FOR IT WAS FITTING THAT WE SHOULD HAVE SUCH A HIGH PRIEST HOLY, INNOCENT, UNDEFILED, SEPARATED FROM SINNERS, EXALTED ABOVE THE HEAVENS: toioutos gar hemin eprepen (3SIAI) archiereus hosios akakos amiantos kechorismenos (RPPMSN) apo ton hamartolon kai hupshloteros ton ouranon genomenos (AMPMSN): (Heb 7:11; 8:1; 9:23-26; 10:11-22) (Heb 2:10; Luke 24:26,46) (Heb 4:15; 9:14; Exodus 28:36; Isaiah 53:9; Luke 1:35; 23:22,41,47; John 8:29; 14:30; Acts 3:14; 4:27; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 1:19; 2:22; 1 John 2:2; 3:5; Revelation 3:7) (Heb 1:3; 4:14; 8:1; 12:2; Psalms 68:18; Matthew 27:18; Mark 16:19; Ephesians 1:20-22; Ephesians 4:8-10; Philippians 2:9-11; 1 Peter 3:22; Revelation 1:17,18)

Holy (hosios)

Personal piety, an inner attitude of conforming to what is felt to be pleasing to God and consistent with religious practices.

In Classical Greek hosios referred to the everlasting principles of right, not constituted by laws or customs of men, but antedating them; such as the paying of the proper rites of sepulture.

Hosios not hagios = former speaks of personal holiness, latter of holiness as a state of separation to God.

Acts 2:27; 13:35 = "THY HOLY ONE" hard to translate = man who reverences fundamental decencies of life, things which go back beyond any man-made law.

Innocent (akakos from a = without + kakos = constitutionally bad) is literally without evil or not (constitutionally) bad.

Undefiled (amiantos from a = not or without + miaíno = defile especially by staining, as with color) describes the man who is absolutely free from any blemishes which might make it impossible for him to draw near to God. The blemished victim cannot be offered to God; the defiled man cannot approach him; but the one who is amiantos is fit to enter into God's presence. This term is not merely ritual / ceremonial purity (like OT priests Lev 21:10-15) but real ethical cleanness. When Jesus was ministering on earth, our Lord was a friend of publicans and sinners (Mt 9:10; 11:19), but His contact with them did not defile His character or His conduct. There was contact without contamination. He was not isolated; He was separated.

Separated (chorizo) means to separate objects by introducing considerable space, so in this case pictures mortal men on earth and our High Priest Jesus in heaven, in the holy place (exalted above the heavens). The perfect tense defines this as His abiding, permanent state.

Exalted (hupselos from hupsos = height, elevation) means high, elevated, lofty.

Literally the phrase reads "Having become higher than the heavens."

But He is not unavailable to His sheep...in fact He sits in the Throne Room, ever waiting & ready to come to our aid and ever ready to hear our pleadings for mercy & grace to help in the nick of time.

WHO DOES NOT NEED DAILY: hos ouk echei (3SPAI) kath hemeran:(Heb 7:10:11; Exodus 29:36-42; Numbers 28:2-10)

Our Lord, being perfect, did not need to offer sacrifices for Himself; instead, He offered Himself for our sins once for all.

LIKE THOSE HIGH PRIESTS TO OFFER UP SACRIFICES FIRST FOR HIS OWN SINS AND THEN FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE: hosper (just as, even as, like) hoi archiereis proteron huper ton idion hamartion thusias anapherein (PAN) epeita (3SAAI) ton tou laou: (Heb 5:3; 9:7; Leviticus 4:3-35; 9:7-24; 16:6,11) (Leviticus 4:13-16; 9:15; 16:15 )

The high priest did not make daily sacrifices for his sins, but when he did sacrifice on the Day of Atonement (Lv16), it was necessary to offer first for himself. Christ always intercedes for His people but never offers sacrifice for Himself.

BECAUSE THIS HE DID ONCE FOR ALL WHEN HE OFFERED UP HIMSELF: touto gar epoiesen (3SAAI) ephapax heauton anenegkas (AAPMSN): (Heb 9:12,14,25,28; 10:6-12; Isaiah 53:10-12; Romans 6:10; Ephesians 2:22; Titus 2:14)

Offered (399)(anaphero from ana = up, again, back + phero = bear, carry)  literally means to carry, bring or bear up and so to to cause to move from a lower position to a higher position. It serves as a technical term for offering sacrifices offer up (to an altar).

Anaphero is used nine times in the NT in the NASB (Matt. 17:1; Mk. 9:2; Lu 24:51 Heb. 7:27; 9:28; 13:15 3x; James 2:21; 1 Peter 2:5, 21) and is translated as:  bear, 1; bore, 1; brought, 1; led, 1; offer, 3; offered, 2.

Anaphero is found 135 times in the Septuagint (LXX) (Greek translation of the OT Hebrew) (Gen. 8:20; 22:2, 13; 31:39; 40:10; Exod. 18:19, 22, 26; 19:8; 24:5; 29:18, 25; 30:9, 20; Lev. 2:16; 3:5, 11, 14, 16; 4:10, 19, 26, 31; 6:15, 26; 7:5, 31; 8:16, 20f, 27f; 9:10, 20; 14:20; 16:25; 17:5f; 23:11; Num. 5:26; 14:33; 18:17; 23:2, 30; Deut. 1:17; 12:13f, 27; 14:24; 27:6; Jdg. 6:26, 28; 11:31; 13:16, 19; 15:13; 16:8, 18; 20:26, 38; 21:4; 1 Sam. 2:19; 6:14f; 7:9f; 10:8; 13:9f, 12; 15:12; 18:27; 20:13; 2 Sam. 1:24; 6:17; 21:13; 24:22, 24f; 1 Ki. 2:35; 3:4; 5:13; 8:1; 9:15; 10:5; 12:27; 17:19; 2 Ki. 3:27; 4:21; 1 Chr. 15:3, 12, 14; 16:2, 40; 21:24, 26; 23:31; 29:21; 2 Chr. 1:4, 6; 2:4; 4:16; 5:2, 5; 8:12f; 9:4, 16; 23:18; 24:14; 29:21, 27, 29, 31f; 35:14; Ezr. 3:2, 6; Neh. 10:38; 12:31; Job 7:13; Ps. 51:19; 66:15; Prov. 8:6; Isa. 18:7; 53:11f; 57:6; 60:7; 66:3; Jer. 32:35; Ezek. 36:15; 43:18, 24; Dan. 6:23; ; ; ; ; Jas. 2:21; 1 Pet. 2:5, 24) Anaphero is the usual Old Testament term for offering of sacrifice.

Figuratively (as used here by Peter) anaphero means to take up and bear sins by imputation (act of laying the responsibility or blame for) as typified by the ancient sacrifices.

Jesus our Great High Priests bore our sins as our substitutionary sacrifice, dying in our place, in order to bring about atonement for our sins. The priests in the Old Covenant could not bear our sins.

Wuest's paraphrase conveys Peter's allusion to the Old Testament sacrificial system -- Jesus

"Himself carried up to the Cross our sins in His body and offered Himself there as on an altar"

It is notable that anaphero is used 25 times in the Septuagint translation of Leviticus regarding offerings! For example, Moses records that

Aaron's sons shall offer it up (anaphero = bear, carry) in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire; it is an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD. (Lev 3:5)

Jesus, as our Great High Priest , offered up the sacrifice of Himself by bringing His body up to the Cross. Anaphero is used in Hebrews which records that Jesus

"does not need daily, like those (Jewish) high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." (see note Hebrews 7:27)

Exodus discusses the parallel role of the OT high priests recording that

"Aaron shall take away (to lift, to carry) the iniquity of the holy things which the sons of Israel consecrate, with regard to all their holy gifts; and (the turban) shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord." (Ex 28:38)

This was but a shadow of which Jesus was the Substance.

Isaiah in his famous prophecy of the suffering Servant (the Messiah) records that

"Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." (Isa 53:4-6)

Isaiah adds that

"As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear (LXX also uses anaphero) their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong, because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He Himself bore (LXX also uses anaphero) the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors." (Isa 53:11-12)

When John the Baptist saw "Jesus coming to him" he declared the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy (and all the OT Messianic prophecies for that matter) saying

"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn 1:29)

The writer of Hebrews utilizing anaphero with a similar meaning as Peter (to refer to Christ's propitiatory or satisfactory sacrifice) records that

"Christ also, having been offered once to bear (anaphero) the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him." (see note Hebrews 9:28)

Hebrews describes the role of NT believer priests:

"Through Him (Jesus our Great High Priest) then, let us continually offer up (anaphero) a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name." (see note Hebrews 13:15)

It is interesting to note that the Jewish people did not crucify criminals. They stoned them to death. But if the victim was especially evil, his dead body was hung on a tree until evening, as a mark of shame (Dt 21:23). Jesus died on a tree—a cross—and bore the curse of the Law (Gal 3:13). The force of ana = up, appears in the fact of the altar was in fact elevated.

 Anaphero is often used of carrying from a lower to a higher place (Mt 17:1; Lu 24:51)

FOR THE LAW APPOINTS MEN AS HIGH PRIESTS WHO ARE WEAK: ho nomos gar anthropous kathistesin (3SPAI) archiereis echontas (PAPMPA) astheneian: (Heb 5:1,2; Exodus 32:21,22; Leviticus 4:3)

When he officiated, the OT high priest wore an ephod, an elaborate vestment on which were two onyx stones, each inscribed with the names of six of the tribes of Israel. Attached to the ephod by gold chains was a breastplate, on which were twelve more precious stones representing the twelve tribes. Therefore whenever he went into the presence of God, he carried with him all the tribes of Israel. The high priest symbolically bore the children of Israel to God on his heart (his affections) and on his shouders (his strength). This represented what the priesthood was to be: first, a heart for the people, and secondly, the strength to bring them to God. Many of these priests no doubt had a heart for the people. But none of them was able to bring the people to God. They could not even bring themselves to Him.

Our High Priest has no such weakness. He carries our names on His heart and on His shoulders. But He needs no ephod or breastplate as symbols, for He has true affection and true salvation. He perfectly loves us and He can perfectly save us. He is able.

BUT THE WORD OF THE OATH WHICH CAME AFTER THE LAW: ho logos de tes horkomosias tes meta ton nomon: (Heb 7:21; Psalms 110:4)

APPOINTS A SON MADE PERFECT FOREVER: huion eis ton aiona teteleiomenon (RPPMSA): (Heb 7:3; 1:2; 3:6; 4:14; 5:5,8 ) (Heb 7:21,24) (Heb 2:10; 5:9; Luke 13:32; John 19:30)