Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Hebrews · About this commentary
Tempted in All Points
Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Having then a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let’s hold tightly to our confession. · WEB
Three verses turn the argument from exposure to access, and the qualification offered is that he knows how it feels.
After a paragraph in which the reader is laid open before God Hebrews 4:13, these three verses supply the response — and it is not concealment but approach.
Having then a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let's hold tightly to our confession.
The title is expanded here: not merely a high priest but a great one, and one who has passed through the heavens. That last phrase is the book's first hint of where the priesthood is exercised, and chapters 8 and 9 will make it the center of the argument Hebrews 8:2 Hebrews 9:24.
And the instruction attached is to hold tightly, the third such conditional grip in two chapters Hebrews 3:6 Hebrews 3:14.
Verse 15 states the qualification, and it is framed as a double negative because the readers evidently feared the opposite: we don't have a high priest who can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
The worry being answered is that height means distance — that a priest who has passed through the heavens is too far up to be reached. The sentence denies it in the form the fear takes.
What replaces the fear is stated positively: one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
Both halves are needed and they pull against each other. In all points leaves no category of temptation unshared. Without sin means the sharing never produced the outcome. And the combination is what makes the sympathy useful rather than merely comforting — someone who has been through it and did not give way knows both the pressure and the way out.
The last clause of verse 15 is also the reason the earlier statement about being made perfect through sufferings was not about moral repair Hebrews 2:10. There was nothing to repair.
Verse 16 then gives the practical conclusion, and every word of it is chosen: let's therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need.
A throne is where a verdict is issued; this one is named for grace. And the timing is left to the reader — in time of need means the approach is not scheduled by anyone else.
settled What this mark means