Hebrews 5


Hebrews 5 is the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author is anonymous, although the internal reference to "our brother Timothy" causes a traditional attribution to Paul, but this attribution has been disputed since the second century and there is no decisive evidence for the authorship. This chapter contains the exposition about the merciful Christ and the High Priests, followed by an exhortation to challenge the readers beyond the elementary catechism.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 14 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Old Testament references

  • Hebrews 5:5:
  • Hebrews 5:6:

New Testament references

The Merciful Christ and the High Priests (5:1–10)

The verses 1–4 highlight certain qualifications for high-priesthood under the old covenant, as a basis for applying it to Jesus to be the high priest for the new covenant, who can 'sympathise with our weaknesses' without ever having sinned, and was 'made completely adequate' as the savior of his people.

Verse 1

This is a general definition of the high priest role in the Old Testament.

Verse 4

One must be called by God to the office of high-priesthood, because the honor of that office is given by God alone.

Verse 5

Citing, which is also quoted in Acts 13:33 and used for exposition in Hebrews 5:5.

Verse 6

Citing.

Admonition on Spiritual Immaturity (5:11–14)

This part gives warnings to the readers in preparation for the serious arguments in chapters 7–10, because the subsequent teaching about the high-priestly work of Christ will not be comprehended or applied by those who are slow to learn or continue to avoid solid food, unwilling to study the deeper faith implications, and if so, they can never be mature Christians.

Verse 12

  • One sign of the slackness in the faith development is the unwillingness to be teachers, that is, to explain the faith they learned to other people.
  • "Milk": the appropriate food for an infant, but mature people need solid food. Here, "milk" is equated with "the first principles of the oracles of God", which could mean 'the guidelines' for interpreting the sayings of God.