For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest,.... The Socinians from hence attempt to prove that Christ was not a priest, and did not offer sacrifice on earth; whereas his coming into the world, and his appearance in human nature, was in the character of a priest, and to qualify himself for one; his death was his sacrifice, which was on earth; and he never offered but one sacrifice; and it was after he had offered himself that he went to heaven; so the sacrifices under the law were first offered, before their blood was carried within: but the meaning is, either if "that" was on earth, namely, what it was necessary he should have to offer; if his human nature had been earthly, had been of men, had come by ordinary generation, he had not been properly, only typically a priest, at most; and had been no better than the typical ones; yea, he would have been needless, nay, might not have offered, not being of Levi's tribe, and could not have existed as a priest with the sons of Aaron; but he had his human nature in another way, through the power of the Holy Ghost from above, and therefore is said to come from above, from heaven, and to be the Lord from heaven: or the sense is, if he was on earth, and had not died, he had not been a priest; and if he had died and remained under the power of death, he had been a priest of no account and use; and had he rose again and remained on earth, without going to heaven, with his blood and sacrifice, he had not been a perfect priest; if Christ had remained on earth, the Levitical priesthood had remained, and so he would have been no priest, since two priesthoods could not have subsisted together.
Bible Commentary
Hebrews 8:4
Hebrews 8:4
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible · John Gill (1697–1771) · Public Domain
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Hebrews 8 — OverviewHebrews 8 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleIn this chapter the apostle pursues his former subject, the priesthood
of Christ. And, I. He sums up what he had already said, ver. 1, 2. II.
He sets before them the necessary parts of the priestly office, ver.…Hebrews 8 — OverviewHebrews 8 · Treasury of Scripture KnowledgeHebrews 8:1, By the eternal priesthood of Christ the Levitical priesthood of Aaron is abolished; Hebrews 8:7, and the temporal covenant with the fathers, by the eternal covenant of the Gospel.Hebrews 8 — OverviewHebrews 8 · John Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleThe apostle observing that the priesthood of Christ is the sum of what he had treated of in the preceding chapter, proceeds to show the superior excellency of it in other instances, particularly in the place where…Hebrews 8:1-5Hebrews 8:1-5 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleHere is, I. A summary recital of what had been said before concerning
the excellency of Christ's priesthood, showing what we have in Christ,
where he now resides, and what sanctuary he is the minister of, v. 1,…Hebrews 8:1-5Hebrews 8:1-5 · The Pulpit CommentaryHeaven the place where this great High Priest ministers.
Does the writer mean, "This is the summing up," or "This is the chief point"? We accept the latter, and that we have here no recapitulation, but an advance, the…Hebrews 8:1-5Hebrews 8:1-5 · The Pulpit CommentaryHere we have
The substance of the argument, and illustrations hitherto adduced.
It was the aim of the writer to show from prophecy, and the nature of the priesthood, and sacrifices of the Mosaic Law, the unrivalled…
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