Hebrews 5:10

Named of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Here the author picks up the thread of argument relative to the high priesthood of Christ, intending to return a few verses later with a further elaboration of it; but characteristically of the author, he interrupts himself to deliver the third of five great exhortations in the epistle. It is precisely this trait which suggests Paul as the author.

Named of God indicates that Christ's being made a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek was none of the author's doing; it had not been conceived by any of Christ's followers, but it was an act of God himself; and there it was in the sacred scriptures, embedded as in a matrix, and only waiting for the fullness of time when the mind of inspiration would illuminate it with a finger of light, as is done in this very passage. The deduction that all were expected to make is quite obvious, namely, that Christ's high priesthood was no less of God than was that of Aaron, and over and beyond that, was in many remarkable particulars superior to it.

THE THIRD EXHORTATION

The balance of Hebrews 5 and all of Hebrews 6 are given to an extensive exhortation for the purpose of arousing the disciples from their lethargy and setting their feet firmly on the road to spiritual maturity. They had simply not developed as should have been expected; and, although sufficient time had elapsed since their conversion that they should have been by that time able teachers of the word of God, such was far from being true of them. They had made themselves content with a knowledge of the rudimentary things of faith and of the first principles of the gospel and had not gone forward to acquire a genuine mastery of the faith. That elementary character of their faith looms in the writer's mind, at this point, as an actual impediment to their understanding of the marvelous things he was writing; and before proceeding with such advanced teaching, he takes time out to protest their incompetence to understand it!