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Pastor Nathaniel's Blog July 31, 2024
"Priest Made Perfect"
Last week we talked about the function of priests, even sinful priests who represent other sinners. This week we're going to talk about priests who are made perfect. Jesus, of course, was and continues to NOT be a sinner, though he perfectly represents sinners to God. However, have you ever thought that a sinless priest might still need to be "made perfect"? Hebrews 7:28 says, "For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever" (NIV).
One of the most encouraging aspects of this passage is what is says about law and promise. The law (a reference to the commands in Leviticus) appoints sinful men to be high priests, but Jesus is appointed to be our high priest by a promise (a reference to the prophecy about Melchizedek in Psalm 110). What I find interesting, however, is the phrase "the Son, who has been made perfect forever." It sounds like Jesus the Son had to be made perfect, with the implication being that he was at one time less than perfect. But the Greek of this expression makes it clear that wholeness is what Hebrews 7:28 has in mind. The literal translation of the phrase is, "the Son, who has reached completion into the age." The word we usually translate as "perfect" more accurately means "complete," like when you have learned the entire subject or mastered every component of a skill: the whole thing.
This passage makes a comparison between sinful Levitical high priests, who were constituted as high priests but still struggled with personal weaknesses, and Jesus, the Son who has been made complete. Hebrews 7:28 translates the idea of perfection or completion as something that happens to Jesus - he has been made perfect/complete - but only as a way to poetically mirror what is happening to sinful human priests: they are appointed as high priests while Jesus has been made a high priest. But in Greek, it's clear that Jesus is the one who reaches completion in his own humanity: just as sinful human high priests could never achieve the kind of completion necessary to fully execute their responsibilities as high priests, so Jesus is able to fully discharge his responsibilities as high priest because he has achieved the kind of personal, moral, and spiritual completion necessary for the role - and he has done it as the God-man for us!
Friends, rejoice that in Jesus you have the kind of high priest who is whole and complete, and who gives that wholeness and completeness to you.
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
