Hebrews 5:1-14

Human Brotherhood and Divine Appointment

The High Priesthood of Christ. The argument now resolves itself into a discussion of Christ's priesthood in comparison with the Levitical priesthood, which is developed as the dominant theme of the Epistle. Christ's qualifications as our High Priest are noted. First, we have His resemblance to Aaron briefly stated so as to show that He was at least as true a priest. Christ fulfilled the two requisite conditions that were seen in the case of Aaron, viz. human brotherhood, essential to the representative character of priesthood (Hebrews 5:1), and divine appointment, essential to its authority, as evidenced by Psalms 110 (Hebrews 5:4). In His humanity, too, Jesus suffered grievously, but by teaching Him obedience that awful suffering perfected Him as a priest, so that He became the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him (Hebrews 5:7).

1-3. First qualification—human brotherhood.