Text -- Hebrews 5:1-11 (NET)

5:1 For every high priest is taken from among the people and appointed to represent them before God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 5:2 He is able to deal compassionately with those who are ignorant and erring, since he also is subject to weakness, 5:3 and for this reason he is obligated to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. 5:4 And no one assumes this honor on his own initiative, but only when called to it by God, as in fact Aaron was. 5:5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming high priest, but the one who glorified him was God, who said to him, “You are my Son! Today I have fathered you,” 5:6 as also in another place God says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” 5:7 During his earthly life Christ offered both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion. 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. 5:9 And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 5:10 and he was designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

The Need to Move on to Maturity

5:11 On this topic we have much to say and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Heb 5:1

¹ tn Grk “from among men,” but since the point in context is shared humanity (rather than shared maleness), the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) has been translated “people.”

² tn Grk “who is taken from among people is appointed.”

³ tn Grk “appointed on behalf of people in reference to things relating to God.”

NET Notes: Heb 5:4

¹ sn Honor refers here to the honor of the high priesthood.

² tn Grk “by himself, on his own.”

³ tn Grk “being called by God.”

NET Notes: Heb 5:5

¹ tn Grk “the one”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Grk “I have begotten you”; see Heb 1:5.

sn A quotation from Ps 2:7.

NET Notes: Heb 5:6

¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn A quotation from Ps 110:4.

NET Notes: Heb 5:7

¹ tn Grk “in the days of his flesh.”

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Grk “who…having offered,” continuing the description of Christ from Heb 5:5-6.

NET Notes: Heb 5:8

¹ sn There is a wordplay in the Greek text between the verbs “learned” (ἔμαθεν, emaqen) and “suffered” (ἔπαθεν, epaqen).

NET Notes: Heb 5:10

¹ tn Grk “having been designated,” continuing the thought of Heb 5:9.

² sn The phrase in the order of Melchizedek picks up the quotation from Ps 110:4 in Heb 5:6.

NET Notes: Heb 5:11

¹ tn Grk “concerning which the message for us is great.”

² tn Or “dull.”