice whenit was God Himself who “offeredup himself.” He
was no mere delegatedor electedpriest, but Christ Jesus Himself, in whom
“dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col2:9)—Christ, who is the

brightness of His Father’s glory, and the express image of His person. He it
was who stoodat the altar presenting “himself” to God as the one and only
sacrifice for sin.
Weak (769)(astheneia froma = without + sthénos = strength, bodily vigor)
means literally without strength or bodily vigor = want of strength = lacking
strength. Literally astheneia refers to bodily diseases orailments (Lk 5:15,
13:11, 12, Jn 5:5, 11:4, 28:9). Another meaning of astheneia is incapacityto do
or experience something, an inability to produce results, a state of weakness
or limitation (1Co 15:43;2Co 11:30; 12:5, 9, 10, 13:4; Ro 8:27; Heb 4:15; 5:2;
7:28; 11:34)
Wuest - The law constitutes men who are constitutionally weak, morally,
spiritually, physically, high priests, whereas the sworn declarationof God
constitutes the Son High Priest, who is perfected forevermore.
Richards adds that astheneia "expresses powerlessness. The weak are without
strength, incapacitatedin some serious way. (Expository Dictionary)
Jesus Christ, our omnipotent GreatHigh Priest has no such weakness.He
carries our names on His heart and on His shoulders. But He needs no ephod
or breastplate as symbols, for He has true affectionand true salvation. He
perfectly loves us and He can perfectly save us. He is able.
BUT THE WORD OF THE OATH WHICH CAME AFTER THE LAW
APPOINTS A SON MADE PERFECTFOREVER:ho logos de tes
horkomosias tes meta ton nomonhuion eis ton aiona teteleiomenon
(RPPMSA):(Heb 7:21; Ps 110:4)(Heb 7:3; 1:2; 3:6; 4:14; 5:5,8 ) (Heb
7:21,24)(Heb 2:10; 5:9; Luke 13:32;John 19:30)

Jesus was made perfect forever

Jesus was made perfect forever

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Jesus was made perfect forever

Similar to Jesus was made perfect forever (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Jesus was made perfect forever