The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (255 page)

5:1-4
Priests are mediators between man and God. As such, they must be united with men and called by God. The priests of Israel, who traced their lineage to Aaron and his sons, were united with men in the weakness of human sin and were called by God to an earthly priesthood (Ex 28:1-4; 40:12-15). Jesus, too, was united with men in his human nature (Heb 2:14); however, unlike the Aaronic priests, he was free from sin (4:15) and was called by God to a heavenly priesthood (5:5-6; 8:14). Priestly ministry is a vocation from God, not volunteer work that men can take upon themselves (CCC 1539, 1578). 
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5:2 ignorant and wayward:
May refer to two classes of sin distinguished in the Torah: those committed unwittingly (Num 15:27-29) and those committed willfully (Num 15:30-31). 
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5:3 his own sins:
The author has in mind the Day of Atonement, the annual feast when the high priest of Israel carried sacrificial blood into the presence of God to expiate his own personal sins (Lev 16:11), as well as those of the people (Lev 16:15). 
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5:5-6
Two enthronement psalms concerning the Davidic Messiah. • In the first, Yahweh declares the anointed king to be his own
Son
(Ps 2:7). In the second, Yahweh swears an oath to ordain the anointed king as a
priest
in the order of Melchizedek (Ps 110:4). For the implied link between sonship and priesthood, see essay:
The Order of Melchizedek
at Heb 7:1-28. 
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5:7 days of his flesh:
Recalls the agony of Jesus in Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-42) and possibly his suffering and prayers on the Cross (Mk 15:34; Lk 23:34, 46).
offered up:
The Greek term is closely linked with priestly sacrifices in Hebrews (5:1, 3; 8:3-4; 9:7, 9; etc.).
able to save him:
Jesus acknowledged that the Father, had he willed it, could have delivered him from torment and death (Mt 26:53; Mk 14:36).
he was heard:
The Father heeded the prayers of the Son, not by sparing him the experience of death, but by rescuing him from death in the Resurrection (13:20).
godly fear:
The reverential fear of God that proved stronger in Jesus than his human fear of death. His reverence was manifest as heroic obedience to the will of the Father (Mt 26:39; Phil 2:8) (CCC 612, 2606). 
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5:8 learned obedience:
Not by trial and error, but from the experience of passing through the human trials and ordeals that test our commitment to God. • Christ, being eternally divine, possessed the fullness of knowledge from the first instant of his conception as a man. He was ignorant of nothing, so he could not learn anything new by simple recognition. But there is also knowledge acquired by experience, and in this sense he learned obedience through what he suffered. Having accepted our weakness, he learned how difficult it is to obey, for he obeyed in the most difficult of circumstances, even unto death on a cross (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Commentary on Hebrews
5, 2). 
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5:11-14
Readers are reprimanded for culpable immaturity. In terms of Christian formation, they are more like infants than the mature believers they should be (1 Cor 3:2). The author exhorts them with words of warning (Heb 6:1-8) and encouragement (6:9-20). 
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5:14 good from evil:
Points to a childish and underdeveloped moral sense (Deut 1:39). 
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6:1-2
A summary of Christian catechesis in a Jewish context. It was necessary to explain
(1)
how sacramental Baptism differed from other
baptisms,
such as the baptism of John (Acts 1:5) and the ritual washings of the Torah (Num 19:11-13),
(2)
how the imposition of hands in conferring the Spirit (Acts 8:17; 19:6) and priestly ordination (1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6) differed from other forms of the
laying on of hands
in ancient Judaism (Num 8:10; Deut 34:9), and
(3)
how the traditional Jewish doctrines of
resurrection
and
judgment
(Dan 12:2) must now be understood in relation to Christ (2 Cor 5:10; 1 Thess 4:16) (CCC 1288). 
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6:4-8
Even a baptized Christian can forfeit salvation and end up cursed rather than blessed (6:8). This dreadful prospect is noted elsewhere in Hebrews at 10:26-31 and 12:15-17. Some interpret this passage as if the author envisions, not a genuine believer, but one who only
seems
to be a Christian. This has no basis in the text. The person described has come to enlightenment, has partaken of the Spirit, and is capable of falling away through apostasy. Moreover, the illustration in 6:6-7 is meaningless if the individual has not already been showered with heaven's gifts like a field doused with rain (CCC 679). 
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6:4 enlightened:
Perhaps a reference to Baptism, which was called "enlightenment" in early Christian times. This developed from the notion that incorporation into Christ, which is the effect of Baptism (Rom 6:3; Gal 3:27), is described in the NT as an enlightening of the believer (2 Cor 4:6; Eph 5:14; 1 Pet 2:9) (CCC 1216). • We are enlightened when we are baptized. The rite is called enlightenment since by it we behold the holy light of salvation, that is, we come to see God clearly (St. Clement of Alexandria,
Christ the Teacher
1, 6, 26).
heavenly gift:
Probably a reference to the Eucharist. The life-giving humanity of Jesus received in the sacrament is the Father's gift of manna from heaven (Jn 6:32-58).
partakers of the Holy Spirit:
I.e., sharing the indwelling presence of the Spirit (Acts 2:38; Rom 8:11) and endowed with his spiritual gifts (Heb 2:4; 1 Cor 12:4-11). 
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Word Study

Made Perfect
(
Heb 5:9
)

Teleioō
(Gk.): means "to complete" or "to perfect". The verb is used nine times in Hebrews and 14 times elsewhere in the NT. It can describe a mission accomplished (Lk 13:32), a prophecy fulfilled (Jn 19:28), a faith brought to completion (Jas 2:22), or the perfection of unity and love (Jn 17:23; 1 Jn 4:12, 17-18). In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author uses the term to stress that the ritual observances of the Old Covenant cannot penetrate beyond the body to perfect the soul (Heb 7:19; 9:9; 10:1; 12:23). He also uses the verb with reference to Jesus, who was perfected through his Passion (Heb 2:10; 5:9; 7:28). At one level, the humanity of Jesus, being fired in the furnace of human suffering, came out a perfect image of filial obedience as well as a perfect instrument of our salvation. At another level, the author seems to adopt the language of the Greek OT, where
teleioō
often renders a Hebrew idiom ("fill up the hands") for the rite of priestly ordination (Ex 29:29, 35; Lev 8:33; 16:32; 21:10; etc.). It can be said that, viewed against this backdrop, obedient suffering ordained the humanity of Christ for priestly ministry, which he now exercises in heaven above (Heb 8:1-2; 9:24) (CCC 609).

6:6 commit apostasy:
The Greek verb means "to fall away" in the sense of failing to make good on a commitment. Here the apostate is compared to an executioner who crucifies and humiliates Jesus all over again (CCC 598). 
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6:8 thorns and thistles:
Brushwood is good for nothing but firewood. Jesus uses a similar analogy in Jn 15:5-6. • The expression comes from Gen 3:18, where the sin of Adam brings a curse upon the ground, making it yield "thorns and thistles". 
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6:9 better things:
Shows that the author was cautioning his readers, not condemning them, in the preceding verses (6:48). Their works of service and love show that they are indeed bearing some fruit (6:10). 
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6:11 until the end:
A call to perseverance (6:12).
See note on Heb 3:14
. 
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6:13-20
Readers are urged to press ahead in the faith by considering the reliability of God. Because God never lies (Tit 1:2), he can always be taken at his word (Jn 17:17). Nevertheless, because of human weakness, God not only made a verbal
promise
to bless the world through Abraham (Gen 12:3), but later he strengthened that promise by swearing an irrevocable
oath
(Gen 22:16-18). In this way, God gave his people a double assurance of what he intended to do (Heb 6:18). 
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6:13 swore by himself:
Oaths involve calling upon God to be a witness and guarantor of the pledge being made (6:16). However, when God swears an oath, he has no superior, so he can invoke only himself (Is 45:23; Jer 22:5). 
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6:14 Surely I will bless:
An excerpt from Gen 22:17. • This is the historic moment when the promise of God to bless the world through Abraham (Gen 12:3) is upgraded to a divinely sworn oath (Gen 22:16-18). The occasion is Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, who is rescued at the last minute and chosen to be the instrument of worldwide blessing. Christian tradition sees the sacrifice of Isaac as a prophetic preview of the sacrifice of Jesus, whose death fulfilled God's oath to bless all nations through the offspring of Abraham (Acts 3:25-26; Gal 3:14-16).
See note on Rom 8:32
. 
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