Chapter 11: The High Priest
Chapter 11: The High Priest Do we still need the priest’s ministry as the people of God had during the Old Testament? Without hesitation we must answer, “Yes, we do.” We say so because we cannot approach God’s majestic presence with our sin’s defilement. We need a priest who is competent to intercede for us and bring us to God. The Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament has been laid aside. Actually there has been a change in the priesthood. Who then is our priest today? The epistle to the Hebrews is replete with references to Jesus Christ as our High Priest. We are exhorted to “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.” Further on, “seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”175 Our High Priest has offered one perfect sacrifice on the cross. God the Father accepted His offering and, to make His approval evident, raised Him back to life the third day. After forty days, the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven where He is glorified by the Father and the hosts of heaven.
There the Lord Jesus, our priest, intercedes for His people before the Father. “Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”176
Christ represents His people and intercedes for them on the basis of the infinite merits of His sacrifice. “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”177 All those who sincerely trust Him have the privilege to enter boldly and reverently into God’s presence. “Having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”178 At Christ’s death the veil of the temple was torn apart from top to bottom, a token that through Christ we may now enter the Holy of Holies, in the very presence of God.
Other Priests? The Word of God invites us to draw near to the Father through His Son, whom He has constituted as our Mediator and Priest. Is Christ sufficient or do we need other priests just as Israel had their Levitical priests? In the Catholic religion, the clergy is sharply distinguished from the rest of the faithful, the laity. The common Catholic depends upon the ministry of the priests to offer the sacrifice of the Mass on their behalf and to receive absolution from their hands. The Catechism teaches that Christ “instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of His death and Resurrection, and commanded His apostles to celebrate it until His return; "thereby He constituted them priests of the New Testament."”179 The Catholic Church warns: “If anyone says that by the words "Do this as a memorial of me" Christ did not establish the apostles as priests or that He did not order that they and other priests should offer his body and blood, anathema sit.”180
It is hard to understand why the words, “Do this as a memorial of me,” must be interpreted as the appointment of the apostles to a new priesthood to continue offering sacrifice for sin. As we have already observed, Christ’s sacrifice occurred once for all. It is a historically unique event, and therefore it can neither be renewed nor perpetuated. Christ left us a memorial, not a sacrifice. For the sake of argument, let us suppose that Christ appointed the apostles as priests, and these in turn consecrated others to continue offering sacrifice for sin. In that case, we would reasonably expect this fundamental doctrine to be evident in Scripture. In the New Testament the term “priest” (hiereus, and words from the same root) refer to the following: Jewish priests, a pagan priest, all Christians, Christ, and Melchizedek (an Old Testament king and priest prefiguring Christ).181 The church’s leaders are denominated by various terms: presbyters (elders), overseers (bishops) and shepherds (pastors). Curiously enough, they are never called priests. The presbyter or elder was generally a married man; his call consisted in teaching the Word and affording spiritual protection to the flock of God. It is never intimated that his principal duty is to offer a sacrifice for sin. Similarly the apostles were entrusted with the preaching of the gospel. We never find them re-presenting the sacrifice of Christ. Do read the New Testament for yourself and see how glaringly true this observation is.
Priests to God In the New Testament no mention is made of a priesthood, distinct from the laity, with the purpose of offering sacrifice for sin. Not only so, the apostles Peter and John teach us that all Christians are priests. Addressing ordinary Christians, Peter says: “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”182 The people of God do not offer sacrifice to atone for sins. This type of sacrifice was offered once for all by Christ, their High Priest. Only He was qualified to do that. His people are made priests because they have been granted confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Christ, and have boldness to draw near the throne of grace. 183 All of Christ’s disciples are “priests to His God and Father.”184 As priests, Christians are called to offer themselves, their goods, the praise of their lips, and their contributions to the poor, as proper and pleasing sacrifices. They are not expected, nor are they competent, to offer sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.185 Christ, The Priest of the New Covenant In the letter to the Hebrews, the author contrasts the Levitical priesthood with the unique priesthood of Jesus Christ.
Levitical priests were constrained to transfer the priesthood from one generation to another because they were mortal, but Jesus, “because He continues forever, has an unchangeable (non-transferable) priesthood.”
They used to serve in a temple built with human hands. By contrast, “Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
Levitical priests were sinful just like the rest of the people; consequently they were obliged to offer sacrifices for their own sins as well. Not so Christ: “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”
Old Testament priests used to offer the same sacrifices daily, while Christ offered one sacrifice, once for all.186
Catholic priests are nothing better than Levitical priests, for they too are sinful, serve in earthly temples, daily offer the same sacrifices, and die. God did not abrogate the Levites in order to establish an order of priests just as weak. Rather, the Old Testament priesthood was laid aside and discontinued because a better, effective and enduring priesthood was established: that of Christ. He lives forever; He is perfect, and has entered into heaven itself on behalf of His people on the infinite merits of His sacrifice on Calvary.
Through whom then will you approach God? Through a mortal, sinful priest, appointed by men, who repeatedly offers the same sacrifice in a building of stone? Or through the priest, who lives forever, chosen by the Father, who offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice once for all, and who is now interceding for His own in heaven? The Word of God presents us with Jesus Christ, the unique and competent High Priest. There is no other. “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”187