For, the priesthood being changed, there takes place of necessity a change of law also.
Hebrews has just shown that the law itself pointed to a Priest of a different order from Aaron's. Here the writer draws the conclusion his first readers could not escape. If the priesthood moves, the whole legal system moves with it.
The change announced is not merely a swap of personnel. One commentator points to the exact wording. The verse says a change "of law," not of "the law" — a change of principle:
The change of the priest makes a change of law necessary too. That is what Scripture says here. It does not say "the law," as one lively but often unreliable commentator claimed, but "of law." From now on the principle is completely different. Only grace can save a sinner. The law cannot, and neither can a mixture of law and grace. Such a mixture only condemns the guilty more, since they have even less excuse.
Someone might limit this to the regulations about who may serve at the altar. But the priesthood was not one department among many:
As we see in the Day of Atonement, all the relation of Israel to God hung upon the priesthood. Year by year the high priest put the blood on the mercy seat. That alone made it possible for God to dwell among them, and only a man of Aaron's family could do it. The law allowed for no one else. Yet Christ came from Judah, and the law said nothing about priesthood in that tribe.
The argument runs both ways. The law itself predicted a priest of another order, which proves the old one never reached perfection. And when the priest changes, God's way of dealing changes with Him:
Perfection is a vital subject in Hebrews, and one the Jewish reader would fully agree with. But was it found in the law? Impossible! If it were, why did the law itself testify that another priest would rise, of an order the law did not know? And if the priesthood changed to a completely different order, then the law had to change. God's way of dealing would match the character of the priesthood He set up.
This is the point that shook the first readers hardest. The system now set aside was not a human invention. It came from God, and it still had to go:
Therefore that priesthood displaces entirely the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants. Since that is so, the law under which the priesthood was set up changed as well. So the Hebrew believer had to face this astounding fact. Christ, whom he knew to be the Son of God, glorified God in dealing with sin and then took His place on high. Such a Priest completely displaces every form of the order that came before, even though God Himself had ordained it.
If the two stand or fall together, then no part of the old can be bolted onto the new:
All that the saints are hangs upon what He is and what He has done. "For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well." It would be impossible to tack a legal system onto a risen Christ.
The change is so complete that Christ Himself would not serve as a priest under the old system:
Scripture tells us plainly that the priesthood is changed. It is so changed that even if Christ "were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law" (Heb. 8:4). So Aaron's order of priesthood was connected with the law, a shadow of heavenly things.
The removal is not a loss. What the old arrangement could never do, the new one does:
Under the law the effect of the priesthood was to put the people at a distance from God. The priest received the offering, sprinkled the blood, went into the sanctuary, and came out again. The people stayed far off. But here is "a better hope" by which we draw near to God. By faith we enter the sanctuary where our Priest is, and worship happily in His very presence. Here was the astounding fact for an Israelite, that his law was set aside as well as his priesthood. What had he left? He that believed had Jesus, the Son of God.
- Change — a new Priest of a new order is not a tweak to the old system. The priesthood and the law rise and fall together.
- Scope — this is not just about rules for priests. Israel's whole relationship with God rested on the high priest's work at the mercy seat.
- Necessity — God's way of dealing matches the priest He appoints. A Priest of a new order means a new principle: grace, not law.
- Cost — the old system was truly God-given, yet no fragment of it can be attached to a risen Christ.
- Gain — the old order kept people at a distance. The better hope brings believers into God's presence, with the Son of God as their Priest.
For he, of whom these things are said, belongs to a different tribe, of which no one has [ever] been attached to the service of the altar.
Hebrews 7 argues from Psalm 110 that God promised a Priest of a different order from Aaron's. Here the writer adds a fact no one could dispute. The Messiah came from a tribe that never gave Israel a single priest. That one detail unsettles the whole legal system, because Israel came to God through Levi alone.
The psalm's words about a priest forever point to one Person. His family line, not Aaron's, is where the argument turns.
The next fact shows the change even more clearly. The One these things are said of belonged to a different tribe, not Levi but Judah. No one from that tribe ever held an official place at the altar. Everyone could see it, as the text adds: "our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests." The break was as clear as it was decisive.
The Greek word behind "another" does not mean one more of the same sort. It points to a difference in kind.
The word heteros expresses "a different kind." … Christ is a priest of a different order, and came from a different tribe than Levi. Heb. 7:11, 13, 15.
Israel's history shows how firmly God held that line. And the Lord Himself never reached for the place the law denied His tribe.
King Uzziah came from the tribe of Judah. He dared to enter the temple and act as a priest, and God struck him at once with leprosy (2 Chron. 26:16-21). And the Lord Jesus, while on earth, sought no place at all in the official priesthood. He never suggested taking the place or the duties of a priest in the temple.
The change of priesthood does not stop at the priesthood. The Day of Atonement shows how much hung on it.
The apostle argues that the change of the priesthood sets aside the law itself. We only have to think for a moment to see how complete a change this involved. As we see in the Day of Atonement, all the relation of Israel to God hung upon the priesthood. The blood put on the mercy seat by the high priest, year by year, alone enabled God to dwell among them. And this could only be done by one of the family of Aaron. The law provided for no other. Yet Christ had sprung from Judah, and the law said nothing of priesthood in connection with that tribe.
Verse 12 speaks of a change of law, not of the law. That small word carries a whole change of principle.
Now the change of the priest requires a change of law as well. That is what the inspired text says here: not a change of "the law," as some have claimed, but "of law." From now on there is a completely different principle. Grace alone can save a sinner — not law, and not a mixture of law and grace. That mixture only condemns the guilty all the more, since it leaves them with even less excuse.
One Person now holds two offices the law kept apart. And the place where He serves has changed too.
His coming, then, has taken the honour away from the tribe of Levi and set aside their priesthood. He came from Judah, and He is the priest like Melchizedek, joining priesthood and kingship. God made Him priest, not by a law about bodily descent, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. … He has passed through death, and now He is the Melchizedek priest in heaven, not on earth. He has no end of days. He lives forever.
- Tribe — The Priest promised in Psalm 110 came from Judah. "Another" here means another kind, not one more of the same sort.
- Altar — No one from Judah ever served at the altar. Uzziah's leprosy showed how firmly God held that line, and Jesus never claimed a temple office.
- Change — Israel's whole approach to God hung on Aaron's family. Move the priesthood, and everything moves with it.
- Law — The change is of law as a principle. So grace alone saves — not law, and not a mixture of the two.
- Glory — Levi's honour passes to One who is both priest and king. He serves in heaven, in the power of a life that cannot end.
For it is clear that our Lord has sprung out of Juda, as to which tribe Moses spake nothing as to priests.
Jesus came from the tribe of Judah, while every priest under the law came from Levi. The writer of Hebrews builds his case on that one detail: if the priest has changed, the law built on the old priesthood must change too.
Nothing here was hidden. Anyone could see which family Jesus came from.
The One these things are said about belonged to a different tribe. Not Levi but Judah — and no one from that tribe had ever served at the altar as a priest. It was plain to everyone, as the writer adds, that our Lord "was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests." The break was as clear as it was decisive. Prophecy had declared it: the Messiah would be born in David's line, to a virgin engaged to a man from Solomon's branch of that family.
Why does that silence matter so much? Consider what the priesthood carried in Israel.
The apostle argues that the change of the priesthood sets aside the law itself. It only takes a moment's thought to see how complete that change was. As we see on the day of atonement, Israel's whole relationship with God hung on the priesthood. Only the blood that the high priest put on the mercy seat year by year made it possible for God to live among them. And only a man from Aaron's family could do that: the law had no one else in view. Yet Christ had come from Judah, and the law said nothing about priesthood in connection with that tribe.
Jesus never reached for the priest's role. Israel's history showed what happened to a man of Judah who did.
King Uzziah came from the tribe of Judah. He dared to enter the temple to act as a priest, and God struck him at once with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). And while He was on earth, the Lord Jesus sought no place at all in the official priesthood. He never suggested taking up the place or duties of a priest in the temple.
Judah rules Him out of Aaron's order. It marks Him out for a different one.
In verse 14 we read that our Lord "was descended from Judah" — the kingly line, not the priestly line of Levi. This shows the need for a king to be priest, as we have at the beginning of this chapter. Only a king could fill that order of priesthood. So God brought in Melchizedek before He brought in kingship, knowing that the Son would be King and Priest.
The change goes deeper than family. It changes what holds the priesthood up.
And He who came from Judah is the priest like Melchizedek, combining priesthood and royalty. He was made priest not by a law about bodily descent, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. His priesthood is not a thing of time and change, a priesthood of flesh like Aaron's. It is a priesthood in the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. He has passed through death. Now He is the Melchizedek priest in heaven, not on earth — the priest who has no end of days, who lives for ever.
Judah's family line was not a clean one. Tamar's story in Genesis 38 sits right inside it.
Genesis 38 shows one of those remarkable moments where God's grace triumphs gloriously over man's sin. "It is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah." But how? "Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar." This is especially striking. God, in His great grace, rises above the sin and folly of man in order to bring about His own purposes of love and mercy... The Spirit of God is leading us along the family line through which Christ came as a man. And in doing so, He gives us Tamar and Bathsheba as links in that chain! How clear it is that there is nothing of man in this!
- Tribe. Christ came from Judah, as prophecy had said He would. And Moses said nothing about priests from that tribe.
- Silence. That silence carried enormous weight. Israel's whole relationship with God, right up to the blood on the mercy seat, ran through Aaron's family alone.
- Restraint. On earth Jesus claimed no place in the official priesthood. Uzziah's leprosy showed what a man of Judah risked by taking it.
- Order. Judah is the line of kings, and only a king could fill Melchizedek's order. God put that order on record before Israel had any king.
- Life. So His priesthood does not rest on a rule of descent. It rests on the power of a life that death cannot end, held in heaven for ever.