Hebrews 5

Jesus, Our Eternal High Priest

1 Every earthly high priest is chosen from among the people and appointed to represent them before God, offering gifts and sacrifices for sins.

2 He can deal gently with people who are ignorant or wandering because he also knows what weakness feels like.

3 Because of that weakness, he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as for the people’s sins.

4 Nobody grabs this honor for himself. God must call him, just as He called Aaron.

5 In the same way, Christ did not promote Himself into the role of High Priest. God told Him, “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.”

6 And in another place God says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

7 While Jesus lived on earth, He prayed and pleaded with loud cries and tears to the One able to save Him from death. God heard Him because of His reverent submission.

8 Even though He was God’s Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.

9 Once His mission was completed, He became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys Him.

10 God named Him High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

11 We have plenty to explain about this, but it is hard to get through because you have become slow to listen.

12 By now you should be teaching others, yet you need somebody to teach you the basic truths of God’s word all over again. You still need milk instead of solid food.

13 Anyone living only on milk is inexperienced with the message of righteousness; spiritually, that person is still a baby.

14 Solid food belongs to mature people who have trained their senses through practice to recognize good and evil.