Hebrews 7:11-22

Living Bible

¹¹ (e) If the Jewish priests and their laws had been able to save us, why then did God need to send Christ as a priest with the rank of Melchizedek, instead of sending someone with the rank of Aaron—the same rank all other priests had?

^12-14 And when God sends a new kind of priest, his law must be changed to permit it. As we all know, Christ did not belong to the priest-tribe of Levi, but came from the tribe of Judah, which had not been chosen for priesthood; Moses had never given them that work.

¹⁵ So we can plainly see that God’s method changed, for Christ, the new High Priest who came with the rank of Melchizedek, ¹⁶ did not become a priest by meeting the old requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but on the basis of power flowing from a life that cannot end. ¹⁷ And the psalmist points this out when he says of Christ, “You are a priest forever with the rank of Melchizedek.”

¹⁸ Yes, the old system of priesthood based on family lines was canceled because it didn’t work. It was weak and useless for saving people. ¹⁹ It never made anyone really right with God. But now we have a far better hope, for Christ makes us acceptable to God, and now we may draw near to him.

²⁰ God took an oath that Christ would always be a Priest, ²¹ although he never said that of other priests. Only to Christ he said, “The Lord has sworn and will never change his mind: You are a Priest forever, with the rank of Melchizedek.” ²² Because of God’s oath, Christ can guarantee forever the success of this new and better arrangement.