ONLY ONE MEDIATOR CAN MAKE REAL the work of mediation between God and humanity. That one must be truly human and truly God in personal union. Only such a unique person would be able to do what is necessary for saving fallen humanity.
The person of Christ is the requisite premise for the work of Christ. The personal union of deity and humanity is the basis upon which salvation is brought to humanity. Now we turn to the work of Christ—the end for which the Son was sent in person. The concept of office draws together and seals the unity between person and work in sacred Scripture.
The office (Heb. kahan, or ministry; Gk. diakonia) of Christ encompasses the three tasks to which the Christ was anointed: “He is the Christ, anointed not simply with oil, but with the Holy Ghost, to be the Highest Prophet, Priest and King, and raise us through these three offices from our fall” (Gk. Orthodox Catech. 28; Gregory of Nazianzus, On the Son, Orat. 4.30.21).
Jesus was anointed to mediate between the righteousness of God and the wretched history of sin. The office of Christ is to mediate between God and humanity—hence called the mediatorial office (Augustine, Trin. 4.8; Ursinus, CHC: 164–72). Fulfilling this reconciling mission is the declared purpose of the incarnation. The Son of God assumed human nature “that he might reconcile the Father to us and become a sacrifice” (Leo I, Serm. 38; Augsburg Confession, 3).
Ministries of the Mediatorial Office: A Summary of Christ’s Work
The Son of God became incarnate to do the threefold work of messianic prophet, priest, and king. His work consisted in fulfilling the expectations of the prophetic office, enacting the once for all sacrifice of the priestly office, and inaugurating the full manifestation of the kingly office. These were the three offices to which servants of God in the Old Testament were anointed (Augustine, CG 17).
The realization of Christ’s saving work is seen in three movements: Jesus first appears as a teacher in the prophetic office; then as high priest and lamb sacrificed in his suffering and death; and finally by his resurrection receives his kingdom and remains active in his office of reigning in his coming kingdom (Chrysostom, On Epis. to Heb. 14.1–2; Calvin, Inst. 2.15.1).
This is the shorthand way of summarizing all essential phases of Christ’s activity as Mediator. It brings together the whole range of messianic themes in Scripture. As prophet he revealed the divine will (Augustine, CG 17.3). As priest he made provision for the redemption of sin (Augustine, Trin. 4.14.1). As king he applied and completed that redemption (Newman, SD: 52–62; Dorner, System of Christian Doctrine 4: 247–340). Visually the threefold office of the Mediator can be sorted out as follows:
The Work Of Christ | |||||
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Prophet |
Priest |
King | |||
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To teach |
To sacrifice |
To empower | |||
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Christ preaches |
Christ atones |
Christ governs | |||
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Pedagogy |
Expiation |
Guidance and protection | |||
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Earthly ministry |
Dying ministry |
Glorified ministry | |||
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Messianic beginning |
Messianic sacrifice |
Messianic consummation | |||
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Mosaic type |
Aaronic type |
Davidic type | |||
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The Rabbi |
The Lamb |
The end-time Governor | |||
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God revealed |
Humanity redeemed |
Redemption applied |
Jesus fulfilled and consummated these three offices as: a prophet like Moses whom God has raised up from among his own people (Acts 3:22); “a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 7:17); and “King of kings” (Rev. 17:14). There is an implicit chronology in this sequence: in his earthly ministry Jesus first appeared as prophet, then in his suffering and death as priest, and only then in his glorification as ruler of the spiritual kingdom (Chemnitz, TNC: 334–38; Thielicke, The Evangelical Faith 2: 342–421).
From his baptism to Holy Week he undertook primarily a prophetic office as teacher and lawgiver. During his last week of earthly ministry, Passion Week, and especially in his prayer of consecration (John 17), he assumed the high priestly office, and in dying offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. By his resurrection he assumed legitimate governance of the future of history (Rom. 1:4; Origen, Comm. on Rom. 1.4). The gospel narratives fill in the details of this chronology. The Letters look back upon the significance of these events.
The Three Ministries as Organizing Principle of Christ’s Mediatorial Work
The three offices of his mediatorial work are fully treated in Scripture and tradition. The division of the messianic task into these three offices was richly anticipated in the Jewish tradition and its rabbinic interpreters. It is thoroughly developed by major voices of the Christian tradition from Eusebius and Cyril of Jerusalem through Augustine and Thomas Aquinas (Augustine, Harmony of the Gospels 1.3; Tho. Aq., ST 3, Q22.1).
By the time of the Reformation it had become a central organizing structure of Protestant teaching. It reappears in both scholastic orthodox and liberal Protestant writers. Even those who object to some aspects of the classic three-office formula nonetheless make use of its categories. For it is virtually impossible to speak of the Christ of the New Testament without his teaching, sacrificial, and governance tasks.
The classical exegetes viewed Moses as the prophetic type of Christ, who appeared as the new Lawgiver, and the Fulfiller of prophecy (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. Lect. 10). They viewed the Aaronic, Levitical, and Melchizedek priesthoods as the anticipatory type of Christ, who completed and typified the priestly office (Augustine, CG 16.22). And they viewed David as the anticipatory type of Christ as promised messianic king, anointed receiver of the coming messianic kingdom (Augustine, Letters 149.2.17)
A threefold remedy was required for the recalcitrance of sin. As prophet Christ penetrated the self-deceptions of sin, effectively calling humanity to repentance; as priestly sacrifice, Christ took our sins upon himself and reconciled us to God; as legitimate recipient of final authority and power, Christ began to reorder the distorted powers at work in the world.
“Our minds were confused; as Teacher and Prophet, He undertook to enlighten us by His wonderful teaching. Our hearts were corrupt; as High Priest and Mediator, He undertook by His precious blood, to purify them. Our wills were held bound by the Devil; as an all-Holy King, He undertook to drive out the Devil, and release us from bondage” (Greek Orthodox Catech. 30, italics added).
Early Christian preaching enlarged upon all three motifs:
This threefold anointing has served countless generations as a structure for organizing and summarizing the vast range of biblical teachings of salvation.
The Oil of Anointing
Anointing was a symbol of consecration to God, especially used for an office of divine service. As water was a symbol of cleansing, blood a symbol of expiation, and light a symbol of divine illumination, so was an anointing oil the principal symbol of consecration to office (Pearson, EC 1:167, 178–80).
The Exodus account provided instructions for the making of “a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer” (including fine spices, myrrh, cinnamon, cane, and olive oil) to anoint the Tent of Meeting, ark, and altar. “You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy” (Exod. 30:22–29).
Elijah anointed Elisha to be prophet and Hazael to be king (1 Kings 19:16). Priests were anointed both with oil (symbol of consecration) and blood (symbol of expiation, Exod. 30:30; Lev. 8:30). When David was anointed by Samuel as king, “from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power” (1 Sam. 16:13). The people prayed for requisite gifts of the Spirit to accompany the anointing. “Anointed was in old times a title of kings, high-priests, and prophets. Why then, is Jesus, the Son of God, called The Anointed? Because to his manhood were imparted without measure all the gifts of the Holy Ghost; and so he possessed in the highest degree the knowledge of a prophet, the holiness of a high-priest, and the power of a king” (Russian Catech., COC 2: 466).
All three offices are crucial to the expectations of late Judaism immediately preceding the New Testament, when the popular hope of messianic fulfillment was intensified (Augustine, Tractates on John 15.25–27). The messiah was expected as a prophet who would come to “explain everything to us” (John 4:25), who would teach, who would “give his people the knowledge of salvation” (Luke 1:77) and “preach good news to the poor.” Some expected that the return of the prophet “Elijah must come first” (Matt. 17:10), before or in connection with the appearance of the messianic king. The remnant of Israel who most fervently awaited the messiah applied priestly metaphors to that expectation of one who would redeem Israel “through the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:77), as “Lamb of God” who would “take away the sins of the world” (John 11:27). As king he was expected to be “born king of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2), as seed of David, born in Bethlehem (John 7:42; Matt. 12:23).
Jesus comes to transform each of these offices decisively: He teaches not with mere words but as God’s own personal coming as God’s living Word to human history; he intercedes not as the Levitical high priest with animal sacrifice, but by the sacrifice of his own body; and he governs not as the rulers of this world but as legitimate heir of divine empowerment (Ursinus, CHC: 170–76).
The Offices Uniquely Cohere in Jesus Christ
The three offices of the Expected One uniquely cohere in the ministry of Jesus. As the “one mediator between God and men” (1 Tim. 2:5), he is at the same time the teacher of true religion, expiator of sin, and bearer of legitimate authority to guide and judge future history (Gregory of Nyssa, Ag. Eunomius 2.12).
No one before Jesus had adequately united the three offices. Moses, the prototype of the prophet and lawgiver, was neither priest nor king. Aaron, the priest, was neither prophet nor king. David, the prototype of the messianic king, was not a priest. Ezekiel came close to an integral fulfillment of the offices, so he became a prototype for the coming Messiah (Ezek. 1:28; Jacob of Sarug, On the Establishment of Creation 1.4).
In one figure alone were all offices adequately united, sufficiently displayed, and fully consummated—Jesus Christ. In these three complementary ways, he uniquely embodied the “wisdom of God” so as to become simultaneously “our righteousness, holiness, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30; Ambrosiaster, Comm. on Paul’s Epis.). Jesus is not a king without being a priestly king, for his kingship cannot be understood without his suffering, atonement, and intercession. He is not just a priest without prophetic truth, for his priesthood is made understandable by his pungent, parabolic teaching of the kingdom and call to repentance. He is indeed a king, but a caring, interceding, shepherding, priestly king who loves those he admonishes, rules, and guides. In this way all three offices cohere in one mediator. “I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not” (Luke 10:23; Cyril of Alex., Comm. on Luke, Hom. 67).
Wherever one of these three functions has become excessive, imbalanced, or detached from the others, there have emerged false teachers. Misjudgments have occurred because one or another office has been neglected, falsified, or exaggerated. The history of Christian teaching of the work of Christ has repeatedly had to resist such imbalances. A balanced teaching of salvation depends upon holding these three ministries in proper tension and equilibrium (Cyril of Alex, Comm. on Luke 1.77).
Defining the Prophetic Office: Christ as Prophet
The prophetic office of Christ refers to the work of Christ in revealing divine truth to humanity, proclaiming the divine plan of redemption, and calling all to accept the salvation offered.
The epitome of the prophet was fulfilled by means of Jesus’ words (Matt. 7:28–9), deeds (John 10:25), the example of his life (1 Pet. 2:21–23). He willingly suffered for the truth.
Christ as Prophet
A prophet is one who speaks for God, an authoritative teacher of God’s will, who serves as a channel of communication between the divine and human spheres, so as to bring to light what had remained in darkness (Is. 9:2; Origen, Comm. on John 13.134; Ursinus, CHC: 172–73). By the prophet a divine message (Heb. dabar, “word” Gk. logos) from God, an oracle of Yahweh, is communicated through a human messenger (Heb. nabi; Gk. prophētēs) or seer (Heb. roeh). In a wider sense, prophet signifies a teacher (Gk. didaskalos; Lat. magister).
Intrinsic to the messianic office is the work of proclamation—making public the knowledge of the events of salvation, promulgation of the saving work of God in history (Ambrose, On Belief in the Resurrection 2.66–75). The work of prophecy is pertinent only where revelation occurs. Prophecy is not a form of knowing that human initiative may actively seek or scheme to lay hold of. The prophetic act occurs only through the initiative and electing wisdom of God, which inspires human receptivity to the divine address. The prototype for all prophetic speech is the receptivity of the eternal Son to the will of the Father (Augustine, CG 18.27–35).
Jesus was received by the people as a prophet (Matt. 16:13–14; Mark 6:15; Luke 7:16; Lactantius, Div. Inst., FC 49: 261–79). Jesus made no protest when the Samaritan woman said to him, “I can see that you are a prophet” (John 4:19). Jesus was viewed by the apostles as a prophet. This is clear from Peter’s speech to the people of Israel: “For Moses said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you’” (Acts 3:22, quoting Deut. 18:15; cf. Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin, Acts 7:37). It was with Moses and Elijah (prophetic prototypes) that Jesus conversed in the transfiguration.
More so, the Gospel narratives report that Jesus made reference to himself as a prophet: “Only in his home town and in his own house is a prophet without honor” (Matt. 13:57; Mark 6:4). “I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” (Luke 13:33; Pearson, EC 1:169, 366).
More Than a Prophet
Yet as fulfiller of the prophetic type, Jesus was (like John the Baptist, to whom prophecy had pointed) “more than a prophet” (Matt. 11:9), for “of none of the Prophets was it said: that ‘the Word was made flesh’ (Ambrose, Incarn. of Our Lord 6.48; John 1:14). The human-divine Mediator was not merely God-inspired, but God-incarnate.
By contrast with the prophets, who proclaimed “Thus says Yahweh,” Jesus characteristically said: “Truly I say to you” and “I am.” No prophet except of a unique sort would say, “Thus I say.” The prophets pointed beyond themselves to One who by his divine Sonship would bring salvation: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets in many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1–2).
Jesus not only spoke, but was the truth enfleshed, God’s own Word of truth. He did not merely teach revelation by words, but was himself that revelation, a living Word, the Word of Life (1 John 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:23). “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well” (John 14:6–7). One cannot come to faith without trusting personally in Jesus Christ or receive the good news without receiving him personally.
All the other prophets were humans speaking for God. The Mediator was the God-man speaking for God to humanity and to God for humanity (Leo I, Serm. 27). The incomparable credential of Jesus’ prophetic teaching was the personal union of deity and humanity in him.
The truth to which the Spirit would guide is the truth made known personally in him. Of no other prophet could that be said. As such Jesus was prophet par excellence, the incomparable interpreter of God. “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me” (John 8:28–29).
Since he himself is the truth, only he can adequately reveal the truth. Jesus consummately possessed both the gift of prophecy and vocation of teacher. “For this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth” (John 18:37; Augustine, Tractates on John 115.2–4). Calvin summarized the purpose and end of Jesus’ prophetic office as “an office of teaching bestowed upon the Son of God for the benefit of his own [people], and its end is that he illumine them with the true knowledge of the Father, instruct them in truth, and make them household disciples of God” (Catech. of the Church of Geneva).
Not to Abolish, But to Fulfill the Law
Jesus was the last prophet and the first preacher of the gospel. His ministry united law and gospel. It made clear both the inner requirement of the law, and what God has done that the law could not do to fulfill the requirement of the law for sinners (Matt. 5:17–20; Chromatius, Tractate on Matt. 20.1).
His teaching went to the heart of the law, its spiritual meaning and center, its radical character as divine demand (Augustine, Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount 2.21–25). This reinterpretation of the law occurred prototypically in the Sermon on the Mount, but more generally through his entire earthly ministry of proclamation and teaching (Baxter, PW 2:222–38; Wesley, Serm. 1, WJWB: 466–698).
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matt. 5:17; Jerome, Comm. on Matt. 1.5.18).
The Son was born of woman under the law, and sent to redeem those under the law (Gal. 4:4–5). His behavior so conformed to the law “that by obeying the Law He might perfect it and bring it to an end in His own self, so as to show that it was ordained to Him” (Tho. Aq., ST 3, Q40.4).
Paul preached that Christ is “the end of the law” (Rom. 10:4). This means that Christ is the end of our despairing effort at righteousness based upon our own merit. “For Christ means the end of the struggle for righteousness-by-the-Law for everyone who believes in him” (Rom. 10:4, Phillips). Everything previously encompassed by the divine requirement codified into law was summed up in his embodied life and finished, dying work (Matt. 3:15; Chrysostom, Hom. on Matt. 12.1).
He came to reinterpret the moral vitality of the law in relation to the emerging age of God’s righteous love. The ethical depth of the law was sharpened, the simplicity of its demand condensed. Jesus did not abolish but illumined the moral law already written on the heart, now seen more clearly in the context of grace. The law remains as a schoolmaster leading to Christ to teach sinners their sin and as a guide in the way of holiness (Leo I, Serm. 46.5; Calvin, Inst. 2.1–4). The believer who looks “intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this” will be “blessed in what he does” (James 1:25).
What the law required, the Redeemer fulfilled: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). His central prophetic task was to teach the good news of redemption by himself being that good news (Cyril of Alex. Comm. on John, 1.9). In his own synagogue he said of Isaiah 61:1–2: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Then he “went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom” (Matt. 4:23).
Christ’s Prophetic Work
The prophets of ancient Israel had characteristically fulfilled their office by teaching, foretelling, and healing (or some combination of these). Similarly Jesus went about doing good in all three of these forms (Matt. 5:17; 13:57; 24:8–9)—he taught the multitudes (Matt. 5–7), revealed things hidden (Matt. 24:1–51), and engaged in a ministry of healing that attested his identity as messianic king (Mark 1:30–42; Matt. 9; Luke 8:27–48).
Through his teaching he instructed the community of faith in all things necessary for salvation. He foretold the future by himself anticipating its consummation in the resurrection. Through healing he attested the power of the Spirit at work in his ministry (Cyril of Alex., Comm. on Matt. Hom. 44).
His teaching continued through his resurrection appearances (Luke 24:45; Bede, Hom. on Gospels 11). The preaching and teaching of the gospel continued in the acts of his apostles, who were promised to do “even greater things than these” under the power of the Spirit (John 14:12; Theodore of Heraclea, Fragments on John, 259).
He Went About Doing Good
Jesus’ manner of life and conversation with the world were entirely congruent with the ends for which he became incarnate. These ends were to proclaim the truth by himself being the truth, to seek out the lost, free humanity from sin, and to make God’s holy love known by allowing himself to be known amid the conditions of ordinary human life.
The Son’s daily activity moved in a rhythm of engagement and withdrawal, rest and action, prayer and teaching (Tho. Aq., ST 3, Q40.1). He withdrew from intense activity for communion with the Father in prayer, yet he sat down with sinners (Matt. 9:10), for he had come purposely to meet and save them (Chrysostom, Hom. on Matt. Hom 30.1).
It was fitting that the Son of God should lead a life of poverty in the world, in order to show that abundant life is not dependent upon the accumulation of wealth. He became poor for our sakes that through his poverty we might be rich (2 Cor. 8:9). He had “a poor maid for His Mother, a poorer birthplace,” and he voluntarily chose “all that was poor and despicable, all that was of small account and hidden from the majority, that we might recognize His Godhead to have transformed the terrestrial sphere” (Tho. Aq., ST 3, Q40.3; Cyril of Alexandria, Ephesus Serm. 3.10.9).
He had time to talk with women whose marriages were troubled (John 4:15–30) and to reach out for children (Mark 10:13–16). He provided food where there was hunger (John 6:1–15) and wine at a wedding when the supply had run out (John 2:1–11). He became a beacon of hope to lepers, the blind, epileptics, the poor and dispossessed (Prudentius, Hymns 9). Mark reports after the healing of a deaf mute: “People were overwhelmed with amazement. ‘He has done everything well,’ they said” (Mark 7:37).
His Teaching Ministry
His teaching occurred both by precept and example. His teaching was punctuated by signs and mighty deeds that attested the special empowerment of his mission. He called all hearers to repentance as the primary requirement of participating in the coming governance of God (Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 1.21).
Jesus intended from the outset to initiate an ongoing community of faith that would continue to embody his ministry after his death and resurrection (Matt. 28:20; John 20:21). This community is called to share in his prophetic teaching, his priestly sacrifice, and his inauguration of the rule of God, under the empowerment of the Spirit who promises to lead the faithful into all truth (John 16:12–13; 14:26).
As he taught and preached, it became clear that he was in the process of forming a community of faith that could not be fitted neatly into the traditions and institutions of late Judaism, but would address all humanity with the personal coming of God’s embodied love. He engendered a new covenant community that would reshape the people of God (Acts 2:43–47; Bede, Comm. on Acts 2.44).
The training of the Twelve occurred experientially by daily association with him. They listened to him teach and watched him respond to human needs and deal with adversaries. They beheld his steady compassion. They shared in his life of prayer and service, healing and witness (Luke 6:12–16; 6:28; 9:28).
His manner of teaching was simple, profound, and direct. Even the Temple guards who had been sent to arrest him reported back to their superiors: “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (John 7:46; Cyril of Alex., Comm. on John 5.2).
“The crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Matt. 7:28–29; Luke 4:32). “The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having studied?’” (John 7:15). Nicodemus addressed him as “Rabbi” and as “a teacher who has come from God” (John 3:2). He taught in the synagogues, gathered disciples, and debated with scribes concerning Scripture, yet he was different from them in that he taught in the open fields, showed particular concern for outsiders, for women and for the poor, and profoundly identified with sinners, tax collectors, and disreputable folk (John 4:16–18; Augustine, Comm. on John 15.20; Bornkamm, JN: 57).
He was acquainted with grief and knew the human heart. He deftly dealt with opponents and legalists. He grasped the essence of rabbinic teaching without being fixated upon it. He penetrated illusions without becoming trapped in them (Chrysostom, Hom. on John 32.2). He employed symbolic and demonstrative teaching when useful, yet he also taught directly. Even if these dialogues may have been refracted through the memories of the redactors, readers of the Gospels get a sharp picture of Jesus as an apt and ready raconteur.
His Teaching Adapted to Hearers
In Jesus we have a teacher who “has taught neither too much nor too little. He has taught me to know God the Father, has revealed Himself to me, and has also acquainted me with the Holy Spirit. He has also instructed me how to live and how to die and has told me what to hope for. What more do I want?” (Luther, LW 22:255–56).
His sayings are memorable for their compact pungency. This helped to ensure their authenticity in the transmission of the oral tradition.
He adapted his teaching to the capacities of those he taught. He did not teach them all at once but proceeded gradually and in awareness of hearer’s limitations. “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12–13). John concluded his Gospel with the comment that “the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” if everything Jesus did or taught “were written down” (John 21:25).
He used ordinary things to attest God’s coming: the surprising growth of mustard seed (Mark 4:30–32); the woman who joyfully recovered a lost coin (Luke 15:8–10); the father who joyfully received back a lost son (Luke 15:11–32); a forgiven debtor who throws in prison one who owes him a pittance (Matt. 18). He spoke in common terms of moneylenders (Luke 7:41–43); rich fools (Luke 12:16–21); the sower and soils (Mark 4:3–8, 14–20); tenants (Matt. 21:33–44), new wine in old wineskins (Luke 5:37–38); and wedding banquets (Matt. 22:2–14). He taught by parables both to penetrate to ordinary people and to protect the truth from distortion by detractors. The parables often pointed toward the resurrection: “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. In that day you will ask in my name” (John 16:26).
It is ironic that St. Thomas, who wrote so comprehensively, would be the one to state this argument: Since the most excellent teaching cannot be expressed in writing but only in life, Christ did not directly commit his teaching to writing, so that it could be above all imprinted on the hearts of hearers (Matt. 7:29; Tho. Aq., ST 3 Q42.1).
This is why Christ’s teaching had to be written in the experience of believers: in order that you may “show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor. 3:3; Ambrose, Paradise, 8.39).
Why His Teaching Was Addressed to the Jews First, Then to the Gentiles
It was fitting that Christ was sent first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24). His preaching was directed first to Israel, to demonstrate that the promises of God to Israel were being fulfilled in him. He proceeded in right order by making known God’s own coming first to the Jews, then to be “transmitted through them to the Gentiles” (Tho. Aq., ST 3, Q42.1). Isaiah had prophesied that “They will proclaim my glory among the nations” (66:19). It was fitting that the news of God’s coming should reach the world by means of the people God chose (Theodoret, Comm. on Is. 20.66.19).
Paul explained: “Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy” (Rom. 15:8–9). Jesus’ mission at first focused upon Israel, as “servant to the circumcised” (Rom. 15:8). Jesus spent most of his teaching ministry “in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali” (Matt. 4:13) as prophesied by Isaiah (9:1–2). From that remote spot “the people living in darkness have seen a great light” (Matt. 4:16). The light came from unimportant Galilee.
Shortly before his death, when certain Gentiles wished to see Jesus, he said: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). “He called Himself the grain of wheat that must be mortified,” noted Augustine, in order that it might be “multiplied by the faith of the nations” (Augustine, Comm. on John, Tractate 51.9).
Signs, Wonders, and Demonstrations of Power and Deity
Jesus’ proclamation was attended by “miraculous powers” (Matt. 13:54, 58) and “miraculous signs and wonders” (John 4:48). Jesus’ mighty works were remembered and interpreted in relation to his resurrection as signs of the new age, the coming kingdom. These demonstrations resist all those powers that resist God’s coming: guilt, sickness, death, self-deception, and the demonic grip that sin has on human behavior (Eusebius, PG 1:124; Chrysostom, Hom. on John, 35.3).
His miracles were regarded as signs of the prophetic office, as seen in the comment of Nicodemus: “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2).
Healing, Nature, and Resurrection Miracles
Miracles reported of him (many more perhaps being unreported) fall into three types:
Healing Miracles | |
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healing the sick | |
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the blind (Matt. 9:27–31; Mark 8:22–26; John 9:1–7) | |
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the lame (Luke 13:11–13) | |
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the deaf and mute (Mark 7:31–37) | |
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lepers (Mark 1:40–42; Luke 17:11–19) |
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paralysis (Luke 5:18–25) | |
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bleeding (Mark 5:25–29) |
Nature Miracles | |
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showing command over the forces of nature | |
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feeding the five thousand (Mark 6:35–44) and four thousand (Mark 8:1–9) | |
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quieting the storm (Mark 4:37–41) | |
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walking on water (Mark 6:48–51) | |
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the catch of fish (John 2:1–11, 21:1–11) |
Life Giving Miracles | |
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raising the dead | |
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Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:22–24) | |
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the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11–15) | |
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Lazarus (John 11:1–44) |
Jesus did not perform miracles without purpose. Each one responded to some special need or served some special purpose in pointing to the coming reign of God. He did not draw attention to himself as a worker of miracles. Rather each miracle was a specific response to a personal form of suffering. He often commanded that those healed should not speak of it to others, lest false expectations be increased (Mark 1:44; 3:11; Matt. 12:15–21; 14:13–16). He did not encourage others to interpret his mission essentially as one of signs and wonders, but rather hoped that the signs would lead to faith (John 4:48; Chrysostom, Hom. on John, 35.2–3).
At first it might seem unfitting for Christ to perform miracles, since he himself had said, “A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign” (Matt. 16:4). He admonished those who, unless they saw miraculous signs and wonders, would “never believe” (John 4:48). Yet it was fitting that Christ did perform miracles that “we may believe that what he says is from God, just as when a man is the bearer of letters sealed with the king’s ring” (Tho. Aq., ST 3, Q43.1). For this reason he said: “But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (John 10:38).
Jesus’ ministry was summarized by Matthew: “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them” (Matt. 4:23–24). These were victims of the “strong man” (the demonic enemy), whom a stronger One was binding up (Mark 3:27). The miracles confirm the power of God’s own coming (Chrysostom, Hom. on Matt. 14.3).
Signs of God’s Coming
The miracles were viewed as signs (sēmeia) of God’s coming and of his saving mission, as wonders (terata), and as demonstrations of power (dunameis). They were means by which his teaching and identity were presented and interpreted (Incomplete Work on Matt, Hom. 8; Brown, The Gospel According to John; TDNT 7:200–68). Peter proclaimed: “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know” (Acts 2:22; Bede, Comm. on Acts 2.22). The miracles were a palpable demonstration that he was of God: “Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (John 9:32–33; Hilary Trin. 3).
God’s personal coming was itself the miracle of miracles, especially his birth and resurrection—the beginning and ending of his earthly ministry. Among all the miracles, the incarnation and resurrection continue to have unique status in the liturgical year, the cycle of seasonal celebrations of Jesus’ ministry. “When we look at the two limits of our human life, we observe the nature of our beginning and our end. Man begins his existence in weakness and similarly ends his life through weakness. But in God’s case, the birth did not have its origin in weakness, neither did the death end in weakness. For sensual pleasure did not precede the birth and corruption did not follow the death” (Gregory of Nyssa, ARI:289).
If one begins with the fixed idea that a miracle cannot under any circumstances occur, then it cannot by its very nature be authentically reported. If so, all talk of miracle and all paranormal phenomenon must be prima facie removed in advance from any inquiry.
Contemporary physical science is less prone to make such sweeping preemptive judgments. The nineteenth-century controversy over the possibility of miracles was largely an unedifying circular verbal quarrel about how language is to be used. If miracle is defined as suspension of natural law, then it could be asserted that such a suspension is impossible and miracles could be ruled out on the grounds that they have no analogy in normal human experience.
What Is Natural to God May Seem Unnatural to Nature Alone
Rather, the biblical texts themselves are not concerned with whether natural law can be suspended, but with a simple observed, empirical, attested series of events: Jesus healed the sick (Luke 6:17–19; Ambrose, Expos. of Luke 5.46). There is less resistance to the study of miracles now than a century ago. There is more serious inquiry into miracles since they were rashly rejected by rigid empiricists. Why? In part because the theoretical physicists have continued to probe further into their own vulnerable paradigms and because quantum physics and parapsychological, psychokinetic, and telepathic studies have provided tentative premises that challenge less flexible conceptions of physical causation.
Classic Christianity teaches that events regarded as unnatural to human view may be entirely natural to God. Incarnation and resurrection were not against nature, but merely consistent with God’s nature (Luke 2:1–20; Cyril of Alex. Comm. on Luke, Hom. 1). In both cases the natural forces were not blocked or stultified. The child grew; the body died. But the coming of God to human history stamped these birth and death events with a distinctive imprint. How else could God have come and gone? God came and left in a fitting way that both transcended and used natural human capacities, but that in no way denied or subverted natural human capacities (Lactantius, Div. Inst., FC 49:280–84).
What is natural to God is unnatural to alienated human nature. Nothing is more natural to God than to be raised from the dead should God come to earth and die. Nothing is more natural to God than to be born in an extraordinary way, should God become enfleshed.
If interpreters later conclude that from their point of view these acts were deemed supernatural (above nature) or preternatural (beyond nature, inexplicable in terms of the common order of nature), they mean that they transcend ordinarily perceived natural human abilities, but not that they were unnatural to Christ or impossible for God (Luke 1:37; Chrysostom, Hom. on Matthew, Hom. 54.7). The miracles were as natural for the Son as creating was for the Father. Hence to describe them as irrationally supernatural is to select a dubious, limited, human vantage point from which to view them.
This classic consensual view of Christ as prophet, teacher, and miracle worker provides the proper basis upon which we can now turn to his priestly office. In his prophetic activity, the priestly-sacrificial work of Christ had already been anticipated, but was not actively commenced until the last week of his suffering and death. Only after his resurrection would it become clear that his role as messianic king was intricately woven with his suffering death. These three offices penetrate each other: the prophetic ministry pointed toward his coming priestly ministry, which in turn made possible his ministry of governance.
Christ’s priestly ministry focused primarily upon a single event: his self-giving death as a sacrifice for sin. Why does Christ suffer? Luther answered: “To carry out His office as Priest; and He intends not only to pray for sinners but also to sacrifice His body and life on the altar of the cross” (Lenten Sermon, Luke 23:26–31).
The Work of a Priest—Sacrifice, Intercession, Blessing
The priestly office of the Son functions in three ways: (1) he makes perfect satisfaction to God the Father through his suffering and death on the cross; (2) he intercedes with the Father for the contrite in heart, in order to (3) bring the blessing of redemption to humanity.
Christ’s ministry was anticipated by the Old Testament sacrificial system in which the priest was commissioned to offer sacrifice, make intercession, and bless the people. Hence the priestly office may be summarized as that of making atonement, intercession, and benediction (Heb. 8:1–13; Chrysostom, On Epis. To Heb. 14.2; Ursinus, CHC: 174–75). Christ’s work reappropriated the threefold function of the high priest in Jewish tradition: to present annually the atoning sacrifice for the whole congregation; to intercede for the faithful; and to bless the people (Lev. 4:16–18; Council of Ephesus; Augustine, CG, FC 24:36–39).
Protestants may be surprised that Luther expressed such a high view of priestly action: “The priest comes forward to take all the shortcoming of the people upon himself as if they were his very own and pleads with God on their behalf. From God he receives the word with which he is to comfort and help everybody. The name ‘priest’ is therefore, still more lovely and consoling than the names ‘father’ and ‘mother’ nay, this name brings us all the others. For by the fact the Christ is Priest He turns God into our Father” (Luther, Comm. on Gen. 14:17–24; Schmid, DT: 346). The Reformed divines concurred with Luther: “Christ’s office as a priest is that according to which Christ, the only mediator…by His most exact fulfillment of the law and the sacrifice of His body, satisfied, on our behalf, the injured divine justice, and offers to God the most effectual prayers for our salvation” (Hollaz, ETA: 731). “The priestly office is to provide full satisfaction in our place before God, and to intercede for us” (Wollebius, CTC: 17).
The priestly work embraces the past, present, and future of sin: The Son voluntarily undertook the mission received from the Father by offering himself as a sacrificial Lamb to atone for the sin of the world, dying for all once for all (as a finished work spoken in past tense). He now intercedes in the presence of God for the reconciliation of penitents (in the present tense). He blesses human history by redeeming it and promises the final blessing of eternal life and the fulfillment of the reign of God (to be consummated in the future tense).
His cross is his finished priestly work, his heavenly intercession his present priestly work, and his blessing will ultimately consummate his future priestly work (Wollebius, CTC 17, RDB: 98–110; Pearson, EC 1:367).
The priestly work is therefore already accomplished on the cross, yet still being executed through Christ’s intercession with the Father and blessing through the Spirit. While satisfaction is a finished work on the cross, intercession and blessing are continuing activities in the divine presence and amid the blessed community (Gregory Nazianzus, Orat. 30; BOC: 259–60, 414–17).
First Phase of Christ’s Priestly Work: Sacrifice
The Necessity of Sacrifice: Cross as Altar
“Priest” and “sacrifice” are intrinsically interrelated terms in the Jewish and Christian traditions. It is the priest who makes sacrifice on behalf of another. It is Christ who as high priest makes a unique sacrifice on the cross for the sins of humanity (Heb. 17:11–28; Theodoret, Dialogue, 2; Ambrose, Flight from the World, FC 65:290–96).
“The separating medium is sin, the reconciling Mediator is the Lord,” Augustine wrote. “To take then away the separating wall, which is sin, that Mediator has come, and the priest has Himself become the sacrifice” (Hom. on John 41.5). In Christ “the same one was to be both priest and sacrifice,” wrote Calvin. “Christ plays the priestly role, not only to render the Father favorable and propitious toward us by an eternal law of reconciliation, but also to receive us as his companions” (Inst. 2.15.6; see also Tho. Aq., ST 3, Q22.3).
Christ was stretched out on the cross as if he were a victim on an altar. “Therefore in the cross on which Christ has suffered we should see nothing but an altar on which Christ sacrifices His life and discharges His priestly office also by praying that we may be rid of sins and freed from eternal death” (Luther, Serm. on Matt. 27:33–56).
Through his satisfaction, Christ made a once-for-all offering of himself. It is on the basis of this self-offering that he intercedes for us and continues to advocate the cause of sinners in the Father’s presence. This intercession leads to that ultimate benediction, which is to be consummated finally in the blessing of his return (Newman, PPS 2:42; 6:241–42; SN: 304; Baxter, PW 7:205–208).
By this satisfaction, he paid the price or ransom for the sins of the world. Through intercession he enables the faithful to obtain the gifts of the Spirit so that God’s uprighting action may be effectively applied to them (Gregory of Nazianzus, Theological Orat. 4.20; Pearson, EC 1:173–78). Sacrifice belongs essentially to the humble descent of the Redeemer, while intercession belongs more explicitly to his ascent to glory. The crucial themes of descent and ascent pivot on the priestly sacrificial act—the cross (Basil of Seleucia, Easter Hom. JF B: 46).
The Temple
The principal scene of the high-priestly function in Judaism is the Temple, the holy place where the greatness of God is present and revealed. Since this scene fuels the Christian teaching of salvation, it is essential that the believer understand the altar, the tabernacle, and the high priestly activity, and how they were transmitted from Judaism to Christianity.
At the inner core of the Temple stood the altar. The antiquity of this sacrificial function is already implied in the Genesis report that “Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it” (Gen. 8:20; Ephrem, Comm. on Gen. 6.13.2).
The architecture of the Temple set up intentional barriers to secular functions. The external portion contained the court where the covenant people entered and assembled. A laver (a place of cleansing) stood at the entrance, and there was an altar of burnt offering. Only priests were admitted into the central portion, the Sanctuary—set aside for holy things. On the table of unleavened bread were placed twelve loaves, renewed every Sabbath. The light of the Spirit beamed forth from seven lamps on a golden candlestick. The air was filled with the odor of incense emitting from an altar of incense (Deut. 30:34; Luke 1:10–11; Bede, On the Tabernacle 3.12).
In the inner core of the temple was the Most Holy Place into which only the high priest entered once a year, the sacred space of the ark of covenant. The glory of God rested upon the kapporeth or mercy-seat, which covered the record of transgression from God’s eyes. “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you” (Exod. 25:18, 22; Isaac of Nineveh, Discourse 22; Pope, Compend. 2:245). Such an environment was presupposed in the early church’s reference to the body of Christ as a temple.
In Christianity, the dying, rising, incarnate Son himself is viewed as temple: “Destroy this temple; and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19; Lactantius, Div. Inst. 4.18, 25). His human nature, which is our own nature, became the holy place in which “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father” (John 1:14). Hence it may now be said that “the tabernacle of God is with men” (Rev. 21:3). “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2). “A new and living way” has been opened for us “through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:20–22; Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, 2.174).
The body of Christ, from another viewpoint, is the church, the community of those whose lives are hid in Christ. Christ is the church’s glory, so much so that Paul could write: “For we are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16). Similarly First Peter addressed the church: “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5; Didymus the Blind, Comm. on 1 Peter, 2.4).
Second Phase of Christ’s Priestly Work: Intercession
The essence of the Mediator’s intercession is: “I pray for them” (John 17:9). His sacrifice is the objective basis upon which his advocacy before the Father occurs. Thus “if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 2:2; Bede, On 1 John 2.2).
Jesus’ Ministry of Intercession
Christ’s eternal intercession is something that only the eternal Son can do. The principal feature of the picture of Christ “in session” (that is, “sitting at the right hand of God”) is his intercessory ministry for humanity in the presence of the Father (Calvin, On Reform, SW: 143–44; Wollebius, CTC 18). “He prays for us, as our Priest; He prays in us, as our Head; He is prayed to by us as our God” (Augustine, Comm. on Ps. 85; Schmid, DT: 368). “He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12). In him we have an Advocate, an intercessor who speaks to the Father on our behalf (1 John 2:1). He is qualified to intercede for us because he is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Heb. 4:15; Symeon the New Theologian, Discourse 2.4). He bears in heaven the marks of the wounds he received from us (Ambrose, Comm. on Luke 10).
The intercession for the faithful in which Christ was once engaged on earth (John 17) continues until the last day in the heavenly sphere. “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Eph. 3:12). Christ is “a priest forever” (Heb. 5:6; Oecumenius, Fragments on Heb. 5.6).
The Faithful Pray in Christ’s Name
He offers the prayers of the faithful to the Father. This is why Christians call upon the Father in the name of Christ. “My Father will give you whatever you ask in my name” (John 16:23–26; Origen, On Prayer, 15.2). Christ mediates and enables the appropriation of his merit to the faithful (Cyril of Alex., Comm. on John 11.2; Chemnitz, TNC: 411–14).
The effect of his intercession is to increase faith’s joy, trust, and capacity for devotion. “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb. 4:16). “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25). For this intercession Christ entered not “a man-made sanctuary,” but “he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence” (Heb. 9:24; Photius, Fragments on Heb. 9:24–25).
Christ intercedes not only for those most responsive to grace, but for sinners, following the pattern of the suffering Servant who “made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12). Christ’s intercession is for all sincere penitents (typified by the unmeritorious thief in Luke 23:34). Christ intercedes for all humanity. Those who have chosen not to believe have voluntarily elected not to enjoy the effect of his intercession (Augustine, Sermon 285.2; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. Lect. 13.30; Quenstedt, TDP 3:257).
Christ intercedes especially for the church, for “those you have given me” (John 17:9, 24). He intercedes not only for the immature in faith that they may be brought fully to repentance and faith (Luke 13:8), but also for believers that they may be kept ever more deeply rooted in faith (John 17:8–11; Cyril of Alex., Comm. on John 11.8). He intercedes for those in union with the community of faith (John 17:21) and in union with Christ himself (John 17:13–18), that they might be made holy (John 17:19). Likewise the Christian community is called to intercede for all sorts and conditions of humanity: “I urge, then, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone” (1 Tim. 2:1).
Believers become intercessors by virtue of their participation in Christ. Christ’s intercession enables, engenders, and makes acceptable the worship of the people of God who “are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). Hence the whole people of God and not clergy alone are called “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Pet. 2:9; Leo I, Sermons 4).
The Empathic Intercession of God: The Son in Heaven, The Spirit in the Heart
This intercession occurs by the triune power of the sending of the Father, the obedience of the Son, and intercession of the Son by the power of the Spirit. Not only does God the Son make intercession for us but so does the Spirit: “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Rom. 8:26–27). Father, Son, and Spirit join in intercession for fallen humanity: the Father hears, the Son advocates our cause, and the Spirit prompts our hearts to speak rightly (Augustine, On Romans, 54).
The intercession of Christ and the Spirit are complementary—the Spirit in our hearts and the ascended Son in the presence of the Father. Hence it is said that there are two intercessors, one eternally in the temple of the celestial city and the other temporally in the temple of our hearts, both agreeing, both groaning for our redemption, both enabling communion with the Father. By the work of Son and Spirit we have an introduction, access, a right of humble approach to the Father: “For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Eph. 2:18; Marius Victorinus, Epis. to Eph. 1.2.18).
The empathy of the triune God is manifested in the joint intercession of Son and Spirit to the Father. It is as if God feels with us precisely and accurately in our struggle. This is a distinctive aspect of Christian teaching not duplicated in the history of religions. God is with us precisely amid our temptations, intimately experiencing with us our special personal difficulties, and imparting strength for good choice. God the Spirit is privy to the secrets of our hearts. God the Son knows what it means to be tempted and to suffer. The point is succinctly stated in Hebrews: “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Heb. 2:18; Chrysostom, Epis to Heb. 5.2–7).
Third Phase of Christ’s Priestly Work: Blessing
Blessedness flows from God’s own sacrifice and intercession. The blessing of God in Christ is the sum of all that is being obtained through his sacrificial act.
God’s Benediction
Benediction attests divine acceptance of the reconciling act. In the Jewish tradition the signaling of this blessing was a crucial priestly act (Ambrose, Jacob, FC 65:151–69). It is to this end that priests of the Torah were called and appointed: “God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord” (Deut. 21:5;).
While it is God who blesses the people in benediction, it is the people who bless and praise God in acts of adoration and doxology. The presbuteroi (elders, priests) act on behalf of the mediator between sinners and God.
When Moses and Aaron came out of the Tent of Meeting, “they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people” (Lev. 9:24). Through Moses the Lord gave Aaron instruction on the appropriate form of blessing: “This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace’” (Num. 6:22–26). Classic Christian interpreters cannot but view this threefold blessing in relation to the triune premise: the Lord as providential keeper of all by the Father, the Lord as the grace and mercy known to sinners through the Son, and the Lord as the peacemaking gift of the Spirit (Paterius, Expos of the Old and New Testament, Leviticus 5; Ambrose, Of the Holy Spirit; Barth, CD 3/2:580–82).
The Blessing of Christ
Christ has “blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3). Apostolic benedictions (such as those found in 1 Cor. 1:3 and 2 Cor. 3:14) are offered on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice and continuing intercession. Christ’s blessing is imparted through the Holy Spirit, through whom all benefits of the Son’s coming are aptly applied (Theodoret, Comm. on 1 Cor. 166). Hence in summary: “The Blessing of the Gospel is obtained by Jesus the Priest, announced by Jesus the Prophet, and imparted by Jesus the King through the Mediatorial Spirit of the new economy of grace” (Pope, Compend. 2:244).
The aim of the priestly work of Christ is to deliver to humanity his “very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4); and so “through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Col. 1:19).
Christ’s as Priest in the Order of Melchizedek
Yahweh set aside Levi as a priestly tribe and Aaron as a priestly family out of which the high priest (whose type Jesus Christ would fulfill) was chosen.
But Christ’s priesthood was not understood solely in the tradition of Aaron or Levi. Even more distinctively it was seen “in the order of Melchizedek” (Ps. 110:4; Heb 7:3). This was shorthand language used by the Letter to Hebrews to show that Jesus’ unique ministry is holy and spotless, not one made by a priesthood tainted by self-interest; that it is eternal in the heavens and not merely one that occurs in time and on earth; that it is a once-for-all offering, not requiring seasonal repetition; that it is a regal priesthood, for Melchizedek (“King of righteousness”) was both king and priest, of unknown genealogy, hence anticipatory of the eternal sonship of Christ, who was, like Melchizedek, “the king of peace” that it was Melchizedek who offered bread and wine (Gen. 14:18) prefiguring the Supper of the Lord; and finally that it was Melchizedek who blessed and received tithes from Abraham, who was ancestor to both Aaron and Levi, thus indicating that his priesthood is older and greater than the Levitical. By this astonishing coalescence of vectors Melchizedek was understood as the “first priest of all priests of the most high God” (Theophilus, To Autolycus 31). This signaled that Christ transcended usual Jewish expectations about a regularized line of succession in priesthood, for his priestly offering, like Melchizedek’s, was without immediate predecessors, directly from God (Ephrem the Syrian, Comm. on Heb. 7.3; Severian of Gabala, Fragments on Epist. To Heb. 7.3; Tho. Aq., ST 3, Q22.6; Heppe, RD: 458).