{b) The Incarnation. — Having once clearly stated at the outset the eternal Divinity of the Son, the Epistle dwells almost entirely on His life, work, and exaltation as man. The reason for this is to be found in the apologetic aim of the writer. His readers' perplexities centred round Christ's earthly life of suflering and temptation, which they re- garded as unworthy of one who occupied His high position. The Epistle declares that such humilia- tion was not only in the highest degree worthy of Him who bore it and of God who sent Him {Ixpeirev, 2^" ; cf. 726), it was a necessary part of the ex- perience of one who fulfilled the office of universal High Priest. It was the ground of His subsequent exaltation (cf. dii, rb wddrjfj.a toO Cavdrov ... iare- (pavu/x^pov, 2®).
Nowhere in the NT is more emphasis laid on the reality of His human nature and human experience. He who bore the simple human name Jesus (2* 3* 4'* 620 722 1019 1312) was made like His human brethren in all things (2ii' "). He partook of flesh and blood as they do (2''') ; He could sympathize with their sufferings and temptations, for He too, as man, sutt'ered and was tempted (2^^ 4^*) ; like them He had to conquer human weakness before He could learn the hard lesson of obedience to God's will {S'- ^). The only difference between their struggle and His lay in the issue. They sometimes fail, but He always conquered, for He was sinless (4''*). By His participa- tion in human weakness and suttering and tempta- tion Christ was 'made perfect' {reXeiwOels, 5* ; cf. 2"*). By experiencing them in His own human life He gained the perfect sympathy with mankind which fits Him to be their' High Priest. By overcoming them He realized in Himself as man the high destiny of the race. He became the first-bom of many sons who shall be led to glory (2'").
(c) The Priesthood and Sacrifice of Christ. — (i.) The sufferings and death of Christ find their final explanation in the thought of His High-Priestly ottice. They are the necessary condition of His call to that office. Any priest who is called to be the representative of men must himself be man, capable of sympathy with human weakness and error (5'). The Levitical priests possessed sym-
HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE
HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE 537
pathy with human weakness, but they were also tainted with human sin (5*). The ideal priest must combine perfect sympathy with the sinner with complete freedom from sin (4'^). These qualifica- tions were united in Christ, He was therefore called by God to be Priest, not after the order of Aaron, but after the eternal order of Melchizedek {5*'^). The Aaronic order was only the shadow, not the reality of priesthood. Only by way of contrast could it set forth the character of the eternal Priesthood. For the members of that order held office by virtue of mere physical descent (7^^) ; their ministry could call sins to mind but could not cleanse them (lO^'^) ; they could not unite the people to God — even into the earthly symbol of His presence the high priest himself could enter only once a year alone (9^) ; lastly, the Aaronic priests were mortal — their work was confined to one generation (7^).
By contrast with the Aaronic priesthood, it follows that the perfect priest must be really, not ritually, holy, his office resting on his own perfect fitness to perform it ; he must be able to take away sin and to unite men to God ; lastly, he must be eternal — placed beyond the reach of sin and death. The essential features of this perfect priesthood are set forth, as in a parable, in the biblical por- trait of the priest-king Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek, which means ' king of righteousness,' indicates the personal, not merely official, holiness of the true priest ; his connexion with Salem, which means ' peace,' points to the abiding union between God and man which he effects ; the absence from the record of any mention of Melchi- zedek's parentage and of any references to his birth or his death suggests that the perfect priest- hood is eternal and exercised by right of the per- sonal qualification of the priest (7^'*). Abraham, the father of Levi, acknowledged the superiority of the eternal priesthood when he paid tithes to Melchizedek and received his blessing (7*"^"). The eternal priesthood ' after the order of Melchizedek,' as the Psalm foretold, is perfectly realized in Christ. His office rests not on ' the law of a carnal commandment ' (7^'^) — for according to the flesh He was not bom of a priestly family (7^^) — but on ' the power of an indissoluble life ' (7'®). He has perfect sympathy with human weakness and temptation, for He has felt them (2'^ 4'^), yet He is not tainted with human sin (4^* 7^). He is really, not ritually, holy and without blemish, blameless in His rela- tion to God and to man (7"^). In His own Person He has inseparably united man with God, and opened a way of access into the Divine presence which can never again be closed (6^ 10^^* ^). For His Priesthood is inviolable and eternal (7^). He has passed into the world of eternal realities, far be- yond the reach of sin and death (1* 6^" 7^* 9^'*). There He ever liveth to make intercession for us (7^).