Before turning to Prophet, Priest, and King individually, it’s important to grasp how they hold together.

Calvin’s concern was not to catalogue three discrete jobs Christ performs, but to describe the Mediator’s single identity seen from three angles.

Differentiate, Don’t Separate

‘Calvin was not so much aiming to separate these three offices as to differentiate them. They were not so much three separate offices as one office in three parts. Christ does not just perform prophetic, priestly, and kingly activities; his whole Person is Prophet, Priest, and King, and everything he is, does, and speaks reveals this threefold dignity. Further, Calvin speaks of these three offices being united in the Person and work of the Mediator.This is a brilliant insight into Scripture, Jesus Christ in both his Person and work is the Mediator, and as this Mediator between us and the Father, and the Father and us, carries out three offices or functions with rich antecedents in the Old Testament: prophet, priest and king. Another way to see the essential unity of these offices is to recognise that their goal is the same: our salvation. … Nevertheless, as we examine each in turn it will be important to notice how Christ transcends each of these categories, taken on their own.’¹Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ,’ 4-5.

That final caution is worth carrying through everything that follows. Each category illuminates him. None of them contains him.

Still Prophet, Still Priest, Still King

Herman Bavinck captures both the distinction and the continuity between Christ’s humiliation and his exaltation within his single, unbroken threefold work.

Far from rendering his mediatorial office complete and at rest, the resurrection and ascension continue, extend, apply, fulfil and complete it — the same office now carried forward in a new mode:

‘For Christ to carry out this grand project assigned by the Father to bring the lost and fallen creation to its consummated fullness, one immediately senses that the state of exaltation is as necessary as the state of humiliation. … In his exaltation he continues his work as Mediator; in other words, Christ’s threefold office continues into his state of exaltation. He not only was but still is our chief Prophet, our only High Priest, and our eternal King. … There is of course an important difference between Christ’s humiliation and his exaltation. He who was the servant is now Lord and Ruler; his work is now no longer a sacrifice of obedience, but the conduct of royal dominion until he has gathered all his own and put all his enemies under his feet. … The work of the Mediator is one grand, mighty, Divine work that began and will only be completed in eternity. But in the moment of the resurrection, it was divided into two parts: suffering and glory. … But the two are equally necessary to the work of salvation. In both states it is the same Christ, the same Mediator, the same Prophet, Priest, and King.’²Hermann Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics. Abridged in One Volume, ed. John Bolt (Baker Academic, 2011), 465-66.

Six Strengths

This threefold approach, linked to the two-stage approach of humiliation and exaltation, has several strengths.³See Great Truths – Christ the Lord: Jesus’ Person and Kingdom. Part 3 – Suffering and Death, ‘Orientation – Humiliation and Exaltation: The Two States of Christ,’ available at https://www.greattruthsglobal.org/christ-the-lord-jesus-person-and-kingdom-3/. The present and following two sections are extracted in lightly edited form from Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ,’ 6-7. A strong recent and comprehensive treatment of Christ’s work in terms of the threefold office is Joel Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:869-1180. Also to Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 3:475-482; Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (James Clark, 1960), 2:455-609; and, at length, Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 447-544. Refer also to Adam J. Johnson, ‘Munus Triplex,’ in T & T Clark Companion to Atonement, 655-658.

One. It does justice to the biblical materials. All the categories are biblical, and it treats Jesus’ life in its entirety — pre-Easter, cross, glory. It also sees the cross as pivotal: from the cross he acts as Prophet (John 19:30), Priest (Heb 9:14) and King (Luke 23:42-43).

Two. It connects Jesus to his Old Testament background, seeing him as the fulfilment of God’s promises. Good expositions realise the Old Testament background acts as a sort of forerunner, whereas Christ is the real thing — the over-spilling fullness of it.

Three. It explains Scripture fruitfully, providing a systematic ordering of disparate biblical teaching.

Four. It illuminates the connection between Jesus’ work and human need as it results from sin:

Five. It emphasises the Divine initiative in commissioning Jesus, and so safeguards the doctrine of justification. In all his work he acts as the anointed, chosen instrument of the Lord.

Six. It safeguards the wider context of Christ’s work. His work is not accidental or arbitrary, nor private or directed toward private goals. He is the Christ.

Five Weaknesses

Though it can be found with modifications in major theologians, this approach has gone out of favour in much teaching today. Many have pointed to:

One. The formal connotations of the word ‘office,’ which obscures the personal character of Christ’s work. But Calvin’s careful exposition of the offices under the notion of the Person and work of the Mediator arguably avoids this. On the contrary, it can be said that his exposition of the three offices highlights the personal character of Christ’s work. Make your own mind up when you read Calvin’s Institutes 2.12.1-3, 15-17.

Two. The possibility of a dry, formal, even scholastic presentation of Jesus’ work, in some conflict with the unique and dynamic course of his life, death and resurrection. Even combining three offices with two states doesn’t completely solve the problem.

Three. The potential threat to the unity of Christ’s work.

Four. The substantial overlap when such categories are used, compounded by the fact that each category is significantly transcended when Christ’s work is examined.

Five. Millard Erickson recommends thinking of three ‘functions’ rather than three ‘offices’ — revealing, reconciling, and ruling.⁴Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Baker, 1983-1985), 761-779.

Worth Weighing Both

There’s something healthy in a treatment that lists its own weaknesses at length.

The offices aren’t a system imposed on Scripture but an attempt to recognise what’s already there — and the honest acknowledgement that Christ transcends each category, taken alone, is precisely what keeps the framework serving the text rather than replacing it.

—

• 1
  Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ,’ 4-5. ↩︎
• 2
  Hermann Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics. Abridged in One Volume, ed. John Bolt (Baker Academic, 2011), 465-66. ↩︎
• 3
  See Great Truths – Christ the Lord: Jesus’ Person and Kingdom. Part 3 – Suffering and Death, ‘Orientation – Humiliation and Exaltation: The Two States of Christ,’ available at https://www.greattruthsglobal.org/christ-the-lord-jesus-person-and-kingdom-3/. The present and following two sections are extracted in lightly edited form from Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ,’ 6-7. A strong recent and comprehensive treatment of Christ’s work in terms of the threefold office is Joel Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:869-1180. Also to Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 3:475-482; Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (James Clark, 1960), 2:455-609; and, at length, Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 447-544. Refer also to Adam J. Johnson, ‘Munus Triplex,’ in T & T Clark Companion to Atonement, 655-658. ↩︎
• 4
  Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Baker, 1983-1985), 761-779. ↩︎