Charles Ellicott Commentary Hebrews 7:27

"who needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the [sins] of the people: for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself." — Hebrews 7:27 (ASV)

This verse continues the description, presenting what follows from this purity and sinlessness.

As those high priests. The high priest offering sacrifices first for himself and then for the people constituted a chief part of his duty on the Day of Atonement .

The annual recurrence of that day is distinctly referred to more than once in this Epistle (Hebrews 10:1; Hebrews 10:3); therefore, the words now before us, which seem to imply daily sacrifices offered in this way by the high priests, have given rise to much discussion.

Neither the morning and evening sacrifices nor the daily grain offering of the high priest could have been described in the terms used here. In their natural meaning, these terms fit the ritual of the Day of Atonement, and only that.

It is true—and passages from Philo and the Talmud are appropriately quoted to illustrate this fact—that since the high priest was represented by all other priests, their actions were counted as his; but it seems impossible to think that the words have no more significance than this.

We must either take “daily” as equivalent to “day by day” (as the Jews were accustomed to speak of the Day of Atonement as “the day”), which would mean “on each recurrence of this sacred day,” or we must connect the word not with the Jewish high priests, but with Jesus alone.

The order of the Greek itself would suggest this latter arrangement. If this is correct, the choice of the word “daily” presents little difficulty. There could be no question of years regarding the ministry of the Lord Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary, and “daily” was perhaps the most natural word in such a case, when the frequently stated repetition of a sacrifice was the thought to be expressed.

For this he did once. Rather, once for all.

These words and those that follow, when He offered up Himself, are best understood as a parenthesis.

The truth stated in the former part of the verse—that Jesus does not need, like the high priests, to offer sacrifices, first for His own sins and then “for those of the people”—finds its explanation in Hebrews 7:28, For the Law...

However, having introduced the thought of a sacrifice for the sins of the people—a thought not yet expressly mentioned anywhere in the Epistle in connection with Jesus, though virtually presented, as we have seen, in many earlier words—the writer will not continue without the most emphatic statement that such a sacrifice was offered, once for all, in the sacrifice of Himself.