Hebrews 7:11

Hebrews 7:11. If therefore perfection was; better, ‘If again,' or ‘Now if,' a transitional particle indicating an argument bearing on the same subject (see Hebrews 9:1). ‘Was,' not ‘were;' the reasoning is not, ‘If there were perfection, there would be no need;' but, ‘If there was perfection, there was no need.' The Psalm tells us that in the person of the Messiah there was to arise a priest who did not belong to the order of Aaron, but to a different order; and this declaration implies that the priesthood of Aaron was not capable of securing the great end of a priesthood. What that end is has been largely discussed. Expiation, consecration, transformation of personal character, true permanent blessedness, each has had its advocates, and we may safely combine them all. If sinners are to be forgiven, forgiveness must be consistent with the Divine character and law; the conscience must be pacified and man made holy. That the Levitical priesthood did not effect these ends is proved at length later on; here the writer restricts himself to the one point, that after the first priesthood was instituted it was announced that its work was to pass into the hands of another order, an intimation of its insufficiency. The case is made clear by the parenthetic statement for on the ground of the Levitical priesthood (not ‘under it') the people have received the law (i.e not that the priesthood was first and the law afterwards, for the contrary is the fact, nor that the people were subject to a law that had reference to the priesthood). The law rested on the assumed existence of a ‘priesthood, all its precepts and requirements presupposing some such body;' so that now, if the priesthood is removed, the economy itself is removed also. Under the Gospel, God appoints, as He foretold, a priest who does not answer to the description given of priests under the law a clear proof that He who first made the law has annulled it.

What need was there that there should arise (the usual word to describe one raised to dignities in his office, Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37) a different priest after the order of Melchisedec, and that he should be said to be not (or not be called) after the order of Aaron?