Hebrews 5:1

Πᾶς γὰρ ἀρχιερεὺς … γὰρ introduces the ground of the encouraging counsel of Hebrews 4:16, and further confirms Hebrews 4:15. [But cf. Beza: “Itaque γὰρ non tam est causalis quam inchoativa, ut loquuntur grammatici”; and Westcott: “the γάρ is explanatory and not directly argumentative”.] The connection is: Come boldly to the throne of grace; let not sin daunt you, for every high priest is appointed for the very purpose of offering sacrifices for sin (cf. Hebrews 8:3). This he must do because he is appointed by God for this purpose, and he does it readily and heartily because his own subjection to weakness gives him sympathy. πᾶς ἀρχιερ. “Every high priest,” primarily, every high priest known to you, or every ordinary Levitical high priest. There is no need to extend the reference, as Peirce does, to “others who were not of that order”. ἐξ ἀνθρώπων λαμβανόμενος, “being taken from among men,” not, “who is taken from etc.,” as if defining a certain peculiar and exceptional kind of high priest. It might almost be rendered “since he is taken from among men”; for the writer means that all priesthood proceeds on this foundation, and it is this circumstance that involves what is afterwards more fully insisted upon, that the high priest has sympathy. For λαμβ. cf. Numbers 25:4; Numbers 8:6. On the present tense, see below. Grotius renders “segregare, ut quae ex acervo desumimus”. Being taken from among men every high priest is also appointed not for his own sake or to fulfil his own purposes, but ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων καθίσταται, “is appointed in man's behalf”; not with Calvin, “ordinat ea quae ad Deum pertinent,” taking καθ. as middle. The word is in common use in classical writers. “The customariness [implied in λαμβ. and καθ.] applies not to the action of the individual member of the class, but to that of the class as a whole”. Burton, M. and T., cxxiv. τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, “in things relating to God”; an adverbial accusative as in Romans 15:17. See Blass, Gram., p. 94; and cf. Exodus 18:19, γίνου σὺ τῷ λαῷ τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. In all that relates to God the high priest must mediate for men; but he is appointed especially and primarily, ἵνα προσφέρῃ … ἁμαρτιῶν, “that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins”. Were there no sins there would be no priest. The fact that we are sinners, therefore, should not daunt us, or prevent our using the intercession of the priest. προσφέρειν, technical term, like our “offer”; not so used in the classics. δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας, the same combination is found in Hebrews 8:3 and Hebrews 9:9 with the same conjunctions. Δῶρα as well as θυσίαι include all kinds of sacrifices and offerings. Thus in Leviticus 1 passim, cf. Hebrews 5:3 : ἐὰν ὁλοκαύτωμα τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ. It is best, therefore, to construe ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτ. with προσφέρειν and not with θυσίας; cf. Hebrews 5:3 and Hebrews 10:12. So Bleek and Weiss against Grotius and others; e.g., Westcott, who says: “The clause ὑπὲρ ἁμ. is to be joined with θυσίας and not with προσφέρῃ as referring to both nouns. The two ideas of eucharistic and expiatory offerings are distinctly marked.”