Hebrews 5:2, commentary and pictures

The verse describes every high priest taken from among people and appointed to act for them toward God in offering gifts and sacrifices. The ignorant are the weak, inexperienced and burdened who need special help, and those out of the way are those who have strayed, erred and wandered through ignorance and temptation. Being compassed with infirmity means being surrounded by human weakness, fallibility and temptation, a condition shared by all people. It is fulfilled in Christ as the great High Priest taken from among men, who took human nature to understand temptation, was tempted in all points yet without sin, and is therefore touched by human weakness and ready to sympathize with and succor the tempted. Shared weakness is thus meant to qualify His servants for tender sympathy rather than hardness or control, calling ministers, parents, teachers and workers for the poor and needy to meet the erring with patience, kindness and forgiving love.

Words and Priestly Setting

The verse describes every high priest taken from among men, ordained for men in things pertaining to God to offer gifts and sacrifices. That human taking is what makes compassion possible, for he can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way because he himself is compassed with infirmity.

The ignorant are those who are weak and inexperienced and in need of special help. They are also those burdened by sin, sorrow and hardship, erring or tempted, who lack understanding or have gone astray. Those out of the way are those who have strayed, erred, sinned through ignorance, are tempted, and have wandered from the way, including those most easily tempted and inclined to stray. Such ones are to be dealt with tenderly, helped and restored rather than hurt or condemned, with patience, kindness and forbearance.

To be compassed with infirmity is to be surrounded by human weakness and fallibility and to remain human while serving God. It includes bodily infirmity and pain and real limitation that can make speaking seem nearly impossible, yet the Lord can strengthen a sufferer to speak to others and deliver the needed message. All human beings are in this condition of surrounding weakness and therefore in need of compassion. A minister must remember this and not treat his own judgment as infallible or place confidence in himself.

Compassionate ministry is rooted in that shared vulnerability, for shared weakness qualifies the priest for sympathy. Because he too is surrounded by human weakness and subject to it himself, he is to meet people tenderly and lovingly rather than trying to control them with an authoritative spirit. This rebukes hardness toward those who make mistakes, and those who have little compassion for ones who make mistakes must read and study these words and learn to deal compassionately with the erring.

Christ the Compassionate High Priest

The verse finds its full meaning in Christ as the great High Priest taken from among men, who to understand human temptation took human nature, bone of bone and flesh of flesh. In that human nature as well as His divine nature He holds the prerogative of approaching God, so that sinful repentant human beings coming in His name are accepted and welcomed by God. He stands as the chosen Mediator, the only begotten Son who knew no sin, who bore the penalty of sin to redeem the race and to offer sanctification by grace at Calvary.

Jesus has compassion on the ignorant and on those out of the way because He Himself was compassed with infirmity while on earth. As Teacher and High Priest, merciful and faithful, He was tempted in all points as the human family is tempted, yet without sin. Having suffered under temptation, He knows human weakness, perplexities and burdens, is touched by them, and sympathizes with the tempted whom Satan seeks to destroy. He knows how to succor those beset by the powers of darkness and is ready to help them in their troubles.

As Elder Brother of humanity in a sinful tempting world, He knows the necessities of those who are weak and erring yet desire to serve Him. His understanding of human weakness was shown in His own life of prayer and dependence on His Father. To all who give themselves wholly to His service He promises divine aid, even though He knows the messengers He sends are weak, erring men.

As the Good Shepherd He took human infirmities upon Himself to live among humanity, call His sheep by name, and teach the way of life. He identifies His interests with fallen humanity, being in all points tempted as humanity is yet without sin. That compassion moves Him to constant intercession, seeking fresh supplies of grace from the Father in nightly kneeling prayer and pouring out His soul over the dangers and needs of His disciples. He then comes forth invigorated to impart assurance and hope, braced for duty and trial.

He makes the cause of the afflicted, the suffering and the tempted His own. He bears with the erring, continues seeking them, and is especially concerned for those most easily tempted and inclined to stray. He treats people far better than they deserve. He stands as a sympathizing helper on whom believers are to keep their eyes and minds fixed.

Weak Messengers Chosen by God

The preaching of the gospel is committed to failing human beings who have themselves been in peril, rather than to angels who never fell and never sinned. Those who preach, being themselves weak, can feel for the ignorant and the wandering because they know by experience the dangers and difficulties of the way. Sharing human weakness prepares them to help others who are ignorant or have gone astray with sympathy, since they know human infirmity. For this reason they are called to reach out to others in like peril as a visible friend in Christ's place to fasten trembling faith upon Christ. The power working through such human weakness is thus seen to be the power of God, encouraging belief that the power that can help others as weak as ourselves can help us.

He could have proclaimed truth by sinless angels, and He could have entrusted His work to men of wealth, position, learning and eloquence. Instead He chooses human instruments surrounded with weakness, men acquainted with poverty, hardship and suffering who can reach the poor and lowly. The power of the truth must not be credited to men, and men must not be given the honor due to God, but all glory belongs to God. Through weak men His glory shines into the darkness of sin, and in loving ministry they meet the sinful and the needy. In all their work they ascribe glory, honor and praise to Him who is above all and over all.

Ministers remain human and share the infirmity of those they serve, remaining surrounded by weaknesses. They are not infallible, and must remember this and not treat their own judgment as infallible or place confidence in themselves. They are not to take God's place as the source of guidance. Believers are to look to Christ.

Call to Compassionate Ministry

Men in sacred office who profess to expound the Scriptures and are specially chosen as representatives of God are to have compassion on the ignorant and on those out of the way in order to lead men to understand God's great love toward humanity. That work is the same work of preaching the gospel to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, preaching deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, and setting at liberty the bruised. The priest and the Levite on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho failed this duty when providence brought them where the man wounded by robbers lay that they might see his need of mercy and help.

Those who minister must meet people tenderly and lovingly rather than trying to control them with an authoritative spirit, remembering their own human weakness as those subject to it themselves. They are to help and restore rather than hurt or condemn, showing patience, kindness and forbearance toward those who sin through ignorance or have gone astray. Having shared human weakness and suffered under temptation, Christ sympathizes with tempted people whom Satan seeks to destroy, knows human perplexities, and can help them in them. His sympathy calls disciples and all who follow Him to show weary and struggling souls compassionate care, help and encouragement.

In guiding people who make mistakes, kindness is to be joined with helping them see their sin and urging them to reform. An offender is not to be dismissed without earnest effort but given another trial, because being turned away without repentance may leave the person continuing in the same wrong, and God helps those who try to work with such people. Those placed in responsible positions to guide and instruct the ignorant and those out of the way need much of the patience and love of Christ, for their patience will often be tried because those for whom they work will seem dull of understanding and hard to lead to act on correct principles, and truth must be brought to bear to soften and subdue hearts. They must lead on step by step, beseeching sinners and not driving them to be reconciled to God, seeking in tenderness and love to lead the erring to the right way as Christ worked, with great patience and forbearance and the constant manifestation of forgiving love and daily compassion, with the whole heart and not as work done for wages. Christ left the example to follow, taking upon His sinless nature our sinful nature that He might know how to succor those that are tempted.

Jesus is the great High Priest who has compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way because He Himself was compassed with infirmity, tempted in all points like the members of the human family are tempted yet without sin, and He knows how to succor those beset by the powers of darkness. Therefore workers in every place must keep His compassion in mind when tried by exasperating, perverse, stubborn people, drawing nigh to God in trust and refusing to speak inadvisedly even when sorely tempted and provoked. He stands present with His workers, and he who puts trust in Christ can never be severed from Him by any man, while Christ Himself is hurt when a word is spoken that arouses feelings and unbalances one of the members of His family. Those who preach the gospel, being themselves weak and having themselves been in peril, can feel for the ignorant and the wandering because they know by experience the dangers and difficulties of the way. For this reason they are called to reach out to others in like peril as a visible friend in Christ's place to fasten trembling faith upon Christ, for God commits the preaching to failing human beings rather than to angels who never fell so that the power working through human weakness is seen to be the power of God, encouraging belief that the power that can help others as weak as ourselves can help us.

Parents Teachers and Discipline

Every parent and teacher must cherish Christ's attributes and be able to feel compassion for the ignorant and erring because of shared human weakness. When children err, misbehave, are neglected, defective in character, or slow to learn, those guiding them are to remember their own weakness, faults, infirmities, sins, and need of forgiveness. Children's errors make it especially important to show by instruction and example how to act, rather than respond with impatience or anger.

Those guiding children and youth are to stay self-possessed, self-controlled, and under discipline, with a well-balanced, symmetrical character and a living connection to Christ. They must never lose self-control or manifest hastiness, passion, impatience, irritation, harshness, oppression, want of sympathy and love, or discouragement. Awareness of one's own faults and infirmities should lead to patience, tenderness, and sympathy rather than harshness or discouragement, because example and words affect the children.

Instead they are to act out patience, love, long forbearance, tender sympathy, gentleness, and Christlike meekness and forbearance, persevering in training. They are to teach by precept and example how to act, binding children to the heart by the love of Christ, reflecting the character of Jesus, and bringing them under the direct influence of the Spirit of God.

This is required because children are the property of Jesus Christ, and the work of training them is a heavy and sacred responsibility. Since Jesus treats people far better than they deserve, those who guide others should treat them as He would in the same circumstances, and no course of a parent or teacher is justifiable if it is unlike what the Saviour would do. This patient, sympathetic care following Jesus' example is especially due from parents and teachers toward the afflicted, suffering, tempted, and difficult, because human weakness makes them vulnerable to error. Jesus bears with the erring, continues seeking them, and is especially concerned for those most easily tempted and inclined to stray, making their cause His own.

Mission to Needy and Neglected

Workers for Christ are to have compassionate hearts able to feel pity for the ignorant and for those out of the way and to serve them with mercy. Such compassion is joined to awareness of shared human weakness, for those burdened by sin, sorrow and hardship need compassionate care, and infirmity itself helps make that compassion possible. Christ entrusts the work among the poor and needy to people able to feel pity and eager to relieve suffering, teaching them how to help in each case and working through them even when their skills are rough or untrained.

The workers Jesus chooses for the poor and needy in rough places are adaptable men and women with hearts that can feel for the ignorant and for those out of the way. He corrects erring and mistaken piety by laying the burden of this work upon them and teaching them how to meet each case. They have little self-confidence and rough unskilled hands, but hearts susceptible to pity and awakened to relieve abundant woe, giving God all the glory and taking none to themselves. Through them the Saviour is present to make a beginning, opening doors to enter places for medical missionary work. They discern mercy in misery and gain in the loss of all things, so that where He as the Light of the world passes by, privilege appears in hardship, right order in confusion, and the success and wisdom of God in what had seemed failure.

The ignorant and those out of the way to receive mercy are the millions in the home field who have never heard present truth. They include the thousands of foreigners living in American cities, the people in the Southern states, Greater New York, the cities of California and New York, and many other unworked cities and new territory. When those who should feel responsibility to proclaim the message continue to neglect to enter these fields, including New Orleans, Memphis and other cities, and go on confident in their own plans leaving new territory unentered, the recourse is to let matters drift and to pray asking the Lord to have mercy on the ignorant and on those out of the way. That prayer for mercy applies both to the neglected peoples and to the ministers and people who fail to take up the work laid before them.

Compassion is due to those who are tempted and have gone astray, recognizing that they are beset by human weakness. The Lord's loving correction and call to repent are consistent with this compassion.