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The Son Superior to Angels
For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?
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He also says, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
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Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
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Jesus Made Fully Human
It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.
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But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him?
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Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.
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Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
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But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
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That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’
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For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
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He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.
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In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”
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And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
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and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
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Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation.
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Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also are descended from Abraham.
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He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar.
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For it is declared: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
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but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”
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The High Priest of a New Covenant
Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
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If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.
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But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
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They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
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The Blood of Christ
But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation.
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The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
