Hebrews 2:17

Heb_2:17

Made like unto His brethren

A sermon preached on Christmas Day

This high feast of the nativity of our blessed Saviour is called by St.

Chrysostom the great metropolitan feast. For, as to the chief city the whole country resorts (Psa_122:4); so all the feast-days of the whole year meet and are concentred in the joy of this feast. If we will draw them into a perfect circle, we must set the foot of the compass upon this, God was made like unto man. My text is laid down unto us in the form of a model proposition; which consists of two parts, the dictum and the modus. Here is, first, the proposition, Christ is made like us. Secondly, the modification or qualification of it, It behoved Him so to be. First, in the proposition, our meditations are directed to Christ and to His brethren. And we consider what Christ is, and what we were. God He was from all eternity, but in the fulness of time made like unto as. But we were miserable sinners, enemies to God. But now, by Christs assimilation to us, we are made like unto God. Secondly, the modification carries out thoughts to those two common heads--the convenience, and the necessity of it. Now this again looks, equally on both--on Christ, and on His brethren. If in all things it behoved Christ to be like unto His brethren, which is the benefit, heaven and earth will conclude, men and angels will infer, that it behoveth us to be made like unto Christ, which is the duty. My text, ye see, is divided equally between these two terms, Christ, and His brethren. That which our devotion must contemplate in Christ is, first, His divine; secondly, His human, nature; thirdly, the union of them both. First, His divine nature; for we cannot but make a stand, and inquire who He was who ought to do this. Secondly, His human nature; for we find Him here flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones, made like unto us in our flesh, in our souls. What can we say more? Our apostle tells us, in all things. And then, thirdly, will follow the union, expressed in the passive to be made. in His assimilation, and the assumption of our nature. All these fill us with admiration; but the last raiseth it yet higher. Fourthly, the end of all is the end of all--our salvation; the end of our creation, of our redemption, of this assimilation; and the last end of all, the glory of God. Then His brethren and He will dwell together in unity.

I. In the first place, in an holy ecstasy we cry out with the prophet, Who is He that cometh? (Isa_63:1). Who is He that must be made likeunto us? What is done? and, Who did it? are of so near relation that we can hardly abstract one from the other. We, who are children of time, have need of a captain who must be born in time. We were sick of a bold and foolish ambition to be gods. And this disease became epidemical: we all would be independent, our own lawgivers, our own God. Pride threw us down; and nothing but humility, the exinanition of the Son of God, could raise us.

II. Therefore, in the next place, as Christ is God of His Father, so He is man of His mother; the Son of God, and the Son of Mary. That He appeareth in the likeness of our flesh, that He appeareth and speaketh and suffereth in our flesh, is the high prerogative of the gospel. And here He publisheth Himself in every way of representation.

1. In our image or likeness,--In the form of a servant, our very picture, a living picture, such a picture as one man is of another.

2. By way of comparison. For how hath He dilated Himself by a world of comparisons! He is a Shepherd, to guide and feed us; a Captain, to lead us; a Prophet, to teach us. He is a Priest, and He is the Sacrifice for us. He is Bread, to strengthen us; a Vine, to refresh us; a Lamb, that we may be meek; a Lion, that we may be valiant; a Door, to let us in; and the Way, through which we pass into life. He is anything that will make us like Him. Sin and error and the devil have not appeared in more shapes to deceive and destroy us than Christ hath to save us.3. By His exemplary virtues; and those raised to such a high pitch of perfection, that neither the heretic, nor the Turk, nor the devil himself could leach and blemish it.

III.

We must now, with a reverent and fearful hand, but touch at the passive to be made, which pointeth out the union of both the natures in one person.

The apostle telleth us that it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren.

And to the apprehension of this union (as to the knowledge of God), as Ambrose saith, we arc led by weak and faint representations drawn from sensible things, and by negations.

Not after this manner.

He was made like unto us, it is true: but not so as flesh and blood may imagine, or a wanton and busy wit conceive.

His glory did not take from Him the form of a servant, nor did this assimilation lessen or alter Him in that by which He was equal to His Father. This is a great mystery (1Ti_3:16); and mysteries cannot be searched nor sounded to the depth. It fareth with us in the pursuit of profound mysteries as with those who labour in rich mines. When we dig too deep, we meet with poisonous fogs and damps instead of treasure; when we labour above, we find less metal, but more safety. Humility and purity of soul are the best convoys in the ways of knowledge. Be not then too inquisitive to find out the manner of this union. That Christ was made like unto us, is the joy of this feast; but that He ought to be so, is the wonder and ecstasy of our joy. That He would descend, is mercy; but that He must descend, is our astonishment. Had the apostle said, It behoved us that He should be made like unto us it had found an easy belief; the it behoved had been placed in its proper place on the face of a captive. All will say, It behoved us much. But to put a aebet upon the Son of God, and make it a beseemming thing for Him to become flesh, to be made like unto us, is as if one should set a ruby in clay, a diamond in brass, a chrysolite in baser metal, and say they are placed well there. To give a gift, and call it a debt, is not our usual language. On earth it is not; but in heaven it is the proper dialect, fixed in capital letters on the mercy-seat. It is the joy of this feast, the angels anthem, A Saviour is born! And if He will be a Saviour, an Undertaker, a Surety, such is the nature of fidejussion and suretyship, debet, He must, it behoveth Him; He is as deeply engaged as the party whoso Surety He is.

1. Let us look on the aptness of the means, and we shall soon find that this foolishness of God (1Co_1:25), as the apostle calls it, is wiser than man, and this weakness of God is stronger than men; and that the debt, it is right set. For if you will have extremes meet, you must have a middle line to draw them together: and, behold, here they meet, and are made one! The properties of either nature being entire, yet meet and concentre as it were in one person. Majesty putteth on humility; Power, infirmity; Eternity, mortality. By the one our Saviour dieth for us, by the other He riseth again; by the one He suffereth as man, by the other He conquereth as God; by both He perfecteth and consummateth the great work of our redemption.

2. So then here is an aptness and conveniency: but the words, It behoved Him, imply also a kind of necessity. That God could be made like mortal man, is a strange contemplation; that He would, is a rise and exaltation of that; that He ought, super-exalteth, and sets it at a higher pitch; but that He must be so, that necessity in a manner should bring Him down, were not His love infinite as well as His power, would stagger and amaze the strongest faith. It is true, this condescension of His, this assimilation, was free and voluntary, with more cheerfulness and earnestness undertaken by Him titan received now by us. But if we look back upon the precontract which passed between His Father and Him, we shall then see a debuit, a kind of necessity, laid upon Him. Our Saviour Himself speaketh it to His blessed mother, I must go about My Fathers business (Luk_2:49). We may measure His love by the decree; that is, we cannot measure it: for the decree is eternal.

Application:

1. If Christ be like unto us, then we also ought to be like unto Him, and to have our assimilation, our nativity, by analogy and rules of proportion answerable unto His. To be like unto Him! Why, who would not be like unto Him? Like Him we all would be in His glory. But to be like Him in the wilderness, like Him in His daily converse with men, like Him in the high-priests hall, like Him in the garden, like Him on the Cross: this we like not; hero we start back, and are afraid of His countenance. But if we will be His brethren, this is the copy we must take out, these be our postures, these our colours: bathed in His blood, it is true; but, withal, bathed in the waters of affliction, bathed in our tears, bathed in our own blood.

2. As He was made like unto us, so are we made like unto Him. We are not born so, nor so by chance. This resemblance is not drawn out with a thought or a word. How many be there who bear Christs name, yet are not like unto Him, because they will not be made so!

3. As there was a debuit upon Christ, so there is upon us. As it behoved Him to be made like unto us, so it behoveth us to be made like unto Him. A humble Christ, and a proud Christian; a meek Christ, and a bloody Christian; an obedient Christ, and a traitorous Christian; Christ in an agony, and a Christian in pleasure; Christ fasting, and a Christian rioting; Christ on the Cross, and a Christian in a Mahometical Paradise, there is no decorum in it, nothing but solecism and absurdity.

4. This duty is not only becoming, but necessary. For if a kind of necessity lay upon Christ, by His contract with His Father, to be made like unto us; a great necessity will lie upon us, by our covenant with Him, to be like unto Him; and woe unto us, if we be not! It is that one thing necessary: there is nothing necessary for us but it. (R. Farindon, J. D.)

Like to His brethren

I. THE DETAILS OF THIS CONFORMITY.

1. Similarity of natures.

2. Similarity of circumstances. He took His place as one item in the great mass of humanity, and assumed no position inconsistent with manhood.

II. THE EXPEDIENCY OF THIS CONFORMITY. It behoved Him. Even sovereignty is bound by law.

1. We must not deny or dispute the fact because we cannot understand the reasons on which it is founded.

2. Can we, who are less than God, complain if we also are under restraints of law?

III. THE OBJECT OF THIS URGENT AND IMPORTANT PURPOSE OF GOD,

1. Merciful sympathy can only flow from experience.

2. Faithful.

(1) To all the types and promises that had gone before.

(2) To the work He undertook.

(3) In His character. (Homilist.)

What behoved Christ

I. Note, first of all, THE EMPHASIS OF THAT EXPRESSION IT BEHOVED HIM TO BE MADE IN ALL THINGS LIKE UNTO HIS BRETHREN. And observe that the all things here, concerning which our Lords likeness to mankind is predicated, are not the ordinary properties of human nature, but emphatically and specifically mans sorrows. That will appear, I think, if you notice that my text is regarded am being a consequence of our Lords incarnation for the help of His fellows. He laid not hold upon ante)s, blot He laid hold upon the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren. Now, if the likeness here be the possession of true manhood, then my text is mere tantology, and it would simply be saying, He became a man, wherefore it behoved Him to become a man. The same conclusion is, I think, fairly to be deduced from the last words of our chapter, where the fact of His suffering being tempted, is stated as His preparation to help, and as His qualification as a merciful and faithful High Priest. That is to say, the all things of which our Lord became partaker like us His brethren, are here the whole mass--in all its variety of pressure and diversity of nauseousness and bitterness--the whole mass of human sorrow which ham ever made mens hearts bleed and mens eyes run. Christ, in His single Manhood, says the writer, gathered unto Himself every form of pain. All the miseries of all men forced themselves into, and filled His heart. You and I have but a drop given to us; He drank the whole cup. Our natures are not capable of sorrow as varied, as deep, as the sorrow of Jesus Christ; but for each of us surely the assurance comes with some subtle power of consolation and strength.

II. So that brings me to the next point suggested here, viz., OUR LORDS VARIED, ALL-COMPREHENSIVE SORROW WAS A NECESSITY IMPOSED UPON HIM BY THE PURPOSE WHICH HE HAD IN VIEW. He taketh hold, not of angels, but of the seed of Abraham; and therefore He must have a hand like theirs, that can grasp theirs, and which theirs can grasp. Unless the Master had Himself been standing on the heaving surges, and Himself been subjected to the beating of the storm, He could not revive and hold up the sinking disciple. And so our Lords bitter suffering, diffused through life and concentrated on the Cross, was no mere necessary result of His humanity; was not simply borne because, being a Teacher, He must stand to His principles whatever befell Him because of them; but it was a direct result of the purpose He had in view, that purpose being our redemption. Therefore to say, It behoved Him to be made in all things like unto His brethren, is but to declare that Christs sufferings were no matter of physical necessity, but a matter of moral obligation. We know not by what mysterious process the Son learned obedience by the things which He suffered, nor can we understand how it was that the High Priest who would never have become the High Priest had He not been merciful, became yet more merciful by His own experience of human sorrow. But this we know, that somehow the pity, the sympathy of Christ, was deepened by His own life; and we can feel that it is easier for men to lay hold of His sympathy when they think of His sufferings, and to be sure that because in all points He was tempted like as we are He is able to succour them that are tempted. Comfort drops but coldly from lips that have never uttered a sigh or a groan; and for our poor human hearts it is not enough to have a merciful God far off in the heavens. We need a Christ that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ere we can come boldly to the Throne of Grace, assured of finding there grace in time of need.

III. Lastly, we have here THE SPECIFICATION OF THE MAIN PURPOSE OF OUR LORDS SORROWS--that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest. Christs help is not merely the help of a wise Teacher. Men do not want only teaching. Their need goes far deeper than that. Christ is not the Helper whose help goes down to the depths and the roots of mens necessity, unless He is Priest as well as Prophet and King. He comes to do something as well as to say something; comes to alter our relations to God, as well as to declare Gods heart to us. And then, notice again how here we have Christs priestly office extended over His whole life of suffering. The popular representations of the gospel, and the superficial grasp of it, which many good people have, are accustomed to draw broad line of demarcation between Christs life and Christs death, and to concentrate the whole of the sacrificial and expiatory character of His work in His death only. My text goes in the other direction. It says that all that long-drawn sorrow which ran through the whole life of Jesus Christ, whilst it culminated in His death, was His sacrifice for the sins of the world. For all sorrow, according to Scriptural teaching, is the fruit of sin; and the sinless Christ, who bore the sorrows which He had not earned, in bearing them bore them away. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Christ s likeness unto His brethren

Likeness is asserted without qualification, and yet there are limits arising out of the nature of the case. One limit of course is that there can be no likeness in moral character. This limit is implied in the very titles applied to the two parties, Sanctifier and sanctified, and it is expressly stated in the place where Christ is represented as tempted in all respects similarly, apart from sin (Heb_4:15). Another limit, nowhere referred to in words, but tacitly assumed is, that the likeness is in those respects only in which our life on earth is affected by the curse pronounced on man for sin. Overlooking this principle, we might fail to be impressed with the likeness of Jesus to other men in His experience; we might even be impressed with a sense of unlikeness. There are respects in which Christs life was unlike the common life of men. He was a celibate; He died young, and had no experience of the temptations of middle life, or the infirmities of old age; in outward lot He was the brother of the poor, and was well acquainted with their griefs, but of the joys and temptations of wealth He had no experience. But these features of difference do not fall under the category of the curse. Family ties date from before the fall. The doom pronounced on man was death immediate, and prolonged life is a mitigation of the curse. Wealth too is a mitigating feature, another evidence that the curse has not been executed in rigour, but has remained to a considerable extent an unrealised ideal, because counteracted by an underlying redemptive economy. It will be found that Christs likeness to His brethren is closest just where the traces of the curse are most apparent: in so far as this life is

(1) afflicted with poverty,

(2) exposed to temptations, to ungodliness,

(3) subject to death under its more manifestly penal forms, as when it comes as a blight in early life, or as the judicial penalty of crime. Jesus was like His brethren in proportion as they need His sympathy and succour, like the poor, the tempted, the criminal. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)

Advantages of Christs manifestation in the flesh

Let us consider the design of our Saviours mission, that Be came into the world to save sinners by turning us away from our iniquities, and thereby purifying to Himself a people zealous of good works; and we shall find that the manifestation of Christ in the flesh did more effectually answer this end than any other means could.

1. The first advantage that occurs is the simplicity of the character which the Deity assumed from whom the precepts of eternal life might issue with all the sanction of the Godhead, without the terror of its majesty.

2. As the end of Christs coming was to turn us to the Lord, and as no obedience to His laws can be truly acceptable, but that which springs from love, so no scheme could possibly engage so strongly our gratitude as that which so manifestly declared His abundant love to us in sending His Son to take our nature upon Him. (H. Usher, D. D.)

Christ like His brethren

I. IT IS AN ACT OF DIVINE CONDESCENSION TO HUMAN WEAKNESS. Our thoughts of God are imperfect and obscure, because He is invisible and cannot be perceived by any of the senses. The incarnation of Christ conducts man to the knowledge of God and to communion with Him. Let it awaken our gratitude, that the new and living way is open to us; that we are not assembled before a lifeless image, practising vain impure and cruel rites; that the purpose of our solemn assembly is to celebrate the love of our Creator.

II. Christs being made in all things like His brethren renders Him A FIT EXAMPLE FOR THEM TO IMITATE. It is by beholding the glory of the Lord that we are changed into the same image, and this is agreeable to the principles of human nature. Imitation is one of our first and strongest principles. The example of Christ is every way fitted for our instruction.

From His humility we learn that pride was not made for man. From His meekness towards those who injured Him we learn to repress anger and revenge. The young may learn from Him subjection to their parents; the wise may learn to employ their wisdom in instructing the ignorant; the great may learn to be good; the poor may learn contentment, and the afflicted resignation. In imitating His devout retirement we perceive that man is made for devotion, and that in the exercise of it our souls return unto their rest.

III. Christ was made in all things like His brethren THAT HE MIGHT SYMPATHISE WITH THEM. He took not upon Him the nature of angels, for then He could not have sympathised with men. As in circumstances of distress and danger we most need the sympathy of a friend, so Christ became a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. (S. Charters.)

The Fathers pity and the Sons sympathy

(in conjunction with Psa_103:13):--The thought which I desire, by the comparison of these texts, to suggest is this--How the compassion of God for men, disclosed in the Old Testament, has grown in the New into the fellow-feeling of Christ. We have not lost our Fathers pity; we have gained a brothers sympathy.

1. Both halves of revelation agree in giving impartial prominence to two aspects of Gods moral attitude towards us--to His aspect of displeasure towards the sinner as identified with his sin, and His aspect of grace towards the sinner as separable from his sin. Whatever the Old Testament discloses of Divine kindness to men, of gentle forbearance, and enduring watchful care, and abundant forgiveness, and healing helpfulness, seems all of it to be the condescension of One who is too great to be anything else than nobly pitiful.

2. There is no doubt whatever that some souls, fed on such views of God as these, did grow up to a spiritual stature quite heroical Long and close meditation on the greatness and on the pity of Jehovah produced very noble men of God. Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah, Daniel, were men in whom was united rare spiritual strength with rare spiritual tenderness. To grow familiar with the vastness and unmaginableness of the Divine nature through the habit of laying ones soul alongside the lofty One who inhabiteth eternity makes the soul wax great. For true greatness of soul is near of kin to a manly lowliness of soul; and he who frankly and profoundly worships Him who is alone noble enough for worship will find himself ennobled.

3. At the same time, the characteristic tendency of Old Testament saints to look at the Divine goodness as coloured by His pity and as having a constant reference to His distance above His creatures implied an imperfect appreciation of His love. Compassion is not the perfection of love. Love, when it is perfect, vanquishes what it cannot obliterate, the distinctions of high and low, of great and small. It refuses to be separated from its loved one. It can no longer be at ease while he suffers, or rich while he is poor, but bridges the gulf of difference, identifies itself with its object, and forgets to pity that it may learn to sympathise. By doing this new thing, which no Old Testament believer had dared to credit Him with doing, God disclosed a manner of love for men for which the name of pity is too weak. The Creator has become also a creature; and with us He has henceforth in Jesus Christ one nature, common; a common history; one life, one death. In brief, to the paternity of God has been added the fraternal tie.

4. Now, what is the worth to us of this new relation which God has acquired to man? There are three directions at least in which actual experience must be held to modify even the compassions of the Must Merciful.

(1) For one thing, it gives such knowledge of every similar sufferers case as no mere spectator can have.

(2) If anything could induce us thus to make God the confidant of our life, it would be this further result of His incarnation, that in this respect at least, so far as human experience goes, He has put Himself on our own level. He has abolished at His own choice the gulf which parted us. He is our equal; He is our Fellow.

(3) There is still another fruit of the incarnation more striking than all. -4. chord which has been once set in unison with another vibrates when its fellow is sharply struck. God has set His heart through human suffering into perpetual concord with human hearts. Strike them, and the heart of God quivers for fellowship. If this is compassion, it is so in a more literal sense than when we use the word as a mere synonym for pity. It is sympathy, in the Greek and New Testament sense; it is, as our version has it, being touched with the same feeling. It is the remembrance of His own human past which stirs within the soul of Christ when, now, from His high seat, He sees what mortal men endure. Ah! that a world of weary sufferers only knew what beatings of heart are answering back from within the unseen where the Eternal hides! (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)

Human nature of Christ

Suppose a number of prisoners confined in one of our old gaols, and there is a person desirous to do them good; imagine that he cannot be admitted unless his name is put down in the calendar. Well, out of his abundant love to these prisoners he consents to it, and when he enters to talk with them they perhaps think that he will come in with cold dignity; but he says, Now, let me say to you first of all that I am one of yourselves. Well, they say, but have you done aught that is wrong? I will not answer you that, saith he; but if you will just refer to the calendar, you will find my name there. I am written down there among you as a criminal. Oh, how they open their hearts newt They opened their eyes with wonder first, but now they open their hearts, and they say, Art thou become like one of us? Then we will talk with thee. And he begins to plead with them. Sinner, dost thou see this? Christ put Himself as near on a level with thee as He could. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

A merciful and faithful High Priest

Christs priestly office

Christ as God could have been merciful unto us, although He had not been made like unto us; but not as our High Priest. There is an ability of sufficiency, and of power; and so Christ as God was able to succour those that are tempted, although Himself had never been tempted. But there is an ability of idoneity or fitness, or aptness and disposition; and so the apostle says here, For in that Himself bath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted. The priestly office of Christ is the great storehouse of all that grace and comfort which we have on this side heaven: it is that whereby we are reconciled to God the Father and relieved against temptation.

I. WHEN THE LEND JESUS CHRIST DIED UPON THE CROSS, HE DID OFFER UP HIMSELF A SACRIFICE UNTO GOD THE FATHER. Yea, as if all sacrifices were met in Him; all those titles that are given unto other sacrifices, they are given unto Him. There are three sorts of sacrifices: some were living; others were not living, and those were either solid, as bread and the like; or else they were liquid, as wine and oil. There was always a destroying of the thing offered.

II. WHEN THIS SACRIFICE WAS UPON THE ALTAR, THEN THE SINS OF ALL BELIEVERS, PAST, PRESENT, AND TO COME, WERE ALL LAID UPON JESUS CHRIST (Isa_53:6).

III. WHEN THESE SINS WERE THUS LAID UPON CHRIST, HE DID THEREBY GIVE FULL SATISFACTION UNTO GOD THE FATHER, UNTO DIVINE JUSTICE.

IV. ALL THIS HE DID AS OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST, AND IN A MORE TRANSCENDENT AND EMINENT MANNER THAN EVER ANY HIGH PRIEST DID BEFORE HIM.

V. HOW DOES ALL THIS CONDUCE TO OUR COMFORT OR HOLINESS?

1. Is it not a comfortable thing in the ears of a poor sinner that there is a storehouse of mercy set up? that the Lord hath erected an office of love, and of mere compassion for poor sinners? Is it not a comfortable thing that God the Father is satisfied, and so your sins pardoned?

2. But you will say, Does it not much conduce to our grace or holiness too? Yes, this truth does conduce much to our holiness too. The new covenant of grace is founded upon the satisfaction of Jesus Christ upon the cross, upon that oblation (see Heb_9:13-15). But again, that we may see how this doth conduce to our holiness: strengthen faith, and we strengthen all. If faith be weakened, all grace is weakened: strengthen)our faith, and you strengthen all your holiness and all your graces.

3. The more a man does deny his own righteousness, the more holy he is with gospel holiness. (W. Bridge, M. A.)

The work of our High Priest

If we now inquire further what the work of the high priest was and is, that accordingly we may address ourselves unto Jesus Christ for succour, we shall find that it is also to pray and intercede for the people.

I. WHEREIN CONSISTETH THIS INTERCESSION OF JESUS CHRIST?

1. It consists in this: His appearing for us in heaven, His owning of our cause and of our souls to God the Father (Heb_9:24).

2. He doth not only appear for us, but by virtue of His priestly office he does carry the power, merit, and virtue of His blood into the presence of God the Father in heaven, and sprinkles the mercy-seat with it seven times.

Seven is a note of perfection. Those that Christ suffered for He does intercede for. He takes all their bonds, and He carries them in unto God the Father, and He says, Father, I have paid these bonds, I have satisfied Thy justice for these poor sinners, and now My desire is that they may be acquitted from these debts (Heb_9:11-12).

3. He doth not only carry the power and virtue of His blood and present it to God the Father for our discharge, but He does also plead our cause in heaven, answering unto all those accusations that are brought against us Rom_8:33).

4. He doth not only plead our cause and take off accusations that are brought against us, but He does also call for absolution and pardon of poor sinners at the hand of God the Father in a way of justice and equity; and therefore He is called our Advocate (1Jn_2:1).

II. THE PREVALENCY OF CHRISTS INTERCESSION WITH THE FATHER will appear if we consider the inclination and disposition that God the Father hath unto the same things that Christ intercedeth for If a child should come and intreat his father in a matter that the father hath no mind to, or that the father is set against, possibly he might not prevail; but if a beloved child shall come and pray the father in a business that the father likes as well as the child, surely then the child is very like to speed. We have a notable expression to this end in Joh_10:17 : Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. I lay down My life: here is His suffering and His satisfaction. That I may take it again: go up to heaven and take it again and intercede. The Father loves the world in giving Christ; the Son loves the world in dying for us; and the Father loves Christ again for loving us.

III. DOSE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST INTERCEDE FOR US IN HEAVEN AS OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST? Yes, and He does do this in a more eminent way than ever any high priest did before Him.

1. He hath gone through more temptations than ever any high priest did.

2. In sympathy and compassion He goes beyond all the high priests that ever were before Him.

3. He is more faithful in His office and place than ever any high priest was.

IV. HOW DOTH ALL THIS CONDUCE NOW TO OUR COMFORT OR OUR HOLINESS, TO OUR GRACE OR PEACE?

1. To our comfort. Is it not a comfort to a poor man to have a Friend above, near the King that may be able to do him kindness? A man sometimes says, I had a friend indeed in the court, but now he is dead. Aye, but here is a Friend that never dies: He ever lives to make intercession. Friends may alter and turn enemies; but He changeth not, But you will say unto me, This is exceeding good, and very comfortable in itself; but what is this to me? for I am afraid that the Lord Christ does not intercede for me.

(1) It is no presumption for us to bear ourselves upon the intercession of Jesus Christ (see Mat_15:22-28).

(2) Who those are that the Lord Christ does intercede for in heaven (see 1Jn_2:1).

(3) How willing, how infinitely willing He is to intercede for us t Now if a man do receive money for to lay out for the benefit of others, poor orphans, or the like; if a man be faithful, certainly he will lay out the money for them, according to the intention of him that did trust him with the money. The Lord Jesus Christ is anointed as our great High Priest to do the work of the priestly office: and this is one work, to intercede, and therefore He must needs be very willing to do it. Again, the more anything is the work of a mans relation, wherewithal he is clothed, the more (if he be faithful) is he willing to do the work. When men are exalted and come to greatness or honour, then they give down the comforts of their relation unto those that depend upon them: if a father come to any great preferment, the comfort of the relation of the father then falls down upon the children. And so, if one friend do come unto preferment, the comfort of the relation (or friendship)falls down. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, He is our High Priest; and He is now exalted, He is gone to heaven: and therefore all the comforts of all the relations that He stands in towards us do now fall upon us. And therefore He is very willing, because this is the work of His relation. And further, It is the work of His office. What a man does by office, that he does willingly; what a man does by office, he does industriously; what a man does by office, he does it readily; according unto a mans place, or office, so will his interpretation be.

2. This intercession of Jesus Christ; this work of the priestly office of Christ, and the consideration thereof, it does conduce exceedingly unto our grace and holiness. For

(1) What a mighty encouragement is here unto all poor sinners for to come unto Jesus Christ.

(2) The more I see that the Lord Jesus appears in heaven for me, the more am I engaged to appear on earth for Him.

(3) The more I consider or apprehend that the Lord Jesus Christ does lay out Himself for me, the more am I engaged to lay out myself for Him. (W. Bridge, M. A.)

Our High Priests offering

Now if we inquire further, we shall find also that the work of the High Priest was and now is to offer up the gifts of the people unto God; to present our prayers, praises, duties, services, and all spiritual performances unto God the Father, and to procure acceptance of Him.

I. WHAT DOTH OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR CHRIST, OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST, WHEN HE OFFERS UP OUR GIFTS UNTO GOD THE FATHER?

1. He doth take our persons, and carries them in unto God the Father in a most unperceivable way to us. He knows that if our persons be not first accepted our duty cannot be accepted: Love me, and love my duty; love me, and love my service: hate me, and hate my service.

2. As He doth take our persons, and lead and carry us into the presence of God the Father, so, when we perform any duty, He doth observe what evil or failing there is in that duty, and draws it out, takes it away before He presents the duty to God the Father.

3. As He takes away the iniquity of our holy things, so He observes what good there is in any of our duties or performances; and with that He mingles his own prayers and intercessions, His own incense, and presents all as one work mingled together unto God the Father.

II. WHAT ABUNDANCE OF FAVOUR AND ACCEPTANCE THIS OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST HIMSELF HATH IN HEAVEN.

1. It was an agreement between God the Father and Christ, the second Person, before the world was, that in due time He should come into the world, take flesh upon Him, and die for sinners: and He did so. But before Christ came into the world there were thousands of souls saved; how came they to be saved? They came to be saved by the blood of Christ, and before Christ died. So then, God the Father saved them upon Christs bare word, that He would come into the world and die for them. What a mighty trust was here!

2. Again, the trust appears in this: that He was made, when Be came into the world, the great Lord Treasurer of all the grace and comfort that should be given out unto the children of men.

3. But yet further, when our Lord and Saviour Christ died, and ascended unto God the Father to heaven, as soon as ever He came into heaven, saith the Father to Him, Thou hast now suffered, Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession; all the world at one word. It was a mighty and a great trust that the Father did put upon Him.

4. Yea, as if all this were not enough, the Father did put the keys of heaven and of hell into His hand: the keys of heaven and hell into the hand of Christ (Rev_1:18).

III. HE DOTH IMPROVE ALL THAT HIS OWN ACCEPTANCE, FOR OUR ACCEPTANCE; PLANTING ALL OUR DUTIES UPON HIS OWN ACCEPTANCE, UPON THAT ACCEPTANCE THAT HE HATH WITH THE FATHER. The favour and acceptance which the high priest had, in the time of Moses, was not for himself: he did improve it all for the people: he was to lay it out all for the people, and not for himself. Our High Priest goes beyond all other high priests in this particular also: for now, as for other high priests, though they went in with their incense, and covered the mercy-seat with a cloud, yet it was but once in the year; but our High Priest is always in the holy of holiest, and never goes out of it, ever covering the mercy-seat with His intercessions. Take their high priest, and though he was very holy as Aaron was, yet sometimes he made the people naked unacceptable; but our great High Priest never makes His people naked, but always clothes them with His own righteousness. Take their high priest, and though he did go into the holy of holiest for the people, yet he never led the people into the holy of holiest, they stood without; but our great High Priest is not only gone into the holy of holiest Himself but doth also lead every poor believer into the holy of holiest (Heb_10:19).

IV. WHAT ABUNDANCE OF ACCEPTANCE THEREFORE WE HAVE IN ALL OUR DUTIES BY HIM. Yes, we know that the pair of turtles were accepted in the time of the law by those that could offer no more. Surely much more now will a poor turtle be accepted in the time of the gospel, and those that could but bring goats-hair towards the making of the Tabernacle, they were welcome: and shall it not be so now much more in the times of the gospel? That which is little in regard to quantity, it may be great in regard of proportion; as the widows mite was. Christ takes that lovingly that comes from love, whatever it be, though it be never so weak. Well, but suppose that a mans duty or service be performed with many failings, infirmities, hardness of heart, straitness of spirit, distracting thoughts; this is my case: Oh I is there any acceptance for such a duty as this is? We know how it was with Nicodemus, and the woman that came trembling and touched the hem of Christs garment. And we must know that in every duty that we do perform there are two things: there is the sacrifice, and there is the obedience in offering the sacrifice. Though the sacrifice may be imperfect, yet your obedience in offering the sacrifice may be perfect, with gospel-perfection.

V. BUT HOW DOTH ALL THIS MAKE FOR OUR COMFORT, OR FOR OUR GRACE?

1. Surely, we cannot but see already how it doth make for our comfort. Is it not a comfortable thing for a man to know that his duties are not lost? that his prayer is not lost? that his hearing the Word is not lost? that his searching the Scriptures is not lost? that his communion is not lost? A man is unwilling to lose anything: and the more precious it is the more unwilling to lose it. Further, is it not a comfort for a man to have liberty to go unto the mercy-seat and there for to meet with God? Besides, is it not a great comfort to a man for to know how it shall go with him at the day of judgment? Once more; is it not a comfort for a poor beggar to be relieved at a rich mans door?

2. But how doth this make unto our holiness, unto holiness of life?

Much every way:

1. In case I be ungodly, here is that that may for ever keep me from opposition to the good ways of God. I have said sometimes (may a wicked man say) concerning godly mens duties, that it was their hypocrisy; and I have said concerning such and such professors, this is your pride, and this is your singularity; and I have opposed, with all earnestness, the prayings of some of Gods people; but is this true, that the Lord Jesus Christ takes every prayer of the meanest of Gods children and carries it into the bosom of God the Father? and shall I dare to oppose that that the Lord Jesus Christ presents unto His Father? The Lord in mercy pardon me. I will never speak one word against the persons, meetings, or supplications of the godly again.

2. In case a man be a wicked man, here is mighty encouragement for to come unto Jesus Christ; aye, and to come presently. For is Jesus Christ the ladder that Jacob saw, by whom we go up to heaven? Then, till I do come to Christ, all is nothing, all is lost.

3. In case a man be godly, this truth doth conduce to our further holiness and growth in grace. If I be godly, then here I see infinite reason why I should be much in duty; not only pray, but be much in prayer. Why? for the Lord Christ taketh all, and carries all into the bosom of the Father, mingles His own odours, intercessions with it, although it be but a sigh and a groan. Further, the more evangelical you are in your obedience, the more holy ye are in your lives. I conclude all with this, if that the Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, offers up all our gifts unto God the Father, whereby we have acceptance, what infinite cause have we all to be thankful to God for Christ, and to love Jesus Christ for ever! (W. Bridge, M. A.)

Our High Priests blessing

I shall speak of one work more of our great High Priest, and that is, to bless the people.

I. WHAT THE BLESSING OF CHRIST OUR HIGH PRIEST IS, WHEREIN IT CONSISTS, AND WHAT CHRIST DOTH WHEN HE DOTH BLESS THE PEOPLE. I answer in the general, that the blessing of the gospel, and of Christ, consisteth in spiritual things especially, and not in temporal (Eph_1:3). But more particularly, if ye ask me wherein this consisteth, I shall name but two things:

1. First, This blessing of the gospel, or of Christ, it consists in a supernatural and spiritual enjoyment of God in Christ: the love and favour of God in Christ. Again, it consists also in the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost in our hearts: the giving out of the Holy Ghost unto the hearts of men. And therefore it is added: And the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

II. DOES THIS BLESSING PROPERLY OR SPECIALLY BELONG UNTO JESUS CHRIST? Yes, for He and none else was made a curse for sin; and therefore it belongs unto Him above all the world for to bless.

III. IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WILLING FOR TO BLESS POOR SINNERS AND INCLINED UNTO IT? Yes, He is very willing: this blessing of the people, it is a work whereunto He is most delighted. Ye shall observe, therefore, what abundance of blessings Christ scattered among the people when He was here upon the earth.

IV. BUT DOTH HE DO IT? Yes, He doth do it, and doth it fully. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Not only meritoriously but by the hand of Christ. And, saith he, He hath done it with all spiritual blessings, and He hath done it by Jesus Christ.

1. When Christ our High Priest doth see that a man is weak in grace or weak in gifts, and hath some work or service for him to do, then the Lord doth bless him. Oh, soul, increase and multiply, increase in thy gifts and graces.

2. As the Lord doth bless weak gifts and graces when He intends to use them, so also when as He hath made use of a man, when a man hath done the work of God, then the Lord blesses that man.

3. As He does bless at this time, when a man hath done His work, so also when a man is willing for to leave all His relations and natural engagements for to follow Him, to cleave close unto Him, and to His ways and ordinances.

4. The Lord Christ, our High Priest, does bless when the would curses; a special time of Christs blessing is when the world curses.

5. In the fifth place, the Lord Christ does also bless when His people do graciously enjoy the ordinances purely and evangelically administered.

V. HOW DOES ALL THIS CONDUCE UNTO OUR COMFORT AND UNTO OUR HOLINESS?

1. First for comfort: is it not a comfortable thing to be blessed by Jesus Christ? Is it not a comfortable thing for a man to have all his cursers to be blessers?

2. How does this make unto our holiness? Very much: this holds forth great encouragement unto all poor sinners for to come to Christ without delay. But yet further, as there is an encouragement for to come unto Christ, so this argument does also encourage us to go on in the good ways of Christ, notwithstanding all opposition that we meet. Times of opposition are Christs blessing time.

3. Again, this argument does not only speak encouragement against all opposition, but it does also encourage us to go on in the good ways of God when we are called unto it, though we have but little strength and weak parts. Though there be but little oil in the cruse, though there be but little meal in the barrel, if Christ call to the work He will bless a man in it: and when Christ blesses, He does multiply and increase a mans parts in the using of them.

4. And yet further, if all this be true, why should not a man be contented with his condition, though he be never so mean? Truly he is too covetous, whom the blessing of Christ will not satisfy. Well, whatever my condition be, yet I may be blessed by Jesus Christ; and hath the Lord blessed me? then will I be contented with my condition, though it be never so mean, I have all, as Jacob once said, I have all.

5. Yea, in the fifth and last place: Here is that, which if well studied and considered, will provoke us all for to bless the Lord, and continually to bless the Lord! What is the life of a Christian here but a continual blessing of God? (W. Bridge, M. A)

Our High Priest

The strong point in the Hebrew economy was the high priest. His whole office and function was mercy, compassion. He stood between weakness, or sinfulness, or want, and the remedy; and mercy was the appointed channel through which to the imagination and the affection of the people Gods grace flowed down to them; so that all their associations with him were those of lenity, of compassion, of mercy. He was the one great benefactor. He was an emancipator. He was, in the Jewish system, a central point out of which came light, and never scowls nor darkness. No other name, therefore, whether of king or of prophet, would be likely to strike the Israelite with such a feeling of religiousness, with such an elevating influence, or with such welcomeness, as that of high priest; and that is the reason why it was planted on the Saviour. It was a heart reason. How different was this mode of presenting the function of Christ Jesus from that which came up in after times! The view of an executive God; the view of a law-giving and law-executing God, that repels men by fear more than it draws them by love; the view of an abstract God, epitomised in philosophy--how few there are that can accept such views! It was a historical person, a personal person, a national person, that the Jews were prepared to accept; and when Jesus Christ was presented to them as really their Redeemer, under the figure of the high priest, it brought round about Him all those romantic, enthusiastic, and national feelings for which they were so famous. The whole function of the Saviour was founded upon the ignorance, the sinfulness, and the helplessness of men; and no revelation was needed to make these known. There is not a man who is not satisfied that he sins with every part of his being; and there is a concatenation of sinfulness running through his whole life. There is not a man who, when he undertakes to do anything in the direction of purity, is not conscious of his helplessness. There is not a man who, when he strives to be true and noble in his better nature, is not conscious that everything goes against him. And it was on this consciousness that high priest-ship was founded. Sin, then, is a matter of universal consciousness; and the only question is, is there any belief, any remedy for mankind who are subject to it? By way of preface, I may say first, that the human race has come to its ideal of God through growth. In the earlier period men came in conflict, first with the natural law of the globe; and fate and force were the more useful interpretations of that great law. When men developed near the animal line, the qualities of nature transcendently filled the heavens to their conception. The earlier thought of God as something separable from nature was that He was a Being that thundered and smote; that He was a Being possessed of great power; that He was a Being of tremendous avenging ability and force. Such were the elements that were earliest appreciable to the human race in their conception of the Divine Being. But as men grew civilised, and enlarged their experience, their capacities and their civic life, there grew up in them what I might almost call physical qualities of the Divine Being--namely, the moral elements. The warrior, more nearly than the brute giant, began to take on qualities which attracted admiration. Out of the warrior grew the king; and he represented the sense of public justice and of restraint for the benefit of his kingdom. Then came in the notion of the judge. Joined closely, also, with the idea of the executive, was the idea of the executioner to carry out his edicts. And all these elements were tinged somewhat with the conception of a king. It was not until we came down to as late a time as the earlier periods of the Old Testament history that the disclosures of the Divine nature began to be more ample. There was a state of receptivity, at last, in the human race by which you could bring to the conception of men, though very imperfectly, a larger notion of God. Then came the revelation of God as a universal Father. But when we come to the latest disclosure, even the fatherhood of God stood aside, as it were, that it might be represented to men by an intermediate conception. Christ came to give to the word Father its true and full meaning. Christ took on the human body, and He took it on with all its relations to matter. He came into the world to represent the Divine humility, the Divine helpfulness, the Divine sympathy with infirmity and sin. He came into life at the very lowest point; and He understood from the standpoint of compassion every conceivable human experience. There was not a thought or a feeling possible to human nature, that our Saviour did not have a knowledge of it, so that He is able to succour those who are tempted in those respects. There is not a single passion, a single inclination, a single hunger, a single fear, a single bitterness, a single experience of the human mind, in which He has not been schooled. He so gave Himself to human nature that it might be said that from the crown to the lowest dungeon, from the rich mans mansion to the ditch of the beggar, there is not a faculty with whose workings He was not familiar. In order to be a good artist I do not need to play every tune: I simply need to know each string, and what its possible combinations are, and how to make them; and although our Saviour did not go through all the various phases of experience which men go through, His education in the knowledge of humanity was perfect. Now, this very conception is itself Divine. Divinity stands not in the red right-hand of power; it is not omnipotence and omniscience: it is goodness; and goodness centres in love. So, then, we are to find the Divine nature manifested in goodness, which is the very highest conception of Divinity. I do not want any man to explain to me how Christ is equal to the Father: all I want is to know that His character is a disclosure of character of God. We should bear in mind that, according to the teaching of the New Testament, Christ is the High Priest that has ascended into heaven. He is close to every one. The man who is murmuring his last prayer in a dungeon can think himself rote the very presence of the High Priest in heaven. He who is wounded on the battle-field thinks, as the army thunders away, and his companions leave him, The High Priest is close at hand. The poor miserable creature of degraded conditions can, by thinking, bring himself into Christs presence. He is accessible to all; and there is no need of any ones saying, Who shall ascend up into the heavens and bring the Saviour down? He is near to each man. The central force of the universe, then, according to this representation, is compassion; it is helpfulness, and over those who have run through the whole range of wrong-doing, and who are seeking to rise out of cruelty, and lust, and pride, and selfishness, and every sort of degradation, there broods--what? Wrath? No. There broods over them the High-Priesthood of Christ Jesus--the compassion of One who knows how to feel for those that are out of the way; the enriching power of Christs heart. That is the tractive power of the universe. If it be in your power, conceive of Christ as such a High Priest as He was to the Jewish imagination, as a being set apart from among mankind because He had compassion on those who were out of the way, who was tried and condemned, and who suffered like His fellow-men so that He could have compassion on them. He descended from heaven and took upon Himself the nature of man, and was made in the likeness of man. He came into life at the bottom and partook of the experiences of men, and passed through every conceivable state of the human mind in order that He might stand and say, Oh, fallen, weak, sinful, guilty, wretched creatures, I am your brother; and I am clothed with Gods nature; I am in the Father and He is in Me; and I bring to you the tidings of summer on your winter. The God whose I am, and whom I represent, who abides in Me and in whom I abide, is a God of tender love, who would not that any should perish, but would that all should live. That is the message which the Lord Jesus Christ brings to men. If there be men who are afraid to worship Christ, I have two things to say. In the first place, when you worship the Father you worship exactly the same being that I do when I worship Christ. Men had no knowledge of what to put into the fatherhood of God until it was proclaimed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, really what you call Father and what I call Jesus are just the same thing. In the next place, if there were a difference, do you suppose God would be angry if you made a little mistake and worshipped the Son instead of the Father? If a postman handed to my wife a letter which was directed to me, do you suppose there would be a scene? Would we scold him because he handed it to the wrong person when he thought he was handing it to the right one? Where two are united in perfect love a mistake like that does not make any difference. Another thing. When you say that you cannot worship Christ as you do the Father, what do you mean by worship? What is it but giving to another all the enthusiasm which you are capable of feeling? You cannot love supremely without worshipping; for love is the highest worship; and all this riddle about dynastic notions vanishes into space. When you worship Christ and pray to Him, you worship and pray to the Father; and when you worship the Father and pray to Him, you worship and pray to Christ. Then, there are those whom a consciousness of guilt and imperfection keeps back from venturing upon one who is set forth in the Scriptures as their God. Many persons feel, Oh, if I were not living in the way that I am, I would be willing to pray to God; but as represented by the High Priest Christ Jesus, God stands before you and recognises you; and the foundation of His recognition of you is that you are weak, guilty, out of the way, and continually sinning. He came to call sinners. There were none so wicked that He was not willing to minister to them. The worse a man is the more he needs a Saviour, and the more the heart of Christ yearns towards him. Not only so, but He is gentle and tender in His dealings toward those who are out of the way. He says, A bruised reed I will not break, and the smoking flax I will not quench, until I bring forth judgment unto victory. You know that when you first kindle a lamp there is just a little bit of a blue flame; that it quivers on the wick as if to see whether it can expand into a full flame; and that it is not safe for you even to breathe upon it, so that you must turn your face aside lest you blow it out; but Christ says that when a man has fallen so low that the spiritual life in him is as feeble as the flame of a newly-lighted lamp, He will not put it out. The all-merciful love of Jesus Christ, who is the atonement of the world, and who reveals in Himself the nature of the Divine Father, is curative by its very moral character. It represents the love of Him who is for ever giving His life to make life in those whom He has created. (H. W.Beecher.)

Christ a merciful and faithful High Priest

1. He must be merciful; for He must deal with God for sinful and miserable man, for to relieve him. And He is then merciful, when He doth not only know mans misery, but is inwardly sensible of it, so as to be moved and that effectually to succour him. This mercifulness is opposed not only to ignorance of others misery, and senselessness, but also to harshness, severity, cruelty. And Christ was more merciful than ever any man or angel was, and there was great need He should be so; for if every offence, nay, if many and great offences, should move Him to passion, and enrage Him so as to reject them and their cause, or proceed to plead against them, or condemn them, how many thousands should perish everlastingly?

2. As He is merciful, so He must be faithful, and such as poor sinners may safely trust unto, and depend upon, when they commit their cause concerning their eternal estate into His hands. Christ may be said to be faithful, either to God, who hath given the office of high priest, and a command to discharge it, or unto man, who, according to the rules of Gods Word, believes in Him, and commits Himself and all that he hath unto Him. And then He is actually faithful, when He performs all things belonging to His sacerdotal office, and goes through with His work until He hath perfectly finished, and sinful man attains that for which he trusted Him. Man may be merciful and not faithful; Christ is both, and will be sensible of our case and cause, will mind it, and do it as His own. In this respect our hope is firm and our comfort is unspeakable. Blessed are all they that trust Him. This is His qualification, the best that ever was or can be in any priest.

3. The work, the principal work is, to make reconciliation for the sins of His people.

(1) He hath His people, and they are such as know Him and trust in Him.

(2) These have their sins and are guilty.

(3) Reconciliation therefore is necessary; otherwise they die, they perish everlastingly.

(4) There must be some one, and the same a priest both merciful and faithful, to make this reconciliation, and this is Christ. (G. Lawson.)

The generosity of our kinsman

The chief of the Koreish were prostrate at his (Mahomets) feet (after the conquest of Mecca). What mercy can you expect from the man whom you have wronged? We confide in the generosity of our kinsman. And you shall not confide in vain begone! you are safe, you are free. (Gibbon.)

Christs intercession compassionate

How a tender-hearted mother would plead with a judge for her child read to be condemned! Oh, how would her bowels work; how would her tears trickle down; what weeping rhetoric would she use to the judge for mercy! Thus the Lord Jesus is full of sympathy and tenderness that He might be a merciful High Priest. Though He hath left His passion, yet not His compassion. An ordinary lawyer is not affected with the cause he pleads, nor doth he care which way it goes; profit makes him plead, not affection. But Christ intercedes feelingly, and that which makes Him intercede with affection is, it is His own cause which He pleads in the cause of His people. (Thomas Watson.)

To make reconciliation for the sins of the people

The reconciliation of sinners by the death of Christ

I. IT IS SAID HERE, IT BECAME OUR SAVIOUR, OR HE MADE HIMSELF A DEBTOR, TO NO WHAT HE DID.

1. Though He acted willingly, and laid down His life freely, yet this became Him in respect of His compassion and great good-will to men.

2. It became Him in respect of His Fathers will, and the pursuit of that business in which He was engaged.

3. It behoved Him in all things to be made like unto us. What, sin and all? No; God forbid; that is excepted (Heb_4:5). Our Saviour was made like unto us.

(1) In our limitation, contraction, bodily shape. He was as we are, confined to time, place, bodily weakness and infirmity.

(2) In passions, affections and sensitive apprehensions. Only there is this difference; in us they ebb and flow, but in our Saviour they were exactly governed.

(3) In our necessities of relief and support, as eating, drinking, sleeping, cessation from action. Therefore, we read, that He was weary, hungry, and the like.

II. In the next place it follows that He was LIKE UNTO US, THAT HE MIGHT BE A MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST. This was done with respect to us; in a way of compassion and pure good-will. Two things evidence this unto us. That the state which our Saviour submitted to, the principle that moved Him, was pure goodwill.

(1) The motive of Gods sending Him, and of His coming.

(2) The end and business of His coming was all from good-will.

(3) In respect of God, it is said, that God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And then

(4), The business that He came about: which doth give us a full account of our Saviours intention, and doth justify our Saviours work. For He came about a work as certainly Divine as the very Creation itself was.

III. In the next place it follows THAT OUR INFIRMITIES ARE COMPASSIONABLE. These three things put together, do something lessen the sins of man, and procure him pity with God.

1. That he is liable to fail and be mistaken.

2. That in his constitution he doth consist of body and spirit.

3. That he is exposed to all sorts of temptations from without in this dangerous world. So that through the grace of God it is not so much what sin is as what the demeanour of a person is after sin. The same goodness that doth pardon penitents cloth punish obstinacy.

Inferences:

1. Though we are under guilt, yet let us not despair: for if we do submit, and turn to God, it is a case of mercy, and God will forgive.

2. Let us have no hard thoughts of God upon occasion of His present judgments, or future denunciations. Let us consider the temper that is in obstinate sinners. God may give repentance to the sinner, but He cannot give pardon to the impenitent.

3. Take notice, that to be tempted, and to sin, are two things. None can hinder an offer to be made; but it lies in our power to resist it. Satan may tempt, but he cannot force. Neither are we alone; for God will assist us, and wilt not be wanting to those that are willing to make use of His strength.

4. Let us counterwork the Evil One, by frequent proposals of good. If there be evil thoughts suggested, put yourselves upon good thoughts and motions. Live not carelessly in the world, since the world is a place of so much danger.

5. Do not run away with every report, nor bite at every bait; since we live among our enemies in a place of danger, difficulty, ill representations. (B. Whichcote, D. D.)

Christ our High Priest, merciful and faithful

1. The high priest was in the Jewish Church an eminent instrument of God, the most visible and eminent type of Christ that was. And truly, were not the high priest in the Jewish state transcendently supplied, he would be greatly missed. But, thanks be to God, whereas they had the shadow, we have the substance. The high priest was always a middle person between God and the people, to be in readiness to make approaches to God, whatsoever the necessity was.

2. And then He was merciful, viz., to make the best of our cave; to compassionate us in misery, and to help us out.

3. Not only merciful but faithful; true to our cause, will make the best of oar case. One that is trusted by God for us.

4. Next, in things pertaining to God. Where I observe that the business of Christ is wholly spiritual. Christs government is in the mind, understanding and conscience. Christ did not come into the world for worldly ends and purposes; these are things far below His intentions. The notion of Christs government is for mental illumination, delivery from sin, moral refinement, sanctification here, and glorification hereafter. They do act in the spirit of Christ, who are preachers of righteousness by words and by practice; what is not spiritual is wholly foreign to Christs kingdom, and to His government. And then again, Christianity lays a foundation of no enmity, but only to unrighteousness and to wickedness. For if we be in a true Christian spirit, we will endeavour to reconcile, and we must be in reconciliation with everything that holds of God and that God doth uphold.

5. Whatsoever is declared concerning Christ; whatsoever the excellency of His person: this is the advantage that we have by it; that He makes use of all His power and interest for our benefit; and He was appointed of God to this end, that He might make reconciliation for the sins of the people. I am now from these words to give you an account of the business of reconciliation, which is the great undertaking of our Saviour; which is the product of infinite wisdom and goodness, and which is our greatest concernment, as being fundamentally necessary to happiness. For it is not possible we should be made happy by God Himself, if not reconciled to Him; we are eternally undone if this be not done.

1. This Reconciler goes in a way of moral motion.

2. He treats with both parties at variance.

3. He doth equally consider the right of both sides.

4. Reconciliation must be mutual.

5. It is acceptable every way to each party: the work of reconciliation is acceptable to God and man.

To God, because Gods honour is maintained, and because infinite wisdom and goodness have therein exercised themselves. And to man, because man is put upon nothing but what is best in itself; that a man if he did but consider, he would not be saved in another way. And man now is out of danger, and looks upon God as his Friend. And God delights in this His product, infinite wisdom and goodness together. This is the representation I make you concerning the matter of reconciliation. I will now speak of the manner of reconciliation, and show you what our Saviour in our behalf did undertake, that was highly satisfactory to the mind of God, and according to His will; and therefore it was the true manner of reconciliation.

1. Concerning the quality of sin. Here is a declaration of its unworthiness, its odiousness in the sight of God, its ill demerit, its hurtfulness to the creature; for it destroys the subject, and is a pernicious example. Now it is fit that the person to be restored be made sensible of his condition, and what the physician hath done for him.

2. In respect of the law, four things were done by Christs undertaking.

(1) Gods unquestionable right to make laws depending on His own will and pleasure.

(2) The necessity of such laws that are in themselves good and founded in the relation the creature stands in to God.

(3) The reason and equity of all these laws.

(4) Man is bound in subjection to them. All these things are acknowledged by our Saviours undertaking.

3. An open condemnation of sin is requisite and fitting in this case of the creatures wilful practice upon God; and to be for ever hereafter a check upon all lusts. And this is remarkably done by our Saviour, since He died for sin. This arrogant practice of the creature is sufficiently witnessed against; since an innocent person hath died for it. And doth not this look backward, and condemn what man hath done; and look forward, and restrain lust and sin, for all time to come? So that this being in itself worthy, is satisfactory to God, and the pardon of sin is thereby facilitated.

4. Owning God as supreme and sovereign, and owning the rule of right, is done in the very nature that had transgressed.

5. There is demonstration of Gods veracity and holiness. He had given out prohibition under the penalty of death. In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death. And this is fulfilled in the very letter. Gods holiness and impartiality is declared, and this is according to the mind and will of God; and a matter that is acceptable is always matter of satisfaction.

6. He brings things to rights again. That is done by our Saviours undertaking. The curse was taken off, and God returns to blessing, and He hath blessed man ever since. The passage is open to our free communication with God. (B. Whichcote, D. D.)

Reconciliation with God

To effect this, all that is necessary is to persuade the sinner to Cease his rebellion and submit to Him. In Christ God is reconciled to the sinner, and there is no need to persuade Him. He is love, the sinner is enmity. He is light, the sinner is darkness. He is nigh unto the sinner, but the sinner is afar off from Him. The great object then to be accomplished is, to destroy the sinners enmity, that he may have Divine love; bring him from his darkness into Divine light; bring him from his evil works nigh unto God, and reconciliation is the result. (John Bate.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 2:17-18. Wherefore in all things — That essentially pertain to our nature, and in all sufferings and temptations; it behooved him — In respect of the office, duty, and employment he had taken upon him; or it was highly fit and proper, yea, necessary, in order to his design of redeeming them; to be made like his brethren — That is, a mortal man; that — By experience of suffering in himself; he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest — Merciful toward sinners, affected with the sorrows and sufferings of others, and the more inclined to pity and relieve them; and faithful toward God, in discharging every other part of his office, as well as in relieving his suffering members. A priest or high-priest, is one who has a right of approaching God, and of bringing others to him. His being faithful is treated of, Heb 3:2, &c., with its use: merciful, Heb 4:14, &c., with the use also: high-priest, Heb 5:4, &c., Heb 7:1. The use is added, from Heb 10:19. “The Son of God, who made men, no doubt had such a knowledge of their infirmity, as might have rendered him a merciful intercessor, though he had not been made flesh. Yet, considering the greatness of his nature, it might have been difficult for men to have understood this. And therefore, to impress us the more strongly with the belief that he is most affectionately disposed, from sympathy, to succour us when tempted; and, in judging us at the last day, to make every reasonable allowance for the infirmity of our nature, he was pleased to be made like us in all things, and even to suffer by temptations.” In things pertaining to God — That were to be done either for men with God, or for God with men; to make reconciliation for — Or to expiate, as ιλασκεσθαι signifies, the sins of the people — Not the people of the Jews merely, but the people of all nations, whether Jews or Gentiles, who, in repentance and faith, should turn to God. Hence St. John tells us, he is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, offering sacrifice and interceding for them, and deriving God’s grace, peace, and blessings upon them. For in that e himself suffered, being tempted — See Heb 4:15; he is able — Has a greater fitness and readiness; to succour them that are tempted — And he has given a manifest, demonstrative proof that he is able so to do. Our Lord was not only tempted immediately after his baptism in the wilderness, but his whole life was a continued scene of temptation, as we learn from Luk 22:28 : Ye are they who have continued with me in my temptation. Christ’s temptations, like those of his brethren, arose from the persecutions and sufferings to which he was exposed, as well as from direct attacks of the devil by evil suggestions, such as those mentioned Mat 4:1-11; Luk 4:1-13.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrews

WHAT BEHOOVED CHRIST

Heb 2:17

I BRING these words: ‘It behooved Him,’ into connection with similar words in an earlier verse of the chapter, on which I was lately preaching: ‘It became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.’

In the latter words the sufferings of Jesus Christ and His consequent perfecting for His work of Messiah are considered, in an aspect somewhat unusual with scripture writers, as being in accordance with the divine nature, and worthy of God. ‘He, by whom are all things,’ had no other way of electing His highest purpose of redemption than through the sufferings of Jesus Christ. ‘He, for whom are all things,’ could win men to be for Him only through these sufferings. And so the paradox of the Cross was worthy of God and like Him. In my text the same series of historical facts, the life of Jesus Christ and His death, considered as a whole, are regarded not as worthy of God, but as that which ‘behoved’ Christ, ‘It behooved’ is stronger than ‘it became.’ The one phrase points to the conformity of the thing in question with God’s character and nature; the other declares that the thing in question has in it a moral necessity or obligation, and that Christ’s assimilation to His fellows, especially in all the ills that flesh is heir to, was laid upon Him as a necessity, in view of His purpose of redemption and the helping of His fellows.

So then we have here, in the words which I have read, and in the context, three thoughts on which I touch now. First of all, the completeness of Christ’s assimilation to us, especially in regard to suffering; second, Christ’s sufferings as necessary for the fulfilment of Christ’s design; and lastly and more especially, Christ’s sufferings as indispensable for His priestly office. Now look at these three things briefly.

I. Note, first of all, the emphasis of that expression, ‘it behooved Him to be made in all things like unto His brethren.’

And observe that the ‘all things’ here, concerning which our Lord’s likeness to mankind is predicated, are not the ordinary properties of human nature, but emphatically and specifically man’s sorrows.

That will appear, I think, if you notice that my text is regarded as being a consequence of our Lord’s incarnation for the help of His fellows. ‘He laid not hold upon angels, but He laid hold upon the seed of Abraham.’ Wherefore, ‘in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren.’

Now, if the likeness here be the possession of true manhood, then my text is mere tautology, and it would simply be saying, ‘He became a man, wherefore it behoved Him to become a man.’ The same conclusion is, I think, fairly to be deduced from the last words of our chapter, where the fact of His suffering being tempted, is stated as His preparation to help, and as His qualification as a merciful and faithful High Priest. That is to say, the ‘all things’ of which our Lord became partaker like us His brethren, are here the whole mass - in all its variety of pressure and diversity of nauseousness and bitterness - the whole mass of human sorrow which has ever made men’s hearts bleed and men’s eyes weep.

Christ, in His single manhood, says the writer, gathered unto Himself every form of pain, of misery, of weariness, of burden, which can weigh upon and wear out a human spirit; and no single ingredient that ever made any man’s cup distasteful was left out, in that dreadful draught which He emptied to the dregs ere He passed the chalice to our lips, saying, ‘Drink ye all of it.’

This is the great lesson and blessed thought of our text that no suffering soul, no harassed heart, no lonely life, has ever been able to say, ‘Ah! I have to bear this by myself, for Jesus Christ never knew anything like this.’ All the pain and sorrow of adverse circumstances, that try some of us, He knows who had ‘not where to lay His head’; who was a poor man all His days, to whom the women had to minister of their charity, and who depended upon others for His sustenance in life, and for cerements, and a grave in death. The sorrows that belong to a physical frame overwrought and crushed by excessive toil; the sorrows of weakness, of sickness, the pains of death - He understands them all. The sorrows that come from our relations to our fellows, whether they be the hopeless, quiet tears that fall for ever upon broken affections and lost loves, or whether they be the bitter griefs that come from unrequited affections and unappreciated aims, and benefits flung back, and hearts tortured by ingratitude - He knows them all. And the loftier and less selfish, more impersonal, griefs that make so large a portion of the weight and heaviness of the noblest spirits, they all cast their shadows across His pure soul, and the shadow was the deeper and the darker because of the very purity of the soul on which it fell. Purity is ever sad in the presence of foulness; and love is ever sorrowful when bowed with the burden of another’s sorrow; and both these sources of pain and grief, which diffuse their bitterness through the lives of the best men, weighed in all their gravity upon Him who felt the world’s sorrow and the world’s sin as a personal grief because His soul was perfectly unselfish, perfectly pure, perfectly united to God, and therefore perfectly clear- sighted. All the miseries of all men forced themselves into and filled Christ’s heart, Dear brother! you and I have but a drop given to us; He drank the whole cup. Our natures are not capable of sorrow as varied, as deep, as poignant as the sorrow of Jesus Christ; but for each of us surely the assurance comes with some subtle power of consolation and strength, ‘In all their afflictions He was afflicted’; and none of us can ever meet a sorrow with whose face Christ was not familiar, and which He Himself has not conquered for us.

II. So that brings me to the next point suggested here, viz., our Lord’s varied, all-comprehensive sorrow was a necessity imposed upon Him by the purpose which He had in view.

The context gives us that assertion in distinct language. Adopting the improved and accurate rendering of the Revised Version of the previous verse, we read, ‘Verily not of angels doth He take hold, but He taketh hold of the seed of Abraham; wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren.’

Now the word rendered here, ‘taketh hold,’ is the same word which is employed in the narrative of a very striking incident in the gospels, where the Apostle Peter is ready to sink in the water; and Jesus Christ ‘stretched forth His hand and caught him.’ And that story may serve as an illustration for us of the meaning of the writer here. Here we are all, the whole race of us, exposed to the pelting of the pitiless storm, and ready to sink beneath the waters, and Jesus Christ stretches forth His strong, gentle hand and lays hold of our tremulous and feeble fingers, and keeps us up above the surges which else would overwhelm us.

Now, says my text, no man can help another unless he stand by the side of, and on the level of, that other. ‘He taketh hold, not of angels, but of the seed of Abraham’; and, therefore, He must have a hand like theirs, that can grasp theirs, and which theirs can grasp. Unless the Master had Himself been standing on the heaving surges, and Himself been subjected to the beating of the storm, He could not have revived and held up the sinking disciple.

And so our Lord’s bitter suffering, diffused through life and concentrated on the Cross, was no mere necessary result of His humanity, was not simply borne because, being a Teacher, He must stand to His principles whatever befell Him because of them; but it was a direct result of the purpose He had in view, that purpose being our redemption. Therefore to say, ‘It behoved Him to be made in all things like unto His brethren,’ is but to declare that Christ’s sufferings were no matter of physical necessity, but a matter of moral obligation. He must indeed suffer. But why must He? ‘It behoved Him to he made like unto His brethren’; but why was it obligatory upon Him so to take the bitter bread that we eat, and to drink the water of tears that we drink? For one reason, and for one reason only, because He loved us and willed to save us.

So I beseech you to feel that underlying the bitter necessity which my text speaks about there is the voluntary endurance of Jesus Christ. Ah! we do not think enough about the necessity, all through His life, for a continual repetition of the great act of self-surrender of which His incarnation was the first consequence. At the beginning of His earthly career He emptied Himself, out of love to us; and step by step, and moment by moment, all through His life, there was the continual repetition of the same act. Each one of His sufferings was the direct result of His will at the moment to perfect the work which He came to do. At any instant He might have abandoned it; and that He did not was solely owing to His perennial love. For His own determination to save and succour us was the one cord that bound this sacrifice to the horns of the altar. The Man Christ, at every moment of His life, gave Himself; and as each fresh billow of sorrow rolled above His bowed and compliant head, it rolled because He still willed to save and help His fellows.

This voluntary submission of our Lord to all the sufferings which befell Him because of His determination to come to the help of His brethren ought to make us feel how that whole life of His was one pure efflux of infinite and unspeakable love; and we ought to see in it the gift which ‘became’ the divine mercy indeed, but which also ‘behoved’ the Man Jesus, to the end that all our sorrows may be comforted and all our evil taken away.

We know not, nor ever can know, by what mysterious process the Son learned obedience by the things which He suffered, nor can we understand how it was that the High Priest, who would never have become the High Priest had He not been merciful, became yet more merciful by His own experience o human sorrow. But this we know, that somehow the pity, the sympathy of Christ, was deepened by His own life; and we can feel that it is easier for men to lay hold of His sympathy when they think of His sufferings, and to be sure that because in all points He was tempted like as we are, ‘He is able to succour them that are tempted.’ Comfort drops but coldly from lips that have never uttered a sigh or a groan; and for our poor human hearts it is not enough to have a merciful God far off in the heavens. We need a Christ who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ere we can come boldly to the Throne of Grace, assured of there finding grace in time of need.

III. Lastly, we have here the specification of the main purpose of our Lord’s sorrows - ‘that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things appertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.’

That defines more closely what He has to do, if He is to help us, and what He does do when He takes hold of the seed of Abraham. There are but two remarks that I would make on this part of my subject. The one is - let us learn what is the true nature of Christ’s help. It is the help of a priest who comes to offer a sacrifice which takes away the burden and the guilt o sin from the world.

Christ’s help is not merely the help of a wise Teacher. Men do not want only teaching. Their need goes far deeper than that. Christ’s help is not only the help of One who declares to His fellows what God is. Men’s needs go deeper than that. Christ’s help is not merely the help of One who sets forth in sweet attractive colours the beauty of holiness and the charm of purity. Men’s needs go deeper than that. We do not only need to know what God is, we need to have our relation to God altered. We do not only need to be told what we ought to do, we need that the past shall be cancelled, and the fatal bias and tendency towards evil within ourselves be taken away. Christ is not the Helper whose help goes down to the depths and the roots of men’s necessity, unless He is Priest as well as Prophet and King. He comes to do something as well as to say something; comes to alter our relations to God, as well as to declare God’s heart to us. In a word, we must say even to Christ, ‘Vain is Thy help, and impotent is Thy grasp, unless Thou dost bring by Thy sufferings reconciliation for the sins of the people.’

And then, notice again how here we have Christ’s priestly office extended over His whole life of suffering. The popular representations of the gospel, and the superficial grasp of it which many good people have, are accustomed to draw a broad line of demarcation between Christ’s life and Christ’s death, and to concentrate the whole of the sacrificial and expiatory character of His work in His death only. My text goes in the other direction. It says that all that long-drawn sorrow which ran through the whole life of Jesus Christ, whilst it culminated in His death, was His sacrifice for the sins of the world. For all sorrow, according to scriptural teaching, is the fruit of sin; and the sinless Christ, who bore the sorrows which He had not earned, in bearing them bore them away.

And though the shell of them and the outward appearance of them may be left, the inward reality and the bitterness of them is gone. It is exactly in reference to the ills of life as it is in reference to the other penalty of sin which consists in death. The outward fact continues, the inward nature is altered. For he who can say, ‘Christ my Lord suffered for me,’ finds that sorrows become solemn joys, and all things work together for good.

The Cross is the climax of His sacrifice, but His whole life is sacrifice and expiation, because His whole life is the life of a sinless ‘Man of sorrows acquainted with grief.’

So, then, we have to look to Him, in all the meek endurance of His life, and in all the mysterious darkness of His death, not merely as the pattern of patience, as the Teacher of the sanctity of sorrow, as the first of the martyrs; but we have to look to Him, and to feel that ‘the Lord hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of us all.’

Brother, He became like us in our sorrows that we might become like Him in His gladness. Each of us, singly, was in His mind and in His heart when He bowed Himself to the flood of sorrows, and yielded His soul to the Cross of shame. So let us stretch out our poor hands to Him who reaches His tender omnipotent one across the billows, and grasping the hands with the print of the nails, we shall find that we have exchanged portions, and that He who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows has bestowed upon us His gladness, and crowned us with the glory of the blessedness which He had with the Father before the world was.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:17-18 These verses introduce Jesus’ role as our merciful and faithful High Priest, which is fully discussed in the central section of Hebrews (4:14–10:25). • It was necessary for him to share our humanity (see 5:1).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb 2:17. Ὅθεν) The particle ὅθεν occurs six times in this epistle, but never in the epistles to which the apostle has affixed his name; and yet it occurs in Paul’s speech, Act 26:19.—ὤφειλε, it behoved Him) A grand expression, ch. Heb 5:3. It behoved Him from the relationship of consanguinity, and because He had undertaken it in the Old Testament, Heb 2:12-13. He now exhibits greater confidence in the tone of his speaking; comp. Heb 2:11, He is not ashamed.—κατὰ πάντα, in all things) in all sufferings and temptations.—τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, to His brethren) Heb 2:11.—ὁμοιωθῆναι, to be made like) This is a recapitulation of those things which precede. The sum of those which follow is immediately added.—ἵνα, that) The apostle thrice glances at the High Priesthood, till he comes to its full discussion, ch. 7. He touches upon it in three successive steps. I. He ought to be made like to His brethren, THAT He might BECOME a merciful and faithful High Priest, in the passage before us. II. HE WAS CALLED a High Priest at the time when He was made perfect; ch. Heb 5:10. III. He was MADE High Priest when He entered into that which is within the veil; ch. Heb 6:20; and when this entrance was made once for all, He always, as a Priest for us, presents Himself before the face of God; ch. Heb 9:24.—ἐλεήμων, merciful) This word, as well as πιστὸς, faithful, is construed with ἀρχιερεὺς, high priest; ch. Heb 4:15, Heb 5:2. He was made merciful to the people labouring under sins: πιστὸς, faithful, so far as GOD is concerned. There is a Chiasmus here.[22] We have the Priest and the High Priest, who has the right of drawing near and of bringing men to God. The word faithful is treated of, ch. Heb 3:2, with the addition of the practical application: the word ἐλεήμων, merciful, ch. Heb 4:14, etc., with the practical application also added: the word ἀρχιερεὺς, High Priest, is treated of, ch. Heb 5:4-5, Heb 7:1-2, with the practical application added, ch. Heb 10:19. The proposition or statement of many things at Rom 1:16 (where see the note), very much resembles this. Of these three points, one, ἐλεήμων, merciful, is put before γένηται, that He might become, because it is deduced from what was previously said. The other two are properly connected together, because they come to be treated of afterwards along with the first. But the word merciful, and, conjointly with it, faithful High Priest, elegantly have in this proposition a rather absolute signification, because again (in turn) the subsequent discussion contemplates faithfulness without the priesthood in the case of Moses, and mercy with the priesthood in the case of Aaron. First, Jesus is merciful. No one can suppose that Jesus had more mercy before He suffered, and that now He has more severity. Only let us now flee (escape) from the wrath of the Lamb, which is even yet to come.—Ἀρχιερεὺς) High Priest. The Latin Pontifex was so called from the fact, that he built a bridge at Rome, or sacrificed on a bridge; and the pontifex, ἱερεὺς, was either alone or with others; but the ἈΡΧΙΕΡΕῪς, high priest (pontifex maximus), was exalted above the others, over whom he presided. In the Evangelists and Acts, where the Jewish high priests are frequently mentioned, the term pontiff (pontifex), used by the Vulgate and other translations, will not, I think, offend any one; but in this epistle, in which Christ is the principal subject, I do not know whether that term may be as well suited to the style of Paul as to the institutions of Numa. At least Seb. Schmidius uses it with reluctance, and occasionally substitutes for it chief priest (princeps sacerdos); but a single word is better, especially when other epithets are added, as here merciful and faithful; for we cannot conveniently say, ch. Heb 4:14, a great chief (greatest) pontiff (pontificem maximum magnum). High priest (archisacerdos) is the most convenient term which the learned have long used, and which sounds as well as archigubernus, in the writings of Jabolenus, archiflamen, archipræsul, archipontifex, and various other terms, which Vossius stigmatizes in his work, De vitiis Latini Sermonis, p. 371, and some other writers. With respect to the subject now before us, this glorious title of High Priest occurs presently again, ch. Heb 3:1. But nowhere, except in the 110th Psalm, and Zec 6:13, and in this epistle, is Christ expressly called a Priest; and it is only in this epistle that the priesthood of Christ is professedly discussed. Whence it is evident, how extraordinary in its character, and how necessary, is this book of the New Testament. However, in all these passages, which are even of the Old Testament, there is added the mention of the kingdom, which is oftener spoken of elsewhere without the priesthood. Nay, on the Cross, on which this Priest offered His sacrifice, He had the title (inscription) of King. The priesthood, as well as the kingdom, is appropriate (belongs fittingly) to this First-begotten.—τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, towards God) So ch. Heb 5:1.—εἰς τὸ ἱλάσκεσθαι) to make atonement or reconciliation.—τὰς ἁμαρτίας, the sins) which bring death and the fear of it.—τοῦ λαοῦ, of the people) the people, whom he called the seed of Abraham, Heb 2:16. He Himself knew no sin. He made atonement for the sins of the people, Isa 53:8.

[22] Ἐλεήμων (1) referring to λαοῦ (4): and πιστὸς (2) to Θεόν (3).—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb_2:17. Inference from Heb_2:16, and consequently a reverting to the main statement in Heb_2:14.

ὅθεν] wherefore, sc. on account of the essential constitution of those to be redeemed, as indicated in Heb_2:16. The particle ὅθεν is of very frequent occurrence in the Epistle to the Hebrews (comp. Heb_3:1, Heb_7:25, Heb_8:3, Heb_9:18, Heb_11:19). In Pauls writings, on the other hand, it is nowhere met with.

ὤφειλεν] He ought. Expression, not of the necessity founded in the decree of God (cf. ἔδει, Luk_24:26), but of that founded in the nature of the case itself, comp. Heb_5:3; Heb_5:12.

κατὰ πάντα] in all respects. Chrysostom: τί ἐστι κατὰ πάντα; ἐτέχθη, φησίν, ἐτράφη, ηὐξήθη, ἔπαθε πάντα ἅπερ ἐχρῆν, τέλος ἀπέθανεν. Theodoret: Ὁμοίως γὰρ ἡμῖν καὶ τροφῆς μετέλαβε καὶ πόνον ὑπέμεινε καὶ ἠθύμησε καὶ ἐδάκρυσε καὶ θάνατον κατεδέξατο.

ὁμοιωθῆναι] is not: to be made the same or equal (Bleek, de Wette, Ebrard, Bisping, Delitzsch, Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 33; Alford, Maier, Moll, Kurtz, al.), but expresses, as always, the notion of resemblance. Christ was in all things similar to men, His brethren, inasmuch as He had assumed a truly human nature; He was distinguished from them, however, by His absolute sinlessness. Comp. Heb_4:15.

ἐλεήμων] merciful, full of compassion for the sufferings of the ἀδελφοί, may be taken by itself (Luther, Grotius, Böhme, Bleek, Stein, de Wette, Tholuck, Woerner [after Peshito, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions]), but also as πιστός, may be taken with ἀρχιερεύς (Owen, Bengel, Cramer, Storr, Stuart, Ebrard, Delitzsch, Riehm, p. 330; Alford, Moll, Kurtz, Ewald, Hofmann). In the former case, which, on account of the position of the words, seems more natural, καί denotes and in consequence thereof, so that ἐλεήμων indicates the quality, the possession of which fits him to become a πιστὸς ἀρχιερεύς

πιστὸς] faithful, so fulfilling His high-priestly office as to satisfy the requirements of those to be reconciled.

τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν] with regard to the affairs of God, or: with regard to the cause of God. Comp. Heb_5:1; Rom_15:17.

ἱλάσκεσθαι] middle voice.

τοῦ λαοῦ] of the people (of Israel, Heb_13:12), see on Heb_2:16.

The idea of the high-priesthood of Christ here first comes out in this epistle. From Heb_4:14 onwards it is unfolded in detail. It is disputed, however, at what point our author thought of the high-priestly office of Christ as beginning, whether even on earth, with His death on the cross (so Cramer, Winzer, de sacerdotis officio, quod Christo tribuitur in ep. ad Hebr., Lips. 1825, Comment. I. p. vi. sq.; de Wette, Delitzsch, Alford, and others), or only after the return to the Father; in such wise that, according to the view of the author, the offering of His own body upon the earth, and the entering with His own blood into the heavenly sanctuary, is to be regarded only as the inauguration of Christ to His high-priestly dignity, this dignity itself, however, beginning only with the moment when Christ, in accordance with Psa_110:1, sat down at the right hand of God the Father, Heb_8:1 (so Bleek and Kurtz, after the precedent of Faustus Socinus, Schlichting [Whitby], Griesbach, Opusc. II. p. 436 sq.; Schulz, p. 83 f., and others). It is certainly undeniable that the author in the course of his epistle very strongly accentuates the high-priesthood of Christ (comp. Heb_5:9 f., Heb_6:19 f., Heb_7:24-26, Heb_8:4, Heb_9:24). But the polemic against readers who thought they could not dispense with the ritual of the Jewish sacrifice of atonement for the attainment of salvation, naturally led him to insist with emphasis on the superiority of Christ as the heavenly High Priest over the Jewish high priests as the merely earthly ones. Since now, on the other side, it is equally undeniable that the author places the voluntary sacrificial death of Christ, and the entering with His blood into the heavenly Holy of Holies,as the two inseparable acts of the same proceeding,in parallel with the slaying of the sacrificial victim, and the entering of the earthly high priest with the sacrificial blood into the earthly Holy of Holies, and looks upon the sins of men as completely expiated by the sacrificial death of Christ itself (comp. Heb_2:14 f., Heb_7:27, Heb_9:11-14; Heb_9:26; Heb_9:28, Heb_10:10; Heb_10:12; Heb_10:14, Heb_13:12), there can be no room for doubt, that according to the mind of our author the investiture of Christ with the high-priestly dignity had already begun on earth, from the time of His death; and the representation of mankind in the presence of God is to be thought of as the continued administration of the high-priestly office already entered upon. So in substance also Riehm (comp. the detailed discussion by this writer, Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 466481); although it is certainly not in accordance with the view of the writer of the epistle, when Riehm afterwards (like Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 63 f., 2 Aufl.) supposes a distinction is to be made between Christ as High Priest and Christ as High Priest after the manner of Melchisedec, in that he represents Christ as having become the former by virtue of that which He did during the days of His flesh, as well as on His entrance into the heavenly Holy of Holies, and the latter only by virtue of His exaltation to God, where He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 2:17 . ὅθεν [six times in this Epistle; not used by Paul, but cf. Act 26:19 ] ‘wherefore,’ because He makes the seed of Abraham the object of His saving work, ὤφειλεν , “He was under obligation”. ὀφείλω is “used of a necessity imposed either by law and duty, or by reason, or by the times, or by the nature of the matter under consideration” (Thayer). Here it was the nature of the case which imposed the obligation κατὰ πάντα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ὁμοιωθῆναι “to be made like His brothers in all respects,” and therefore, as Chrysostom says, ἐτέχθη , ἐτράφη , ηὐξήθη , ἔπαθε πάντα ἅπερ ἐχρῆν , τέλος ἀπέθανη . He must be a real man, and not merely have the appearance of one. He must enter into the necessary human experiences, look at things from the human point of view, take His place in the crowd amidst the ordinary elements of life. ἵνα introduces one purpose which this thorough incarnation was to serve. It would put Christ in a position to sympathise with the tempted and thus incline Him to make propitiation for the sins of the people. [ τοῦ λαοῦ , also a restricted Jewish designation.] The High-Priesthood is here first mentioned, and it is mentioned as an office with which the readers were familiar. The writer does not now enlarge upon the office or work of the Priest, but merely points to one radical necessity imposed by priesthood, “making propitiation for the sins of the people”; and he affirms that in order to do this ( εἰς τὸ ) he must be merciful and faithful. ἐλεήμων as well as πιστὸς is naturally construed with ἀρχιερεὺς , and has its root in Exo 22:27 , ἐλεήμων γάρ εἰμι , the priest must represent the Divine mercy; he must also be πιστὸς , primarily to God, as in Heb 3:2 , but thereby faithful to men and to be trusted by them in the region in which he exercises his function, τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν , the whole Godward relations of men. The expression is directly connected with ἀρχιερεὺς , by implication with πιστὸς , and it is found in Exo 18:19 , γίνου σὺ τῷ λαῷ τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν . For neat analogies cf. Wetstein. εἰς τὸ ἱλάσκεσθαι , “for the purpose of making propitiation,” εἰς indicating the special purpose to be served by Christ’s becoming Priest. ἱλάσκομαι ( ἱλάσκω is not met with), from ἵλαος , Attic ἵλεως “propitious,” “merciful,” means “I render propitious to myself”. In the classics it is followed by the accusative of the person propitiated, sometimes of the anger felt. In the LXX it occurs twelve times, thrice as the translation of כִּפֵּר . The only instance in which it is followed by an accusative of the sin, as here, is Psa 64 (65):3, τὰς ἀσεβείας ἡμῶν σὺ ἱλάσῃ . In the N.T., besides the present passage, it only occurs in Luk 18:13 , in the passive form ἱλάσθητί μοι τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ , cf. 2Ki 5:18 . The compound form ἐξιλάσκομαι , although it does not occur in N.T., is more frequently used in the LXX than the simple verb, and from its construction something may be learnt. As in profane Greek, it is followed by an accusative of the person propitiated, as in Gen 32:20 , where Jacob says of Esau ἐξιλάσομαι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς δώροις κ . τ . λ .; Zec 7:2 , ἐξιλάσασθαι τὸν Κύριον , and Zec 8:22 , τὸ πρόσωπον Κυρίου , also Mat 1:9 . It is however also followed by an accusative of the thing on account of which propitiation is needed or which requires by some rite or process to be rendered acceptable to God, as in Sir 3:3 ; Sir 3:30 ; Sir 5:6 ; Sir 20:28 , etc., where it is followed by ἀδικίαν , and ἁμαρτίας ; and in Lev 16:16 ; Lev 16:20 ; Lev 16:33 , where it is followed by τὸ ἅγιον , τὸ θυσιαστήριον , and in Eze 45:20 by τὸν οἶκον . At least thirty-two times in Leviticus alone it is followed by περί , defining the persons for whom propitiation is made, περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐξιλάσεται ὁ ἱερεύς or περὶ πάσης συναγωγῆς , or περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑμῶν . In this usage there is apparent a transition from the idea of propitiating God (which still survives in the passive ἱλάσθητι ) to the idea of exerting some influence on that which was offensive to God and which must be removed or cleansed in order to complete entrance into His favour. In the present passage it is τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ λαοῦ which stand in the way of the full expression of God’s favour, and upon those therefore the propitiatory influence of Christ is to be exerted. In what manner precisely this is to be accomplished is not yet said. “The present infinitive ἱλάσκεσθαι must be noticed. The one (eternal) act of Christ (c. x. 12 14) is here regarded in its continuous present application to men ( cf. c. Heb 2:1-2 ),” Westcott. (See further on ἱλάσκεσθαι in Blass, Gram. , p. 88; Deissmann’s Neue Bibelstud. , p. 52; and Westcott’s Epistle of St. John , pp. 83 85.) τοῦ λαοῦ the historical people of God, Abraham’s seed; cf. Mat 1:21 ; Heb 4:9 ; Heb 13:12 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Doing his office sincerely.

That he might be truly touched with the feeling of our miseries.

Not only as touching nature, but qualities also.

He applieth the same to the Priesthood, for which he should not have benefit, unless he had become man, and that like unto us in all things, sin only except.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Wherefore--Greek, "Whence." Found in Paul's speech, Act 26:19.

in all things--which are incidental to manhood, the being born, nourished, growing up, suffering. Sin is not, in the original constitution of man, a necessary attendant of manhood, so He had no sin.

it behooved him--by moral necessity, considering what the justice and love of God required of Him as Mediator (compare Heb 5:3), the office which He had voluntarily undertaken in order to "help" man (Heb 2:16).

his brethren-- (Heb 2:11); "the seed of Abraham" (Heb 2:16), and so also the spiritual seed, His elect out of all mankind.

be, &c.--rather as Greek, "that He might become High Priest"; He was called so, when He was "made perfect by the things which He suffered" (Heb 2:10; Heb 5:8-10). He was actually made so, when He entered within the veil, from which last flows His ever continuing intercession as Priest for us. The death, as man, must first be, in order that the bringing in of the blood into the heavenly Holy Place might follow, in which consisted the expiation as High Priest.

merciful--to "the people" deserving wrath by "sins." Mercy is a prime requisite in a priest, since his office is to help the wretched and raise the fallen: such mercy is most likely to be found in one who has a fellow-feeling with the afflicted, having been so once Himself (Heb 4:15); not that the Son of God needed to be taught by suffering to be merciful, but that in order to save us He needed to take our manhood with all its sorrows, thereby qualifying Himself, by experimental suffering with us, to be our sympathizing High Priest, and assuring us of His entire fellow-feeling with us in every sorrow. So in the main CALVIN remarks here.

faithful--true to God (Heb 3:5-6) and to man (Heb 10:23) in the mediatorial office which He has undertaken.

high priest--which Moses was not, though "faithful" (Heb. 2:1-18). Nowhere, except in Psa 110:4; Zac 6:13, and in this Epistle, is Christ expressly called a priest. In this Epistle alone His priesthood is professedly discussed; whence it is evident how necessary is this book of the New Testament. In Psa 110:1-7, and Zac 6:13, there is added mention of the kingdom of Christ, which elsewhere is spoken of without the priesthood, and that frequently. On the cross, whereon as Priest He offered the sacrifice, He had the title "King" inscribed over Him [BENGEL].

to make reconciliation for the sins--rather as Greek, "to propitiate (in respect to) the sins"; "to expiate the sins." Strictly divine justice is "propitiated"; but God's love is as much from everlasting as His justice; therefore, lest Christ's sacrifice, or its typical forerunners, the legal sacrifices, should be thought to be antecedent to God's grace and love, neither are said in the Old or New Testament to have propitiated God; otherwise Christ's sacrifices might have been thought to have first induced God to love and pity man, instead of (as the fact really is) His love having originated Christ's sacrifice, whereby divine justice and divine love are harmonized. The sinner is brought by that sacrifice into God's favor, which by sin he had forfeited; hence his right prayer is, "God be propitiated (so the Greek) to me who am a sinner" (Luk 18:13). Sins bring death and "the fear of death" (Heb 2:15). He had no sin Himself, and "made reconciliation for the iniquity" of all others (Dan 9:24).

of the people--"the seed of Abraham" (Heb 2:16); the literal Israel first, and then (in the design of God), through Israel, the believing Gentiles, the spiritual Israel (Pe1 2:10).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 17. Wherefore in all things] Because he thus laid hold on man in order to redeem him, it was necessary that he should in all things become like to man, that he might suffer in his stead, and make an atonement in his nature.

That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest] ινα ελεημων γενηται. That he might be merciful-that he might be affected with a feeling of our infirmities, that, partaking of our nature with all its innocent infirmities and afflictions, he might know how to compassionate poor, afflicted, suffering man. And that he might be a faithful high priest in those things which relate to God, whose justice requires the punishment of the transgressors, or a suitable expiation to be made for the sins of the people. The proper meaning of ιλασκεσθαι τας αμαρτιας is to make propitiation or atonement for sins by sacrifice. See the note on this word, "Lu 18:13", where it is particularly explained. Christ is the great High Priest of mankind;

1. He exercises himself in the things pertaining to GOD, taking heed that God's honour be properly secured, his worship properly regulated, his laws properly enforced, and both his justice and mercy magnified. Again,

2. He exercises himself in things pertaining to MEN, that he may make an atonement for them, apply this atonement to them, and liberate them thereby from the curse of a broken law, from the guilt and power of sin, from its inbeing and nature, and from all the evils to which they were exposed through it, and lastly that he might open their way into the holiest by his own blood; and he has mercifully and faithfully accomplished all that he has undertaken.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, or, to be like his brethren, etc. In Christ’s human nature there are two things to be considered, the real flesh and the affections or feelings. The Apostle then teaches us, that he had not only put on the real flesh of man, but also all those feelings which belong to man, and he also shows the benefit that hence proceeds; and it is the true teaching of faith when we in our case find the reason why the Son of God undertook our infirmities; for all knowledge without feeling the need of this benefit is cold and lifeless. But he teaches us that Christ was made subject to human affections, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest; which words I thus explain, “that he might be a merciful, and therefore a faithful high priest.”

For in a priest, whose office it is to appease God’s wrath, to help the miserable, to raise up the fallen, to relieve the oppressed, mercy is especially required, and it is what experience produces in us; for it is a rare thing, for those who are always happy to sympathize with the sorrows of others. The following saying of Virgil was no doubt derived from daily examples found among men:

“Not ignorant of evil, I learn to aid the miserable.”

The Son of God had no need of experience that he might know the emotions of mercy; but we could not be persuaded that he is merciful and ready to help us, had he not become acquainted by experience with our miseries; but this, as other things, has been as a favor given to us. Therefore whenever any evils pass over us, let it ever occur to us, that nothing happens to us but what the Son of God has himself experienced in order that he might sympathize with us; nor let us doubt but that he is at present with us as though he suffered with us.

Faithful means one true and upright, for it is one opposite to a dissembler; and to him who fulfils not his engagements. An acquaintance with our sorrows and miseries so inclines Christ to compassion, that he is constant in imploring God’s aid for us. What besides? Having purposed to make atonement for sins, he put on our nature that we might have in our own flesh the price of our redemption; in a word, that by the right of a common nature he might introduce us, together with himself, into the sanctuary of God. By the words, in things pertaining to God, he means such things as are necessary to reconcile men to God; and as the first access to God is by faith, there is need of a Mediator to remove all doubting.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(17) Wherefore.—Since it is “the seed of Abraham,” His brethren, that He would help.

In all things.—These words must be taken with “made like.” In all respects (the single exception does not come into notice here, see Heb_4:15) He must be made like to “the brethren” (a reference to Heb_2:12): like them, He must be liable to, and must suffer, temptation, sorrow, pain, death.

That he might be.—Rather, that He might prove, or become (the words imply what is more fully expressed in Heb_5:8), a compassionate and faithful High Priest. The high priest was the representative of men to God; without such likeness (see Heb_5:1-2) He could be no true High Priest for man. The order of the Greek words throws an emphasis on “compassionate” which is in full harmony with what we have seen to be the pervading tone of the chapter. One who has not so understood the infirmities of his brethren as to be “compassionate,” cannot be their “faithful” representative before God. But the word “faithful” is still more closely connected with the following words. If through the power of sympathy which the Saviour has gained “by sufferings” He becomes “compassionate” as our High Priest, it is through “the suffering of death” (Heb_2:9) that He proves Himself “the faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation (or rather, propitiation) for the sins of the people.” The word “high priest,” hereafter to be so prominent in the Epistle, is brought in somewhat suddenly, but several expressions in this chapter (see also Heb_1:3) have prepared for and led up to the crowning thought here brought before us. The characteristic function of the high priest was his presentation of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, that expiation might be made for the sins of the whole people, that the displeasure of God might not rest on the nation on account of sin. (Comp. Heb_2:11.) The words rendered “propitiate” and “propitiation” are not of frequent occurrence in the New Testament (Luk_18:13; 1Jn_2:2; 1Jn_4:10—see also Rom_3:25), but are very often found in the LXX. The subject receives its full treatment in Hebrews 9, 10.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. Wherefore] The Greek word ὅθεν, “whence,” common in this Epistle, does not occur once in St Paul, but is found in Act_26:19, in a report of his speech, and in 1Jn_2:18.

in all things] These words should be taken with “to be made like.”

it behoved him] Stronger than the “it became Him” of Heb_2:10. It means that, with reference to the object in view, there lay upon Him a moral obligation to become a man with men. See Heb_5:1-2.

that he might be] Rather, “that he might become” or, “prove Himself.”

a merciful and faithful high priest] Merciful, or rather, “compassionate” to men; “faithful” to God. In Christ “mercy and truth” have met together. Psa_85:10. The expression “a faithful priest” is found in 1Sa_2:35. Dr Robertson Smith well points out that the idea of “a merciful priest,” which is scarcely to be found in the O.T., would come home with peculiar force to the Jews of that day, because mercy was a quality in which the Aaronic Priests had signally failed (Yoma, f. 9. 1), and in the Herodian epoch they were notorious for cruelty, insolence and greed (see my Life of Christ, ii. 329, 330). The Jews said that there had been no less than 28 High Priests in 107 years of this epoch (Jos. Antt. xx. 10) their brief dignity being due to their wickedness (Pro_10:27). The conception of the Priesthood hitherto had been ceremonial rather than ethical; yet it is only “by mercy and truth” that “iniquity is purged.” Pro_16:6. The word “High Priest,” here first introduced, has evidently been entering into the writer’s thoughts (Heb_1:3, Heb_2:9; Heb_2:11; Heb_2:16), and is the most prominent conception throughout the remainder of the Epistle. The consummating steps in genuine high priesthood are touched upon in Heb_5:10, Heb_6:20, Heb_9:24.

high priest] The Greek word is comparatively new. In the Pentateuch the high priest is merely called “the Priest” (except in Lev_21:10). In later books of Scripture the epithet “head” or “great” is added. The word occurs 17 times in this Epistle, but not once in any other.

in things pertaining to God] Comp. Heb_5:1. The phrase is found in the LXX. of Exo_18:19.

to make reconciliation for the sins of the people] More literally, “to expiate the sins of the people.” Christ is nowhere said in the N. T. to “expiate” or “propitiate” God or “the wrath of God” (which are heathen, not Christian, conceptions), nor is any such expression found in the LXX. Nor do we find such phrases as “God was propitiated by the death of His Son,” or “Christ propitiated the wrath of God by His blood.” God Himself fore-ordained the propitiation (Rom_3:25). The verb represents the Hebrew kippeer, “to cover,” whence is derived the name for the day of Atonement (Kippurim). In Dan_9:24 Theodotion’s version has ἐξιλάσαθαι ἀδικίας. We are left to unauthorised theory and conjecture as to the manner in which and the reason for which “expiation,” in the form of “sacrifice,” interposes between “sin” and “wrath.” All we know is that, in relation to us, Christ is “the propitiation for our sins” (1Jn_2:2; 1Jn_4:10; Rom_3:25). Accepting the blessed result as regards ourselves we shall best shew our wisdom by abstaining from dogmatism and theory respecting the unrevealed and transcendent mystery as it affects God.

the people] Primarily the Jewish people, whom alone the writer has in mind. Angels, so far as we are told, did not need the Redemptive work.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted,.... By Satan, at his entrance on his public ministry, and a little before his death; which was done, not by stirring up sin in him, for he had none, nor by putting any into him, which could not be done, nor could Satan get any advantage over him; he solicited him one thing and another, but in vain; though these temptations were very troublesome, and disagreeable, and abhorrent to the pure and holy nature of Christ, and so must be reckoned among his sufferings, or things by which he suffered: and as afflictions are sometimes called temptations, in this sense also Christ suffered, being tempted, with outward poverty and meanness, with slight and neglect from his own relations, and with a general contempt and reproach among men: he was often tempted by the Jews with ensnaring questions; he was deserted by his followers, by his own disciples, yea, by his God and Father; all which were great trials to him, and must be accounted as sufferings: and he also endured great pains of body, and anguish of mind, and at last death itself. And so

he is able to succour them that are tempted; as all the saints, more or less, are, both with Satan's temptations, and with afflictions in the world, which God suffers to befall them, on various accounts; partly on his own account, to show his grace, power, and faithfulness in supporting under them, and in delivering out of them; and partly on his Son's account, that they might be like unto him, and he may have an opportunity of succouring them, and sympathizing with them; and also on their own account, to humble them, to try their faith, to excite them to prayer and watchfulness, and to keep them dependent on the power and grace of God: and these Christ succours, by having and showing a fellow feeling with them; by praying for them; by supporting them under temptations; by rebuking the tempter, and delivering out of them: and all this he is able to do; he must be able to succour them as he is God; and his conquering Satan is a convincing evidence to the saints of his ability; but here it intends his qualification, and fitness, and readiness to help in such circumstances, from the experience he himself has had of these things.

Next: Hebrews Chapter 3

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Ver. 17. In all things] Except in sin; as the brazen serpent was like the fiery serpent, but had no sting, ακαταληπτον, αθεραπευτον..

To make reconciliation] To expiate our sins, and to appease God’s wrath, ιλασκεσθαι.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore in all things - In respect to his body; his soul; his rank and character. There was a propriety that he should be like them, and should partake of their nature. The meaning is, that there was a fitness that nothing should be wanting in him in reference to the innocent propensities and sympathies of human nature.

It behoved him - It became him; or there was a fitness and propriety in it. The reason why it was proper, the apostle proceeds to state.

Like unto his brethren - Like unto those who sustained to him the relation of brethren; particularly as he undertook to redeem the descendants of Abraham, and as he was a descendant of Abraham himself, there was a propriety that he should be like them. He calls them brethren; and it was proper that he should show that he regarded them as such by assuming their nature.

That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest -

(1) That he might be “merciful;” that is, compassionate. That he might know how to pity us in our infirmities and trials, by having a nature like our own.

(2) That he might be “faithful;” that is, perform with fidelity all the functions pertaining to the office of high priest. The idea is, that it was needful that he should become a man; that he should experience as we do the infirmities and trials of life, and that by being a man, and partaking of all that pertained to man except his sins, he might feel how necessary it was that there should be “fidelity” in the office of high priest. Here was a race of sinners and sufferers. They were exposed to the wrath of God. They were liable to everlasting punishment. The judgment impended over the race, and the day of vengeance hastened on. “All now depended on the great high priest.” All their hope Was in his “fidelity” to the great office which he had undertaken. If he were faithful, all would be safe; if he were unfaithful, all would be lost. Hence, the necessity that he should enter fully into the feelings, fears, and dangers of man; that he should become one of the race and be identified with them, so that he might be qualified to perform with faithfulness the great trust committed to him.

High priest - The Jewish high priest was the successor of Aaron, and was at the head of the ministers of religion among the Jews. He was set apart with solemn ceremonies - clad in his sacred vestments - and anointed with oil; Exo 29:5-9; Lev 8:2. He was by his office the general judge of all that pertained to religion, and even of the judicial affairs of the Jewish nation; Deu 17:8-12; Deu 19:17; Deu 21:5; Deu 33:9-10. He only had the privilege of entering the most holy place once a year, on the great day of expiation, to make atonement for the sins of the whole people; Lev 16:2, etc. He was the oracle of truth - so that when clothed in his proper vestments, and having on the Urim and Thummim, he made known the will of God in regard to future events. The Lord Jesus became in the Christian dispensation what the Jewish high priest was in the old; and an important object of this Epistle is to show that he far surpassed the Jewish high priest, and in what respects the Jewish high priest was designed to typify the Redeemer. Paul, therefore, early introduces the subject, and shows that the Lord Jesus came to perform the functions of that sacred office, and that he was eminently endowed for it.

In things pertaining to God - In offering sacrifice; or in services of a religious nature. The great purpose was to offer sacrifice, and make intercession; and the idea is, that Jesus took on himself our nature that he might sympathize with us; that thus he might be faithful to the great trust committed to him - the redemption of the world. Had he been unfaithful, all would have been lost, and the world would have sunk down to wo.

To make reconciliation - By his death as a sacrifice. The word used here - ἱλάσκομαι hilaskomai - occurs but in one other place in the New Testament Luk 18:13, where it is rendered “God be merciful to me a sinner;” that is, reconciled to me. The noun (ἱλασμός hilasmos - “propitiation”) is used in 1Jo 2:2; 1Jo 4:10. The word here means properly to “appease,” to reconcile, to conciliate; and hence, to “propitiate” as to “sins;” that is, to propitiate God in reference to sins, or to render him propitious. The Son of God became a man, that he might so fully enter into the feelings of the people as to be faithful, and that he might be qualified as a high priest to perform the great work of rendering God propitious in regard to sins. How he did this, is fully shown in the subsequent parts of the Epistle.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To be made like to his brethren in all things; (sin always excepted) i.e. to be tempted, to suffer, to die, that having the true nature of a suffering man, he might become a merciful high priest, fit to compassionate us in our sins, in our temptations and sufferings. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

It behoved him: the last reason why God the Son assumed and united the human nature in the seed of Abraham to his person, and was by it made like his brethren, and for a little while lower than the angels, was, that he might be capable to receive and execute the office of priesthood, by which reconciliation of sinners to God was to be effected: for he could neither be a sacrifice nor priest without it. ’ Wfeile signifies not only its being necessary, but becoming, meet, convenient, and right, both on the account of his mediatorship, suretiship, priesthood, and of his very work, considering the two parties whose cause he was to manage. It was fit this Person should be God, that he might be just to God, and satisfy him; Adam had betrayed God’s interest before, he would not therefore rely on a mere man: and man, that he might feelingly understand the state of that nature, and be a complete Saviour of it, Zec 13:7. By this Person God had no unfitness nor disparagement in treating with sinners, which in a mere creature he would. For what creature could have mediated with him? Who durst undertake it, but this Son of his in their nature, whose heart he engaged to it? Jer 30:21. And fittest for man, he being near in nature to us, and coming out of the midst of us, and by it communicating the benefit of his mediation to us. The intention of Christ’s merits arise from his sufficiency, but the extension of them from his proper personal fitness, and so reneweth men of the same nature with him, and not angels.

To be made like unto his brethren; a man having a true body and soul like them in every thing, which was necessary to make him a complete Redeemer; agreeable to them in all things necessary to their nature, qualities, conditions, and affections; like them in sorrows, griefs, pains, death.

Merciful; knowing and sensible of the misery of sinners on the account of sin, pain, and loss, and so inwardly touched with them, as compassionately and effectually to relieve them. How transcendent are his bowels of mercy, pity, and compassion to them! Alas, man and angels cannot reach it! Isa 53:3,4; 63:9. If he should be otherwise the least moved, and desert their cause, or accuse or plead against them, what a world of them must perish for ever! He tells the Jews so much, Heb 8:12; compare Joh 5:45. A Moses may miscarry in his mediatorship, and did so, Exo 32:19; but he can never, he is always merciful.

And faithful; he is faithful also to penitent believers, as well as to God. They may safely trust themselves and their cause with him, and depend on him, he will never deceive them. He will satisfy God fully, and give him his due, and discharge that trust reposed on him. And to souls relying on him, he will go through his work, performing all, till they reach that for which they trusted him, Isa 11:5; 1Co 10:13; 1Th 5:23,24.

High Priest; an officer that was to order sacrifice, and all matters wherein God was concerned, according to his written law and rule. This priest must be a man; and a partnership in our conditions, both of temptations and miseries, must qualify him for it. Of this office he treats largely in Heb 7:1-10:39. Amongst the officers of this kind he is the prime, chief, and head of all that ever God had, and hath in his person performed and fullfilled what all of them in theirs did but weakly shadow forth. He was actually in the flesh installed in it, of which hereafter.

In things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people: the compass of his business lieth in all Divine matters, all those wherein sinners are concerned with God, Heb 5:1; satisfaction, intercession, and blessing, are his great concerns. His principal work is to bring God and sinners together; ιλασκεσθαι properly signifieth to make one propitious or gracious to another by sacrifice. This High Priest, by the sacrifice of himself, satisfied God’s justice, removed his wrath, procured his pardon as to all sins of omission or commission, however aggravated, for penitent, believing sinners; and so makes God and them friends, and fits them for communion with him here, and for the enjoyment of him for ever, 2Co 5:19,21.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Wherefore—Deduction from the preceding. If, to redeem us, he assumed our nature, he must complete his brotherhood with us by suffering like unto us.

In all things—Birth, pain, and death included.

Might be— Rather, might become.

Merciful—The statement quoted from Calvin by Alford, with approval, must not be for a moment accepted: “Not that the Son of God needed to be formed by experience to a feeling of mercy, but because we could not otherwise be persuaded that he was clement, and inclined to render us aid.” The plain doctrine is not merely that such a fact took place to give us assurance of mercy, (though that was one point to be received,) but that such an assemblage of elements was formed into the divine-human Jesus, that a genuine human sympathy might truly exist. It was not to be a mere assuring show, but a most beneficent reality. There was not merely a divine mind forming anthropomorphic conceptions, but a human mind feeling human sympathies.

High priest—This very central term in this epistle is now, for the first time, arrived at; the preparation for its introduction was commenced at Heb_2:15. Heb_2:14 affirms the necessity of Christ’s death, in order to become the conqueror of death; this affirms the necessity of his human suffering, that he might sympathize with us sufferers.

Faithful—Embracing the double meaning of fidelity and of reliability. Christ is true to his mission, and is trustworthy for its completion.

Make reconciliation for—The Greek word signifies, to make propitious. The Greek adjective of the same verb ‘Ιλαρος, hilaros, (from which comes our English word hilarity,) is equivalent to our adjective propitious; and the word, in its various forms, was customarily applied by the Greeks to their gods when induced by expiation to be gracious: hence, in its biblical use, the verb means such a satisfaction sacrificially made to justice, as that God may deal with us in mercy. Anger can be ascribed to God only as a sense of justice and of subjective purpose against sin. When the demands of justice are obviated, we may behold that purpose of justice obviated, and the face of God beaming upon us in unobstructed benefaction. The objective of the verb is sins, and the meaning is, that Christ’s death so reaches and affects our sins as that God may be propitious to us.

Of the people—The Old Testament phrase for the Israelite people, enlarged to a world-wide sense.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 17, 18. Our great High Priest his functions and qualifications. "Wherefore in all things it behooved him," etc.

I THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST.

1. To make atonement for man as a sinner. "A High Priest... to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Various are the renderings of this clause. Revised Version, "to make propitiation;" Alford, "to make expiation;" Ebrard, and Stuart also, "to make atonement." Ebrard says, Ilaskesyai comes from ilaov Ilaov denotes, not the internal disposition of God towards man, but the actual, positive expression and radiation of that feeling which first becomes again possible towards the redeemed; and ilaskesyai means to make it again possible for God to be ilaov , i.e. to make a real atonement for real guilt." Whence arises this need of atonement? Not because God was indisposed to forgive and save man. It has been well said by Delitzsch, "As the Old Testament nowhere says that sacrifice propitiated God"s wrath, lest it should be thought that sacrifice was an act by which, as such, man influenced God to show him grace; so also the New Testament never says that the sacrifice of Christ propitiated God"s wrath, lest it may be thought that it was an act anticipatory of God"s gracious purpose, which obtained, and, so to speak, forced from God, previously reluctant, without his own concurrence, grace instead of wrath." The death of Jesus Christ for us was the expression of the love of God towards us, and not its procuring cause. Why, then, was the sacrifice of the cross necessary to the forgiveness of our sin and the sanctification of our being?

(1) To maintain the majestic authority of God"s Law. Obedience to law is an indispensable condition of moral well-being. Man cannot be saved except in harmony with it. The perfect obedience of our Lord, who was obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross," is the most striking and significant testimony "that the Law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

(2) To meet the deep needs of man"s spiritual nature. Man needs the removal of his alienation from God. His sins have separated between him and his God. He is alienated and an enemy in his mind by wicked works. And the death of the Only Begotten of the Father was necessary to reconcile him to God. That death was both "a response to the imperious claims of the eternal law of righteousness, and the final appeal of the Divine love to the conscience and affections of the human race. " That appeal moves man"s heart, and awakens within it love to God. M oreover, man needs the satisfaction of the instinct of right now awakened within him. The truly penitent soul, knowing that sin is rightly followed by suffering, and if persisted in leads to death, and, hating sin in itself, would fain suffer as an atonement for its sins and as a homage to goodness and truth. Such a penitent soul feels that "without shedding of blood there is no remission." The awakened conscience cries out for atonement. Our Lord"s death for sin, the voluntary surrender of his life upon the cross for us, meets this deep and urgent need of the religious heart.

2. To succor man as a sufferer. Man needs a High Priest who "is able to succor them that are tempted." The word "tempted" is used in two senses in the Bible.

(1) Tested, proved, with a good intent, as in the case of Abraham. (Gen_22:1) St. James also writes of temptations of this kind. (Jam_1:2, Jam_1:3)

(2) Tempted with evil intent, or solicitation to sin. In both these senses man is tempted. He is tried by suffering and sorrow, by physical pain and spiritual conflict. He is also assailed by subtle solicitations to sin. He requires a High Priest who will be able to help him in these trying experiences; one who will give him sympathy in his sorrows, inspire him with patience in his trials, and with spiritual discernment and strength in his temptations to sin. Such are the functions of our great High Priest.

II THE QUALIFICATIONS OF OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST.

1. He must share our nature in order that he might make atonement for us as sinners. The perfect obedience which our Lord rendered to the holy will of God, the painful sufferings which he patiently endured, and the terrible death which he voluntarily submitted to, could not have constituted an atonement for us had he not previously taken upon himself our nature. "Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren." It was morally necessary that he should share our nature if he would efficiently serve us as our High Priest.

2. He must share our trials in order that he might succor us in our sufferings. Our High Priest must be "merciful," so as to feel compassion for suffering and tempted men. He must be "faithful," so as to elicit and retain the confidence of those whom he represents before God. He must himself suffer temptation, that he may efficiently help the tempted. Both classes of temptation assailed him. He was tempted by satanic suggestion and argument and inducement. He was tried by severest physical pains, and by spiritual sorrows which grew into the great overwhelming agony. "A Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.... Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." Hence he is able to succor them that are tempted. He can not only feel for them, but with them. By his personal experience of our sufferings he has acquired the power of sympathy with us in them. "As God, he knows what is in us; but as man, he feels it also." "Sympathy," says Burke, "may be considered as a sort of substitution, by which we are put into the place of another man, and affected in many respects as he is affected." Thus our great High Priest sympathizes with his tried people. In all their affliction he is afflicted." He succors as wall as sympathizes; he inspires with courage as well as regards with compassion; and in our weakness he makes us strong in himself "and in the power of his might." Having such a High Priest, let us trust him heartily and at all times. W.J.

Vers. 17, 18. Christ"s humanity the result of his desire to be more than a Savior from sin. The climax of the argument for the consistency of our Lord"s humanity. Observe in exposition:

1. That "reconciliation for the sins of the people" is not the central idea of these verses. That has already been dealt with. Here we have a new thought Christ"s ability to succor the tempted.

2. That our Lord"s humanity could not make him a merciful and faithful High Priest. He was that already, but thus he proved himself to be this.

3. That the word "tempted" here is not to be confined to the meaning of solicitation to sin.

I CHRIST, IN THE ENDURANCE OF TRIAL, WAS MADE IN ALL THINGS LIKE UNTO HIS BRETHREN; that is, he passed through every class of human suffering.

1. There were the sufferings which came through human frailty. Christ had no sin, but he experienced those forms of suffering to which innocent human nature is exposed, such as poverty, weariness, dependence, pain, fear of death. We get through our trials more easily because we do not foresee them; but Christ foresaw his, and they were intensified as he drew nearer his end. His life was a conscious advance into deeper gloom.

2. There were the sufferings which came through his holy nature. Thirty-three years in a world of sin must have been continuous pain to the Holy One of God. Suffering in the presence of evil is in proportion to our holiness and our aversion to evil. Christ not only saw a world wandering away from God, but he knew what was in man; he not only saw the malice on men"s faces and the guilt in their lives; he read the thoughts and intents of the heart. And, still worse, he felt the hot breath of the arch-tempter on his cheek, and heard the whispering of his hateful suggestions.

3. There were the sufferings which came through his love to man. The pain of sympathy. If Love has her deep joys, she has, too, her deep griefs; if she wears a crown of triumph, she wears, too, a crown of thorns. Love is afflicted in all the afflictions of her beloved. What must have been the suffering of immeasurable Love in witnessing the woes of man!

II THIS ENDURANCE OF OUR TRIALS PROVES THAT CHRIST WILL BE MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL IN HIS POSITION AS HIGH PRIEST.

1. Christ making propitiation holds the position of High Priest. Christ"s high priesthood is only glanced at here, stated to rest something on it. As the high priest alone could offer the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, so Christ, offering the one atoning sacrifice, showed himself to be High Priest. And the main idea in that is that the high priest was essentially the mediator between God and man. As God"s representative he acted for God toward the people; as the people"s representative he acted for them toward God. Christ, then, holds this position. He conveys the Father"s gifts to us, and our need to the Father. It depends entirely on him whether we receive the gifts of Heaven.

2. If holding that position, he would deal with us in mercy, all we need is assured. There is nothing he cannot secure for us, if he will. The question depends on whether he has sympathetic feeling towards us in our grief. Is Christ the Mediator compassionate?

3. The great proof of his compassion is that for our succor he endured so much more than was necessary for mere propitiation. Our Lord"s incarnation and death were necessary for atonement, but he endured much beside that, going down to the lowest state of innocent human experience. Much of his suffering was an extra burden voluntarily assumed with a view to man"s comfort; in sorrow. He cared so much about our griefs that in order to allay them he passed through them himself. We cannot doubt his heart after that.

III THIS PROOF OF HIS HIGH PRIESTLY COMPASSION IS ABLE TO SUCCOUR HIS PEOPLE WHEN THEY ARE TRIED.

1. It enables them to trust his sympathy, for he has experienced their pains. Christ"s suffering has not made him more sympathetic. His knowledge and sympathy were perfect before; but it gives us more confidence in going to him for succor.

2. It enables them to expect aid from him, for he suffered that he might aid. Why, his poverty, bereavement, weariness, loneliness, shame, being misunderstood, but that he might succor us! Then, will he not succor us?

3. It enables them to anticipate victory through him, for he conquered in all his woe. Who can aid us in our difficulties, like him who has already trodden these difficulties underfoot? What aid can be more satisfactory than his who wears the laurels of victory over those very evils which assail us? Our foe will fly when he sees his Conqueror on our side. C.N.

Vers. 17, 18. The Incarnation needed for an efficient priesthood.

I WHEREIN AN EFFICIENT PRIESTHOOD LIES. The high priest is the representative of man before God. There are certain things which, as from God, are directed towards man; there are certain other things which, as from men, are directed towards God. These things are summed up, or rather the most important of them is specified, in the making reconciliation for the sins of the people. The word is the same as the publican used in saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" The thing needed is that these sins should be mentioned before God in their full reality and extent, and some sin offering made exactly correspondent to them. And for all this there is further needed on the part of the high priest two great qualities pity and fidelity. The priest must pity his fellow-men as sinners, and to do this requires a very special exaltation of the heart. A man might easily pity his fellow-men for their physical pains and weaknesses, who would look with indifference on their alienation from God and the unrest of their hearts within them. Then as to the fidelity required in the priesthood, this is best seen in the elaborate instructions given concerning priestly duties by Moses; a sacrifice in which the least prescribed detail had been neglected was as no sacrifice at all.

II THE DEFECTS OF EXISTING PRIESTHOODS. It is not exactly said that the long line of Aaron and his descendants had furnished a priesthood lacking in tenderness and faithfulness; but this is at least suggested, and it is certainly true. If, indeed, a merciful and faithful priesthood had been possible without making the humanity of Jesus to intervene, we are sure such intervention would not have occurred, for it is by no means the way of God to supersede what is doing its work efficiently. But the high priest hitherto had been taken from among men, and he was taken with all his infirmities upon him. He might have no due sense of sin. Judged by the state of his heart, thousands for whom he acted might be nearer to God than him. The priest lay exposed to just this peculiar temptation of having a lamentably inadequate sense of the sins of his fellow men. Thus sacrifice became an unreal, perfunctory thing altogether of the hand, and not at all of the heart.

III HOW IT WAS THAT JESUS BECAME AN EFFICIENT HIGH PRIEST. Here we must look at Jesus historically. Strange it is to remember, in the light of the emphatic assertions of his priesthood contained in this Epistle, how he never stood at any altar in Jerusalem, never entered the holy of holies. And yet all the time he was preparing for priesthood and for sacrifice. He was declaring, by all his ceaseless words and acts of mercy, by all his faithfulness to truth, his fitness to be the High Priest. For perfect compassion and perfect fidelity, these constitute the vocation to the priestly office. And it must be one of ourselves who shows them. Jesus, as Son of God, had something which every descendant of Aaron had lacked; but until he became in all respects like his brethren, the most sinful of men had something which Jesus lacked. What wonder is it that angelic visits ceased once the humanity of Jesus became demonstrated and glorified! Angels, whatever their desire might be, could never come so close to us as Jesus could never know as he knows, man like us, looking into our hearts with human eyes and yet with Divine penetration. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore it behoved him - It was highly fit and proper, yea, necessary, in order to his design of redeeming them. To be made in all things - That essentially pertain to human nature, and in all sufferings and temptations. Like his brethren -- this is a recapitulation of all that goes before: the sum of all that follows is added immediately. That he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest-Merciful toward sinners; faithful toward God. A priest or high priest is one who has a right of approaching God, and of bringing others to him. Faithful is treated of, chap. iii, 2, &c., with its use; merciful, chap. iv, 14, &c., with the use also; High Priest, chap. v, 4, &c., chap. vii, 1, &c. The use is added from chap. x, 19. In things pertaining to God, to expiate the sins of the people - Offering up their sacrifices and prayers to God; deriving God's grace, peace, and blessings upon them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

reconciliation

(Greek - ἱλάσκομαι, propitiation). (See Scofield "Rom 3:25").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In these two verses our apostle illustrates what he had taught before, and confirms his foregoing proposition concerning Christ’s participating of flesh and blood, and acquaints us here with one special end of it, namely, to be such an High-priest as our exigencies and necessities did require: for we being persons obnoxious to temptations and sufferings of all sorts, the wisdom of God, and the nature of the thing, required it, that Christ, our great High-Priest, should in a special manner be able to relieve and help us: in order to this,

Observe, 1. How our apostle reports and re-asserts, that Christ was in all things, or every manner of way, made like unto his brethren; that is, he assumed the human nature, with all its essential properties, subjected to temptations and sufferings, but not to sin, for that would have been so far from conducing to the end aimed at, that it would have been utterly destructive of it. Had he been himself a sinner, he could never have satisfied the justice of God for our sins.

Observe, 2. The general end of Christ’s conformity to his brethren: namely, That he might be a merciful and faithful High-priest. That he might be our priest, it was necessary that he should partake of our nature; for every High-priest for men must be taken from among men; this is not work for an angel, nor for God himself as such: and that he might be our merciful and faithful High-priest, he was subject to sufferings and temptations.

With great condolency and tender sympathy doth he exercise acts of mercy and compassion towards the human nature; and thus was he merciful, and with great condescension and care doth he take notice of all the concernments of his brethren under wants and sorrows, under all their temptations and sufferings: and thus is he our faithful as well as merciful High-priest.

Learn hence, That such was the unspeakable love of Christ towards his brethren, that he would refuse no condition of life, neither sufferings nor temptations, to fit him for the discharge of his office, which he had undertaken for them. Christ suffered, and was tempted, that he might succour them that are tempted: he suffered under all his temptations, but sinned in none; he suffered, being tempted, but sinned not being tempted.

Observe, 3. The special design and end of Christ’s being our great High-priest: namely, To make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

From whence learn, That the principal work of our Lord Jesus Christ, as our great High-priest, and from which all other actings of his in that office do flow, was to make reconciliation or atonement for sin; his intercession in heaven is founded on earth. The Socinians, therefore, who deny the satisfaction of Christ, and his dying, as a propitiation or propitiatory sacrifice for sin, take from us our hopes and happiness; from Christ his office and honour; from God, his grace and glory; they do indeed allow of a reconciliation in words, but it is of men to God, and not of God to men.

They plead the expediency of our being reconciled to God by faith and obedience, but deny the necessity of God’s being reconciled to us by sacrifice, satisfaction, and atonement; so resolved are these men to be as little as may be beholden to Jesus Christ, that rather than grant that he has made any reconciliation for us by his blood, they deny that there was any need of such a reconciliation at all, never considering the inflexibility of God’s justice, nor the impartiality of his indignation against sin.

Oh! the depths of Satan! and, oh! the stupidity and blindness of those men that are taken captive by him at his pleasure!

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. This verse vividly reveals the absolute essentiality of the Mediatorial Manhood in order to reach every condition of fallen humanity. Jesus was the poorest of the poor. He would preach all day on the streets of Jerusalem, then go off to Mount Olivet at night and sleep on the ground. Thus He condescended to the lowest depths of human poverty, that He might perfect the sympathetic brotherhood with the poorest of the poor. At the same time nothing but Omnipotence could successfully grapple with the powers of sin, mortality, the world, and Satan.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. It behoved him to be made like his brethren. Hence, for the reasons given above, it was necessary that he take our nature. A merciful and faithful high priest. To be our high priest he must be in full sympathy with us, having experienced our trials and our sufferings. To make propitiation. As our high priest he made atonement for us. Conscious of all our frailties he intercedes for us. In him, the Divine man, all who are found in him are justified before God.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

17. ὅθεν. This word “whence,” common in this Epistle, does not occur once in St Paul, but is found in Act 26:19, in a report of his speech, and in 1Jn 2:18.

ὤφειλεν. He was morally bound, stronger than the “it became Him” of Heb 2:10. It means that, with reference to the object in view, there lay upon Him a moral obligation to become a man with men. See Heb 5:1-2.

κατὰ πάντα. These words should be taken with “to be made like.”

ἵνα … γένηται. “That He might become,” or, “prove Himself.”

ἐλεήμων … καὶ πιστὸς ἀρχιερεύς, “merciful,” or rather “compassionate” to men; “faithful” to God. In Christ “mercy and truth” have met together, Psa 85:10. The expression “a faithful priest” is found in 1Sa 2:35. Dr Robertson Smith well points out that the idea of “a merciful priest,” which is scarcely to be found in the O. T., would come home with peculiar force to the Jews of that day, because mercy was a quality in which the Aaronic Priests had signally failed (Yoma, f. 9, 1), and in the Herodian epoch they were notorious for cruelty, insolence and greed (see my Life of Christ, II. 329, 330). The Jews said that there had been no less than 28 High Priests in 107 years of this epoch (Jos. Antt. xx. 10), their brief dignity being due to their wickedness (Pro 10:27). The conception of the Priesthood hitherto had been ceremonial rather than ethical; yet it is only “by mercy and truth” that “iniquity is purged.” Pro 16:6. The word “High Priest,” here first introduced, has evidently been entering into the writer’s thoughts (Heb 1:3, Heb 2:9; Heb 2:11; Heb 2:16), and is the most prominent conception throughout the remainder of the Epistle. The consummating elements of genuine High Priesthood are touched upon in Heb 5:10, Heb 6:20, Heb 9:24.

ἀρχιερεύς. The Greek word is comparatively new. In the Pentateuch the high priest is merely called “the Priest” (except in Lev 21:10). In later books of Scripture the epithet “head” or “great” is added. The word occurs 17 times in this Epistle, but not once in any other.

τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. This is the adverbial accusative of reference. Comp. Heb 5:1. The phrase is found in the LXX. of Exo 18:19.

ἱλάσκεσθαι τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ λαοῦ, “to expiate the sins of the people.” In Pagan and classic usage ἱλάσκομαι is always followed by the accusative of the Person who is supposed to be angry and to be appeased by a present or sacrifice. And this heathen notion has been transferred to Christianity by a false theology. But Christ is nowhere said in the N. T. to “expiate” or “propitiate” God or “the wrath of God” (which are heathen, not Christian, conceptions), nor is any such expression found in the LXX. Nor do we find such phrases as “God was propitiated by the death of His Son,” or “Christ propitiated the wrath of God by His blood.” Throughout the Old and New Testaments the verb is only used with the accusative of the sinner, in which case it means “to be merciful to,” and of the sin, in which case it means “to neutralise the effects of.” The propitiation changes us, not God who is unchangeable. We have to be reconciled to God, not God to us. It is therefore wholly unwarrantable with Winer (p. 285) to understand τὸν θεὸν here and to regard the verb as governing a double accusative. Further we may observe that in the N. T. ἱλάσκεσθαι occurs but twice (Luk 18:13, and here) and ἱλασμὸς only twice (1Jn 2:2; 1Jn 4:10). God Himself fore-ordained the propitiation (Rom 3:25). The verb represents the Hebrew kippeer “to cover,” whence is derived the name for the day of Atonement (Kippurim). In Dan 9:24 Theodotion’s version has ἐξιλάσασθαι ἀδικίας. We are left to unauthorised theory and conjecture as to the manner in which and the reason for which “expiation,” in the form of “sacrifice,” interposes between “sin” and “wrath.” All we know is that, in relation to us, Christ is “the propitiation for our sins” (1Jn 2:2; 1Jn 4:10; Rom 3:25). Accepting the blessed result as regards ourselves we shall best shew our wisdom by abstaining from dogmatism and theory respecting the unrevealed and transcendent mystery as it affects God.

τοῦ λαοῦ. Primarily the Jewish people, whom alone the writer has in mind. Angels, so far as we are told, did not need the Redemptive work.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17.] Because then He had this work to do for the seed of Abraham (sons of men, in the wider reference),—viz. to deliver them from fear of death, He must be made like them in all things, that He may be a merciful and faithful High Priest. Then ver. 18 gives the reason of this necessity. Whence (ὅθεν is a favourite inferential particle with our Writer. It never occurs in the Epistles of Paul. On ref. Acts, see Prolegg. to Acts, § ii. 17 δ. It is = διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν, ver. 11) it behoved Him (not = ἔδει, used of the eternal purpose of God (Luk 24:26):—but implying a moral necessity in the carrying out of His mediatorial work. Compare ch. 5:3, and especially ib. ver. 12, ὀφείλοντες εἶναι διδάσκαλοι διὰ τὸν χρόνον) in all things (i. e. all things wherewith the present argument is concerned: all things which constitute real humanity, and introduce to its sufferings and temptations and sympathies. The exception, χωρις ἁμαρτίας, brought out in ch. 4:15, is not in view here. τί ἐστι κατὰ πάντα; ἐτεχθη φησίν, ἐτράφη, ηὐξήθη, ἔπαθε πὰντα ἅπερ ἔχρην, τέλος ἀπέθανε. Chrys.) to be like (not, ‘made like:’ see reff., and compare Mat 6:8; Mat 7:26 al. The aor. expresses that this resemblance was brought about by a definite act, other than His former state: an important distinction, which however we must rather lose in the English than introduce an irrelevant idea by the word ‘made’) to his brethren (the children of Israel, as above: but obviously also, his brethren in the flesh—all mankind), that He might become (γένηται, not simply ᾖ, because the High Priesthood of Christ in all its fulness,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore [οθεν] . o P. Often in Hebrews.

In all things to be made like unto his brethren [κατα παντα τοις αδελφοις ομοιωθηναι] . Comp. Phi 2:7, ejn oJmoiwmati ajnqrwpwn genomenov having become in the likeness of men. Likeness is asserted without qualification. There was a complete and real likeness to humanity, a likeness which was closest just where the traces of the curse of sin were most apparent - in poverty, temptation, and violent and unmerited death.

It behooved [ωφειλεν] . Indicating an obligation growing out of the position which Christ assumed : something which he owed to his position as the helper of his people.

That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest [ινα ελεημων γενηται και πιστος αρχιερευς] . Rend. that he might be compassionate, and so (in consequence of being compassionate), a faithful high priest. The keynote of the Epistle, the high - priesthood of Christ, which is intimated in ch. 1 3, is here for the first time distinctly struck. Having shown that Christ delivers from the fear of death by nullifying the accusing power of sin, he now shows that he does this in his capacity of high priest, for which office it was necessary that he should be made like unto his human brethren. In the O. T. economy, the fear of death was especially connected with the approach to God of an impure worshipper (see Num 18:3, 5). This fear was mitigated or removed by the intervention of the Levitical priest, since it was the special charge of the priest so to discharge the service of the tabernacle that there might be no outbreak of divine wrath on the children of Israel (Num 18:5). Genhtai might show himself to be, or prove to be. The idea of compassion as an attribute of priests is not found in the O. T. On the contrary, the fault of the priests was their frequent lack of sympathy with the people (see Hos 4:4 - 9). In the later Jewish history, and in N. T. times, the priestly aristocracy of the Sadducees was notoriously unfeeling and cruel. The idea of a compassionate and faithful high priest would appeal powerfully to Jewish readers, who knew the deficiency of the Aaronic priesthood in that particular. Pistov faithful, as an attribute of a priest, appears in 1Sa 2:35. The idea there is fidelity. He will do all that is in God 's mind. Comp. Heb 3:2. This implies trustworthiness. The idea here is, faithful in filling out the true ideal of the priesthood (ch. 5 1, 2), by being not a mere ceremonialist but a compassionate man.

In things pertaining to God [τα προς τον θεον] . Comp. Rom 14:17. A technical phrase in Jewish liturgical language to denote the functions of worship. Const. with a faithful high priest, not with compassionate. To make reconciliation [εις το ιλασκεθαι] . See on propitiation, Rom 3:25. The verb only here and Luk 18:13.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.