Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Parallel translations
- WEB who has been made, not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life:
- BSB one who has become a priest not by a law of succession, but by the power of an indestructible 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 1:18I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
- Gal 4:3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
- Col 2:20Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
- Gal 4:9But 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 again to be in bondage?
- Col 2:14Blotting 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 cross;
- Heb 7:28For 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 consecrated for evermore.
- Heb 7:3Without 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.
- Heb 10:1For 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 year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
- Heb 7:24–25But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
- Heb 7:17For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
- Heb 7:21(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 art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
- Heb 9:9–10Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
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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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