translation
talis enim decebat ut nobis esset pontifex
endeavours to express, almost as if the translation were: Such an one became us as High-priest.
toiou'to"
]
Such a High-priest
, that is, one who is absolute in power (
eij" to; pantelev"
) and eternal in being (
pavntote zw'n
). The word (
toiou'to"
) looks backwards, yet not exclusively. From the parallel (8:1; comp. 1 Cor. 5:1; Phlm. 9) it is seen that it looks forward also to
o}" oujk e[cei
(Heb. 7:27), which gives the most decisive feature of Christ's High-priesthood.
hJmi'n ªkai;º e[prepen
] Even our human sense of fitness is able to recognise the complete correspondence between the characteristics of Christ as High-priest and the believer's wants. Comp. Heb. 2:10 note. And we shall observe that sympathy with temptation does not require the experience of sin. On the contrary his sympathy will be fullest who has known the extremest power of temptation because he has conquered. He who yields to temptation has not known its uttermost force. Comp. Hinton,
Life and Letters
p. 179.
The kaiv before e[prepein emphasises this thought. Such a High-priest has been given us and also in very deed answers to our condition. Comp. Heb. 6:7 note; and for e[prepen see Heb. 2:10 note.
Primasius adds a thought beautiful in itself which may perhaps lie in the word (
e[prepen
): Judaei velut servi timore legis Deo servientes legales pontifices habuerunt, sibi conservos mortalesque ac peccatores...nos autem, quibus dictum est Jam non dico vos servos sed amicos meos, quia filii Dei sumus serviendo illi amore filiationis, decet ut habeamus pontificem immortalem, segregatum a peccatoribus.
hJmi'n
]
us
Christians, not generally us men. The pronoun is apparently always used with this limitation in the Epistle.
The dominant thought is of the struggles of the Christian life, which are ever calling for divine succour. Christians have gained a view of the possibilities of life, of its divine meaning and issues, which gives an infinite solemnity to all its trials.
o{sio"
...] This detailed description characterises the fitness of the High Priest for the fulfilment of His work for man. Even in the highest exaltation He retains the perfection of His human nature. He is truly man and yet infinitely more than man. The three epithets (
o{sio", a[kako", ajmivanto"
) describe absolute personal characteristics: the two descriptive clauses which follow express the issues of actual life. Christ is personally in Himself
holy
, in relation to men
guileless
, in spite of contact with a sinful world
undefiled.
By the issue of His life He has been
separated from sinners
in regard to the visible order, and, in regard to the invisible world, He has
risen above the heavens.
o{sio"
] V. L.
justus
, Vulg.
sanctus.
The word is of rare occurrence in the
N. T. It is used of Christ (as quoted from Ps. 16) Acts 2:27; 13:35: and again of the Lord Apoc. 15:4; 16:5; comp. Ps. 145:17 (144:17); (Jer. 3:12 Heb.). It is used also of the bishop Tit. 1:8; and of hands in prayer 1 Tim. 2:8.
The word is found not very unfrequently in the LXX. and occurs especially in the Psalms (more than twenty times) as the regular equivalent of
dysij; , H2883. Thus the people of God are characteristically described as oiJ
o{sioi [ tou' kurivou ] ( oiJ o{sioi Ps. 149:1, 5). The phrase oiJ a{gioi ( : yvi/dq] ) is
much rarer: Ps. 16:2 (15:2); 34:10 (33:10); 89:5, 7 (88:5, 7).
To speak broadly, o{sio" refers to character and a{gio" to destination.