Hebrews 7:26-27

‘For such a high priest became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, (first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people), for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself.’

Summing up then he describes the superiority of Jesus to earthly High Priests. What He is in His very nature and in His continual behaviour shows that He is the kind of High Priest that we need, that He is ‘becoming’ to us. That He fits in with our requirements. And this is so for the following reasons.

1) He is holy (hosios). Completely godly, uniquely separated to God and pleasing to Him, untouched by sin, completely acceptable and perfect. See Acts 2:27; 1 Timothy 2:8; Titus 1:8, and compare 1 Peter 1:15 (although there the Greek is hagion);

2) He is guileless. Innocent, without deceit, without dissimulation, without guile, totally true.

3) He is undefiled. Untouched by the defilement of the world or of sin, having kept Himself from evil. Religiously and morally pure.

4) He is separated from sinners. Standing out on His own as uniquely different from and separated from us in behaviour, attitude and purpose, He has no part in man’s rebelliousness or failure. He is totally blameless. He is the perfect ‘second man’, crowned with glory and honour as man, and totally without sin.

In mind in the idea of separation from sinners may be the fact that the High Priest would separate himself from all possible taint preparatory to great feasts. So did Jesus separate Himself from all that could defile, but with the difference that Jesus was permanently separated from all taint from the beginning. He did it from birth. And He alone could not be rendered unclean, either by touching the dead (Luke 8:54 compare Luke 7:14), or touching the leper (Mark 1:41), for He was above death and above disease. They vanished at His touch.

5) He is made higher than the heavens (see Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 8:1). As Man He is exalted to the highest degree, raised above all angelic powers (compareEphesians 1:19-22; Ephesians 1:19-22), receiving the final glory and honour with which He had been crowned (Hebrews 2:9), set above all things with all subjected to Him (Hebrews 2:8). He has received as Man the unique place at God’s right hand as God’s viceroy and High Priest (Hebrews 8:1). His intercession for us is thus authoritative, personal and perfect and is by One Who sits there for us, awaiting the day when we share His throne (Revelation 3:21).

6) He is pure and sinless and therefore has no need to offer sacrifices for Himself. He needs no cleansing, no vindication, no defence (Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5). He is totally acceptable to God in what He is as perfect man and perfect God and perfect sacrifice.

7) He has made a once-for-all sacrifice for sins, when He offered up Himself. He has made the totally acceptable offering of Himself which is sufficient to cover all sin, in all ways, for all time, for all who respond to Him (see Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:12-14).

Thus is He equipped in every way to act as our High Priest.

‘Who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people.’ For He does not have first to be concerned about His own sins. These words ‘to offer up sacrifices’ cover all offerings and sacrifices, from the regular daily offerings, and the voluntary daily offerings and sacrifices, through all the multitude of offerings and sacrifices throughout the year, to those of the great Day of Atonement. All were necessary to cover the sins of the High Priest and the sins of the people. The continual offering of ‘offerings and sacrifices’ was a never-ending round which unceasingly took up the services of the priesthood under the High Priest, in direct contrast to the once-for-all nature of Christ’s own sacrifice.

‘First for his own sins.’ This applies to each High Priest. Such an offering for the High Priest’s own sins was specifically required on the Day of Atonement but it was intrinsic in the daily offerings which were for all, including the High Priest. He represented the people, as having been drawn from among them, sinful as they were sinful. Thus the High Priest constantly had to offer sacrifices for himself, as he did also for the people. This whole statement thus covers all aspects of what the High Priest has to offer for both himself and the people. His offering for himself must logically come first, even if contained in one sacrifice for all, for without his being atoned for he could not offer sacrifices for others. Thus the daily sacrifices, which were for all, included him within them, and were seen as atoning for him first and then for them, something which found detailed expression on the Day of Atonement. He stood there on behalf of the whole people, which included himself.

‘To offer up sacrifices --- for this He did once for all, when He offered up Himself.’ But in contrast, rather than being sinful and needing atonement, Jesus Christ was so blameless, so perfect, that without needing to deal with the problem of His own sins because He was without sin, He was able to offer Himself up as a sacrifice, as the means of ‘atonement’ (putting them at one with God) for others. That is, He offered Himself up for the sins of the people, as a means of purification (Hebrews 1:3) so that they might be cleansed, and as a means of propitiation (Hebrews 2:17) so that God’s aversion to their sin might be removed. For Jesus’ one offering of Himself as the one total and complete offering and sacrifice for sin was sufficient once-for-all, for all time, in all circumstances, to cover all possible sin and defilement, on behalf of all who believed in Him.

This last was not a sacrifice contrary to Jewish Law, even though it was not offered by levitical priests, for it was a type of sacrifice not catered for by the Law, one requiring a unique priest. Nor was the blood to be presented in the Temple, or in any earthly sanctuary. It was to be presented in Heaven (Hebrews 8:3; Hebrews 9:11-12). It therefore had to be offered by a priest qualified for the purpose, and thus necessarily not of Aaronic descent, for they were only appointed to act on earth. It required an eternal High Priest, One Who was perfected (Hebrews 7:28), for it was not in fact an offering that a levitical priest was qualified to offer. It was not prescribed by the Law. (If we wanted to be pedantic we could point out that in fact the Aaronic priests did offer Him up, for they handed Him over to the Roman authorities to do just that, and spoke of Him as ‘dying for the nation’ (John 11:50-51). But that is not what is in mind).