Hebrews 7:19An Understandable Version (2005 edition)(since the law did not make anything [i.e., anyone] perfect), but on the other hand, there is the introduction of a better hope [which did bring perfection through Christ], by which we draw near to God. See the chapter |
What shall we say then? Is the Law of Moses sinful? Certainly not! For I would not have known what sin was if it had not been for the law. For [example]; I would not have known [what it meant] to covet [i.e., have a strong desire for what belongs to someone else] except that the law said [Ex. 20:17], “You must not covet.”
For what the law was not able to do [for mankind], since it was [too] weak [to deliver them from condemnation] because fleshly people [were unable to obey it perfectly], God condemned sin in the flesh [i.e., sin was declared evil and its power over man broken]. God did this by sending His own Son in a body like sinful man’s, and to destroy sin,
still we know that a person is not justified [i.e., made right with God] by [perfect obedience to] the Law of Moses, but rather through faith in [the person and work of] Christ. [Knowing this] we have trusted in Christ Jesus [to save us], so that we might be made right with God by trusting in Him and not by [our compliance with] the requirements of the Law of Moses. Because by such law-compliance no one can be made right with God.
because God had planned to give us something better [than they got], so that they would not be complete without us. [Note: The idea here is that these faithful people of Old Testament times did not receive the fullest of blessings until Christ came to make them available to both them and us together].
So, if perfection [i.e., a right relationship with God] could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood, (for under it people had received the Law of Moses), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, according to the order of Melchizedek, who was not considered “according to the order of Aaron?”