Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Galatians 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Galatians 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire…
Colossians 2:20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cros…
Hebrews 7:3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abide…
Hebrews 7:28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecra…
Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hebrews 7:11–end
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, Heb 7:11, Heb 7:12, etc. Here,
I. It is asserted that perfection could not come by the Levitical priesthood and the law. They could not put those who came to them into the perfect enjoyment of the good things they pointed out to them; they could only show them the way.
II. That therefore another priest must be raised up, after the order of Melchisedec, by whom, and his law of faith, perfection might come to all who obey…
carnal . . . endless--mutually contrasted. As "form" and "power" are opposed, Ti2 3:5; so here "the law" and "power," compare Rom 8:3, "The law was weak through the flesh"; and Heb 7:18, "weakness." "The law" is here not the law in general, but the statute as to the priesthood. "Carnal," as being only outward and temporary, is contrasted with "endless," or, as Greek, "indissoluble." Commandments is contrasted with "life." The law can give a commandment, but it cannot give life (Heb 7:19). But our High Priest's inherent "power," now in heaven, has in Him "life for ever"; Heb 9:14, "through the eternal Spirit"; Heb 7:25, "able . . . ever liveth" (Joh 5:26). It is in the power of His resurrecti…
Who is made - Appointed to this high office by God himself, not succeeding one that was disabled or dead, according to that law or ordinance directed to weak and perishing men, who could not continue by reason of death.
This is probably all that the apostle intends by the words carnal commandment, εντολης σαρκικης· for carnal does not always mean sinful or corrupt, but feeble, frail, or what may be said of or concerning man in his present dying condition.
But after the power of an endless life - Not dying, or ceasing through weakness to be a priest; but properly immortal himself, and having the power to confer life and immortality on others. He ever lives, as Priest, to make intercession for…
The Church Fathers
"But according to the power of an endless life. For He testifieth, Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec"; that is, not for a time, nor having any limit, "but according to the power of an endless life," that is, by means of power, by means of "endless life." And yet this does not follow after, "who was made not according to the law of a carnal commandment": for what would follow would be to say, "but according to that of a spiritual one." However by "carnal," he implied temporary. As he says also in another place, "carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation." "According to the power of life," that is, because He lives by His own power.
"who has not become a priest according to the law of a fleshly commandment." For Christ has become a high priest, not according to the law of a commandment concerning flesh, but according to the power of an everlasting life. What is according to the law of a fleshly commandment? That the law had commandments concerning the flesh, such as circumcision, rest, this one to eat, and that one not to eat. Which was of the flesh and did not come to the purification of the soul, therefore he says, a priest according to the law of a fleshly commandments. For he knew the Levites as priests. But he says, Christ has become a priest, both by his own power and that of the Father, and by eternal life.
He is saying it is possible to bring out the likeness between the one and the other: as one did not have successors to his priesthood, so neither did the other transmit it to another—which he referred to as "bodily descent" because the law required on account of the mortality of human beings that after the death of the high priest his son would succeed to the priesthood. Now, in my view this phrase has another meaning as well: the priests cleansed the body in particular, sprinkling and washing it; they offered sacrifices for it. In other words, it was not for murderers or wreckers of others' marriages that they were in the habit of performing sacrifices, but for menstruating women, lepers and people who touched the bones of the dead.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Carnal — Unconverted men are so called (1 Cor. 3:3). They are represented as of a “carnal mind, which is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:6, 7). Enjoyments that minister to the wants and desires of man’s animal…
Life — Generally of physical life (Gen. 2:7; Luke 16:25, etc.); also used figuratively (1) for immortality (Heb. 7:16); (2) conduct or manner of life (Rom. 6:4); (3) spiritual life or salvation (John 3:16,…
Christ, The High Priest · Superior to Aaron and the Levitical priests — Superior to Aaron and the Levitical priests
High Priest, The · Inferior to Christ in: Being of the order of Aaron — Inferior to Christ in: Being of the order of Aaron
Melchizedek · A priest and type of Christ — A priest and type of Christ
Priest · .Melchize — .Melchize
Succession · Of priests, irregularity in — Of priests, irregularity in
Types Of Christ · Melchizedek — Melchizedek
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Who was made,.... Not as man, much less as God; but as a priest, constituted and appointed one:
not after the law of a carnal commandment: either the ceremonial law in general, which was a carnal one, if we consider the persons to whom it belonged, the Israelites according to the flesh; it was incumbent upon, and might be performed by such who were only carnal; and it was performed by and for men that were in the flesh, or mortal; and if we consider the matter of it, the subject on which various of its rites were exercised was the flesh or body, and which were performed by manual operation; and the sacrifices of it were the flesh of beasts; and these were for the sins of the flesh, and for…
Hebrews 7:15-22
15. And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
15. Idque magis etiam liquet, siquidem ad similitudinem Melchisedec exoritur sacerdos alius;
16. Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
16. Qui non juxta legem mandati carnalis factus fuit, sed secundum potentiam vitae insolubilis.
17. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
17. Testatur enim ad hunc modum, Tu serdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedec.
18. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness t…
This change of how God appoints priests (7:11-14) has been made very clear by the appointment of Jesus as a different priest. He, like Melchizedek, is a priest forever: Jesus’ resurrection from the dead shows that he has the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. Because his priesthood in the order of Melchizedek is superior to that of the Levites (7:1-10), he supersedes them as priest.
