The text begins by picking back up the high priest motif, which was explicit in 2:17, but is also hinted at in 1:3. The text here continues the main line of argumentation for the book, which is the exhortation to remain faithful. Here that idea gains a little more traction and is fleshed out a little more, as the section indicates that part of what is tempting the readers to be unfaithful is their lack of confidence in their salvation in Jesus. That confidence is shored up here in a couple of interesting ways as the author develops the theme of Jesus as a capable, fitting high priest.
First, the text refers to Jesus as one who has gone into heaven, pointing towards Jesus’ ascension to glory. The ascension is a theme that has already been developed. In 1:3 Hebrews notes that Jesus, after providing for purification of sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. Further in chapter one, the ascension theme is developed as a way of demonstrating Jesus’ superiority over angels so that the reader feels compelled to accept the word that he brings, which is greater than theirs. Here in 4:13 though, the ascension reference serves as part of a one-two argument for why Jesus makes a great high priest for us. His ascension means that he is continually in God’s presence, that he has been approved of by God, that he is someone whom God has glorified. Who better to represent us before God! Jesus is God’s own Son, and his identification with God is to our benefit as Jesus acts on our behalf!
The second part of the one-two argument comes in 4:15, and it is the other side of the coin. While the ascension shows Jesus’ nearness to and identification with God, that reality on its own could be an alienating thought. Jesus is so different, so superior to us…what are we to him? Why is he concerned to help us at all? And so the author argues powerfully that Jesus is not someone who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but who has experienced temptation. The text further claims that Jesus faced that temptation successfully, without conceding to it. Thus he is in fact perfect. Skipping to the perfection can mislead us though, since the primary thrust of the text is not his perfection, but Jesus’ ability to sympathize with us because of temptation. Jesus has placed himself in a position of solidarity with us. Thus, this text really not only develops the theme of the high priest, but also the idea of our brotherhood with Jesus that has been developed in 2:10-18. Jesus remarkably not only identifies with God, but he identifies with us as well. Jesus knows what it means to be human, and the importance of this cannot be overstated.
The one-two attack here is that Jesus understands, identifies with, and has experienced being both god and humanity. As such, he is the ideal, perfect candidate for the position of being a high priest before God who represents humanity.
Hebrews is a terrific book for a lot of reasons, and this is as good a place as any to point out one of the reasons why. The book is a rhetorical masterpiece. The complicated logic and our own tendency to overanalyze texts can both distract us from the rhetorical purpose and character of the book. In other words, the book is intended to do something to us, to have an effect on us. That’s why it contains several different sorts of appeals. When the author uses logic to demonstrate that we have the opportunity to be included in God’s Sabbath rest, the letter strikes at our rational nature, our intelligence. The same is true when later, the text argues for the supremacy of the sacrifice Jesus makes in relation to the sacrifices of the Levitical code. But this text, the explanation of Jesus’ position of solidarity with humanity, this text is not meant to appeal only to our minds, but to our hearts. The author wants to influence what we do, and so he writes not just to change the way we think, but the way that we feel. Sometimes we act in harmony with what we think in our minds, but sometimes it is our hearts that rule our actions. But, if we can get our hearts and minds both convinced of a course of action, then our actions are much more likely to follow. The writer of Hebrews skillfully attacks at both points, alternating between appeals to the mind and appeals to the heart.
In 4:16 we see clearly the reason behind such an approach. The author not only wants us to be able to approach God’s throne of grace in order to receive mercy, but to do so confidently! That certainly doesn’t mean to approach our worship or relationship with God flippantly (see 12:28), but it refers to the type of trust that we have built into our relationship with God through Christ. Because of Christ, we don’t come before God as beggars who expect to be ignored or shooed away, but we come as children who may trust that even in our sinfulness we are loved and can expect forgiveness. The importance in this posture is that it enables us to come to find the grace we need. Fear, the lack of such trust and confidence, leads us to wallow in our own sinfulness and neglect the grace God provides for us.
In chapter 5, the author develops some of the more rational part of the argument again, striking again at the mind by deepening our understanding on a cognitive level. He develops the idea of priesthood again, this time with a theme of submission. The act of taking on a role as a priest is not a power-grab on the part of the one who becomes priest, but it necessarily means a response to God’s call and will. It is therefore an act of submission that Jesus takes on the role of high priest. Furthermore, Jesus’ life is marked by submission to the will of God, as his suffering apparently teaches him the nature of obedience and creates perfection within him.
For classical theologians, this presents a bit of a difficulty, since it seems to imply that before his suffering, Christ was imperfect. It seems that the point here is that Jesus becomes complete, becomes perfect not in the moral sense, but in that he takes on all the necessary qualities to fulfill the task of a high priest. After his suffering, he becomes the source of salvation, and God sees fit to make him the high priest between God and man forever. This means that he becomes priest in the “order of Melchizedek”, but the author isn’t ready to explain what that means just yet. This is just the warning shot, a hint of what is going to come in chapter 7.
Juest as the last section, that ending in 4:13 challenged us to think about what our relationship is to the word of God that calls us, defines us, and challenges us, this text also brings a certain relationship into question.
How do we relate to God as the one who sitss on a throne of Grace, offering mercy?
what kinds of emotions do we have, or are appropriate, to us in that position? It strikes me that while this text wants to convince me to be confident in that pursuit, that I usually don’t struggle with lack of confidence, but with arrogance. Most of the time I don’t even think about my sinfulness, much less fear God because of it. Here one of the earliest Christian communities was so in tune with their own sinfulness and how that changed their relationship with a Holy God that they have to be convinced that with Jesus as their ally, that which they fear cannot harm them.
But where do I fit into that? I probably need to become more aware of what Jesus had to do to become this high priest, so that I really get the severity of my own sinful condition pre-Christ.
So far in Hebrews, we find that Jesus, who is the reflection of God’s glory, the exact representation of God, became incarnate and underwent suffering to get my attention, so that I would know he understands me. Then, Jesus subjects himself not only to physical pain, but he also undergoes spiritual temptation for the sake of opening up the possibility of my redemption. Those realities point toward the intensity of the spiritual problem I face without Christ. The lengths to which Christ went to redeem me denies me the luxury of pretending my sin isn’t important. It dispels my illusions, and confronts me by forcing me to ask, “Why did Jesus have to do all this?”
Furthermore, we might interpret the concept of spiritual temptation in this text as involving the temptation to give up, as opposed to enduring the suffering involve in his task. Such a temptation certainly is consistent with what we read in the gospels, and with the ideas of faithfulness and disobedience that we find throughout Hebrews. Such a reading then suggests that the temptation laid upon Jesus was the desire to quit, based on the difficulty of his task. Against this must have weighed the desire to remain faithful to God, and to procure our salvation. It seems to me that this provides another basis for an emotional appeal to faithfulness.
After reading this section, I'm a little puzzled as to how it needs to be best engaged for both our teachers and students. There is going to have to be some historical interaction, but on what level? How can we do that without getting lost in it? I think we still need to focus on the power of the impassioned poetic pieces, but how can we make them comprehensible? Perhaps we can set up a series of guided readings, with some historical footnotes? Or is it better to include the historical info at the beginning, to set up the readings? How can we keep from getting lost?
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Initial thought about the 2009 fall curriculum: we're following Hebrews with Isaiah? Teaching neither of these is for the faint of heart! PV's teachers have to be wearing their big boy pants in 2009!
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