16 who hath been made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life:
and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world:
having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out that way, nailing it to the cross;
If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances,
for it is witnessed `of him,' Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek.
(for they indeed have been made priests without an oath; but he with an oath by him that saith of him, The Lord sware and will not repent himself, Thou art a priest for ever);
For the law appointeth men high priests, having infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was after the law, `appointeth' a Son, perfected for evermore.
which `is' a figure for the time present; according to which are offered both gifts and sacrifices that cannot, as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect, `being' only (with meats and drinks and divers washings) carnal ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hebrews 7
Commentary on Hebrews 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
The doctrine of the priestly office of Christ is so excellent in itself, and so essential a part of the Christian faith, that the apostle loves to dwell upon it. Nothing made the Jews so fond of the Levitical dispensation as the high esteem they had of their priesthood, and it was doubtless a sacred and most excellent institution; it was a very severe threatening denounced against the Jews (Hos. 3:4), that the children of Israel should abide many days without a prince or priest, and without a sacrifice, and with an ephod, and without teraphim. Now the apostle assures them that by receiving the Lord Jesus they would have a much better high priest, a priesthood of a higher order, and consequently a better dispensation or covenant, a better law and testament; this he shows in this chapter, where,
Hbr 7:1-10
The foregoing chapter ended with a repetition of what had been cited once and again before out of Ps. 110:4, Jesus, a high priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec. Now this chapter is as a sermon upon that text; here the apostle sets before them some of the strong meat he had spoken of before, hoping they would by greater diligence be better prepared to digest it.
Hbr 7:11-28
Observe the necessity there was of raising up another priest, after the order of Melchisedec and not after the order of Aaron, by whom that perfection should come which could not come by the Levitical priesthood, which therefore must be changed, and the whole economy with it, v. 11, 12, etc. Here,