“As He also says in another place: ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek'” (Hebrews 5:6).
Hebrews 5:6 marks the first appearance of a verse that will be re-quoted several times later within this book. That verse is Psalm 110:4, a portion of Scripture that will reappear in Hebrews 5:10, 6:20, 7:17, and 7:21. This passage establishes an important foundation for understanding Jesus’ role as our High Priest before God…
“After informing his readers in verse 5 that Messiah s priesthood was not by self-appointment but by God’s appointment, the writer goes on in this verse to speak of the different and superior order of priesthood into which He was called. He quotes from Psalm 110 where Messiah is prophetically pointed out as a priest after the order of Melchisedec, the distinguishing characteristic of this order of priesthood being that it is an eternal one.” (1)
So having already established Jesus’ superiority over human and angelic beings, the author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus also belongs to a superior priestly order. Unlike the priesthood initiated under Aaron (whose members held terms of service that were limited to their earthly lives), Jesus’ priestly service is eternal. This unending priesthood is thus superior to the one held by Aaron and his successors.
The following author alerts us to the revolutionary nature of this idea…
“The author of Hebrews then did a dramatic, unheard of thing. Having already argued from Ps. 110:1,2 for the universal kingship of Christ the Messiah (Heb. 1:5), at this point in the epistle he returned to that same Psalm 110 to bring in the fourth verse from which he also proclaimed the universal high priesthood of Christ, showing him to be not of Aaron’s line, but an independent high priest of universal dominion ‘after the order of Melchizedek.’ Thus was revealed, at last, the mystery of how the suffering high priestly Messiah and the kingly Messiah were one and the same person.
Modern religious people would not find that problem an impediment to their believing in Jesus Christ, but it was a powerful deterrent to Christians of Jewish background in the first century. ‘You cannot accept Christ as your high priest,’ the Pharisees said, ‘because, since he does not belong to the posterity of Aaron, he is disqualified from being any kind of priest whatever!’ And the only verse in the Bible that clears that up is Ps. 110:4. The Pharisees should have known this; but it was true of them, as it was of the Sadducees, that they did err ‘not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God’ (Matt. 22:29).” (2)
(1) Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament (Hebrews 5:6) Copyright © 1942-55 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
(3) Coffman, James Burton. “Commentary on Hebrews 5”. “Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible”. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bcc/hebrews-5.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.