NOTES for Heb 7:11-19

Speaking of the "abolition of the former commandment," which, however, according to the meaning of the corresponding Greek word would more accurately be called a "renunciation," the author of the letter says that this happens because of its "weakness," exactly as the Greek text says. Judging by the context, the issue here is not that the commandment is bad as such, or that it is insufficient for solving the task set by God, but that it is not a perfect instrument for achieving the appointed goal: the Torah that functioned in pre-Christian times, as is evident, could not solve the task of the complete sanctification and transformation of a person. That is precisely why something greater was needed, something that could enter the world only with Christ. But this greater thing did not mechanically supplement the former Torah, nor did it mean its growth, similar to what one can speak of, for example, in the case of adding another story to a house, when the addition does not require changing or rebuilding the original structure. For the greater thing was nothing other than the Kingdom brought into the world by the Savior. It certainly includes all the fullness of sanctification available to a human being, compared with which every earlier sanctification was only partial and relative. But this fullness does not consist of parts; bringing sanctification to fullness means the complete transformation of human nature, a new quality and a new state of the human being, not a continuation of former purifying and sanctifying rituals. And this new quality, surpassing everything that had been given to humanity before, makes the former things spiritually no longer current. For in the Kingdom only fullness is possible, life in abundance, and nothing less.

In speaking in today’s reading about the enduring priesthood of Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul draws our attention to an important feature of the law. He says that the law, a body of prescriptive and prohibitive rules and ordinances, is a strictly functional thing. The apostle emphasizes that the law is powerless to perfect human nature. For this reason, in his view, a commandment of the law can be set aside because of its weakness and uselessness. Even after two thousand years of the Christian Church, human religious psychology rebels against such freedom. It seems that a commandment must be an image of the truth so that we can rely on it. The apostle, however, emphasizes that in the New Covenant a greater and better hope is introduced for us: to be guided by the One who Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. On this basis, the apostle concludes that the New Covenant is superior. For us in practice, this means above all that there can be no universal ready-made solutions in the Christian faith, and that whatever resembles law in the life of Christians testifies to our hardness of heart and our inability to obey the Holy Spirit.

It is remarkable how the text unfolds from the phrase, “Beyond all dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater.” I pictured a mother bringing a small child to a priest and asking for a blessing; after blessing the little one, the priest asks him, “Now you bless me.” I was deeply struck by this at the time. Did that priest see the infant Jesus in the child? Or, more simply, someone who was closer to the Kingdom than any of us? Either way, he did not look down on the child. Nor did Abraham think about who was greater or more important, or who possessed greater gifts from God—he or Melchizedek. When the Lord blesses, He does so through whomever He wishes. And it may turn out that the source of blessing for us will be someone from whom we did not expect it at all.