And no one takes the honour to himself but [as] called by God, even as Aaron also.
This verse ends the description of the Old Testament high priest with the one thing that made him a priest. He did not choose the office. God did. So if even Aaron could not appoint himself, on what ground does anyone stand between God and man?
The verse denies man any share in choosing who may mediate. One writer contrasts this with the way people usually choose someone to settle a dispute.
"And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was." God alone decides who is fit for this place of holy mediation between God and man. Man has no choice at all in this appointment. In human affairs, both sides in a dispute usually have to agree on a mediator. But here God alone can be trusted to make the right appointment, and He keeps it in His own hands.
God set up this office, and no man arranged it. That settles how much it matters.
We must note again that they did not take this honour upon themselves, "but only when called by God, just as Aaron was". It is a divine institution. That should settle for us how important the subject is. If people had set it up, we might have doubted its use. But God set it up, and God called One to fill that office. So we can be sure it matters.
The verse calls the priesthood an honor. Aaron had done nothing to earn it.
Aaron and his sons had not earned this privilege. God gave it to them by pure grace. Hebrews 5:4 says plainly that "no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was". So priestly standing and service come by God's appointment.
One writer applies the same rule to the priesthood of Christ, and then to a warning out of Israel's past.
As to the appointment of the priest on earth, "no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was." Here again there is a parallel, one we notice at once, with the priesthood of Christ. No one can truly take the place of priest, in any sense of the word, unless God calls him. It is a very solemn thing to ignore this great truth. We see it in the judgment that fell on Korah and those with him. They tried to set themselves up as priests, and God had not called them.
Another writer pinpoints where the sin lay.
Korah and his company may have meant to follow the directions for priestly service exactly. But that was not the question. It was a question of pushing into an office God had not called them to. They died with censers and incense in their hands. God's quarrel was with them.
Verses 1–3 describe a priest who is weak and must offer sacrifice for his own sins. That is not Christ. Verse 4 begins with a likeness, and the likeness brings out the difference.
Verse 3 describes the same high priest as the first two verses. He plainly has to offer for himself — not only for others, but for his own need too — to offer for sins. Isn't it clear, then, that this is a high priest like Aaron, or Aaron's son, and not one like Christ? Christ is compared with that description, and so He is contrasted with it as well. "And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself." He begins with a likeness, but only to bring out the contrast.
People often quote this verse to defend an ordained clergy. One writer answers that the subject is priesthood, not preaching.
Where were you taught to tie yourself and your teachers to such a huge error, confusing priesthood with ministry? In this letter Christ is compared with Aaron. What has this to do with preaching? … Let me tell you that in the New Testament Christianity knows no priest on earth. Its boast is the Great Priest who intercedes for us in heaven. And it invites all Christian brothers and sisters now to come with confidence into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, through the torn curtain.
- Called — no one enters this office except by God's call. Aaron did not choose it, and neither did the people. The same rule governs the priesthood of Christ.
- Honor — the office is a privilege given by grace, never earned, never claimed.
- Intrusion — Korah shows where the sin lies. It is not doing the office badly. It is entering it uninvited.
- Contrast — the comparison with Aaron serves only to show the difference. A priest who must offer for his own sins is no picture of Christ.
- Access — one writer reads the verse as leaving no room for a priestly class on earth. Believers come to God through the blood of Jesus.
Thus the Christ also has not glorified himself to be made a high priest; but he who had said to him, *Thou* art my Son, *I* have to-day begotten thee.
Hebrews 5 has just described an ordinary high priest. He is taken from among men, he is weak, and God appoints him; he does not take the job himself. Verse 5 applies that last point to Christ. The proof of the appointment is a word God spoke about His Sonship — so why is a call to priesthood announced in the language of a Father to a Son?
The verse follows straight on from Aaron's call. The choice of a mediator belongs to God alone.
God alone decides who is fit for this place of holy mediation between God and man. Man has not the slightest choice in this appointment. In human affairs, both sides in a discussion usually have to agree on a mediator. But in this matter God alone can be trusted to make the right appointment, and He keeps this choice to Himself.
Christ kept that rule. Where the ESV says He "did not exalt himself," older translations say "glorified not Himself." One writer shows what that restraint looked like.
He truly did not glorify Himself in any way, even when the atoning work was done. He waits for His kingdom, though He is Ruler of the kings of the earth... He waited on the One who sent Him. It was for God to speak, and God did speak.
This verse quotes Psalm 2; the next quotes Psalm 110. Each declares something different.
God declares two glories: the glory of His Person, shown as man on the earth, and the glory of His office. He declares the first when He says, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you" (Psalm 2). He declares the second in these words: "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 110).
The phrase can sound puzzling. One writer takes it of Christ in His place as man on earth:
The words "today I have begotten you" come from Psalm 2, and that passage is quoted in Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5 and Hebrews 5:5. This raises no difficulty, since it plainly refers to Christ as a man, Jehovah's Anointed and Jehovah's King, in connection with this world. The phrases used — "the hill of Zion," "the ends of the earth," and "this day" — belong to the earth and to time, and so confirm this view.
That declaration in time takes nothing from what He always was: "Son of God from everlasting to everlasting, in time also as man He has God declaring 'I today have begotten you'" (William Kelly).
If the point were simply that God appointed Him, Psalm 110 alone would have settled it. The Psalm 2 quotation is there because of who He is.
There can be no real doubt that the call to the office is implied in God's acknowledgment of His Sonship. Otherwise these words would be beside the point, and the second quotation would be the only one needed. On the other hand, it is His being the Son of God in humanity that makes Him fit for the priesthood — that is, for the office of mediator.
Both were called by God. That is where the likeness ends.
This appointment too is wholly of God, but it is not merely an appointment from outside. God's own announcement at His birth declares the personal glory of His Son. It implies that in His Person He is God's High Priest by nature. There is nothing like this in Aaron. No personal quality had the slightest bearing on his priesthood, which simply passed on by natural descent.
Taking the office of priest without God's call has always been serious.
See how serious it is to ignore this great truth. Judgment fell on Korah and those with him, who tried to make themselves priests without being called by God. Jude warns us that in Christendom many will do the same and appoint themselves priests without God's call.
Some think Christ prays in heaven to hold back God's anger. One writer answers that.
Some speak of Christ's work of intercession in heaven as needed to calm God's anger... The truth is different. The same grace that moved God's heart to give His only Son, and to give Him up for our offences to the death of the cross, also appointed Him to the work of priesthood.
- Called — no one takes this honour; God alone appoints the mediator, and reserves that choice to Himself.
- Christ called — He did not exalt Himself; He waited for God to speak, even after the work of the cross was done.
- Called as Son — God announces the appointment in words about Sonship. His being the Son of God in humanity is what fits Him for the office.
- Called beyond Aaron — Aaron's priesthood simply passed down the family line. Christ's rests on who He Himself is.
- Called by grace — the God who gave His Son also appointed Him priest. His priesthood flows from God's love; it does not have to win it.