Augustus Bisping's Commentary on Hebrews 4:14–5:10
Augustus Bisping (1811–1883), German Catholic biblical scholar
Introduction to the Passage
The transition from Christ's mediatorial office to His High Priesthood is made by the holy author here, similarly to [Hebrews] 3:1, through a brief exhortation to hold fast to the faith and to trust in Christ. Then, proceeding from the idea which underlies all priesthood, and from the requirements for true priesthood, he demonstrates that Christ is the true High Priest of mankind.
But since this important and mysterious doctrine of Christ's Priesthood can only be rightly grasped and understood by an intellect enlightened through faith and by a heart already strengthened in the Christian life, the holy author repeatedly and emphatically exhorts his readers to faithful perseverance in the faith, holding before them the terrible consequences of apostasy from the faith; and he encourages them to hold unshakably fast to the Christian hope, pointing them to the example of their great forefather, Abraham.
The actual exposition of the doctrine of Christ's High Priesthood is then connected to the words of the Psalmist: "The Lord has sworn, and He will not repent: You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 109 [110]:4). This passage is extensively expounded and interpreted, and from it the superiority of Christ's Priesthood over the Old Testament priesthood is demonstrated.
— We have here the most important, yet at the same time also the most difficult, section of the entire Epistle. The Priesthood of Christ is the true cardinal point around which the entire writing revolves.
Hebrews 4:14
"Since we then have a great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to the confession."
Commentary: Already above in 2:17 and 3:1, the holy author began to speak of the Priesthood; but there he let the thought drop again, in order first to speak of Christ's Apostleship in comparison with Moses. To this was then attached the exhortation of 3:7–4:13. Here, therefore, with οὖν ("therefore"), he takes up again the broken thread.
The compound ἀρχιερεὺς μέγας ("great High Priest") is not to be understood as if only both words together expressed the concept of the actual High Priest, as the Hebrew כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל (in which case it would have to read ἱερέα μέγαν); rather, μέγας serves to designate the sublimity.
This sublimity of our High Priest shows itself in the fact that He "has passed through the heavens." For just as the earthly High Priests passed through the earthly sanctuary into the Holy of Holies—to the symbol of the Divinity—so Christ has passed through the heavens to the immediate nearness of God. Cf. below 7:26; 9:11ff.
The μέγας and διεληλυθότα ("great" and "having passed through") are explained more fully in what follows; implicitly, however, it is already expressed in what precedes, where the author has shown that Christ is higher than the angels and sits at the right hand of God.
The plural οὐρανούς ("heavens") is an imitation of the Hebrew שָׁמַיִם; yet underlying the plural form is simultaneously the idea of a multiplicity of heavens or heavenly regions. St. Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 12:2 of a third heaven, and accordingly the older theologians distinguish a coelum aëreum, sidereum, and empyreum; the Rabbis even count seven heavens.
Ὁμολογία ("confession") is here again, as in 3:1, to be taken in the objective sense = πίστις ("faith").
Hebrews 4:15
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in all things has been tempted according to our likeness, yet without sin."
Commentary: The exhortation of the preceding verse to hold fast to the confession of Jesus is here more closely grounded: "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but rather one who has been tempted in all things in like manner, without sin."
The sublimity of this High Priest, the author wishes to say—who has passed through all the heavens and is Himself the Son of God—ought not to deter us from holding fast to Him in faith; for He, the highly exalted One, has simultaneously entered into all weaknesses and all misery of the human race; He therefore knows how to have compassion with us. Cf. 2:17–18.
Already the Prophet Isaiah (53:3) calls the Messiah "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with weakness."
The ἀλλὰ ("but") with μὴ δυνάμενον ("who cannot") strongly emphasizes the contrast; we must therefore render it in German [and English] by "much less" or "but rather." To καθ' ὁμοιότητα ("according to likeness") ἡμῖν ("to us") is to be supplied. He has been tested and tempted in all things in which we are tested and tempted; only He has stood firm in the trials, has come forth pure and undefiled from the temptations (χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας), whereas we often fall.
Hebrews 4:16
"Let us therefore approach with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace for timely help."
Commentary: Since Christ, in relation to men, is a compassionate and merciful High Priest (cf. 2:17), but in regard to God is a pure and spotless High Priest, we can and should with joyful confidence (μετὰ παρρησίας) through Him draw near to the throne of God's grace, in order to receive from there grace and mercy at every time.
"Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace for timely help."
Προσερχόμεθα ("let us draw near") occurs frequently in our Epistle and corresponds to the Hebrew קָרַב, which designates the approach to God through sacrifices (hence הִקְרִיב "to sacrifice," literally: "to bring something near to God").
In the θρόνος τῆς χάριτος ("throne of grace") there certainly lies an allusion to the mercy seat (ἱλαστήριον, כַּפֹּרֶת) of the Old Covenant, to which the High Priest, as representative of the entire people, approached once a year, in order to atone for the sins of the whole people through the sacrifice.
Christ, however, as eternal High Priest, sits continually at the right hand of this throne of grace (8:1; 12:2), and He continually presents His sacrifice of the Cross to the heavenly Father for us. And with this very sacrifice of the Cross, whose real representation we celebrate in the most holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we too can and should through Him draw near to God's throne of grace, and thereby at every time when it is necessary (and when is it not necessary?), seek and find grace and mercy.
Ἔλεος ("mercy") refers more to the forgiveness of sins and deliverance from sufferings; χάρις ("grace"), however, to the communication of higher gifts of grace.
Εὔκαιρος ("timely," opportunus) = ubi opus est ("when there is need").
Hebrews 5:1–10: Application to Christ
Verses 1–6: Christ Did Not Take the Priesthood Upon Himself
Commentary: Here the holy author now applies what was previously said about the High Priesthood in general to Christ. But since he has already demonstrated above (2:14ff.) that the first requirement—that the High Priest be taken from among men, i.e., Himself be man (v. 1)—is fulfilled in Christ, he here proceeds immediately to the second requisite, which he indicated in v. 4:
"So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but He who said to Him: 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You'; as He also says in another place: 'You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'"
The word δοξάζειν ("to glorify") is found frequently, especially in St. John, of the glorification of Christ in the Father, which began with His Resurrection. So also here. But with the glorification of His human nature, His actual High Priesthood also began simultaneously. For then Christ, with His completed sacrifice of the Cross, entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies, and sitting at the right hand of the true mercy seat, He continually presents this one sacrifice to His heavenly Father.
Here on earth, in His suffering humanity, Christ was more the Victim, the Lamb who bore the sins of the world and was slain; but there, in His glorified humanity, He is the continual High Priest, who represents His people, the believers, before the Father; hence γενηθῆναι ἀρχιερέα ("to become High Priest"). Cf. 7:27; 8:1ff.; 10:12.
The passage "You are My Son, etc." from Psalm 2:7 has already been explained above at 1:5. It has been shown there that the σήμερον ("today"), with the Apostle Paul (Acts 13:33), must be referred to the period of Christ's glorification beginning with His Resurrection. There, at His resurrection, the Father solemnly declared Him before the whole world, by the deed itself, as His Son, and established the God-man Christ as King of the whole world.
Verse 6: The second declaration is taken from Psalm 109 [110]:4. The Messianic character of this Psalm has already been demonstrated above at 1:13. Since our author himself explains the rich content of this declaration below in Chapter 7, we need say nothing further about it here. The κατὰ τὴν τάξιν ("according to the order") corresponds to the Hebrew עַל־דִּבְרָתִי ("after the manner"); below 7:15, κατὰ τὴν ὁμοιότητα ("according to the likeness") stands for it.
Verses 7–10: Christ's Prayer, Obedience, and Perfection
"Who, in the days of His flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and having been heard for His godly fear, although He was a Son, learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek."
Commentary: That Christ did not assume the High Priesthood for Himself, but received it from God, is here further expounded, namely by pointing out how during His life He always maintained a relationship of obedience toward the Father, and precisely through this obedience earned His glorification and thereby the High Priesthood for the believers.
Simultaneously, however, what was only hinted at above in 4:15 and 5:2 is here carried out. The main thought lies in the words: ἔμαθεν... τὴν ὑπακοήν ("He learned... obedience"), v. 8, from which then v. 9 follows as a consequence. The preceding participial clauses contain that which historically preceded the ἔμαθεν, thus serving only to introduce and ground this main thought.
Ὅς ("who") refers back to ὁ Χριστός ("the Christ"), v. 5; and the "days of His flesh" designate the time of His earthly life; the author calls them "days of flesh" in order to point through this expression to Christ's capacity for suffering: carnem intelligit secundum qualitates nobis notas, i.e., infirmam atque passibilem ("He understands the flesh according to qualities known to us, i.e., weak and passible").
Moreover, this temporal determination belongs to the main clause ἔμαθεν... τὴν ὑπακοήν, and therefore, with Lachmann, a comma is to be placed after αὐτοῦ.
Ἱκετηρία (scil. ἐλαία or ῥάβδος) properly designates the olive branch which the suppliant and seeker of help (ἱκέτης) held in his hand, in order to make himself known as such; then generally "humble supplication." Prayer and supplication are here designated as the sacrifice which Christ offered to His heavenly Father; and indeed, it says, He offered this "with loud crying and tears."
St. Thomas, and after him Estius, refer these words to Christ's cry on the Cross: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" and "Into Your hands I commend My spirit." But, as is evident from the words πρὸς τὸν δυνάμενον σῴζειν αὐτὸν ἐκ θανάτου ("to Him who was able to save Him from death"), the holy author wishes to point to the prayer and agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ prayed three times that the cup of suffering might pass from Him.
Indeed, the Gospels make no mention of tears; but we may well assume that our Savior, who wept on other occasions, e.g., at the death of Lazarus, also here in the most bitter agony of suffering—where the divine nature in Him receded somewhat and only the man in Him had to wage the struggle—shed tears. For does it not say in Matthew 26:37: "And He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed"? Also the "loud crying" is to be expected of itself in such a violent agitation of soul, which moved the Lord to pray not only kneeling, but "falling on His face."
Not improbable is also what some maintain: that the author here had in mind the passage Psalm 22:25 [24]: "In my crying to Him, He heard me."
These prayers and supplications of Christ referred, as is evident from σῴζειν αὐτὸν ἐκ θανάτου ("to save Him from death"), to His deliverance from death. How then can it immediately say that Christ was heard? Did He not remain free from death? The answer to this lies in the ἐκ θανάτου, which is not to be confused with ἀπὸ θανάτου.
For the petition of Christ that the cup of suffering might pass from Him was not fulfilled insofar as He remained free from death, but indeed insofar as He was rescued out of death through the Resurrection, so that death actually touched Him only temporarily. Cf. Acts 2:24.
The ἀπὸ τῆς εὐλαβείας is well rendered by the Vulgate as pro sua reverentia ("for His reverence"; the sua is lacking in the Greek). Christ was heard "according to His reverence" toward His heavenly Father, i.e., according to that humble submission to the will of His heavenly Father, with which He prayed: "Father, not My will, but Yours be done."
Verse 8: Learning Obedience Through Suffering
"Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered."
Commentary: The καίπερ ὢν υἱός ("although being a Son") designates the remarkable fact that Christ, even as God's Son, had to learn, and indeed had to learn through suffering. In the ἔπαθεν and ἔμαθεν ("He suffered" and "He learned") lies a play on words, as is often found in Greek through the connection of the words παθεῖν–μαθεῖν, πάθημα–μάθημα. One has sought to imitate this here in German [and English] through the free translation: "Who in what He suffered, earned for Himself obedience."
But how can it be said of Christ that He learned obedience, since even as man, through the so-called scientia infusa ("infused knowledge"), He knew all that can possibly be known by any creature? The answer lies in the ἀφ' ὧν ἔπαθεν ("from the things which He suffered") given: in His sufferings Christ exercised practical obedience; He so to speak completed the school of obedience to the end.
The "learning" is therefore not so much to be understood here in the meaning of "acquiring something new," but rather in the sense of: "imprinting more deeply upon oneself the known through practical exercise." As an analogous example, one cites the proposition: "Whoever thinks, learns to think."
Verses 9–10: Perfection and the Source of Salvation
Commentary: This sentence expresses the consequence of that which is contained in the main clause of the preceding verse; and in order to express this consequence also in the translation, we could insert a "so": "and so, having been made perfect..."
Precisely through His obedience, Christ was also, according to His human nature, made perfect, τελειωθείς; the man in Him came to His telos, to His goal, to which man in general was originally created by God (cf. 2:10).
Hence it is the doctrine of our dogmatics that Christ through His suffering merited not only for us, but also for Himself, i.e., for His human nature, in the most proper sense; and indeed He merited for Himself, as man, the glorification of the body and the sitting at the right hand of His heavenly Father.
So also, as man made perfect, Christ has become for us the Author (αἴτιος; cf. above 2:10: ἀρχηγὸς τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν) of our salvation. He has become this partly insofar as His obedience redounds to our benefit (satisfactione vicaria—"by vicarious satisfaction"), partly insofar as He performs eternal intercession for us before the Father; cf. 7:25.
This vicarious and intercessory activity forms the continual opus sacerdotale Christi ("priestly work of Christ") in heaven, whose real representation on earth we celebrate in the most holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
ὑπακούουσιν ("those who obey") = πιστεύουσιν ("those who believe"), v. 4, as above 4:6 ἀπειθήσασιν ("those who were disobedient") = ἀπιστίᾳ ("in unbelief"), 3:19.
Verse 10: The author returns again to the Psalm passage cited in v. 6. Christ, made perfect through His obedience in suffering, has become the Author of salvation for all who believe in Him, and therefore was already proclaimed in the Old Testament by God as High Priest, and indeed as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
CONTINUE
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