Hebrews 7:23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them..
Death always has the final say about any activities we do in this world. Obviously human priests in the old covenant could only serve until they died. The Levitical priest came and went over the centuries, repeating the same practices as those who came before them. Their efforts were as temporary as their own lives. Then Jesus comes along with a new priesthood. Verse 24 describes this as an eternal priesthood because Jesus lives forever. His resurrection from the dead confirms that whatever he does as high priest is far superior and everlasting. His priesthood is permanent or unchangeable. This is the only time this word occurs in the New Testament. It is the opposite of “breakable.” Verse 25 begins with a significant “therefore.” The author finally applies his sometimes abstract reasoning to the situation of the readers. Jesus as the perfect high priest “is able to save completely.” This salvation is not partial but complete. The Greek word translated as “complete” basically means uttermost, the highest, and when used for time can mean forever. There are several ways we could understand this word. If it has the nuance of time, then this salvation is forever. It cannot be stolen or taken away. We cannot build a doctrine like Calvinism’s “once saved always saved” simply on this word, but this word also gives us strong assurance for our salvation. Once we are saved, we do not need to worry about it any more as long as we are walking in faith and moving towards the promises of God, as highlighted in chapters 3-4. If we interpret this word in the context of what this salvation entails, it could be referring to the “rest” from struggling with sin from chapter 4. The Sabbath’s day rest for the people of God could refer to the sanctified life where God saves us entirely. We are “perfect” and complete because we have fully embraced the walk of faith and have allowed God to fill us completely with his Spirit. We are not holding back on anything. Anything we commit to God is part of our salvation. We can be assured of this full salvation because Jesus is our high priest. His is the one who brings this salvation to us. He intercedes in our behalf making grace beyond measure or imagination.
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