mh_parser/vol_split/58 - Hebrews/Chapter 7.xml

<div2 id="Heb.viii" n="viii" next="Heb.ix" prev="Heb.vii" progress="77.34%" title="Chapter VII">
<h2 id="Heb.viii-p0.1">H E B R E W S.</h2>
<h3 id="Heb.viii-p0.2">CHAP. VII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Heb.viii-p1">The doctrine of the priestly office of Christ is
so excellent in itself, and so essential a part of the Christian
faith, that the apostle loves to dwell upon it. Nothing made the
Jews so fond of the Levitical dispensation as the high esteem they
had of their priesthood, and it was doubtless a sacred and most
excellent institution; it was a very severe threatening denounced
against the Jews (<scripRef id="Heb.viii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.3.4" parsed="|Hos|3|4|0|0" passage="Ho 3:4">Hos. iii.
4</scripRef>), that the children of Israel should abide many days
without a prince or priest, and without a sacrifice, and with an
ephod, and without teraphim. Now the apostle assures them that by
receiving the Lord Jesus they would have a much better high priest,
a priesthood of a higher order, and consequently a better
dispensation or covenant, a better law and testament; this he shows
in this chapter, where, I. We have a more particular account of
Melchisedec, <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.1-Heb.7.3" parsed="|Heb|7|1|7|3" passage="Heb 7:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II.
The superiority of his priesthood to that of Aaron, <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.4-Heb.7.10" parsed="|Heb|7|4|7|10" passage="Heb 7:4-10">ver. 4-10</scripRef>. III. An accommodation of
all to Christ, to show the superior excellency of his person,
office, and covenant, <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.11-Heb.7.28" parsed="|Heb|7|11|7|28" passage="Heb 7:11-28">ver. 11, to
the end</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Heb.viii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7" parsed="|Heb|7|0|0|0" passage="Heb 7" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Heb.viii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.1-Heb.7.10" parsed="|Heb|7|1|7|10" passage="Heb 7:1-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Heb.7.1-Heb.7.10">
<h4 id="Heb.viii-p1.7">Melchisedec's Priesthood. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Heb.viii-p1.8">a.
d.</span> 62.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Heb.viii-p2">1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of
the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of
the kings, and blessed him;   2 To whom also Abraham gave a
tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of
righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of
peace;   3 Without father, without mother, without descent,
having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like
unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.   4 Now
consider how great this man <i>was,</i> unto whom even the
patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.   5 And verily
they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the
priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people
according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come
out of the loins of Abraham:   6 But he whose descent is not
counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that
had the promises.   7 And without all contradiction the less
is blessed of the better.   8 And here men that die receive
tithes; but there he <i>receiveth them,</i> of whom it is witnessed
that he liveth.   9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who
receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham.   10 For he was yet
in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p3">The foregoing chapter ended with a
repetition of what had been cited once and again before out of
<scripRef id="Heb.viii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.110.4" parsed="|Ps|110|4|0|0" passage="Ps 110:4">Ps. cx. 4</scripRef>, <i>Jesus, a high
priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.</i> Now this
chapter is as a sermon upon that text; here the apostle sets before
them some of the strong meat he had spoken of before, hoping they
would by greater diligence be better prepared to digest it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p4">I. The great question that first offers
itself is, Who was this Melchisedec? All the account we have of him
in the Old Testament is in <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.18" parsed="|Gen|14|18|0|0" passage="Ge 14:18">Gen. xiv.
18</scripRef>, &amp;c., and in <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.110.4" parsed="|Ps|110|4|0|0" passage="Ps 110:4">Ps. cx.
4</scripRef>. Indeed we are much in the dark about him; God has
thought fit to leave us so, that this Melchisedec might be a more
lively type of him whose generation none can declare. If men will
not be satisfied with what is revealed, they must rove about in the
dark in endless conjectures, some fancying him to have been an
angel, others the Holy Ghost; but,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p5">1. The opinions concerning him that are
best worthy our consideration are these three:—(1.) Therabbin,
and most of the Jewish writers, think he was Shem the son of Noah
who was king and priest to their ancestors, after the manner of the
other patriarchs; but it is not probable that he should thus change
his name. Besides, we have no account of his settling in the land
of Canaan. (2.) Many Christian writers have thought him to be Jesus
Christ himself, appearing by a special dispensation and privilege
to Abraham in the flesh, and who was known to Abraham by the name
<i>Melchisedec,</i> which agrees very well to Christ, and to what
is said, <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.56" parsed="|John|8|56|0|0" passage="Joh 8:56">John viii. 56</scripRef>,
<i>Abraham saw</i> his <i>day and rejoiced.</i> Much may be said
for this opinion, and what is said in <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.3" parsed="|Heb|7|3|0|0" passage="Heb 7:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef> does not seem to agree with any
mere man; but then it seems strange to make Christ a type of
himself. (3.) The most general opinion is that he was a Canaanite
king, who reigned in Salem, and kept up religion and the worship of
the true God; that he was raised to be a type of Christ, and was
honoured by Abraham as such.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p6">2. But we shall leave these conjectures,
and labour to understand, as far as we can, what is here said of
him by the apostle, and how Christ is represented thereby,
<scripRef id="Heb.viii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.1-Heb.7.3" parsed="|Heb|7|1|7|3" passage="Heb 7:1-3"><i>v.</i> 1-3</scripRef>. (1.)
Melchisedec was a king, and so is the Lord Jesus—a king of God's
anointing; the government is laid upon his shoulders, and he rules
over all for the good of his people. (2.) That he was <i>king of
righteousness:</i> his name signifies <i>the righteous king.</i>
Jesus Christ is a rightful and a righteous king—rightful in his
title, righteous in his government. He is the Lord our
righteousness; he has fulfilled all righteousness, and brought in
an everlasting righteousness, and he loves righteousness and
righteous persons, and hates iniquity. (3.) He was king of Salem,
that is, king of peace; first king of righteousness, and after that
king of peace. So is our Lord Jesus; he by his righteousness made
peace, the fruit of righteousness is peace. Christ speaks peace,
creates peace, is our peace-maker. (4.) He was <i>priest of the
most high God,</i> qualified and anointed in an extraordinary
manner to be his priest among the Gentiles. So is the Lord Jesus;
he is the priest of the most high God, and the Gentiles must come
to God by him; it is only through his priesthood that we can obtain
reconciliation and remission of sin. (5.) He was <i>without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days
nor end of life,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.3" parsed="|Heb|7|3|0|0" passage="Heb 7:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>. This must not be understood according to the letter;
but the scripture has chosen to set him forth as an extraordinary
person, without giving us his genealogy, that he might be a fitter
type of Christ, who as man was without father, as God without
mother; whose priesthood is without descent, did not descend to him
from another, nor from him to another, but is personal and
perpetual. (6.) That he <i>met Abraham returning from the slaughter
of the kings, and blessed him.</i> The incident is recorded
<scripRef id="Heb.viii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.18" parsed="|Gen|14|18|0|0" passage="Ge 14:18">Gen. xiv. 18</scripRef>, &amp;c. He
brought forth bread and wine to refresh Abraham and his servants
when they were weary; he gave as a king, and blessed as a priest.
Thus our Lord Jesus meets his people in their spiritual conflicts,
refreshes them, renews their strength, and blesses them. (7.) That
<i>Abraham gave him a tenth part of all</i> (<scripRef id="Heb.viii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.2" parsed="|Heb|7|2|0|0" passage="Heb 7:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), that is, as the apostle explains
it, of all <i>the spoils;</i> and this Abraham did as an expression
of his gratitude for what Melchisedec had done for him, or as a
testimony of his homage and subjection to him as a king, or as an
offering vowed and dedicated to God, to be presented by his priest.
And thus are we obliged to make all possible returns of love and
gratitude to the Lord Jesus for all the rich and royal favours we
receive from him, to pay our homage and subjection to him as our
King, and to put all our offerings into his hands, to be presented
by him to the Father in the incense of his own sacrifice. (8.) That
this Melchisedec was <i>made like unto the Son of God, and abideth
a priest continually.</i> He bore the image of God in his piety and
authority, and stands upon record as an immortal high priest; the
ancient type of him who is the eternal and only-begotten of the
Father, who abideth a priest for ever.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p7">II. Let us now consider (as the apostle
advises) how great this Melchisedec was, and how far his priesthood
was above that of the order of Aaron (<scripRef id="Heb.viii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.4-Heb.7.5" parsed="|Heb|7|4|7|5" passage="Heb 7:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>, &amp;c.): <i>Now consider
how great this man was,</i> &amp;c. The greatness of this man and
his priesthood appears, 1. From Abraham's paying the tenth of the
spoils unto him; and it is well observed that Levi paid tithes to
Melchisedec in Abraham, <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.9" parsed="|Heb|7|9|0|0" passage="Heb 7:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>. Now Levi received the office of the priesthood from
God, and was to take tithes of the people, yet even Levi paid
tithes to Melchisedec, as to a greater and higher priest than
himself; therefore that high priest who should afterwards appear,
of whom Melchisedec was a type, must be much superior to any of the
Levitical priests, who paid tithes, in Abraham, to Melchisedec. And
now by this argument of persons doing things that are matters of
right or injury in the loins of their predecessors we have an
illustration how we may be said to have sinned in Adam, and fallen
with him in his first transgression. We were in Adam's loins when
he sinned, and the guilt and depravity contracted by the human
nature when it was in our first parents are equitably imputed and
derived to the same nature as it is in all other persons naturally
descended from them. They justly adhere to the nature, and it must
be by an act of grace if ever they be taken away. 2. From
Melchisedec's blessing of Abraham, <i>who had the promises; and,
without contradiction, the less is blessed of the greater,</i>
<scripRef id="Heb.viii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.6-Heb.7.7" parsed="|Heb|7|6|7|7" passage="Heb 7:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>. Here
observe, (1.) Abraham's great dignity and felicity—that he had the
promises. He was one in covenant with God, to whom God had given
exceedingly great and precious promises. That man is rich and happy
indeed who has an estate in bills and bonds under God's own hand
and seal. These promises are both of the life that now is and of
that which is to come; this honour have all those who receive the
Lord Jesus, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. (2.)
Melchisedec's greater honour—in that it was his place and
privilege to bless Abraham; and it is an uncontested maxim <i>that
the less is blessed of the greater,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.7" parsed="|Heb|7|7|0|0" passage="Heb 7:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. He who gives the blessing is
greater than he who receives it; and therefore Christ, the antitype
of Melchisedec, the meriter and Mediator of all blessings to the
children of men, must be greater than all the priests of the order
of Aaron.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Heb.viii-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.11-Heb.7.28" parsed="|Heb|7|11|7|28" passage="Heb 7:11-28" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Heb.7.11-Heb.7.28">
<h4 id="Heb.viii-p7.6">Melchisedec and Christ
Compared. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Heb.viii-p7.7">a.
d.</span> 62.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Heb.viii-p8">11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical
priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what
further need <i>was there</i> that another priest should rise after
the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of
Aaron?   12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of
necessity a change also of the law.   13 For he of whom these
things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave
attendance at the altar.   14 For <i>it is</i> evident that
our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing
concerning priesthood.   15 And it is yet far more evident:
for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another
priest,   16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal
commandment, but after the power of an endless life.   17 For
he testifieth, Thou <i>art</i> a priest for ever after the order of
Melchisedec.   18 For there is verily a disannulling of the
commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness
thereof.   19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the
bringing in of a better hope <i>did;</i> by the which we draw nigh
unto God.   20 And inasmuch as not without an oath <i>he was
made priest:</i>   21 (For those priests were made without an
oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord
sware and will not repent, Thou <i>art</i> a priest for ever after
the order of Melchisedec:)   22 By so much was Jesus made a
surety of a better testament.   23 And they truly were many
priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of
death:   24 But this <i>man,</i> because he continueth ever,
hath an unchangeable priesthood.   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.   26 For
such a high priest became us, <i>who is</i> holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
  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.   28 For the law
maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the
oath, which was since the law, <i>maketh</i> the Son, who is
consecrated for evermore.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p9">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, <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.11-Heb.7.12" parsed="|Heb|7|11|7|12" passage="Heb 7:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>, &amp;c. Here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p10">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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p11">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 him; and, blessed be
God, that we may have perfect holiness and perfect happiness by
Christ in the covenant of grace, according to the gospel, for we
are complete in him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p12">III. It is asserted that the priesthood
being changed there must of necessity be a change of the law; there
being so near a relation between the priesthood and the law, the
dispensation could not be the same under another priesthood; a new
priesthood must be under a new regulation, managed in another way,
and by rules proper to its nature and order.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p13">IV. It is not only asserted, but proved,
that the priesthood and law are changed, <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.13-Heb.7.14" parsed="|Heb|7|13|7|14" passage="Heb 7:13,14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. The priesthood and law
by which perfection could not come are abolished, and a priest has
arisen, and a dispensation is now set up, by which true believers
may be made perfect. Now that there is such a change is
obvious.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p14">1. There is a change in the tribe of which
the priesthood comes. Before, it was the tribe of Levi; but our
great high priest sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke
nothing concerning the priesthood, <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.14" parsed="|Heb|7|14|0|0" passage="Heb 7:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. This change of the family shows
a real change of the law of the priesthood.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p15">2. There is a change in the form and order
of making the priests. Before, in the Levitical priesthood, they
were made after the law of a carnal commandment; but our great high
priest was made after the power of an endless life. The former law
appointed that the office should descend, upon the death of the
father, to his eldest son, according to the order of carnal or
natural generation; for none of the high priests under the law were
without father or mother, or without descent: they had not life and
immortality in themselves. They had both beginning of days and end
of life; and so the carnal commandment, or law of primogeniture,
directed their succession, as it did in matters of civil right and
inheritance. But the law by which Christ was constituted a priest,
after the order of Melchisedec, was the power of an endless life.
The life and immortality which he had in himself were his right and
title to the priesthood, not his descent from former priests. This
makes a great difference in the priesthood, and in the economy too,
and gives the preference infinitely to Christ and the gospel. The
very law which constituted the Levitical priesthood supposed the
priests to be weak, frail, dying, creatures, not able to preserve
their own natural lives, but who must be content and glad to
survive in their posterity after the flesh; much less could they,
by any power or authority they had, convey spiritual life and
blessedness to those who came to them. But the high priest of our
profession holds his office by that innate power of endless life
which he has in himself, not only to preserve himself alive, but to
communicate spiritual and eternal life to all those who duly rely
upon his sacrifice and intercession. Some thing <i>the law of the
carnal commandment</i> refers to the external rites of
consecration, and the carnal offerings that were made; but <i>the
power of an endless life</i> to the spiritual living sacrifices
proper to the gospel, and the spiritual and eternal privileges
purchased by Christ, who was consecrated by the eternal Spirit of
life that he received without measure.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p16">3. There is a change in the efficacy of the
priesthood. The former was weak and unprofitable, made nothing
perfect; the latter brought in a better hope, by which we draw near
to God, <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.18-Heb.7.19" parsed="|Heb|7|18|7|19" passage="Heb 7:18,19"><i>v.</i> 18,
19</scripRef>. The Levitical priesthood brought nothing to
perfection: it could not justify men's persons from guilt; it could
not sanctify them from inward pollution; it could not cleanse the
consciences of the worshippers from dead works; all it could do was
to lead them to the antitype. But the priesthood of Christ carries
in it, and brings along with it, a better hope; it shows us the
true foundation of all the hope we have towards God for pardon and
salvation; it more clearly discovers the great objects of our hope;
and so it tends to work in us a more strong and lively hope of
acceptance with God. By this hope we are encouraged to draw nigh
unto God, to enter into a covenant-union with him, to live a life
of converse and communion with him. We may now draw near with a
true heart, and with the full assurance of faith, having our minds
sprinkled from an evil conscience. The former priesthood rather
kept men at a distance, and under a spirit of bondage.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p17">4. There is a change in God's way of acting
in this priesthood. He has taken an oath to Christ, which he never
did to any of the order of Aaron. God never gave them any such
assurance of their continuance, never engaged himself by oath or
promise that theirs should be an everlasting priesthood, and
therefore gave them no reason to expect the perpetuity of it, but
rather to look upon it as a temporary law. But Christ was made a
priest with the oath of God: <i>The Lord hath sworn, and will not
repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of
Melchisedec,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.21" parsed="|Heb|7|21|0|0" passage="Heb 7:21"><i>v.</i>
21</scripRef>. Here God has upon oath declared the immutability,
excellency, efficacy, and eternity, of the priesthood of
Christ.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p18">5. There is a change in that covenant of
which the priesthood was a security and the priest a surety; that
is, a change in the dispensation of that covenant. The gospel
dispensation is more full, free, perspicuous, spiritual, and
efficacious, than that of the law. Christ is in this gospel
covenant a surety for us to God and for God to us, to see that the
articles be performed on both parts He, as surety, has united the
divine and human nature together in his own person, and therein
given assurance of reconciliation; and he has, as surety, united
God and man together in the bond of the everlasting covenant. He
pleads with men to keep their covenant with god, and he pleads with
God that he will fulfil his promises to men, which he is always
ready to do in a way suitable to his majesty and glory, that is,
through a Mediator.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p19">6. There is a remarkable change in the
number of the priests under these different orders. In that of
Aaron there was a multitude of priests, of high priests, not at
once, but successively; but in this of Christ there is but one and
the same. The reason is plain, The Levitical priests were many,
because <i>they were not suffered to continue by reason of
death.</i> Their office, how high and honourable soever, could not
secure them from dying; and, as one died, another must succeed, and
after a while must give place to a third, till the number had
become very great. But this our high priest continues for ever, and
his priesthood is <b><i>aparabaton</i></b>—<i>an unchangeable
one,</i> that does not pass from one to another, as the former did;
it is always in the same hand. There can be no vacancy in this
priesthood, no hour nor moment in which the people are without a
priest to negotiate their spiritual concerns in heaven. Such a
vacancy might be very dangerous and prejudicial to them; but this
is their safety and happiness, that this ever-living high priest is
able to save to the utmost—in all times, in all cases, in every
juncture—all who come to God by him, <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.25" parsed="|Heb|7|25|0|0" passage="Heb 7:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. So that here is a manifest
alteration much for the better.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.viii-p20">7. There is a remarkable difference in the
moral qualifications of the priests. Those who were of the order of
Aaron were not only mortal men, but sinful men, who had their
sinful as well as natural infirmities; they needed to offer up
sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the people. But
our high priest, who was consecrated by the word of the oath,
needed only to offer up once for the people, never at all for
himself; for he has not only an immutable consecration to his
office, but an immutable sanctity in his person. He is <i>such a
high priest as became us, holy, harmless, and undefiled,</i>
&amp;c., <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.26-Heb.7.28" parsed="|Heb|7|26|7|28" passage="Heb 7:26-28"><i>v.</i>
26-28</scripRef>. Here observe, (1.) Our case, as sinners, needed a
high priest to make satisfaction and intercession for us. (2.) No
priest could be suitable or sufficient for our reconciliation to
God but one who was perfectly righteous in his own person; he must
be righteous in himself, or he could not be a propitiation for our
sin, or our advocate with the Father. (3.) The Lord Jesus was
exactly such a high priest as we wanted, for he has a personal
holiness, absolutely perfect. Observe the description we have of
the personal holiness of Christ expressed in various terms, all of
which some learned divines consider as relating to his perfect
purity. [1.] He is holy, perfectly free from all the habits or
principles of sin, not having the least disposition to it in his
nature; no sin dwells in him, though it does in the best of
Christians, not the least sinful inclination [2.] He is harmless,
perfectly free from all actual transgression, has done no violence,
nor is there any deceit in his mouth, never did the least wrong to
God or man. [3.] He is undefiled, he was never accessory to other
men's sins. It is a difficult thing to keep ourselves pure, so as
not to partake in the guilt of other men's sins, by contributing in
some way towards them, or not doing what we ought to prevent them.
Christ was undefiled; though he took upon him the guilt of our
sins, yet he never involved himself in the fact and fault of them.
[4.] He is separate from sinners, not only in his present state
(having entered as our high priest into the holiest of all, into
which nothing defiled can enter), but in his personal purity: he
has no such union with sinners, either natural or federal, as can
devolve upon him original sin. This comes upon us by virtue of our
natural and federal union with the first Adam, we descending from
him in the ordinary way. But Christ was, by his ineffable
conception in the virgin, separate from sinners; though he took a
true human nature, yet the miraculous way in which it was conceived
set him upon a separate footing from all the rest of mankind. [5.]
He is made higher than the heavens. Most expositors understand this
concerning his state of exaltation in heaven, at the right hand of
God, to perfect the design of his priesthood. But Dr. Goodwin
thinks this may be very justly referred to the personal holiness of
Christ, which is greater and more perfect than the holiness of the
hosts of heaven, that is, the holy angels themselves, who, though
they are free from sin, yet are not in themselves free from all
possibility of sinning. And therefore we read, <i>God putteth no
trust in his holy ones, and he chargeth his angels with folly</i>
(<scripRef id="Heb.viii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.18" parsed="|Job|4|18|0|0" passage="Job 4:18">Job iv. 18</scripRef>), that is, with
weakness and peccability. They may be angels one hour and devils
another, as many of them were; and that the holy angels shall not
now fall does not proceed from an indefectibility of nature, but
from the election of God; they are elect angels. It is very
probable that this explanation of the words, <i>made higher than
the heavens,</i> may be thought too much strained, and that it
ought to be understood of the dignity of Christ's state, and not
the perfect holiness of his person; and the rather because it is
said he was <i>made</i> higher <b><i>genomenos</i></b>; but it is
well known that this word is used in a neutral sense, as where it
is said, <b><i>genesthe ho Theos alethes</i></b>—<i>Let God be
true.</i> The other characters in the verse plainly belong to the
personal perfection of Christ in holiness, as opposed to the sinful
infirmities of the Levitical priests; and it seems congruous to
think this must do so too, if it may be fairly taken in such a
sense; and it appears yet more probable, since the validity and
prevalency of Christ's priesthood in <scripRef id="Heb.viii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.27" parsed="|Heb|7|27|0|0" passage="Heb 7:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef> are placed in the impartiality
and disinterestedness of it. He needed not to offer up for himself:
it was a disinterested mediation; he mediated for that mercy for
others which he did not need for himself; had he needed it himself,
he had been a party, and could not have been a Mediator—a
criminal, and could not have been an advocate for sinners. Now, to
render his mediation the more impartial and disinterested, it seems
requisite not only that he had no present need of that favour for
himself which he mediated for in behalf of others, but that he
never could stand in need of it. Though he needed it not to-day,
yet if he knew he might be in such circumstances as to need it
to-morrow, or at any future time, he must have been thought to have
had some eye upon his own interest, and therefore could not act
with impartial regard and pure zeal for the honour of God on one
hand, and tender pure compassion for poor sinners on the other. I
pretend not here to follow the notes of our late excellent
expositor, into whose labours we have entered, but have taken the
liberty to vindicate this notion of the learned Dr. Goodwin from
the exceptions that I know have been made to it; and I have the
rather done it because, if it will hold good, it gives us further
evidence how necessary it was that the Mediator should be God,
since no mere creature is of himself possessed of that
impeccability which will set him above all possible need of favour
and mercy for himself.</p>
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