"For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness."
« En effet, tout souverain sacrificateur pris du milieu des hommes est établi pour les hommes dans le service de Dieu. Il peut être indulgent pour les ignorants et les égarés, puisque la faiblesse est aussi son partage. »
Hébreux 5:1–2 · Louis Segond✦ Taken from Among Men
Two qualifications: taken from among men, and called by God. Compassion because of shared weakness. Sacrifices for the people and for himself. The Aaronic priesthood: real, necessary, limited.
"So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You.' As He also says in another place: 'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'"
« Et Christ ne s'est pas non plus attribué la gloire de devenir souverain sacrificateur, mais il la tient de celui qui lui a dit : Tu es mon Fils, je t'ai engendré aujourd'hui ! Comme il dit encore ailleurs : Tu es sacrificateur pour toujours, selon l'ordre de Melchisédek. »
Hébreux 5:5–6 · Louis Segond✦ Not Aaron's Order
Psalm 2:7 returns from Hebrews 1:5. And Psalm 110:4 is added — a priest not of Aaron's order but of Melchizedek's. An older order. A priest with no beginning of days, no end of life. Christ did not seize the priesthood. The Father appointed Him. Bernard's principle: He did not glorify Himself. The glory was given.
"Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear."
« C'est lui qui, dans les jours de sa chair, ayant présenté avec de grands cris et avec larmes des prières et des supplications à celui qui pouvait le sauver de la mort, et ayant été exaucé à cause de sa piété. »
Hébreux 5:7 · Louis Segond✦ In the Days of His Flesh
Gethsemane. The sweat like drops of blood. The radiance of Hebrews 1 on His knees in a garden with raw, vehement cries. Hebrews 2 returned: He shared our humanity — not in comfort but in agony. The prayers were real. The tears were real. He was heard — not by the cup being removed, but by the strength to drink it.
"Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered."
« Bien qu'il fût Fils, il a appris l'obéissance par les choses qu'il a souffertes. »
Hébreux 5:8 · Louis Segond"Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered."
— Hebrews 5:8 · Not correction but completion. Obedience in theory is not obedience in practice.✦ Learned, Not Corrected
The most startling verse in the chapter. He learned obedience — not that He was ever disobedient. But obedience in theory is not obedience in practice. The suffering completed what was already true in His nature. The patience of Christ — hypomoné — finds its ground here. He learned it from the things which He suffered.
"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
« Vous, en effet, qui depuis longtemps devriez être des maîtres, vous avez encore besoin qu'on vous enseigne les premiers rudiments des oracles de Dieu, vous en êtes venus à avoir besoin de lait et non d'une nourriture solide. Mais la nourriture solide est pour les hommes faits, pour ceux dont le jugement est exercé par l'usage à discerner ce qui est bien et ce qui est mal. »
Hébreux 5:12–14 · Louis Segond"Teachers of the Law had to learn again. Since I was raised with no Christian teaching, I learned once. Nothing to undo."
✦ Nothing to Undo
The Hebrews audience had the hardest path — unlearning what was true in its time but had now been replaced. Not an improvement but a replacement. The fragments had to give way to the Son. And for those who had invested their lives in the fragments, the giving way was painful.
Le had no fragments to give way. The atheist who knew nothing received the gospel on clean ground. Father Joe James at midnight in Lubbock — and the Word fell on soil that had never been planted before. No layers of tradition to peel away. No old wineskins. Everything since has been solid food — Bowen, Guyon, Baker, Bernard, Hebrews. The soil was clean from the start.
Vehement Cries and Tears
The radiance of glory on His knees in Gethsemane. Real prayers. Real tears. Heard — not by the cup removed, but by the strength to drink it.
He Learned Obedience
Not correction but completion. Obedience in theory is not obedience in practice. He learned it from suffering. The patience of Christ finds its ground here.
Nothing to Undo
The teachers had to learn again. Le learned once. No layers to peel. No old wineskins. Clean soil. The gospel fell on ground never planted before.