Commentary - Hebrews 7:26-28

Bird's-eye view

In these closing verses of Hebrews 7, the author brings his argument concerning the Melchizedekian priesthood of Christ to a glorious crescendo. Having established the superiority of Christ's priesthood based on its order and its establishment by a divine oath, he now demonstrates the superiority of Christ Himself as the priest. This is a portrait of the perfect high priest we desperately needed but could never have produced. The argument is a series of sharp, decisive contrasts between Christ and the Levitical priests. They were sinful; He is sinless. They offered sacrifices for themselves; He had no need. Their sacrifices were repetitive and ultimately ineffectual; His was singular, final, and all-sufficient. They were weak and mortal men appointed by a temporary law; He is the eternal Son, made perfect forever by a divine oath. This passage is the capstone on the argument that our High Priest is not just better in degree, but infinitely superior in kind. He is exactly the priest that was "fitting" for us.

The central thrust is the absolute perfection and finality of Christ's person and work. The entire Old Testament sacrificial system was a magnificent shadow, a placeholder, a divinely-ordained object lesson pointing to the reality that would one day come. But shadows are, by definition, insufficient. The priests of the old covenant were themselves sinners, and so their work was always compromised from the start. But Christ, our High Priest, is holy, innocent, and undefiled. The sacrifice He offered was not a bull or a goat, but Himself. And He did it once. This "once for all" reality is the bedrock of Christian assurance. Because our priest is perfect and His sacrifice is perfect, our salvation is perfect and secure.

Outline

Context In Hebrews

This passage serves as the summary and conclusion of the extended argument in chapter 7 about the superiority of the Melchizedekian priesthood over the Aaronic priesthood. The author has already shown that Melchizedek was greater than Abraham (and by extension, Levi) because Abraham paid him tithes (7:4-10). He then argued that the introduction of a new priesthood "after the order of Melchizedek" proves the inadequacy and obsolescence of the Levitical priesthood and the law that established it (7:11-19). He further demonstrated the superiority of Christ's priesthood by the fact that it was established with a divine oath, unlike the Levitical priesthood (7:20-22), and that Christ's permanence guarantees an eternal salvation (7:23-25). These final three verses (26-28) now shift the focus from the office to the person holding the office. It is not just that the priesthood is better, but the priest Himself is infinitely better. This section provides the theological foundation for the next major movement of the book (chapters 8-10), which will expound upon the superior covenant, sanctuary, and sacrifice that this superior High Priest ministers.

Key Issues

The Priest We Needed

The whole argument of this section is governed by the word "fitting." It was fitting, or appropriate, that we should have such a high priest. This is not a statement about what we might have wanted or what we thought we deserved. It is a statement about divine propriety. Given the holiness of God and the depth of our sin, what kind of priest was necessary to bridge that chasm? The answer is that only a perfect priest would do. Any priest who was himself a sinner would simply be another part of the problem, not the solution. He would need a priest for himself. The logic is inescapable. If we are to be reconciled to a holy God, we need a holy mediator. If we are to be cleansed from sin, we need an undefiled priest. If we are to be brought into heaven, we need a priest who is already there. The author of Hebrews is demonstrating that God, in His infinite wisdom, provided exactly the priest that the situation demanded. The gospel is not a patchwork solution; it is a divinely engineered masterpiece, perfectly suited to solve the problem of our sin and alienation from God.

Verse by Verse Commentary

26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;

The author lays out a five-fold description of Christ's perfect character. First, He is holy. This refers to His essential nature, His perfect consecration to God. He is utterly devoted to the Father's will. Second, He is innocent, which means He is without malice or evil. It speaks to the purity of His motives and actions. Third, He is undefiled. This is a ceremonial term, meaning He is free from any ritual or moral stain that would disqualify Him from service. The Levitical priests were constantly in danger of defilement from external sources; Christ's purity was internal and absolute. Fourth, He is separated from sinners. This does not mean He was physically aloof; the gospels show Him eating with tax collectors and sinners. Rather, it means He was in a class all by Himself. Though He took on our nature, He did not partake of our sin. He was in the world, but not of it. He was among sinners, but never one of them. Finally, He is exalted above the heavens. His work is not done in an earthly tabernacle but in the very throne room of God. His exaltation is the ultimate proof of His perfect qualification and the success of His mission.

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.

This verse draws out the practical implications of Christ's perfect character. Because He is sinless, He has no need to do what every Levitical high priest had to do on the Day of Atonement: offer a sacrifice for his own sins before he could offer one for the people. The priests of the old covenant were part of the problem they were trying to solve. Christ is the solution. The second contrast is in the frequency of the sacrifice. The Levitical priests offered sacrifices "daily," and the high priest entered the Holy of Holies annually. It was a repetitive, ongoing work because it never truly fixed the problem. But Christ's work is finished. He did what He did once for all. The Greek word is ephapax, and it denotes a singular, unrepeatable, final event. And what was the sacrifice? Not an animal, but Himself. He is both the priest and the victim, the one who offers and the one who is offered. This is the heart of the gospel. The perfect priest offered the perfect sacrifice, once, for all time, accomplishing a perfect and eternal redemption.

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, who has been made perfect forever.

Here the author summarizes the entire argument of the chapter by contrasting the two systems at their source. On one side, you have the Law of Moses. What did it do? It appointed mere men, characterized by weakness. This weakness refers to their mortality, their sinfulness, their inability to effect any real change. They were temporary placeholders in a temporary system. On the other side, you have the word of the oath, which God swore in Psalm 110. This oath came "after the Law," chronologically in David's time, showing that God always intended to supersede the Levitical system. And whom did this oath appoint? Not a mere man, but a Son. This points back to the divine dignity of Christ. And this Son has been made perfect forever. This doesn't mean He was once imperfect and sinful. Rather, it means He was brought to the completion of His priestly task through His suffering and resurrection. He has been perfectly qualified and installed in His office, and His perfection, like His priesthood, is eternal. The old system was weak men appointed by law; the new system is the perfect Son appointed by God's unbreakable oath.

Application

The practical takeaways from this passage are immense, and they all flow from the perfection of our High Priest. First, because He is a holy and sinless priest, we can have absolute confidence in His mediation. He does not approach God with any demerits of His own. His access to the Father is perfect, and because we are in Him, our access is perfect as well. We can "come boldly unto the throne of grace" precisely because our representative is already there, exalted above the heavens.

Second, the "once for all" nature of His sacrifice is the death of all religious striving and anxiety. If Christ's offering of Himself was final and complete, then there is nothing for us to add. Our attempts to make ourselves more acceptable to God through our own works are an insult to the finished work of Christ. The Roman Catholic Mass, which presents itself as a re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary, is a direct contradiction of this central truth. Christ's work is done. Our job is not to repeat it, but to rest in it through faith. This gives us profound assurance. Our standing with God does not fluctuate based on our performance, because it is not based on our performance at all. It is based on His perfect performance, offered once, for all time.

Finally, the contrast between the weakness of the old priests and the perfection of the Son should fill us with gratitude. God did not give us a system that was "good enough." He gave us a perfect Savior. The law was good in that it revealed our sin and pointed to our need, but it was weak and could not save. But God, through the oath, appointed His own Son. Our salvation rests not on a temporary law, but on the eternal character of the Son and the unbreakable promise of the Father. This is the firm foundation upon which our faith is built.