Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?
Parallel translations
- WEB Now if there were perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people have received the law), what further need was there for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
- KJV If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
- BSB Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on this basis the people received the law), why was there still need for another priest to appear—one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron?
- NASB So if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?
- NLT So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If the Levitical priesthood could have brought perfection, there would be no need for another priest after Melchizedek's order. The rise of a new priesthood proves the old one was insufficient.
Overview
The law and its priesthood could not bring people to the perfection of full access to God and cleansed consciences. The very promise of a priest after Melchizedek's order (Psalm 110:4) signals the inadequacy of the Aaronic system. This points to Christ as the better priest who accomplishes what the law could not.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Heb 8:7For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
- Gal 2:21I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”
- Heb 7:17–19for it is testified, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
- Gal 4:9But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again?
- Heb 7:15This is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest,
- Heb 5:6As he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
- Heb 7:21(for they indeed have been made priests without an oath), but he with an oath by him that says of him, “The Lord swore and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.’”
- Heb 8:10–13“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
- Col 2:10–17and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;
- Heb 6:20where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
- Heb 5:10named by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
- Gal 4:3So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles of the world.
- Heb 10:1–4For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 7:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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