Hebrews

5:7-10

Christ faithful and merciful, 3:1-5:10

vii] The source of eternal salvation

The writer to the Hebrews now defines the qualifications of Jesus the High Priest, explaining that he is a genuine High Priest, far superior to any of the descendents of Aaron, and therefore, someone we can rely on to speak for us before the throne of God's grace. The first qualification of Christ's high priestly rule is given in v5-6, namely, that he is appointed by God. The second qualification is that Christ is a perfect High Priest, able to renew our relationship with God, v7-10.

This passage is tied closely to v1-6. Our author sets out to compare Christ's priesthood with that of Israel's Aaronic priesthood. He notes that Israel's priests are chosen from among men to serve as representatives of the people, and that they identify with the people in that they too are subject to weakness, sinners like everyone else. Their honor is derived in that they are chosen by God, v1-4. Christ is similarly a priest, chosen by God, but a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, v5-6. He is also a representative of the people and one who identifies with them in their weakness. Jesus' weakness, of course, is not sin, but like every human being he experienced the same dread of death. He didn't need to offer a sacrifice for his sins, but he did offer up prayers for his preservation. So, Christ is a priest well able to sympathize with broken humanity, v7. But of course, unlike broken humanity, when life bore down on him he remained obedient to God, he complied fully with the will of God ("he learned obedience" = "he practiced obedience", Koester, better than "to appreciate fully what conformity to God's will means", Attridge), v8. With his obedience to the will of God perfected on the cross, he became a priest able to provide eternal salvation to all who trust him, v9, a priest appointed as God's eternal high priest, v10.

In the Gk. this passage consists of a single relative clause introduced by o}V, "who, in the days of his flesh / in his days of flesh, ..." The antecedent, of course, is "Christ", v5, or more immediately su, "you (= Christ)", v6. A relative clause is usually subordinate to the main clause, but here, as is often the case in Hebrew, it serves to make a major statement "about the passion and exaltation of Christ", Ellingworth. There are two main verbs, emaqen, "he learned", and egeneto, "he became", each with two subordinate participial constructions.

Christ, the obedient Son, prays for deliverance, v7-8. "Jesus, in the face of the cross, offered strong and anguished prayers to God as the one who had the power to rescue him from the power of death itself. God heard and answered these prayers because in them Jesus submitted himself humbly to God's will. From the agony in which he prayed, and from his final acceptance of God's will, he learned obedience (he was obedient??) - something necessary even for one who was God's Son", Ellingworth.

o}V "-" - who. Serving to introduce a relative clause; see above.

en + dat. "during" - in. Temporal use of the preposition.

thV sarkoV (x oV) gen. "[the days of Jesus] life on earth" - [the days] of the flesh [of him]. The genitive is probably adjectival, attributive, limiting "days", "fleshly days", days which are the normal state of affairs for human existence; "while Jesus was living an earthly life", "in the days of his earthly life", NEB.

prosenegkaV (prosferw) aor. part. "he offered" - having offered. This participle, along with "having been heard (he was heard)", is attendant circumstance, expressing action accompanying the verb egeneto, "he learned", v8; "having offered prayers and supplications ....... and having been heard ....... although being a Son, he learned ......." Offered to God, but not in a sacrificial sense. Offered in the sense of "prayed / entreated God."

ikethriaV (a) "prayers" - humble pleading, lowly pleading / urgent pleading. Hapax legomenon. Many commentators focus on Jesus' Gethsemane prayer, where Jesus, in all his humanity, agonizes over the ordeal of the cross and would be glad of another way, but sets himself to the Father's will. As Luke records the prayer, Lk.22:42, its indefinite construction and the adversative alla, "but your (your will) be done", indicates that Jesus' request "take this cup from me", is but a muse, while "your will be done" makes up the actual prayer, cf. Jn.12:28. Schauffler suggests that "take this cup from me" is indeed a prayer request, but not so much as to escape the cross, but rather for the strength to reach it. This seems unlikely. "Made his prayers and requests", TEV.

te kai "and" - both [prayers] and [pleadings]. Correlative construction. Here prayers and petitions are virtually synonymous, so "prayers and supplications" = "Christ, in the days when he was a man on earth, appealed to the one who could save him from death", Phillips.

meta + gen. "with [loud cries and tears]" - Expressing accompaniment.

proV "to" - to, toward. Probably spacial, as NIV.

ton dunamenon (dunamai) pres. pas. part. "the one who could" - the one being able. The participle serves as a substantive.

swzein (swzw) pres. inf. "save [him]" - to save. The infinitive is complementary, completing the sense of the participle "being able."

ek + gen. "from [death]" - out of, from [death]. Expressing separation; "away from." Some argue that the preposition her means "out of" such that Jesus prayed that he may be saved "out of the midst of death", ie. rescued from the grip of Hades and so rise again. Westcott says that the prepositional phrase can mean either, "from death" or "out of death."

eisakousqeiV (eisakouw) aor. pas. part. "was heard" - having been heard, answered. Attendant circumstance participle, see above; "God answered him."

apo + gen. "because of" - Causal, as NIV.

thV eulabeiaV (a) "his reverent submission" - devout God-fearing faithfulness, reverence toward God. "Humble submission", NEB.

kaiper + part. "although" - Concessive conjunction.

w]n (eimi) "he was" - being. The participle is adverbial, concessive with kaiper; "Son though he was", NEB. Although there is no definite article, "son" still should have a capital. He is not a son, rather he is "God's son", TEV.

uiJoV (oV) "a son" - As a predicate the noun would not normally take an article so the article may be properly assumed; "the son", or better "the Son."

emaqen (manqanw) aor. "he learned" - Expressing a disciplined learning. Probably "he practiced obedience", Koester. Yet, it has been noted that "learned" and "suffered" have a similar sound, ie. they rhyme in Gk. The words were often used together in Greek literature to make the point that learning comes only by suffering. "Suffering was the way to learn obedience", Barclay, so possibly "he had to prove the meaning of obedience through all he suffered", Phillips.

thn uJpakohn (h) "obedience" - the obedience. The particularizing of "the obedience" with the use of the article indicates that Christ's obedience to the will of God in face of death is in mind, cf. Phil.2:8.

af (apo) "from [what]" - from, out of [the things]. Possibly expressing source, or better agency; "by what he suffered."

Christ's prayer is answered, v9-10. Christ's vindication is usually described in terms of his resurrection and ascension, but our author focuses on the fact that through his ordeal of suffering he has become the source of eternal salvation having been appointed as a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

teleiwqeiV (teleiow) aor. pas. part. "once made perfect" - having been made perfect, complete, finished. Possibly attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "he became", although better temporal, "when he was made perfect", as NIV, or even causal, "because he was made perfect." "Having been perfected" in the sense of fully completing his mission through the obedience of the cross (suffering), being enthroned at the right hand of the Ancient of Days, and being appointed high priest forever, the source of eternal salvation. Not "perfected" in the sense of becoming completely obedient, since Jesus was always perfectly obedient to the Father. Eusebius, writing about the martyr Marinus, said, "having been led off to death, he was perfected." The difference of course is that Jesus was perfect, while Marinus' perfection, like ours, is only his as a gift in Christ. "When perfected, he became ....", Berkeley.

aitioV adj. "the source" - Taking the sense "source", or possibly "cause (and thus author) of eternal salvation."

swthriaV (a) gen. "of [eternal] salvation" - The genitive is probably adverbial, reference, "source / course with respect to / with reference to eternal salvation."

toiV uJpakouousin (uJpakouw) dat. pres. part. "for [all] who obey" - to [all] the ones obeying. The participle serves as a substantive, dative of interest, advantage, as NIV. The present tense is probably durative; "those who always obey." Koester notes that "obedience is not a prerequisite for receiving grace", but Christ's "obedience is the basis of Christian obedience" such that "salvation is a gift, but people come to possess it by following the path that Christ set." This position seems fraught and inevitably leads to nomism. Salvation is possessed by faith in Christ apart from works of the law. It is true that a child of faith tends to follow Christ's lead on righteous living, but the effectiveness, or otherwise, of their righteousness plays no part in their eternal salvation. Obedience to Christ primarily entails believing in him, following him, such that this participle takes the same sense as oiJ pisteusanteV "the ones having believed", 4:3.

autw/ dat. pro. "him" - Dative of direct object.

prosagoreuqeiV (prosagoreuw) aor. pas. part. "was designated" - having been designated, called, appointed. Forming a participial construction subordinate to the verb egeneto, "he became", v9. Probably attendant circumstance, "he became the source ...... and was given by God the title ....", but possibly consecutive, expressing result; with the result that he was addressed by God ..." "Designated", Attridge, as in the sense of addressing with a particular title, so "recognize as." Other possibilities: "named", NEB; "called", CEV; "given ..... the title of", Barclay; "declared", TEV; "acclaimed by God with the title of", NJB.

uJpo + gen. "by [God]" - Expressing agency.

kata + acc. "in" - in accordance with. Expressing a standard; "high priest according to the type of Melchizedek", Koester.

Melcisedek gen. "[the order] of Melchizedek" - [the order] of Melchizedek. The genitive may not be possessive, but rather descriptive, so "just like Melchizedek", CEV. The priestly order of Melchizedek is explained in chapter 7. See 5:6 for notes on Melchizedek.

Hebrews Introduction.

lectionarystudies.com