one who has become a priest not by a law of succession, but by the power of an indestructible life.
Parallel translations
- WEB who has been made, not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life:
- KJV Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
- NKJV who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.
- NASB who has become a priest not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.
- NLT Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.
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
Christ became priest not by a legal requirement of physical descent but by the power of an indestructible life. His priesthood rests on resurrection life, not lineage.
Overview
The Levitical priesthood depended on bodily descent from Aaron, but Christ's depends on 'the power of an endless life.' His resurrection and eternal existence qualify him to be a priest forever. This life that death cannot touch makes his priesthood permanent and effective in a way the old one never could be.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rev 1:18the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.
- Gal 4:3So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world.
- Col 2:20If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:
- Gal 4:9But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
- Col 2:14having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!
- Heb 7:28For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
- Heb 7:3Without father or mother or genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, he remains a priest for all time.
- Heb 10:1For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
- Heb 7:24–25But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood.
- Heb 7:17For it is testified: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
- Heb 7:21but Jesus became a priest with an oath by the One who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”
- Heb 9:9–10It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 7:16 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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