High priests were mere men, chosen by God through the bloodline of Levi, equipped to deal with the sin of others because they were sinful, too. Before the high priests offered sacrifice for the sins of others, they had to offer sacrifice for their own sin. God also exalted Jesus to the position of high priest, as foretold in Psalm 2:7 and Psalm 110:4. Jesus didn’t sin but he cried and prayed, for Himself and others. Melchizedek is a high priest who visited Abram in Genesis 14:11-24. We will reference him more later. The chapter ends with a warning against those who are not willing to grow.
The beginning of chapter 5 is a continuation of the last thoughts of ch 4. Contrasting high priests with Jesus. It’s not an apples to apples comparison, Jesus is better. Jesus is the perfect high priest who makes the sacrifice, and also IS the perfect sacrifice itself.
As followers of Christ Jesus, we should not stay children, relying on someone else to spoon feed us God’s Word. Growing up in God’s Word is a process, just like growing through each stage of life.
This chapter changes me because vs 11-14 light a fire in my heart. I once heard someone say “I’m going to stop attending this church because I’m not being fed.” 
If you’re a child, newly walking with Jesus, then you should absolutely go where you can be fed God’s Word at the pace of a child. But just like we’d be concerned if a dr told us our newborn baby is failing to thrive, so we should be concerned spiritually too. And the author is. These verses are an inspired advertisement for this kind of Bible study vs devotionals. (I’m not knocking devotionals AT ALL, I do strongly feel they should not be your primary interaction with God’s Word.) According to chapter 4:12, the Word of God wants to work in your mind and in your heart. You have the ability to know God’s Word for yourself, to discern the difference between good and evil by training with constant practice. Exercises like SOAK, CIA, BEATs, and others are important to help you learn to feed yourself God’s Word, then turn around and spoon feed a new sister in Christ as she grows, then she turns and does the same to the next. That’s discipleship. 
If you’re a child, newly walking with Jesus, then you should absolutely go where you can be fed God’s Word at the pace of a child. But just like we’d be concerned if a dr told us our newborn baby is failing to thrive, so we should be concerned spiritually too. And the author is. These verses are an inspired advertisement for this kind of Bible study vs devotionals. (I’m not knocking devotionals AT ALL, I do strongly feel they should not be your primary interaction with God’s Word.) According to chapter 4:12, the Word of God wants to work in your mind and in your heart. You have the ability to know God’s Word for yourself, to discern the difference between good and evil by training with constant practice. Exercises like SOAK, CIA, BEATs, and others are important to help you learn to feed yourself God’s Word, then turn around and spoon feed a new sister in Christ as she grows, then she turns and does the same to the next. That’s discipleship.
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