---
title: Hebrews 4:14
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/hebrews-4-14/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/hebrews-4-14.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Hebrews 4:14
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Hebrews 4:14

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess.

## JW Usage

Jehovah's Witnesses acknowledge Jesus as a great high priest but teach that his priestly mediation applies only to the 144,000 anointed Christians. The great crowd of "other sheep" benefit from Christ's high-priestly work indirectly — through their association with the anointed class and the organisation. Hebrews 4:14 is therefore read within the two-tier framework: Jesus has passed through the heavens as high priest for spiritual Israel alone, and the millions of ordinary Witnesses relate to God through the organisational channel that the anointed class superintends.

## Protestant Usage

Protestants read Hebrews 4:14 as establishing Jesus as the great high priest for every believer. The immediate context (v. 16) invites "us" — all the letter's readers — to "approach the throne of undeserved kindness with freeness of speech." The writer draws no distinction between classes of Christians; the "us" is universal. Jesus' passage through the heavens means he has completed the work the Levitical priests could never finish, and every believer now has direct, confident access to God through him. This is the same direct-access theology found in Ephesians 2:18, Romans 8:15, and 1 Timothy 2:5 — one mediator between God and all humanity, not a subset. The verse dismantles any claim that an earthly organisation must stand between the believer and God. Because Christ himself has passed through the heavens, no further mediating class is needed; every Christian approaches the Father through Jesus alone, the one and only high priest of the new covenant.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Come to ME — Direct Relationship with Christ](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/direct-relationship-with-god.md) — Matthew 11:28 / John 15:5 / 1 Timothy 2:5 — No organisation between you and the Saviour [Salvation]
- [A Royal Priesthood — Every Believer is a Priest](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/universal-priesthood-1peter29.md) — 1 Peter 2:9 / Revelation 1:6 / 5:10 — The end of mediating classes [Authority]
- [No Pastoral Grace — The Judicial Committee vs the Throne of Grace](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/no-pastoral-grace-confession.md) — Hebrews 4:15-16 — A sympathetic high priest [Salvation]
- [Tempted in Every Way — Yet Could Not Fail](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jesus-tempted-yet-impeccable.md) — Hebrews 4:15 / James 1:13 [Deity of Christ]