Text -- Hebrews 5:4-14 (NET)

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. 5:12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food. 5:13 For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, because he is an infant. 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

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.”

NET Notes: Heb 5:12

¹ tn Grk “because of the time.”

² tn Grk “the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God.”

³ tn Grk “you have come to have a need for.”

⁴ tc ‡ Most texts, including some early and important ones (א² A B* D Ψ 0122 0278 1881 Ï sy Cl), have καί (kai, “and”) immediately preceding οὐ (ou, “not”), but other equally significant witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* B² C 33 81 1739 lat Or Did) lack the conjunction. As it was a natural tendency for scribes to add a coordinating conjunction, the καί appears to be a motivated reading. On balance, it is probably best to regard the shorter reading as authentic. NA²⁷ has καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.