As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. He saith also in another place - That is, in Psalms 110:4, a psalm of extraordinary importance, containing a very striking prediction of the birth, preaching, suffering, death, and conquests of the Messiah. See the notes on Psalms 110:4. For the mode of quotation here, See the note on Hebrews 2:6.
Thou art a priest for ever - As long as the sun and moon endure, Jesus will continue to be high priest to all the successive generations of men, as he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If he be a priest for ever, there can be no succession of priests; and if he have all power in heaven and in earth, and if he be present wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, he can have no vicars; nor can the Church need one to act in his place, when he, from the necessity of his nature, fills all places, and is everywhere present. This one consideration nullifies all the pretensions of the Romish pontiff, and proves the whole to be a tissue of imposture.
After the order of Melchisedec - Who this person was must still remain a secret. We know nothing more of him than is written in Genesis 14:18 (note), etc., where see the notes, and particularly the observations at the end of that chapter, in which this very mysterious person is represented as a type of Christ.