Heb 7:17 for it is witnessed of him, Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek. ASV
Heb 7:17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. KJV
Heb 7:17 For it is testified, "You are a priest to the age according to the order of Melchizedek."
Heb 7:17 For He testifies, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." MKJV
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COMMENTARY
To be a priest "after the order of Melchizedek" means, among
other things, to be a Priest that is NOT OF THE LEVITICAL LINE! This is
necessarily evident in the present discourse of Hebrews 7 in that both
the Law and the Levitical Priesthood were changed because it was under
the Levitical Priesthood
that the law was given; vs 11, and they both stand or fall together.
Therefore if the Law was not changed then neither was the Priesthood
and the unavoidable consequence is that the Lord Jesus Christ was not a
Priest since He was not of the tribe of Levi. Result.. No salvation,
for anybody!
Objection; When it says the law was changed it's not talking about the
10 Cs because they were given before the Levitical priesthood. It's
talking about the ceremonial law... heretik!
Answer; That the law -was- given under the Levitical priesthood is
evident in that both Moses and Aaron went up Mt Sinai while every body
else was excluded under penalty of death. Moreover the objection is a
contradiction. If the "law" means only the so-called 'ceremonial' law,
guess who was authorized to carry out the requirements of that law? None other than the Levitical Priests. And
once you do away with the Levitical Priesthood there is no one left to
perform their duties of offering sacrifices for sin which was the
transgression of the Ten Commandments along with all the other laws
that came after. This shows the futility of attempting to
separate the Levitical Priesthood from the so-called 'moral' law and
assigning the so-called 'ceremonial' law to them. As well the
whole idea of a "ceremonial" law that is supposed to be separate and
different from the moral law is thoroughly unbiblical. No one can find
and/or point to such a system anywhere in the Bible. Nor can they show
where such 'ceremonial' law was given under the Levitical Priesthood in
distinction from the giving of the rest of the law, including the 10
Cs. Moreover when the NT talks about the law being abrogated it means
the whole law of God in its entirety. Col 2:14. Seeing as I am not a
Jew what good would the changing of this so-called 'ceremonial' law do
me for the salvation of my soul? I need salvation from God's ~Moral~
law which I have transgressed as a Gentile, not a Jew! So that if you
restrict the changing of the law to a so-called "ceremonial" law then
you have in effect shut out every last Gentile from salvation because I
did not transgress the 'ceremonial' law, which you claim was nailed to
the cross; I broke the ~Moral~ law which you claim was ~Not~ nailed to
His cross. Scripture is clear that if anyone wanted to know the life of
a Jew under the Mosaic Econemy he had to be circumcized and become a
Jew himself. Otherwise he had no part in Israel. Seeing as I was never
a Jew what good would the abrogation of the 'ceremonial' law, which was
exclusive to Israel, do me?
There simply is no escaping the clear teaching of Scripture that
the Advent of Messiah banished the OT Mosaic economy once and forever.
Any attempt to maintain Moses, as in Covenant Theology, or bring him
back, as in Dispensationalism, is an attempt to destroy the Person
& work of Messiah and rob the saints of their salvation!
Hebrews
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