Hebrews 7:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Hebrews 7:27
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
the high-priest (literally · noun — nominative plural masculine
up
ἀναφέρεινanapherein
G399
to take up (literally or figuratively) · verb — present active infinitive
sacrifice
θυσίαςthusias
G2378
sacrifice (the act or the victim · noun — accusative plural feminine
first
πρότερονproteron
G4386
previously · adverb — comparative
for
ὑπὲρhuper
G5228
"over" · preposition
own
ἰδίωνidiōn
G2398
pertaining to self · adjective — genitive plural feminine
sins
ἁμαρτιῶνhamartiōn
G266
a sin (properly abstract) · noun — genitive plural feminine
then
ἔπειταepeita
G1899
thereafter · adverb
people’s
λαοῦ·laou
G2992
a people (in general · noun — genitive singular masculine
for
γὰρgar
G1063
properly · conjunction
this
τοῦτοtoûto
G5124
that thing
did
ἐποίησενepoiēsen
G4160
to make or do (in a very wide application · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
once
ἐφάπαξephapax
G2178
upon one occasion (only) · adverb
up
ἀνενέγκας.anenegkas
G399
to take up (literally or figuratively) · verb — aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
himself
ἑαυτὸνhe'auton
G1438
him- (her- · reflexive pronoun
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
Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption fo…
Hebrews 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvat…
Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead…
Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Hebrews 10:6-12 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Romans 6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Hebrews 5:3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
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…
daily--"day by day." The priests daily offered sacrifices (Heb 9:6; Heb 10:11; Exo 29:38-42). The high priests took part in these daily-offered sacrifices only on festival days; but as they represented the whole priesthood, the daily offerings are here attributed to them; their exclusive function was to offer the atonement "once every year" (Heb 9:7), and "year by year continually" (Heb 10:1). The "daily" strictly belongs to Christ, not to the high priests, "who needeth not daily, as those high priests (year by year, and their subordinate priests daily), to offer," &c.
offer up--The Greek term is peculiarly used of sacrifices for sin. The high priest's double offering on the day of atoneme…
Who needeth not daily - Though the high priest offered the great atonement only once in the year, yet in the Jewish services there was a daily acknowledgment of sin, and a daily sacrifice offered by the priests, at whose head was the high priest, for their own sins and the sins of the people. The Jews held that a priest who neglected his own expiatory sacrifice would be smitten with death. (Sanhedr., fol. 83.) When they offered this victim, they prayed the following prayer: "O Lord, I have sinned, and done wickedly, and gone astray before thy face, I, and my house, and the sons of Aaron, the, people of thy holiness. I beseech thee, for thy name's sake, blot out the sins, iniquities, and tran…
The Church Fathers
Although we are not his brothers but have become his enemies by our transgressions, he who is not mere man, but God, after the freedom that he bestowed on us, also calls us his brothers. "I will tell of your name," he says, "to my brethren." Now, he who has redeemed us, if you examine his nature, is neither brother nor man; but if you examine his condescension to us through grace, he calls us brothers and descends to our human nature. He does not need a ransom, for he himself is the propitiation.
"He does not need, like the high priests, to offer sacrifices daily." Not only, he says, is the difference from the sinless one in relation to the Jewish priests, but also from the manner of the sacrifice, that He does not offer for Himself first, then for the people, and that He made the sacrifice once for the people only. "like the high priests." That is, of the Jews. "he did this once for all." What is this? To offer himself as a sacrifice for the people. For himself, he did not do so even once. For he had no need, being sinless, to offer for himself. Therefore, when you hear him called a high priest, think of him as always being a priest. For having done this once, he sat down at the right hand of the Father. For to minister is to stand. But to sit down indicates that having offered the sacrifice once, namely, his own body, he has sat down; ministering under the authority of spiritual powers.
Does then this alone show the difference, or does the sacrifice itself also? How? "He needeth not daily, as the High Priest, to offer up sacrifices for his sins, for this He did once for all, when He offered up Himself." "This," what? Here what follows sounds a prelude concerning the exceeding greatness of the spiritual sacrifice and the interval between them. He has mentioned the point of the priest; he has mentioned that of the faith; he has mentioned that of the Covenant; not entirely indeed, still he has mentioned it. In this place what follows is a prelude concerning the sacrifice itself. Do not then, having heard that He is a priest, suppose that He is always executing the priest's office. For He executed it once, and thenceforward "sat down." Lest thou suppose that He is standing on high, and is a minister, he shows that the matter is part of a dispensation. For as He became a servant, so also He became a Priest and a Minister. But as after becoming a servant, He did not continue a servant, so also, having become a Minister, He did not continue a Minister. For it belongs not to a minister to sit, but to stand. This then he hints at here, and also the greatness of the sacrifice, if being but one, and having been offered up once only, it affected that which all the rest were unable to do. But he does not yet treat of these points. "For this He did," he says. "This"; what? "For it is of necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer"; not for Himself; for how did He offer Himself? But for the people. What sayest thou? And is He able to do this? Yea (he says). "For the Law maketh men high priests, which have infirmity." And doth He not need to offer for Himself? No, he says. For, that you may not suppose that the words "this He did once for all," are said respecting Himself also, hear what he says: "For the law maketh men high priests, which have infirmity." On this account they both offer continually, and for themselves. He however who is mighty, He that hath no sin, why should He offer for Himself, or oftentimes for others?
Dictionary and topics
Atonement · .Ma — .Ma
Atonement, The · Made but once — Made but once
Christ, The High Priest · Needed no sacrifice for himself — Needed no sacrifice for himself
Excellency And Glory Of Christ, The · In his sinless perfection — In his sinless perfection
High Priest, The · Inferior to Christ in: Needing to make atonement for his own sins — Inferior to Christ in: Needing to make atonement for his own sins
Succession · Of priests, irregularity in — Of priests, irregularity in
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 needeth not daily, as those high priests,.... They being sinners, and he not:
to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the people's; as they did on the day of atonement; see Leviticus 16:6 upon which place the Jews (c) make the same remark the apostle does here;
"he (the high priest, they say) offers sacrifices for the sins of the people, for his own "first", "and afterwards for the sins of the people":''
which was one reason of the imperfection and insufficiency of their sacrifices; but Christ needed not to offer for his own, nor could he, for he had none of his own; what he had was by imputation; wherefore he only needed to offer, and he only did offer, for the si…
Hebrews 7:23-28
23. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
23. Et illi quidem plures facti fuerunt sacerdotes, quod prohiberentur morti permanere:
24. But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
24. Hic autem quia perpetuo manet immutabile habet sacerdotium.
25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
25. Unde et servare in aeternum potest eos qui per ipsum Deo appropinquant, semper vivens ut intercedat pro nobis.
26. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin…
Jesus is unstained by sin and set apart from sinners (cp. 4:15), which makes him superior to the priests of the old covenant, who had to deal with their own sins as well as those of the people (see also 5:1-3). • has been given the highest place of honor in heaven: This is an affirmation of his uniqueness as High Priest (cp. 2:9; 5:9; Phil 2:5-11). • once for all: This does not mean once for all people but rather once, never to be repeated.