This week's lesson explores themes related both to the person of Christ—his superiority to angels, Moses, and the levitical priesthood—and the results occasioned by his work—a better hope, a better covenant, better promises, and so forth. The lesson closes by stressing the importance of responding appropriately to God. Examples of the dual response of acceptance and rejection to Yahweh are highlighted (Abel and Cain, Moses), and the consequences of having heard God's word delivered by his Son, which lays a greater obligation upon believers, is noted and then applied directly to Adventists.

I would like to develop the theme of Christ's superiority, with respect to his person and work, through the lens of one of the assigned texts for this week, Hebrews 7.

Jesus, an Eternal High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek

The author of Hebrews asserts that the priesthood of Christ is after the priestly order of Melchizedek. The writer describes this analogous relationship by first delineating the various ways in which Melchizedek's priesthood is superior to the levitical priesthood (7:1–10):

1. Aaron and Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek (7:2, 4, 6, 9–10).
2. Melchizedek blessed the patriarch Abraham (7:1, 6), demonstrating that "the lesser person is blessed by the greater person" (7:7).1
3. Unlike the levitical priests, who were bound by the qualifications of the Torah (Lev. 8–9; Num. 1:47–54), the priest Melchizedek is "without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither a beginning of days nor an end of life; he has been made similar to the Son of God, and remains a priest perpetually" (7:3). Melchizedek, the priest-king from Salem who is the king of righteousness and peace (7:1–2), "appears from nowhere and disappears without a trace. He has no predecessors and ancestors." 2

These silences do not suggest that Melchizedek is a supernatural being. On the contrary, the lack of a genealogical biblical record indicates that he is a suitable type of Christ: "in His eternal being the Son of God has really, as Melchizedek has typically, 'neither beginning of days nor end of life'; and more especially now, exalted at the right hand of God, He 'abideth a priest continually.'"3 The superiority of Melchizedek's priesthood to the levitical priesthood (7:1–10) prepares the way for the author to argue for the superiority of Christ's priesthood over against the levitical one (7:11–19).

The levitical priesthood had a number of significant shortcomings. It did not bring people to perfection/maturity (teleiosis, v.11a),4 it was based upon "the law of a fleshy commandment" (v.16a),5 which proved to be "weak and useless" (v.18b),6 and thus prevented the Israelites from "drawing near to God" (v.19c).

These inadequacies necessitated a change in the law (v.12), that is, the abrogation/annulment (athetesis) of the law that instituted the levitical priesthood (v.18a), so that another priest—from a tribe that did not "occupy itself with the altar" (Judah; vv.13–14)—could "arise according to the order of Melchizedek, rather than the order of Aaron" (v.11). Only Jesus, "who has become a priest by the power of an indestructible life" (v.16b),7 is able to fulfill the messianic prophecy of Psalms 110:4—"You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek" (LXX; v.17), and thus overcome the deficiencies of the Israelite priesthood.

Unlike the levitical priests, whose priesthood was not grounded in an oath (v.20b), the eternal, Melchizedekian priesthood of Jesus was established by a divine oath: "the Lord has sworn, and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever" (LXX; v.21). Although death has prevented "the many priests" from perpetually discharging their priestly duties (v.23), the eternality of Jesus indicates that he has "a permanent priesthood" (v.24b). Moreover, Jesus is a high priest who is "holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, one who has become higher than the heavens" (v.26);8 such a high priest "is fitting/appropriate for us" (v.26a) because he has offered up himself "once for all" (v.27).9

Jesus, Our Melchizedekian High Priest: The Consequences of His Priestly Work

Given that the levitical priesthood failed to bring persons to perfection (v.11), the law that instituted it proved to be "weak and useless," and thus in need of abolition (v.18). The law's annulment allows another priest from a different tribe "to arise" (vv.13–14). This priest belongs to the eternal order of Melchizedek (v.17). This Melchizedekian high priest ushers in the spiritual reality our author calls "a better hope" (v.19). At the center of this better hope is "the certainty of a once-for-all cleansing from sin and of the possibility of continuing in an eternal relationship with God."10

Because Christ's high priesthood was instituted by a divine oath (v.21–22), quite unlike the levitical priesthood (v.20), "Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant" (v.22). This second spiritual reality brings to light Jesus' inauguration of the new covenant blessings delineated in Jeremiah 31:31–34.11 Since Jesus is the "guarantor" (enguos) of this covenant, God's people can unhesitatingly trust in the certainty of these covenant blessings.

Inasmuch as Christ "abides forever" and his Melchizedekian priesthood is permanent (v.24), he has the noteworthy capacity "to save for all time those who approach God through him, seeing that he always lives to make intercession on behalf of them" (v.25). Christ's intercessory ministry, grounded in his atoning sacrifice, occasions the present possibility for believers to obtain the benefits of his enthronement at the Father's right hand side (Heb. 1:3, 13): "His once-completed self-offering is utterly acceptable and efficacious; His contact with the Father is immediate and unbroken; His priestly ministry on His people's behalf is never-ending, and therefore the salvation which he secures to them is absolute."12

The principal themes of Hebrews 7 can now be briefly summarized and its contribution to the letter of Hebrews set forth. To a community experiencing suffering and hardship (10:32–35; 12:3–13), which has given rise to a spiritual condition of discouragement bordering on despair (12:12, 16–17; compare 6:4–8; 10:24–29),13 the author of Hebrews utilizes the motif of Christ's high priestly ministry in order to encourage a steadfast commitment to Christ.14

The everlasting nature of Christ's Melchizedekian high priesthood overcomes the deficiencies of the transient levitical priesthood, the most salient being its failure to lead people to perfection. Furthermore, the Melchizedekian priesthood of Christ brings forth numerous spiritual realities, the most conspicuous being an access to the Father (v.19c) that offers the possibility of intimate communion with him (v.25).

A high priest who is capable of accomplishing such a momentous task on behalf of his followers doubtless engendered a commitment to renewed faithfulness on the part of the original audience of Hebrews. For Christ is truly, as the title of our lesson indicates, "higher and better."

Notes and References

1. Scriptural translations are my own.
2. David Peterson, "Hebrews," in New Bible Commentary, 21st century ed., eds., G. J. Wenham et al. (Downers Grove, Il.: InterVarsity, 1994), 1337.
3. F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 138. Concerning the analogous relationship between Christ and Melchizedek, Bruce aptly maintains, "it is not the type that determines the antitype, but the antitype that determines the type; Jesus is not portrayed after the pattern of Melchizedek, but Melchizedek is 'made like unto the Son of God'" (ibid).
4. Not only was the levitical priesthood unable to lead people to perfection, the author states that "the law perfected nothing" (v.19a).
5. The law that established the Israelite cult was "concerned with the externalities of religion—the physical descent of the priests, a material shrine, animal sacrifices and so forth." Bruce, Epistle to the Hebrews, 148.
6. This law was "weak and useless" (v.18b) not only because it "perfected nothing" (v.19a), but also because death prevented the priests from continuing to discharge their priestly duties (v.23).
7. The phrase "power of an indestructible life" expresses "the new quality of life with which Jesus was endowed by virtue of his resurrection and exaltation to the heavenly world, where he was formally installed in his office as high priest." William Lane, Hebrews 1 – 8 (Dallas: Word, 1991), 184.
8. The author's assertion that Jesus has become "separated from sinners" and placed "higher than the heavens" indicates that he has left the realm of humanity and now sits enthroned at the Father's right hand. Ibid., 192, see also, Bruce, Epistle to the Hebrews,156–57.
9. It is possible that the correlative pronoun toioutos (v.26a) refers to the conceptual antecedents of Jesus' priesthood in 7:11–25. However, when this correlative pronoun is coupled with the relative pronoun os (v.27a), it refers to what follows. Lane, Hebrews 1–8, 191.
10. Peterson, "Hebrews," 1338.
11. Ibid. The author explores the new covenant motif in subsequent sections of his homily (for example., 8:6–9:20; 10:16, 29; 12:24; 13:20). Jeremiah speaks of a day when God will establish a new covenant with his people. By inscribing his law upon the people's hearts, God will usher in the possibility of a new covenant relationship, wherein his people would have an intimate knowledge of him. Jer. 31:33–34.
12. Bruce, Epistle to the Hebrews, 155.
13. Luke Timothy Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1999), 459–60. Johnson's sketch of the social setting fittingly discloses the issues the author of Hebrews faced when he crafted this homily.
14. The motif of Christ's priesthood plays a central role in the homily of Hebrews 5–10; it thus contributes significantly to the author's overarching purpose. Lane nicely captures the essential purpose of Hebrews: "Hebrews was composed to arouse, urge, encourage and exhort the audience to maintain their Christian confession and dissuade them from a course of action the writer regarded as catastrophic. The writer calls them to fidelity and obedience and seeks to prepare them for suffering" (William Lane, "Hebrews,"in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments [Downers Grove, Il: InterVarsity, 1997), 453.

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