Hebrews 5 draws our attention to the priestly nature of Christ; His divine appointment, His human sympathy, and His perfect obedience through suffering. Unlike the earthly priests, Jesus did not need to offer sacrifices for His own sin. He was without sin yet fully acquainted with human frailty. The writer then shifts from this majestic portrait of Christ to a challenge for believers to grow in maturity, warning against remaining spiritually immature and untrained in discernment.
“Every high priest is taken from among men and is appointed for men in things pertaining to God.”
The high priest served as the bridge between God and His people; representing them through offerings and sacrifices for sin. This role demanded both compassion and calling. Because the priest himself was weak, he could deal gently with those who sinned in ignorance and error.
"Those who would help others must feel their own frailty; none are fit to be physicians who were never sick.”
No one could assume this office on his own initiative, it was a divine appointment, not a position of ambition. Aaron, the first high priest, was called by God, not self-elected. This established the pattern of divine selection, preparing the reader to see that Christ’s priesthood, too, was God-ordained.
The emphasis here is that ministry flows from mercy; not superiority. Those who lead must do so as fellow sufferers, not distant judges. True spiritual leadership is marked by empathy, not ego.
“So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’”
Christ did not seize the priesthood, the Father appointed Him. His priesthood is eternal, not based on Levitical descent, but on divine decree, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
In His humanity, Jesus experienced the full range of suffering, learning obedience not as one who was disobedient, but as one who submitted to the will of God through pain. In Gethsemane, He offered prayers “with strong crying and tears,” and though He was not delivered from the cross, He was heard in that He was strengthened to endure it.
Through suffering, Christ was perfected, not in moral character, for He was already perfect but in His role as Saviour, being fully qualified through experience to represent mankind. His obedience through agony made Him the author of eternal salvation for all who follow Him.
Henry beautifully adds, “By His sufferings He was consecrated to His office, and by them He consecrates His people.” If even Christ was perfected through suffering, then our pain can also produce purpose.
Christ’s priesthood thus combines divine authority, human sympathy, and perfect obedience; the complete model of redemptive representation.
“Of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.”
The tone shifts here from explanation to exhortation. The writer laments that the believers, though they have been in the faith long enough to teach others, still require basic instruction; the “milk” of the Word instead of the “solid food.”
Spiritual infancy keeps believers weak and unsteady; maturity comes through constant exercise using the Word to discern good from evil. This passage reminds us that growth is not automatic, it demands discipline, application, and continual engagement with Scripture. Maturity in faith is not measured by time spent in church, but by the depth of discernment and obedience. Faith matures not by hearing more sermons, but by living what we already know.
Hebrews 5 unveils Christ as our perfect Mediator, divinely appointed, deeply compassionate, and perfected through suffering. His priesthood shows us the beauty of divine mercy meeting human weakness. We are reminded that the same Christ who prays for us in heaven once prayed with tears on earth.
But the chapter doesn’t end in comfort alone, it confronts us with a challenge. To truly honour our High Priest, we must grow beyond spiritual infancy. We are not meant to sip milk forever, but to feast on truth and to live discerning, obedient lives that reflect Christ’s maturity. Maturity is not the absence of struggle, but the persistence of faith in the midst of it.
💡Key Takeaway:
Christ’s compassion does not excuse our immaturity, it calls us to grow. He sympathises with our weakness, but He also sanctifies us through it.
🙏🏽 Prayer:
Lord Jesus, my compassionate High Priest, thank You for taking my weakness as Your own, for praying with tears that my soul might live.
Teach me obedience through every season of pain, deliver me from spiritual laziness, and stir in me a hunger for maturity and truth.
Help me to show others the same gentleness You show me, and to rest in the strength of Your perfect intercession.
Amen.