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Priesthood in the New Testament1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
Extract
Theological discussions are not infrequently stultified because terms used in them are interpreted in different senses by the parties involved. This paper is offered as an attempt to clarify one such ambiguous term, that of priesthood, by an examination of the relevant New Testament passages. We must obviously begin with the priesthood of our Lord and much of our discussion of this point will centre upon the Epistle to the Hebrews, the only NT book which calls our Lord a priest. Here a preliminary warning is necessary against the danger of assuming that when you know what a thing means in the Old Testament you also know its meaning in the New Testament. It is quite true, of course, that you cannot know the latter without discovering the former, but that does not mean it is the same as the latter. Moberly has expressed the point well.
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- Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1957
References
page 399 note 2 Priesthood and Sacrifice, ed. Sanday, W., p. 74.Google Scholar
page 399 note 3 Gayford, S. C., Sacrifice and Priesthood, pp. 3, 108f.Google Scholar
page 399 note 4 For other interpretations see Lods, , Prophets and the Rise of Judaism, pp. 293–296.Google Scholar
page 400 note 1 The Epistle to the Hebrews (1889 edition), p. 479.
page 400 note 2 I.C.C. The Epistle to the Hebrews, p. xvi.
page 400 note 3 Nairne, , Epistle of Priesthood, p. 357f.Google Scholar
page 401 note 1 Heb. 9.19–21.
page 401 note 2 Heb. 7.3.
page 401 note 3 Heb. 2.17: ‘that he be (γ
νηται) a merciful and faithful High Priest’.
page 401 note 4 Ex. 29.9, 29, 33, 35, etc.
page 401 note 5 Num. 21.10.
page 401 note 6 Ex. 29.22, 26, 27, 31, 34; Lev. 7.27, 8.21, 25, 27, 28, 31; 2 Macc. 2.9. Philo, according to Westcott, also used the noun absolutely. In the LXX the noun is never found with the addition of τ
ν χειρν.
page 401 note 7 An application of this to the rubric in the B.C.P. about the delivery of the elements in the Holy Communion is found in Fulfilling the Ministry, by S. K. Knight, p. 58, note 2:
‘The rubrical direction “into their hands” has a special significance, which has been recently emphasised by the R.V.; for the Hebrew phrase for consecrating a priest is to “fill the hands”, that is to say, the holy things which no layman might touch were solemnly given to him. And so with us, all baptised and confirmed members of the Church are priests, for all have “their hands filled”.’
page 402 note 1 Heb. 2.10: ‘perfect through suffering’; 5.8–9: ‘learned obedience by the things which he suffered; and having been made perfect he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation; named of God a High Priest’, etc.
page 402 note 2 Cf. the frequent use in the LXX of the phrase, κρι⋯ς τελειωσως.
page 402 note 3 Heb. 7.27–28.
page 402 note 4 Heb. 8.6.
page 402 note 5 Westcott, , The Epistle to the Hebrews (1889), p. 227.Google Scholar
page 402 note 6 Heb. 10.11–12.
page 402 note 7 Heb. 10.18.
page 402 note 8 1.3, 7.27, 8.1, 9.12, 25–28.
page 403 note 1 Rev. 1.17–18.
page 403 note 2 Rev. 5.6. But notice that he is no longer lying inert as a victim, and also the use of the perfect. It is because he has been slain that he can act as he does and unroll the book of destiny.
page 403 note 3 Moberly, , Ministerial Priesthood, p. 246.Google Scholar
page 403 note 4 It is here that Lev. 17.11 is often brought in, e.g. a correspondent writes ‘It is scarcely possible that he (the writer to the Hebrews) should be unfamiliar with the rationale of sacrifice in Lev. 17.11,’ which he quotes from the R.V., underlining the words ‘by reason of the life’ and concluding, ‘it seems therefore that the blood is a living thing’. But as we have seen our author is familiar with the LXX not the M.T.
page 403 note 5 Heb. 9.25.
page 403 note 6 Heb. 7.27.
page 403 note 7 Heb. 9.12.
page 404 note 1 Moulton, , Grammar of New Testament Greek, vol. 1, p. 132Google Scholar, concludes that there is ‘no evidence for an aorist participle of subsequent action’. Cf. Moule, C. F. D., An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, p. 120.Google Scholar
page 404 note 2 Heb. 13.20. The 
ν is clearly instrumental as often in the New Testament (e.g. ἱλαστ⋯ρτον … ν τ
αὐτο
α⋯ματι Rom. 3.25; Δικαιωθντες νν ν τ α⋯ματι αὐτο, Rom. 5.9, etc.); it means ‘by means of’, ‘in virtue of’.
page 404 note 3 Heb. 7.27–8.3.
page 405 note 1 The evidence is given by Dimock, , Our one High Priest on High (2nd edition), pp. 11–12.Google Scholar
page 405 note 2 Op. cit., p. 85f.
page 405 note 3 Nairne's translation, ‘the Godward side’, gives an unfortunate limitation of the meaning of the phrase. The preposition πρ⋯ς was losing its idea of motion towards and is often translated in the A.V. ‘with’, e.g. Heb. 4.13, 10.16. See Moule, C. F. D., Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, pp. 52–53.Google Scholar
page 405 note 4 ⋯παρ⋯βατος seems to mean here ‘of such a kind that another cannot, or is not needed to, step in’.
page 405 note 5 Heb. 7.24–25.
page 406 note 1 2.10, 12.2.
page 406 note 2 6.20.
page 406 note 3 9.24–25.
page 406 note 4 Lev. 16.13.
page 406 note 5 Swete, , The Ascended Christ, p. 14.Google Scholar
page 406 note 6 Heb. 7.25.
page 407 note 1 Heb. 7.22.
page 407 note 2 There is a parallel in St. Paul's representation of the intercession of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8.26–27) who is one with us and prompts our inarticulate desires and also one with God who knows the mind of the Spirit. It is interesting that the intercession of the Son is mentioned only a few verses later (Rom. 8.34).
page 407 note 3 Heb. 7.1–10.
page 407 note 4 Westcott, op. cit., p. 201.
page 407 note 5 A. E. Brooke, The Johannine Epistles, ad. loc.
page 407 note 6 Milligan, W., The Ascension of our Lord (1898 ed.), p. 150.Google Scholar
page 408 note 1 Op. cit., p. 152.
page 408 note 2 Heb. 9.14.
page 408 note 3 I.C.C. ad loc.
page 409 note 1 1 Peter 3.18.
page 409 note 2 Col. 1.21–22. The sacrificial terms are in italics.
page 409 note 3 Rev. 8.3.
page 409 note 4 John 17.19. See also Hoskyns, and Davey, , The Fourth Gospel (1942 ed.), pp. 595–599.Google Scholar
page 409 note 5 Cit. Tomlinson, , The Catholic Doctrine of Eucharistic Sacrifice, p. 39.Google Scholar
page 409 note 6 Heb. 13.15; 1 Peter 2.5.
page 409 note 7 Review of the Doctrine of the Eucharist (1880 ed.), p. 338Google Scholar.
page 410 note 1 Cit. Tomlinson, op. cit., p. 39.
page 410 note 2 Col. 1.16–17.
page 410 note 3 Col. 1.20.
page 410 note 4 Eph. 1.10.
page 410 note 5 1 Pet. 2.5.
page 410 note 6 1 Pet. 2.9.
page 410 note 7 Rev. 1.6, 5.10.
page 411 note 1 Phil. 2.17: ‘the sacrifice and service of your faith.’
page 411 note 2 Phil. 4.18: ‘an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.’
page 411 note 3 Rom. 15.16.
page 411 note 4 2 Tim. 4.6: ‘I am already being offered.’
page 411 note 5 Heb. 13.16: ‘To do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.’
page 411 note 6 Rom. 12.1: ‘present your bodies a living sacrifice.’
page 411 note 7 Rom. 12.5.
page 411 note 8 Rom. 15.16.
page 411 note 9 1 Pet. 2.9.
page 411 note 10 Heb. 13.15.
page 412 note 1 Rom. 8.19.
page 412 note 2 Rom. 13.8.
page 412 note 3 Rom. 13.10.
page 412 note 4 Rom. 13.9.
page 412 note 5 Eph. 1.23.
page 412 note 6 Phythian-Adams, , The Way of Atontment, p. 74Google Scholar.
page 413 note 1 Op. cit., p. 30.
page 413 note 2 Cf. Headlam, , Doctrine of the Church and Reunion, p. 72Google Scholar.
page 413 note 3 Op. cit., p. 32.
page 413 note 4 Heb. 13.7.
page 413 note 5 Heb. 13.17.
page 414 note 1 Sacrificial terms underlined.
page 414 note 2 Cf. Acts 8.1 and 4.