Prophet, Priest, and King: One Person, One Work

We discussed earlier how the Scriptures show us that the Mediator has to be God, and that because of this his sufferings and intercession carry infinite worth and his people are brought safely to salvation. Also, the Scriptures show us that the Mediator has to be man, that he might obey, suffer, and sympathise from within our own nature. And finally, the Scriptures testify that the Mediator is both God and man in a single Divine-human Person, the God-and-Man, so that the works of each nature are the work of the whole Christ.

It is this same Mediator, God and man in one Person, whose work inaugurates new life in an entirely new relationship between God and his people forever. Scripture describes that work in three principal ways: as Prophet, Priest, and King.¹‘This method of examining the work of Christ found early expression in the writings of Eusebius (quoting Hegesippus in Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, especially chapters 11, 16, and 19-20). He noted that three types of office bearers were mentioned in Israel: the prophets were anointed (1 Kgs 19:16); the priests were anointed (Exod 28:41); and the kings were anointed (1 Kgs 2:34). He then drew a link with the title ‘Christ’ and its connotation of anointing (Matt 16:17; cf Acts 4:27)’ (Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ: Traditional Interpretations,’ 4). Jesus’ announcement in Luke 4:8 captures each aspect: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’

The three offices are brought together with particular clarity in the letter to the Hebrews (1:1–3, 13; 2:3, 9, 17; 3:1; 4:14–5:10; 7:1–10:39; cf. Acts 3:22). The term ‘office’ denotes a defined position of authority or service, typically of a public nature, with a specified role and a set task, and it is worth mention that John Calvin’s ground-breaking treatment of Jesus’ person and work as a mediation by way of a triple ‘office’ is contained in Institutes 2.15. The chapter heading is this: ‘To know the purpose for which Christ was sent by the Father, and what he conferred upon us, we must look above all at three things in him: the prophetic office, kingship, and priesthood.’²Battles, ed., 494-503. See also, for example, The Westminster Confession, 8; The Westminster Larger Catechism, 42-45; Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Disputation 26, ‘On the Office of Christ’; Boer and Faber eds., 291-304.

One Office, Three Parts: The Mediator’s Threefold Work

Before turning to Prophet, Priest, and King individually, it is important to grasp how they cohere. Calvin’s concern was not to catalogue three discrete jobs Christ performs, but to describe a single mediatorial identity seen from three angles:

‘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 OT: 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.  Thus Calvin, following the lead of the New Testament, takes his systematic exposition of the work of Christ from within the personal centre of the story of God’s salvation of his people. This structure was the result of an attempt to reflect the Biblical material. Nevertheless, as we examine each in turn it will be important to notice how Christ transcends each of these categories, taken on their own.’³Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ,’ 4-5.

With acute comprehensiveness, 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. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. … 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. He went to heaven to prepare a place for his own there and to fill them here on earth with the fullness that he acquired by his perfect obedience. It is to perfect the church that he is exalted to the Father’s right hand. 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. Then it was a descent to the nethermost parts of the earth; now it is an ascent on high. 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.’⁴Hermann Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics. Abridged in One Volume, ed. John Bolt (Baker Academic, 2011), 465-66.

Strengths of this Approach

This threefold approach, when it is linked to the two-stage approach of humiliation and exaltation (which we examined earlier) clearly has several strengths.⁵See 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.

(1) It seeks to do justice to the Biblical materials. All the categories are Biblical ones and it treats Jesus’ life in its entirety (pre-Easter, cross, glory). It also sees the cross as pivotal in our understanding of Christ’s work (from the cross he acts as Prophet (John 19:30); Priest (Hebrews 9:14); and King (Luke 23:42-43.

(2) It connects Jesus to his Old Testament background, seeing him as the fulfilment of God’s promises and dealings with his people. Good expositions, therefore, realise that the Old Testament background acts as a sort of “anti-type” (the symbolic forerunner), whereas Christ is the real thing, the over-spilling fullness of the forerunnner.

(3) It explains Scripture fruitfully. That is, it provides a systematic ordering of the biblical material in a way which gives a good grasp of the disparate teachings of Scripture.

(4) It illuminates the connection between Jesus’ work and human need as seen in Scripture as the result of sin.

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

(6) It safeguards the wider context of Christ’s work. In all his work he acts as the anointed, chosen instrument of the Lord. His work is not accidental or arbitrary, nor is it private or directed towards private goals. He is the Christ.

Weaknesses of this Approach

In much modern theology this approach has gone out of favour, though it can be found, with modifications, in both Barth and Brunner. Many have pointed to:

(1) 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.

(2) The possibility of a dry, formal, and even scholastic presentation of the work of Jesus that is in some kind of conflict with the unique and dynamic course of his life, death and resurrection (even the combination of 3 offices and 2 states [humiliation and exaltation] does not completely solve the problem).

(3) The potential threat to the unity of Christ’s work.

(4) The substantial overlap when such categories are used, compounded by the fact that each category is significantly transcended when the work of Christ is examined.

(5) Millard Erickson recommends thinking of three ‘functions’ rather than three ‘offices’ – revealing, reconciling, and ruling.⁶Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Baker, 1983-1985), 761-779.

Christ the Servant: A Fourth Office?

It can also be suggested that a four-fold office would be a more balanced way of approaching the work of Christ, complementing Prophet, Priest, and King with ‘Servant.’⁷D. T. Williams, ‘The Four-Fold Office of Christ’, Expository Times 100 (1989), 134-137. This does promise to provide a better symmetry: the idea of prophet neatly balances that of priest (one acting for God towards man while the other acts for man towards God), while the idea of King is neatly balanced by that of Servant. While Williams’ article is less than convincing at points, he does succeed in reminding us of three things: the importance of the Isaian servant figure as an anticipation of the sufferings of Christ (Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12); the notion of identification with those served which pervades both the Isaian image and the ministry of Jesus (e.g., his baptism); and the fact that Moses, who provides one of the earliest anticipations the other three offices, is also referred to as the servant of God (Numbers 12:7;  Deuteronomy 34:5).

Christ the Ultimate Prophet: Promoting the Gospel, Proclaiming God’s Word

‘Listen to Him’: Christ as God’s Final Word

‘When we encounter prophets on the pages of Scripture, we may associate them with pop-culture references … But prophecy in the Bible is of utmost seriousness. It is God’s primary way of communicating with his people and the source of Scripture itself. Prophets speak on God’s behalf and with his full authority. … Jesus himself is the ultimate prophet, not only in the New Testament but in all of Scripture.’⁸Eric J. Tully, ‘Prophet,’ in Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament [DNTUOT], 635, 638. Tully’s article is an excellent survey as well as a valuable analysis. More broadly, see Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:926-87; Robert Letham, Work of Christ, 91-104; Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 453-56.

The Lord Jesus Christ is God’s Word to humanity. He is God’s Spokesperson – the One whom Moses and the voice from the cloud both direct us to hear: ‘Moses said, “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall  listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people”’ (Acts 3:22). ‘Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”’ (Matt 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35).

Christ is ‘the Prophet,’ linked to the Messiah (John 1:21, 25), as was widely recognized by the crowds on a number of occasions (John 6:14; 7:40). His prophetic identity is precisely what Luke’s Gospel unfolds in its opening chapters, introducing Christ as the one who takes up and fulfils the office of Messianic Prophet foretold by Isaiah (61:1–2), anointed and empowered by ‘the Spirit of the LORD’ (Luke 4:16-21), ‘to proclaim good news to the poor … liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ (vv. 18-19).

Fulfilling and Surpassing the Prophets

But this office did not begin with Jesus of Nazareth, nor does it end in mere continuation. Christ speaks for God in continuity with the long line of Hebrew prophets—indeed, it was ‘the Spirit of Christ in them [the prophets of the Old Testament] … who predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories’ (1 Pet 1:11). Yet he also surpasses, supersedes, and fulfils the prophetic office (as he is also ‘superior to angels’), for ‘in these last days,’ God himself spoke – and speaks still – in Person by his Son, ‘whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the world’ (Heb 1:1-2).

This surpassing fulfilment does not sever Christ’s prophetic office from its Old Testament roots—rather, it grows directly out of them. Christ’s prophetic office is deeply rooted in Israel’s own expectation of a coming Prophet like Moses, even as it exceeds anything that expectation could have anticipated:

‘The idea of the great Prophet to come can be found back in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18. The one to come would speak the words of God and reveal the character of God. Clearly Jesus saw himself as a Prophet (Luke 4:24; 13:33). The parable of the wicked tenants portrays the only son in continuity with the servants who went before him (Matthew 21:33-46). He does not speak on his own authority, instead he speaks the words given to him by his Father (John 3:34; 7:16; 8:28). In Mark’s Gospel, the prophetic word frames the ministry of Jesus (Mark 1:15 and 14:62). The New Testament reflection on the ministry of Jesus also clearly articulates this revelatory function (Hebrews 1:1; John 1:18). There are at least two significant differences in the prophetic ministry of Jesus. Firstly, he does not simply testify to the truth, he is the truth (John 14:6). He is both the Prophet and the content of the prophecy. Secondly, and in a related way, he prophesies his own suffering, death and future exaltation (Mark 8:31; 9:30-32; 10:32-34). Add to these two differences Jesus’ own declaration: ‘The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good news of the Kingdom of God is preached …’ (Luke 16:16; Matthew 11:13).’⁹Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ,’ 5.

The Source of All Revelation

In him, then, the long history of prophetic mediation reaches not only onto its fulfilment but back to its very source. Christ is the decisive and ultimate Mediator of Divine speech and revelation. He does not merely speak truth; he is ‘the truth’ in Person (John 14:6). ‘All things,’ he claimed, ‘have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him’ (Matt 11:27). God is Word and Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate (John 1:1-14). ‘Jesus Christ … as an act of sheer grace, takes us into the otherwise closed circle of Divine knowing and being.’¹⁰Doyle, ‘Did the Father Punish the Son?,’ 3.

Heard, Received, and Saved – Yet Often Opposed and Distorted

Knowledge of God through the Word of God — a major theme of the New Testament, and not mere knowledge about God — is fundamental, essential, and integral to salvation in Jesus Christ. In hearing and seeing him, we hear and see the Father (John 14:9), and the truth that he speaks and brings truly sets people free (John 8:32).

Yet this freedom is not simply handed to a passive hearer; it requires that the word spoken be truly received. As the Messianic Prophet, Christ speaks to us from without, addressing us, as it were, from the outside. But his prophetic activity does not stop there — it also involves an internal work upon the human person.

He gives what he commands, enabling our minds truly to grasp, understand, receive, and respond. For it is the Lord who opens hearts to attend to what is said, whether in preaching (Acts 16:14) or in Scripture (Luke 24:45). His living word of address and appeal is, in fact, what effectively saves.

Yet reception is only one side of the story. Scripture is equally insistent upon opposition to and rejection of true prophets — alongside the distortion and outright falsehood of counterfeit prophecy — being a well-worn theme running through both Testaments, one that reaches especially sharp expression in Christ’s own teaching and that of the apostles (Matt 5:11–12; 23:29–31; Luke 11:50–51; Acts 7:37, 39, 51–52). As Eric Tully observes:

‘Jesus and the apostles reference the persecution of the Old Testament prophets in order to make two points. First, the essential message of the Old Testament prophets has not changed with the advent of Christ. In order to be right with God, one must still humbly accept God’s grace in the form in which it is offered. Second, rejection of Jesus is not a defence of Old Testament orthodoxy but the rejection of it; it is the rejection of Moses and all the prophets who came after him. … [Moreover,] in spite of Jesus’ miraculous works, which both validate his authenticity as a prophet and actually meet the needs of the poor and the sick, he faces constant opposition (Matt 13:57; 26:67-68; John 18:31).¹¹Tully, ‘Prophet,’ 639.

This pattern of opposition, moreover, gives way to outright counterfeit. Christ was quite clear that false prophets would abound (Matt 24:11), and that their counterfeit signs and wonders would only sharpen the persuasive yet abusive power of their deception (Matt 24:24). Accordingly, the apostle John urged God’s people to ‘test the spirits … because many false prophets have gone out into the world’ (1 John 4:1). The criterion for testing the genuineness or falsehood of ‘the spirits’ is whether they acknowledge or distort Scripture’s account of Christ’s incarnation, sayings, and saving work in its full New Testament context. As it was in the Old Testament, so it remains in the New: ‘the teaching of false prophets [mentioned in the New Testament] does not encourage faith in the true God and does not conform to the certain truth that God has revealed previously.’¹²Tully, ‘Prophet,’ 639.

The Word Continued: From Christ to the Apostles

This saving Word did not fall silent when Christ’s earthly ministry ended; Scripture itself traces its unfolding, from his own recorded teaching to its continuation beyond his ascension. The Gospels present Jesus’ teaching – what he said during his life and public ministry – extensively and in detail. Most significantly, Jesus also promised that he and the Father would continue to speak, teach, and proclaim truth from God by his Spirit through human servants, the apostles: ‘When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mind and declare it to you’ (John 16:13-14).

The Scriptures of the New Testament set forth the apostolic witness promised by Christ – breathed out from the mouth of God by the inspiration of the Spirit of truth, laid down, recorded, and published for us as the written Word of God (2 Tim 3:16). The preaching of the apostles – preserved in Scripture – is identical with God’s very own Word.

Paul expresses this relation between the human and Divine word to the Thessalonian church:  ‘we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as it really is, the Word of God , which is at work in you believers’ (1 Thess 2:13).

Wherever and whenever the words of Scripture are accurately, engagingly, and practically expounded, God in Christ himself speaks; his voice is heard; and he indeed feeds, governs, guides, instructs, and rules the church – which is nothing other than the community of the Word.¹³Chase R. Kuhn and Paul Grimmond eds., Theology is for Preaching: Biblical Foundations, Method, and Practice (Lexham Press, 2021). See also, for example, Peter Adam, Speaking God’s Words: A Practical Theology of Preaching (IVP, 1996); Joel Beeke, Reformed Preaching: Proclaiming God’s Word from the Heart of the Preacher to the Heart of his People (Crossway, 2018); Benjamin Dean, ‘Packer on Preaching: A Recommendation,’ Churchman, 129:2 (2015), 131-147;Christopher Green, Cutting to the Heart: Applying the Bible in Preaching and Teaching (IVP, 2015); Christopher Green and David Jackman eds., When God’s Voice is Heard (IVP, 2003); Conrad Mbewe, Pastoral Preaching: Building a People for God (Langham, 2017).

Sent to All Nations

Yet this Word was never given to be kept to ourselves. This same Word of God, entrusted to the apostles and preserved in Scripture, is not destined to remain confined to any one people or place. From the outset, Christ’s commission carried a global horizon, and the Spirit of truth who inspired the apostolic witness now drives that witness outward, to every nation under heaven:

‘It has always been the design of God that the gospel of his Son would be preached to all nations before the end of this present age (Luke 24:46-47). What he has designed he  will accomplish before the end comes (Matt 24:14). It is his business and he will achieve as he pleases (see Rev 14:7), but the chief way he has chosen is through his human emissaries. First, through his especially chosen, schooled and appointed apostles (John 17:14-21; Acts 1:8), and then through Christ’s gifts of evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Eph 4:11) for successive generations. Accordingly, our business is to preach and teach, to proclaim the whole gospel to the whole world and to build up his disciples (Matt 28:16-20).’¹⁴Peter Jensen, ‘Now is the Time to Preach: Preaching in Eschatological Context,’ in Kuhn and Grimmond eds., 225.

This global mandate is not a later inference from the Gospel-writer but Christ’s own explicit charge, given in his final words on earth. Indeed, some of Jesus’ last sayings before his ascension express these ongoing long-term intentions for his people and his planet. According to Matthew,  Jesus’ authority across heaven and earth issued in a charge to make disciples, baptising them and teaching them to observe all that he had commanded (Matt. 28:18–20).

Mark’s account of these final words agrees: ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation’ (Mark 16:15, longer ending; cf. Luke 24:47).

Luke, meanwhile, supplies the sequence behind the command. Jesus first opened the minds of his disciples to understand the Scriptures, and promised them ‘power from on high’ so that they might bear witness to his death and resurrection and proclaim ‘repentance for the forgiveness of sins … to all nations’ (Luke 24:44–49).

John’s account, finally, locates the whole commission within Christ’s own mission from the Father: ‘As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you’ (John 20:21). The energy and ability to fulfil what he commanded follow immediately: ‘He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”‘ (John 20:22). And the basic substance of the message thus commissioned is simply this: the forgiveness of sins (John 20:23).

A Ministry That Continues – the New Testament Gift of Prophecy

This sending did not end with the apostles’ generation, for the risen and ascended Christ continues to exercise his prophetic office through those he ordained after them.  ‘Since his ascension He performs the same office [of Prophet] not only in the fuller revelation of the gospel made to the apostles and in their inspiration as infallible teachers, but also in the institution of the ministry and [his] constantly calling men to that office.’¹⁵Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 2:463.

This continuing office, in turn, works itself out through the means Christ has appointed. In the words of Charles Bridges, ‘The great head of the church has ordained three grand repositories of his truth’ — (1) the Scriptures, (2) the hearts of Christians, and (3) the Christian ministry.¹⁶Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry: with an inquiry into the causes of its inefficiency (The Banner of Truth Trust, 1959 [Orig. 1830]), 2. Through the first and third of these – the text of the Bible and Bible-based Christian ministry – Christ continues to speak the Word of God through ‘the continuing preaching of the gospel.’¹⁷Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.2; Battles ed., 496.

That ongoing preaching carries a claim of breath-taking scope: Christ summons all ethnicities, in every age, across all nations and peoples, to follow him in discipleship. As all have sinned, so all are called to trust in Jesus Christ; as all stand guilty before God, so all are offered forgiveness and hope through his death and resurrection.

Alongside this ongoing preaching ministry, however, the New Testament also names a distinct number of individuals who function as prophets: Caiaphas (John 11:49–52), Agabus (Acts 11:27–30; 21:10–11), Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul (Paul) — who are also referred to as ‘teachers’ — together with the four unmarried daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:9).

This raises a further question: what exactly is meant by ‘prophecy’ in the New Testament, and how should the accompanying spiritual gift be understood? Precision here matters, since this gifting was widely practiced in the early church (1 Cor 14:31) and needed to be discerned and evaluated with care at the time (Rom 12:5–6; 1 Cor 12:9–10; 14:2–4). The underlying question is simple to state but consequential to answer: what is the gift of prophecy, and has it ceased today, or does it continue?

Three main views have been proposed:

1. The prophetic gifting of 1 Corinthians 12–14 continues in the same form as Old Testament prophecy.
2. The gift of prophecy refers to responsible, accurate, and competent interpretation, exposition, and application of biblical teaching (1 Cor 14:19, 24).
3. Congregational prophecy simply reports and speaks forth in human words something that God has brought immediately to mind (1 Cor 14:29; 1 Thess 5:20–21).

Here again, Eric Tully’s conclusions are worth considering:

‘The second view is the most convincing. Just as the Old Testament Prophet received God’s word and the proclaimed it in a specific time and context, New Testament believers are gifted by the Holy Spirit to receive God’s Word (from Scripture) and then to recontextualize it for their particular audiences. In this way, God gifts his people to bring his living word to bear in a variety of situations for proclamation of the gospel and strengthening the faith of believers. Thus, while the New Testament gift of prophecy may not involve new revelation [though see the predictive component in Agabus’ prophetic ministry, Acts 11:28; 21:10-11], the task and action are analogous to Old Testament prophecy.’¹⁸Tully, ‘Prophet,’ 640.

 Christ is Still Building His Church

Christ – the Messianic Prophet – is known through his Word and by his Spirit, and it is this same Christ whom his disciples are sent to proclaim. They are to announce repentance and the forgiveness of sins and, enabled by the power he sends from on high, to instruct others to obey everything that Jesus has commanded. As they do so, Jesus promises to be with his disciples always, everywhere, until the end of the world. Bodily, he has left; spiritually, he has stayed and remains present, communicating ever still.

That abiding presence is not passive; it takes the active, living, communicative language-laded form of Christ himself building his church. It is not, then, merely Jesus’ disciples who, on their own, gather God’s church for him. Rather, the seated and reigning Jesus himself — through their endeavours and efforts — both gathers God’s church and governs and guards it.¹⁹Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 377. This has always been and remains his routine pattern of working.

To begin with, Christ prosecuted this campaign through the preaching and spoken teaching of the apostles. Then he equipped the apostles and their associates to set down in written form what they proclaimed and taught about him, so bringing into being — composing, producing, distributing, and interpreting — the New Testament Scriptures.

Together with the Old Testament Scriptures, these God-breathed (Greek, theopneustos) documents comprise ‘the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim. 3:15).

The publication of Scripture, however, was never a finished task handed over and left behind; it is the ongoing means by which Christ still teaches his church. This same pattern continues today. Through human Bible ministry — preaching, teaching, nurture, and practice in the church — Jesus, by his Spirit, continues his work of prophecy, leading people, with the help of the Spirit of truth, into all revealed truth concerning himself (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13).

For, as Bavinck expresses it:

‘It is Christ himself who gave this Word to his church and who by means of it progressively carries out his [prophetic] office. He preserves and distributes it, explains and interprets it. It is the instrument by which he makes the nations his disciples, by which he incorporates them into the fellowship of the Triune God, and makes them to walk in his commandments. By his Word and his Spirit Christ is always with us still, unto the end of the world.’²⁰Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 377-78.

Because of who Christ is, the incarnate Son of God, the Word of God, and who the Spirit is, God does not deal with us at a distance, but directly. In the context of his immanent departure and the promised sending of the Holy Spirit and the command to love, Jesus promises that he and the Father will come and make their home with us (John 14:23). For God is present by his Word. As we listen to the prophetic work of Christ continue in the preaching and teaching of Holy Scripture, God is speaking directly to us. And in that, God is fulfilling his strong, deep desire ‘to pour himself wholly into us.’²¹Henry Bullinger, ‘Of the Ministry, and the Ministries of God’s Word,’ The Fifth Decade, Third Sermon, The Decades of Henry Bullinger, Volume 5, Thomas Harding ed. (Parker Society / Cambridge University Press, 1852), 93.  Thanks to Robert C. Doyle.

The Prophet Who Reigns

The point, in short, is that the Lord Jesus Christ communicates for God, continues to communicate, communicates currently, immediately, now, and communicates still; and he communicates powerfully and effectively.

‘In and by the Word,’ he reveals ‘the mysteries of salvation;’ ‘by his Spirit’ he effectively persuades people ‘to believe and obey;’ he governs his people’s ‘hearts by his Word and Spirit;’ ‘overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.’²²The Westminster Confession of Faith, 8.8; Schaff ed., Creeds, 3:622.

Having traced the prophetic office through Christ’s speech by Word and Spirit, we may conclude — and see now that this speech is itself an exercise of rule — that:

‘The lordship of Christ is [therefore] not only expressed in the gospel; it is also the very power by which the gospel advances in this present age. In sending his disciples on their universal mission, and in promising his unfailing presence, Christ asserts that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him; he now exercises that authority by being with his disciples as they make more disciples of all nations (Matt 28:16-20). The outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost is the work of Christ (Acts 2:33), and the work of evangelism, preaching, pastoring, and prophecy is his work (Eph 4:11), in which human beings are his agents and ambassadors. … His great work is finished in the sense that he has fully paid for our sins. But his ruling work continues. The salvation he accomplished at the cross is now being realized in the lives of the ones for whom he died.’²³Jensen, Life of Faith, 204-205.

This ruling work and this prophetic speech, in fact, are one and the same activity seen from two angles.

‘As the Word of God, the ascended Jesus continues to reveal God to human beings. By his Spirit he empowers the preaching of the gospel of himself. Clement of Rome called the gospel the sceptre by which Christ now rules over the nations and over all history. And the body of Christ, the ones gathered in his name, are equipped to proclaim the word and teach the Scriptures until he comes to judge and renew his creation.’²⁴Jensen and Doyle, ‘Ascension and Heavenly Session,’ 2.

Christ Our Great High Priest: Sacrifice, Mediator, Advocate, and Intercessor

Christ and the True Priesthood: Affirmed, Embodied, and Opposed

The words for ‘priest’ in Scripture (Heb. kōhēn; Gk. hiereus, archiereus) occurs almost 900 times (740 in the Old Testament and 151 in the New Testament). It may seem strange to us today, but in the Bible priesthood (1) maintains the distinction between the perfect holiness of God and the corruption of human beings, and (2) expresses the necessity of mediation between the holy God and sinful humanity.²⁵Dana M. Harris, ‘Priest,’ in DNTUOT, 625. In this section, I am indebted to Harris’ survey of priesthood in the Old Testament (625-628) and the New Testament (628-30). More fully, see Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:988-1110; Robert Letham, The Work of Christ (IVP, 1993), 105-196; idem, Systematic Theology, 545-583; Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 456-536.

The Lord Jesus Christ affirmed the God-given legitimacy of both the temple and the priesthood at every stage of his life. This began with his presentation at the temple as a small child (Luke 2:22-40), and continued when he insisted that those he healed observe the necessary priestly regulations (Matt 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-44; Luke 5:12-14; 17:11-14), and as he himself complied with the temple tax (Matt 17:24-27).

Beyond these formal observances, Christ’s words and works displayed a priestly character throughout his public ministry. Time and again, he exposed and condemned the distortions of priestly attitudes and practices prevalent in his day: he swiftly restored the unclean to cleanness without becoming unclean himself (Matt 15:1-11; Mark 7:1-23; Luke 5:12-13; 8:40-48); he interpreted God’s law with true authority (Matt 5:17-48; Luke 24:27); he defined the true purpose of the Sabbath (Matt 12:1-13; Mark 2:23-3:6; Luke 6:1-11; 13:10-17; John 5:16-18); and he demonstrated the nature of true spiritual and economic justice (Matt 21:12-17; Mark 11:12-19; Luke 19:45-48; John 2:13-22). Taken together, these acts pointed toward his ultimate intention: to rebuild the temple and renew a genuine priesthood (John 2:19).

Yet just as many religious authorities rejected Christ’s prophetic office, the priesthood of his day also opposed his teaching on the nature and purpose of priesthood—both in general and with regard to his own priestly mission in particular (Matt 16:21; 21:23-27, 33-46; Mark 8:31; 11:27-33; Luke 9:22; 20:1-19; John 11:45-47). His claims and deeds provoked such antagonism that they played a critical role in his arrest and trial before the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas the high priest, and Annas, who then sought the death penalty against him (Matt 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; John 18:12-24). The apostles later suffered similar persecution, and even martyrdom, at the hands of the priestly hierarchy (Acts 4:1-22; 5:17-42; 6:8-7:53)—though happily, some priests were converted (Acts 6:7).

Sacrifice and Intercession: The Shape of Christ’s Priesthood

To speak of Christ as Priest is to say that he represents mankind before God. His high priestly service began with his earthly work as sacrifice, advocate, and intercessor, and it is on the basis of that finished work that he now appears before God in heaven on our behalf.

The New Testament speaks of Jesus’ priesthood — his offering of sacrifice and intercession to God for us — in various places. His crucifixion had a priestly character and was the necessary prerequisite for everything that followed.  ‘His sacrificial death is integral to his identity and activity as high priest … Without it the latter would not and could exist. … [H]is once-for-all sacrifice for sin is the final and consummate reality.’ Yet the New Testament places particularly great emphasis ‘on the phase of Christ’s priestly work that begins with the ascension, on Christ as presently a high priest in heaven.’²⁶Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 52, 55.

This two-phase shape — sacrifice accomplished on earth, intercession continuing in heaven — is expounded most clearly and emphatically in the letter to the Hebrews. Hebrews, however, does not stand alone; the same priestly pattern surfaces across the New Testament’s wider witness to Christ’s death and ongoing intercession (e.g., Matt 20:28; 26:28; Mark 10:45; John 1:29; 10:11, 15; Eph 5:2, 25; 1 Tim 2:5–6; Titus 2:14; Rev 1:5; and the further passages below).

‘It cannot be limited to Hebrews, however, because it is taken up in the idea of Jesus’ death as a sacrifice. Most who follow this scheme speak about the two areas of Jesus’ priesthood: that seen in his sacrifice (the Atonement) and that seen in his intercession (both on earth and in heaven).

ATONEMENT: John 1:29; Matthew 26:28; Romans 3:25,26; Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 9:11-28; 1 Peter 1:18,19; 3:18; 1 John 1:7; 2:2.

INTERCESSION: John 17; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:23-25; 1 John 2:1.

It is true that the priestly imagery of the Old Testament is taken up by the New and applied to the work of Jesus. However, there are at least two significant differences between the work of the Old Testament priest and the priestly work of Jesus. In the first instance, as Hebrews 9 points out, Jesus’ sacrifice is of a different character, it is once-for-all: ‘But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself’ (Hebrews 9:26). The second difference is indicated by the very same verse: he is both the Priest and the sacrifice – he offers himself.’²⁷Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ,’ 5. On Christ’s Person and office in the introductory part of Hebrews, see John Webster, ‘One Who is Son: Theological Reflections on the Exordium to the Epistle to the Hebrews,’ in Richard Bauckham ed., The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology (Eerdmans, 2009), 69-94.

This once-for-all, self-offered sacrifice is not, however, where Christ’s priestly work ends; it is what grounds his ongoing ministry in heaven. As Richard Gaffin clarifies:

‘[Christ’s] appearance in heaven involves two decisive aspects: first, his permanent presence or presentation of himself alive in the heavenly sanctuary, at the right hand of God, in the efficacy of his finished, once-for-all sacrifice for sin, and second his perpetual intercession or intercessory present there based on that self-sacrifice. In the heavenly sanctuary Christ is “able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25). Because this sanctuary service is unfailing in its efficacy, they hold fast to the end, they do persevere in faith, they will not cease to be partakers of Christ.’²⁸Richard Gaffin, ‘The Priesthood of Christ: A Servant in the Sanctuary,’ in Jonathan Griffiths ed., A Perfect Saviour: Key Themes in Hebrews (Inter-Varsity Press, 2012), 61.

The Eternal Son and the Eternal Covenant, Decreed Before Time

None of the above was a hastily improvised response to a crisis, but a grand design fixed from eternity. This whole strategy was set in the definitive decision — the decree — of God, determined in advance before the creation of the world: what Hebrews 13:20 calls ‘the blood of the eternal covenant,’ the covenant in which Jesus acts as Mediator and ‘guarantor of a better covenant’ (Heb 7:22), the new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

That this covenant is repeatedly called ‘better’ is no accident of vocabulary. The comparative word kreissōn (‘better’) occurs thirteen times in the Letter to the Hebrews, out of nineteen total appearances in the New Testament — and that God’s saving work in Christ is ‘better’ than whatever preceded it is a major theme of the letter. The new covenant is a ‘better covenant’ (7:22; 8:6), bringing ‘better hope’ (7:19), ‘better promises’ (8:6), ‘better sacrifices’ (9:23), a ‘better possession’ (10:34), a ‘better homeland’ (11:16), and a ‘better resurrection’ (11:35). Overall, the ‘betterness’ wrought in Christ amounts to what abides, endures, and lasts, because it is ‘heavenly’ (10:34; 11:16).²⁹Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 49.

Hebrews returns to this theme of a better covenant repeatedly, each time drawing out a further facet of what Christ’s mediatorship secures. Yet behind this ‘betterness’ lies a still more basic reality. While Christ’s priesthood and mediation (as well as his prophethood and kingship) are crucial aspects of his saving work, his eternal Sonship is the more fundamental truth from which they flow. The risen, ascended, and ruling “great high priest” is none other than “Jesus the Son of God” (Heb 4:14). ‘It is Christ’s Divine, eternal nature as the Son of God that shapes his priesthood and gives it its uniqueness. His Divine, eternal Sonship makes his priesthood what it is in distinction from every other kind of priesthood.’³⁰Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 65; see 61-68 for fuller discussion.

Jesus is both the only-begotten eternal Son of God and the only perfect human being. It is his identity as the eternal Son incarnate, then, that grounds the excellence of Christ’s priesthood, and that excellence is in turn measured by the superiority of the covenant he mediates — a covenant shown to accomplish what the old covenant could never achieve: the everlasting redemption and inheritance of God’s people. Hebrews states the point twice, first in terms of the covenant’s superior basis, then in terms of what it secures for those under it:

‘But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises’ (Heb 8:6).

‘Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant’ (Heb 9:15; cf. 12:24).

Appointed, Not Self-Appointed

Christ did not take the priesthood upon himself but was called to this supreme honour by God: ‘So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a High Priest, but was appointed to it by God the Father, who said to him, “You are my Son …’”(Heb 5:4-6). This appointment was no passing commission but a sworn, permanent office.The LORD swore an oath, ‘and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever”’ (Psalm 110:4; Heb 7:21). By consequence of his death and resurrection, Christ’s Divine-human priesthood is never-ending: ‘he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever’ (Heb 7:24).

Jesus’ priestly appointment, moreover, rested on a wholly different basis than the old Levitical priesthood. As Hebrews explains elsewhere, Christ became ‘a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life’ (Heb 7:16). That ‘indestructible life’ is rooted in who the Son himself is. Hebrews begins by stating that Jesus –  the Son – ‘the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint [copy] of his nature [hypostasis here means Being, or Person]’ (Heb 1:3). Because of his eternal deity – God the Son – that Divine appointment shaped the whole orientation of his earthly life.

Accordingly, rather than seeking glory purely for himself, he glorified the Father on earth, ‘having accomplished the work’ he was given to do (John 17:4). This work or ‘charge … received from the Father’ focussed on laying his life down that he might ‘take it up again’ (John  10:17-18), obtaining the benefits of the new covenant by bleeding and dying (Matt 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20).

Once for All: Our Great High Priest’s Self-Offering

In this way he became not only a Priest (hiereus) but a High Priest (archiereus), and not only a High Priest but ‘our great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God’ (Heb 4:14). Of these, ‘high priest’ is the dominant expression, appearing only in Hebrews and in about 70% of the times the nature of Christ’s priesthood is discussed.³¹Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 50. He not only offers gifts and sacrifices for sins (Heb 5:1), but, once for all, offering up himself up (Heb 7:27), bringing and bearing his own blood to atone for the failures of God’s people.

Hebrews expands on this once-for-all offering at length, tracing its efficacy from the sanctuary Christ entered, through the conscience it cleanses, to the sin it finally puts away—and looking ahead to the day it will be completed in his return. A single extended passage traces this whole arc, from the entering to the coming again:

‘He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. … [So] how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. …  But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him’ (Heb 9:12-14, 26-28).

A Merciful and Faithful High Priest

Earlier we remarked on how Christ’s sacrifice reveals the Father’s love (1 John 4:10) by taking away the sins of the world (John 1:29), lifting the curse (Gal 3:13), defeating the devil and so releasing us from fear of death (Heb 2:14), and reconciling us to God together with all things on earth and in heaven, ‘making peace by the blood of his cross’ (Col 1:20).

All of this—love shown, sin removed, the curse lifted, death’s fear broken, peace made—is the fruit of one office: he does so as ‘a merciful and faithful high priest,’ on the basis of his ‘propitiation for the sins of the people’ (Heb 2:17).

This propitiatory work is not, however, the whole of Christ’s priestly ministry; it also has a profoundly personal and pastoral dimension. ‘The God of peace … brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant (Heb 13:20).

This shepherding care is not distant or merely official, but drawn from Christ’s own experience. Having himself been tempted, he knows from the inside what temptation entails, and so, as High Priest, he is able to help those who are tempted (Heb 2:18; 4:15). And having learned obedience through what he suffered, and having walked in perfect obedience throughout his life and suffering, he is able to lead and guide others in a similar path.

He Always Lives to Intercede

Thus Christ’s priesthood includes the steadfast expression of sympathy, his extension of care and compassion to us in all of our weaknesses and trials (Heb 4:15; 2:18). But Christ’s high priesthood did not conclude with his death. On that basis, it continues – for he ‘always lives’ (Heb 7:25). ‘The church’s present possession of salvation is certain and secure, but it is not yet unchallenged.’³²Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 59. Therefore, Christ’s priesthood (together with his prophethood and kingship) provides us with the resources we need to endure, persevere, and fruitfully live and serve in the life of faith.

This ongoing priesthood is chiefly a ministry of prayer. For one thing, although God the Father – Our Father who is in heaven – is the primary and ultimate hearer and answerer of prayer, Scripture indicates in a few places that Christ himself receives prayer (Acts 7:59-60; 1 Cor 16:22; Rev 22:20). In addition, he prays for us now (Rom 8:34; 1 John 2:1), as on earth he prayed for his disciples (Luke 22:32; John 17) and even for his enemies (Luke 23:34); and it is on this ground that John can write with such assurance, ‘we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous’ (1 John 2:1).³³Mark Jones presses further, arguing that Christ’s intercessory work in heaven is not a postscript to the gospel but integral to it — the necessary continuation of everything his earthly obedience and death set in motion: ‘[T]he application of salvation, properly speaking, is not Christ’s death or resurrection, but his intercession. Christ’s words “It is finished” (John 19:30) should always be understood relative to his continuing work as the exalted High Priest in heaven. If Goodwin is correct, “It is finished” likely refers to Christ’s work of humiliation. These points only serve to show that the gospel, strictly considered, has in view Christ’s mediatorial work from birth (the beginning of his active obedience) to heaven (the continuation of his exalted priestly work). This necessarily means that salvation accomplished and salvation applied are organically related to one another, so that, in the final analysis, the gospel is that Christ, in his threefold office, savingly accomplishes for his people. Justification, adoption, and sanctification are applied benefits of Christ’s work. Once we speak of the Gospel in terms of God justifying sinners, we are no less correct to say that the gospel also involves God sanctifying sinners’ (Mark Jones, Antinomianism: Reformed Theology? Unwelcome Guest, P&R Publishing, 2013, 58-59). See also Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 3:568-70; Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 56-58.

This heavenly ministry, then, is no departure from his earthly obedience but its very culmination. Nothing in his earthly obedience was wasted; all of it issued in this heavenly ministry, as Bavinck explains:

‘The whole life on earth was a preparation, so that now in heaven as eternal High Priest he could be busy on our behalf. … Christ had to maintain his obedience as Son over against all temptation and so fully equip himself for being High Priest in all eternity. By way of obedience Christ perfectly obtained this office of High Priest at God’s right hand on the throne of majesty. On the basis of his suffering and death, on the basis of his one perfect sacrifice, he is now seated on the right hand of the majesty in the highest heavens.’³⁴Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 379-80.

Presence and Speech: The Substance of Christ’s Intercession

What, then, does this intercession involve? ‘In short, his prayers are the comfort of his people as he focuses on their salvation.’³⁵Jensen, Life of Faith, 204. It means two things.

(1) The first is his presence before God on our behalf. The ascended Christ stands before the Father not as a private person but as our representative. In Hebrews 2:5-18, the writer implies not only that Jesus Christ is the true Adam, but three times stresses that he is our ‘brother,’ ‘made like his brothers in every respect’, tempted like us, but without sin. It is as our elder brother he prays for us at the right hand of the Father. He, unlike ordinary human priests, is not a priest-at-a-distance.³⁶Thanks to Robert Doyle for elaboration here.

Further, his very presence there is itself an intercession:

‘Christ presents himself before God as our representative. His perfect manhood, his official character, and his finished work, plead for us before the throne of God. All that the Son of God as incarnate is, and all that he did on earth, he is and did for us; so that God can regard us with all the favor which is due to him. His presence, therefore, is a prevailing intercession with God in behalf of his people, and secure for them all the benefits of his redemption.’³⁷Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 592.

But presence is not the whole of it. (2) The second is his words to God on our behalf. The interceding Christ does not merely appear before the Father — he speaks. He ‘draws near to God on our behalf. … Christ speaks to God on our behalf. … He prays for us.’³⁸Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 592.

These two are not really separable: presence and speech belong together in a single act of intercession. We are, as a result, continually in Christ’s thoughts; he is perfectly aware of our true needs, and he is constantly making them known to our heavenly Father. As our advocate (paraklētos, 1 John 2:1; cf. John 14:16), he undertakes our cause, ‘uses all his influence to secure our acquittal,’³⁹Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 593. and pleads for help on our behalf. In this way, Christ’s perpetual priesthood assures and guarantees the salvation of Christian believers; and it provides the basis of the Christian priesthood for all believers: ‘The descriptions of the church as a “holy priesthood” for the purpose of offering “spiritual sacrifice” and as a ‘royal priesthood’ (1 Pet 2:5, 9; cf. Rev 1:6; 20:6) presuppose and have the priesthood of Christ for their foundation.’⁴⁰Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 51. Indeed, this foundation reaches back to humanity’s own God-given origin and destiny: ‘Jesus’s perfect priesthood … restores the original priestly, royal status to redeemed humanity.’⁴¹Harris, ‘Priest,’ 629. Christians are made holy by Christ’s blood (1 Pet 1:18-19), being ‘living stones,’ who offer spiritual sacrifices, their own bodies, and thankfulness to God (Rom12:1-2; Heb 13:15-16; 1 Pet 2:4-5). Indeed, Christian prayer now rises as incense before the throne of God (Rev 19:8), while the Christian ministry proclaims a gospel message of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18) and engages in ceaseless worship of God (Heb 9:14; Rev 7:9-17; 20:6; 22:5).

The continuing advocacy of Christ before the throne of God is the basis of our prayers. When we pray, we are joining in his prayers for us.

Westminster on Christ’s Intercession

This two-fold intercession of the Lord Jesus — presence and speech together — is not a private construction but the church’s own confession. The Westminster Larger Catechism (Question 55) draws these two elements together exactly:

‘Christ makes intercession, by his appearing in our human nature continually before the Father in heaven, based on the merit of his obedience and sacrifice on earth, declaring his will to have it applied to all believers; answering all accusations against them, and procuring for them quiet of conscience, notwithstanding daily failings, access with boldness to the throne of grace, and acceptance of their persons and services.’⁴²Van Dixhoorn, Creeds, 352; to aid clarity, the language has been slightly amended.

What this means in practice is that the reigning Lord and Saviour is ‘interceding for us’ (Rom 8:34) — that he now always appears ‘in the presence of God on our behalf’ (Heb 9:24), present and speaking, defending and representing. The constancy and permanence of this advocacy is underlined as the foundation of Christian assurance: ‘he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them’ (Heb 7:25). The value of his sacrificial death for us, and his prayer in heaven that flows from it, remain continually before the Father.

Not Begging, But Ruling: The Authority Behind His Pleading

Yet his constant pleading should not be misunderstood as anxious petitioning, as though the outcome were ever in doubt. Christ’s intercession is not a matter of begging for favour, or pleading for charity before an unwilling and unyielding donor. It is, rather, an expression of his own almighty Divine desire, determination, and force of will.

He intervenes and mediates between sinners and the God we have offended, acting as one whose own obedience – sealed by his atoning death – gives him the perfect power and right to act on our behalf.

His resurrection, ascension, and enthronement at the Father’s right hand demonstrate beyond doubt that his work for us and for our salvation, was total, complete, and perfectly acceptable to God. His transfer to heaven is itself the Father’s verdict of approval.

There he paves the way and prepares a place for us (John 14:3), and ensures that we will in due course be seated with him in heaven (Eph 2:6) — indeed, seated with him on his very own throne (Rev 3:21). He speaks and acts in our best interests there too, making perfectly fitting requests on our behalf on the basis of everything his incarnation, life, death, and resurrection have accomplished.

Because he gave his life for us, suffering and dying in our place and for our sins, his appeals carry all necessary merit and weight.

An Intercession Grounded in His Finished Work

It is this completed work, and nothing less, that gives his present intercession its unshakeable ground. Christ’s priesthood is an enthroned and exalted priesthood, built upon having done everything required to propitiate God and secure his favour towards us.

His petitions and prayers for believers are therefore guaranteed to be heard and answered, for he speaks to the Father from his own adjoining throne, on the basis of his own personal merits, accrued ‘by means of his own blood’ (Heb. 9:12). By virtue of our union with this exalted Christ, ‘His life runs in our veins.’⁴³This phrase appears in some versions of the well-known hymn Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, originally written by Helen H. Lemuel in 1922.

Calvin grounds this same connection between sacrifice and intercession in his comments on 1 Timothy 2:6, insisting that the two can never be pulled apart, and drawing out the essential and inseparable connection between Christ’s atoning death and his present intercession — the two acts forming together the single, indivisible exercise of his priestly office:

‘Who gave himself. The mention of redemption in this passage is not superfluous, for there is a necessary connection between Christ’s sacrificial death and his continual intercession (Rom 8:34). They are the two parts of his priestly office, for when Christ is called Priest (Heb 7:17) the meaning is that once by his death he made expiation for our sins to reconcile us to God, and now, having entered the heavenly sanctuary, he appears before the presence of the Father for our sakes that we may be heard in his name. … Read the last part of Hebrews 4 and the beginning of Hebrews 5 and you will find confirmation of my assertion that the intercession by which God’s favour is won for us is founded on sacrifice – a thing made clear also by the whole system of the ancient priesthood. It therefore follows that no part of his work of intercession can be transferred from Christ to others without stripping him of his title as Priest.’⁴⁴Calvin, Comm 1 Timothy 2:6, trans. Smail, 212.

Reconciled and Made Priests in Him

By Christ’s priestly office we are reconciled to God. This single sentence gathers up everything we have has traced — sacrifice, intercession, and their fruit for us — and Calvin himself states it with unmatched comprehensiveness. He encapsulates the whole sweep of this reconciliation—its ground in Christ’s sacrifice, its outworking in his ongoing intercession, and its extension to believers who are themselves made a priesthood in him:

‘God’s righteous curse bars our access to him, and God in his capacity as judge is angry toward us. Hence an expiation must intervene in order that Christ as Priest may obtain God’s favor for us and appease his wrath. Thus Christ to perform this office had to come forward with a sacrifice. … The priestly office belongs to Christ alone because by the sacrifice of his death he blotted out our own guilt and made satisfaction for our sins [Hebrews chapter 7-10] … [W]e orour prayers have no access to God unless Christ, as our High Priest, having washed away our sins, sanctifies us and obtains for us that grace from which the uncleanness of our transgressions and vices debars us. Thus we see that we must begin from the death of Christ in order that the efficacy and benefit of his priesthood may reach us … It follows that he is an everlasting intercessor: through his pleading we obtain favor. Hence arises not only trust in prayer, but also peace for godly consciences, while they safely lean upon God’s fatherly mercy and are surely persuaded that whatever has been consecrated through the Mediator is pleasing to God. … Now, 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 in this great office [Rev 1:6]. For we who are defiled in ourselves, yet are priests in him, offer ourselves and our all to God, and freely enter the heavenly sanctuary [Eph 2:18] that the sacrifices of prayers and praise that we bring may be acceptable and sweet-smelling before God. For we, imbued with his holiness in so far as he has consecrated us to the Father with himself, although we would otherwise be loathsome to him, please him as pure and clean – and even as holy.’⁴⁵Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 501-2.

The closing movement of Christ’s priesthood, then, is intercession — not a repetition of the sacrifice, but its continual application. As the following observation draws together:

‘The work of sacrificial mediation is ongoing, though the sacrifice was once for all, as expounded by Paul, Hebrews, and John:

“Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us” (Romans 8:34). “For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:24-26). “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (I John 2:1).

The continuing advocacy of Christ before the throne of God is the basis of our prayers. Can we understand Jesus’ prayer for his disciples of John 17 as a prayer he continually prays for us now? The practice of praying through Jesus Christ reflects this aspect of the work of the ascended Christ (Jude 1:25, Heb. 13:21, 1 Peter 4:11).’⁴⁶Jensen and Doyle, ‘Ascension and Heavenly Session,’ 2.

Christ the King: Blessing, Empowering, Guarding, Guiding, and Conquest

Enthroned as the Slain Lamb

Christ’s kingly enthronement does not leave his priestly sacrifice behind; the two remain fused in a single image: ‘Christ ascends to the throne; but he does so as the slain Lamb of God (Rev 5:1-14). Even in his ascension, the power of Christ is exercised through his atoning sacrifice.’⁴⁷Jensen and Doyle, ‘Ascension and Heavenly Session,’ 2.

This reign, moreover, is not a distant or future event but the very age in which the church now lives — a reign whose chief present expression is the sending of the Spirit:

‘The heavenly session of Christ is … the beginning of his kingly rule, which will continue until he returns again at the end of time. This is essential for us to understand, because it the age of salvation history in which we are living. The supreme manifestation of Christ’s kingly rule is the sending of the Holy Spirit to confirm the teaching of Christ in our hearts, to make his atoning sacrifice a real and life-transforming experience for us, to build up the body of believers, to equip us for the task of spiritual warfare and ministry and to prepare for the return of Christ in due course. The Kingdom of Christ has many manifestations on earth, but it remains at heart a spiritual reality that cannot be tied down or manipulated by material means. In particular, we cannot say that the visible, institutional church is the repository of the Kingdom, nor that it is necessarily extended by religious activities associated with it. The visible church is a sign and a vehicle of the Kingdom of God which God use to proclaim and establish his rule on earth, but it is not the Kingdom itself and its ministers have no power to limit the grace of God or to prevent it from being given to those outside its fellowship if God chooses to do so.’⁴⁸Bray, Faith we Confess, 34. The Kingdom of God and Kingship of Christ are properly understood against the background of the Old Testament. For a short yet detailed survey, see Stephen G. Dempster, ‘Kingdom and King,’ in DNTUOT, 431-432. On Christ the King and the Kingdom of Christ, see Calvin, Commentaries, 176-191; then to Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:1111-80; Robert Letham, The Work of Christ (IVP, 1993), 197-224; idem, Systematic Theology, 584-596; Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 537-544.

The King Demonstrated in Word and Deed

The lordship of Jesus Christ is the dominant note of the gospel message, sounded wherever we look in the New Testament. As Calvin puts it, ‘The Father has given all power to the Son that he may by the Son’s hand govern, nourish, and sustain us, keep us in his care, and help us.’⁴⁹Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 500.

This governing power was not merely claimed in word but demonstrated in deed throughout Christ’s earthly ministry. He is the Messianic King, whose supremacy is expressed in a variety of ways: he healed the sick (Mark 5:25-34), delivered the demon-possessed (Mark 5:1-20), stilled the storm – commanding nature itself (Mark 4:39), raised the dead (John 11:1-44); and exercised the exclusive authority of God to judge and forgive sins (Mark 2:10; John 5:22, 27). As we have already seen, this same authority lies behind his most frequent self-description: ‘Jesus’ preferred title for himself was “Son of Man,” which, understood in terms of Daniel 7, designates him as the one with the Divine authority to rule. Other hints [of royalty] from Jesus’ own lips can be found in Matthew 13:41; 19:28; and 25:31, 32).’⁵⁰Thompson and Doyle, ‘Work of Christ,’ 5.

Acclaimed King, Then and Now

The titles applied to him throughout the New Testament confirm and extend this same royal claim. He is ‘the king of the Jews’ (Matt 2:2; 27:11, 29, 37; John 18:33; 19:19, 21); ‘the king of Israel’ (John 1:49); ‘both Lord and Christ’ (Acts 2:36; cf. 3:20; 10:36; 11:17; 15:26; 20:21; 28:31; Rom 1:4); ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 11:17); and ‘the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth’ (Rev. 1:5). This royal identity was not merely a title conferred by others in retrospect—it was publicly proclaimed to his face during his own earthly ministry, This royal identity was publicly proclaimed at his entry into Jerusalem, where ‘the whole multitude of the disciples’ welcomed and recognised him: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord’ (Luke 19:37-38). When some of the religious leaders immediately called on Jesus to silence those acclaiming him in that way, he flatly refused, answering most dramatically, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out’ (Luke 19:40).

The New Testament continues to sound this note of Christ’s kingship after his earthly ministry had ended. The lordship and kingship of Christ is conspicuous in numerous passages of the New Testament (for example, 1 Cor 15:25; Eph 1:22; Col 1:17-18; Heb 1:8; 2:8-9). He now governs the nations, occupying the exclusive and singular place at the pinnacle of all created hierarchies, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ (Rev 19:16).

A Kingdom Not of This World

Yet this kingship, for all its scope and majesty, is of a fundamentally different order than any earthly throne:

‘[E]ven here we must qualify the kingship about which we speak. Jesus repeatedly rejects the earthly kingship which many try to foist upon him (Matthew 4:8; John 6:15; 18:33-38). Even though the title ‘Son of Man’ does carry the Danielian idea of Divine authority to rule, it is a figure which seeks to keep Jesus distinct from human kingship. In his reply to Pilate’s questions he declares ‘My kingship is not of this world’ (John 18:36).⁵¹Thompson and Doyle, ‘Work of Christ,’ 5.

In the light of the fact that very many, if not all, earthly kings in self-aggrandisement tend towards tyranny in imposing their rule on their subjects, Jesus works by gentle persuasion, by the preaching of the gospel (2 Cor 5:11-15). That gentleness, that contrast, is evident in his entry into Jerusalem. Whereas the prophet Muhammad entered Mecca riding on a horse to slay his enemies, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey, to die for his enemies.

Where the King Now Is

It is thus through the Person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that God rules the world and protects the church (Eph 1:20–23). Yet this present rule did not arrive all at once, nor does it operate in a single, undifferentiated mode: the gospel makes clear that Christ’s sovereignty and kingship unfold across several distinct phases. To speak of the current reign of Jesus, therefore, is to address two inseparable questions: where the Lord Jesus now is, and what Christ the King is now doing.

We take these in turn, beginning with the first. As to where he is: the book of Revelation pictures Jesus in his glorified humanity, physically – bodily – located in the heavenly realm: seated at the right hand of the Father, worshipped as God together with the Father, presiding over the judgment of nations, and driving forward the completion of history, turning the pages of time toward their appointed end and goal (Rev 5:1–14; 7:9–17; 17:14; 20:11–15; 21:22–27; 22:1–5, 10–17).

But Christ’s location in heaven is not a matter of remote or inactive enthronement; his place there is the very seat from which he acts. This reign is no mere cosmic abstraction. Christ’s universal government — his providential control of the whole physical, moral, and spiritual universe — is exercised as ‘saving power’ (Pss 67:2; 78:22) throughout the world on the Father’s behalf, for the sake of his people, the church, those who belong to the Lord, reaching into every dimension of their life together and alone. ‘Jesus is … primarily a living Lord [and Master, Col 4:1] who exercises a spiritual influence from heaven.’⁵²Bauckham, ‘Jesus Christ,’ in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, 600.

Ruling Every Believer’s Heart

This universal government, vast as it is, has its most intimate expression in the life of the individual believer. Above and beyond all, he has been granted ‘authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom [the Father has] given him’ (John 17:2). That authority, however, is not exercised only at the scale of nations and history; it reaches into the life of each believer. ‘Why did he take the Person of the Mediator?,’ Calvin questions, and immediately answers: ‘He descended from the bosom of the Father and from incomprehensible glory that he might draw near to us.’⁵³Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 501. In grace, Christ dwells and reigns within the hearts of his people (Rom 5:21; cf. Acts 16:14).

‘Christ reigns over his own individually, both from without and from within. From without, he subdues his and their enemies, restraining Satan, his angels, and wicked men. He strengthens them in weakness, defends them in danger, directs and cooperates with them in action, and gives them ultimately the victory in all their contests, and causes them always to persevere to the end, that they may receive the crown of life. He also, under the inspiration of his Spirit, brings his spiritual people into sympathy with one another, and stimulates and guides the great currents of sympathy …  and all the various functions in which is manifested “the communion of saints.” From within, the God-man reigns supreme in every Christian heart.’⁵⁴A. A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology, 232-33.

Having considered, then, both the place of Christ’s reign and its reach into the individual believer’s life, we turn now to its content: what, exactly, is the exalted Christ the King doing?

Blessing, Ruling, Giving, Preaching, and Empowering

As to what he is doing: when Jesus ‘was carried up into heaven’ at his ascension, he departed in an attitude of blessing, ‘He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven’ (Luke 24:51).

As Bavinck has it, ‘In an attitude of blessing he leaves the earth and goes up to heaven. Thus he had come, thus he had lived, and thus he now returned. He is himself the content of all the blessings of God, the achiever, the possessor, and the distributor of them all (Eph. 1:3).’

He sits, therefore, at the right hand of God — and from that position he is presently occupied with the distribution and personal application of all the blessings secured during his earthly life and ministry.

That distribution touches every dimension of Christ’s ongoing work — securing sinners’ forgiveness, preserving the saints, and advancing the gospel to the nations. The scope of what Christ accomplishes from his heavenly throne — for sinners, for saints, and for the advance of the gospel — is breath-taking in its range. This is Joel Beeke’s summary:

‘Christ’s session at the right hand of God honors him as the Divine Mediator and initiated his ministry as the glorified Priest-King (Psa 110:2-4). … From that heavenly position, Christ gives repentance and forgiveness to sinners (Mark 16:19-20; Acts 5:31) and preserves the saints to the end despite all their trials and temptations (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25; 8:1). The first public act of the glorified and enthroned Lord was the effusion (outpouring) of the Holy Spirit upon his people at Pentecost (Acts 2:4, 32-36). The Spirit extends Christ’s prophetic ministry to all his people (vv. 17-18) so that they receive power to be his witnesses to all nations (1:8; 2:4-11; 4:8; 5:32). … The Spirit comes in Jesus’ name to powerfully advance the progress of the word of Christ in the world (John 14:26; 15:26-27).’⁵⁵Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:904.

A Ministry Transformed, Not Ended

From this position, seated at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus Christ directs all things by his Word and governs all things by his Spirit. His ascension was therefore not a withdrawal but a transformation of ministry – a truth well expressed by Louis Berkhof:

‘In this state of exaltation Christ continues the work which he began on earth. … the Mediatorial work … goes on in another form. He did not at his ascension enter upon an unproductive rest – but instead now applies the fulness of his achieved salvation to the church. … Accordingly, Christ remained active in the state of exaltation as Prophet, Priest, and King. He had been anointed as such from eternity. He had exercised these activities in the state of humiliation. And be it in a different way, he continues these activities in heaven now.’⁵⁶Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 374-75.

He does so for the good of his people, of whom he is Saviour. Under the present period of Christ’s rule, the gospel proceeds to the nations, and Jesus continues his prophetic, priestly, and kingly work through the preaching, teaching, and practical ministry of the gospel undertaken by his earthly followers and servants.⁵⁷Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 375-77.

This same threefold, ongoing ministry is what the Westminster Confession has in view when it describes, with characteristic precision, how the Mediator applies his purchased redemption:

‘To all those for whom Christ has purchased redemption, he does certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same; making intercession for them, and revealing unto them, in and by the Word, the mysteries of salvation; effectually persuading them by his Spirit to believe and obey, and governing their hearts by his Word and Spirit; overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner, and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.’⁵⁸Westminster Confession of Faith, 8.8; Van Dixhoorn, Creeds, 199-200, slightly amended.

Homecoming Promised, Not Yet Arrived

‘Let not your hearts be troubled,’ Jesus said, ‘Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also’ (John 14:1-3).

As Frederick Dale Brunner puts it memorably: ‘The Father has real estate, and the people of God are en route to this most prized of properties … [Jesus] promises to provide them even the transportation there and, even more strikingly, promises personally to accompany  them as their transportation to their future homes.’⁵⁹Frederick Dale Brunner, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Eerdmans, 2012), 810.

Yet this promise of a prepared home should not be mistaken for a finished agenda. Even the promise of eventual homecoming to heaven, however, does not mean Christ’s present work is finished. Before he brings his people home, he must first bring every rival power to submission. Christ’s present rule at God’s right hand will therefore remain in place until he has completed the overthrow of all his and humanity’s enemies.

This ongoing conquest is underway. At this moment, in the ways described above, he is subduing ‘every rule and every authority and power’ still opposed to him (1 Cor 15:24), ‘for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet’ (1 Cor 15:25). Such subjugation by conquest is to culminate in the destruction of ‘the last enemy,’ death itself (1 Cor 15:26).

The Spiritual Nature of Christ’s Current Conquest

No doubt, part of this employs the authority of civil and political institutions to support peace and order in human society by rewarding right and punishing wrong (Matt 22:21; Rom 13:1-7). The peace that kings may bring is to be subject of earnest prayer. We are to make ‘supplications, prayers, and intercessions and thanksgivings’ for all people, and especially ‘for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way’ (1 Tim 2:1-2).

But this not a mere civil good order. It sits within the very central aim and purpose of Christ’s kingship. This civic good order facilitates God’s desire that all people may come to be saved, ‘come to the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Tim 2:3).

This is borne out historically and empirically, too: in the twenty-first century, the Lord Jesus Christ is known, loved, worshipped, and served in literally every nation across the globe – not (primarily) through the exercise of civil power, but through the mighty Spirit-wrought spread of the Christian gospel.⁶⁰See Ian J. Shaw, Christianity: A Biography. 2000 Years of Global History (IVP/Zondervan, 2016). Also refer to Nick Needham, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power, 4 volumes (Christian Focus, 1998-2017). To be sure, ‘Christ’s Kingdom lies in the Spirit, not in earthly pleasures or pomp. Hence we must forsake the world if we are to share in the Kingdom.’⁶¹Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 500.

This pattern of spiritual conquest is nothing new. It is the same pattern the church has exhibited from its very beginnings, and Jonathan Edwards traces its outworking through the early centuries with characteristic verve:

‘Though the learning and power of the Roman Empire were so great, and both were employed to the utmost against Christianity; yet all was in vain. They could neither root it out, nor stop its progress. In spite of all, the Kingdom of Christ wonderfully prevailed, and Satan’s heathen kingdom mouldered and consumed away before it … And it was very observable that, for the most part, the more they persecuted the church, the more it increased … Justin Martyr, an eminent father in the christian church, says, that in his days there was no part of mankind, whether Greeks or Barbarians, or by what name soever they were called, where prayers and thanksgivings were not made to the great Creator of the world, through the name of the crucified Jesus.’⁶²Jonathan Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 1 (The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974]), 591. See Garry J. William, ‘Jonathan Edwards,’ in T & T Clark Companion to Atonement, 467-72.

When Christ Hands Over His Kingdom To the Father: When the Father Will Be All In All.

The source and trajectory and end-point of the person and work of Christ as prophet and priest and king is God the Father. As it closes, John 1:1-18 makes this declaration: ‘No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.’⁶³American Standard Version. A literal translation of the Greek text: ho ōn eis ton kolpon tou patros. Kolpon means ‘lap area, side, bosom, chest.’ Jesus Christ, the Word of God incarnate, the Son of God, has come from the bosom of his Father to bring us back to the bosom of his Father.

To his disciples, Jesus describes his mission in terms of the Son coming from the Father to make the Father known. ‘All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (Matt 11:27).’

In 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 Paul describes the fulfilment of this mission, on the Last Day, as the ‘consummation of the Fatherhood of the Father.’⁶⁴Jurgen Moltmann, The Crucified God (SCM Press, 1974) 266. ‘Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power’ (v24). ‘The Son will hand over the Kingdom to God the Father, and the Son will be subject to him ‘so that God may be all in all’ (v28).  Why is the Father the end-point of Christ’s rule? Not only because of the trinitarian nature of God, but because, Paul argues, it is the nature of the outworking of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the way the passage begins. Through the consummation of the history of the message of the cross working in our history, we are being re-made in the image of his Son.  We are children of God, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of Christ. That is, we, his redeemed creation, are being brought into a filial relationship with God, and, at the same time, the Son in his kingly work shows his subordination to the Father, so that truly the promised end is the ‘consummation of the Fatherhood of the Father.’

‘Glory’ is the biblical term for this divine splendour in which the whole creation is to participate in the End.  We know that the history of Christ and the history of the Spirit are movements of the glorification of God: the glorification of the Father by the Son and the glorification of the Father and the Son by the Spirit (Matt 16:27; John 16:12-15; 17:24; Rom 11:33-36; Phil 2:11).  The Bible tells us that this glorification of God is also the glorification of people, since God is glorified only in the liberation of his creation, in which we stand face to face to him as his children (Rev 21:1-8).⁶⁵Many thanks to Robert Doyle for elaboration here.

Synopsis of a Purer Theology (1620-25). Disputation 26. On the Office of Christ

Before turning to the disputation itself, it is worth pausing to trace its shape as a whole with the help of thesefour leading 17^th century theologians in Holland who wrote the Synopsis. They offer a summary of key aspects of our understanding of the Bible’s teaching on Christ’s threefold office, an expansion of some points, and some corrections to misunderstandings that are still with us today.

The Synopsis frames Christ’s mediatorial work not as three separate offices but as one office with three integrated features — and a brief summary of its argument will help orient the reader to what follows:

Christ the Mediator in Overview

The one office of Christ as Mediator has three aspects: prophetic, priestly, and royal. As Prophet, Priest, and King Christ made atonement for our sins through his mediatorial sacrifice. Several important terms and concept in the Reformed understanding of the doctrine of salvation are covered in thesis 3. The Lord Jesus Christ became our ‘sponsor’; He took upon himself the debt we owe; the payment for that debt is expressed as ‘expiation’ or ‘propitiation.’ The phrase ‘altar of the cross’ makes it clear that these terms should be seen in the context of sacrifice: the guilt that arises from transgression has been removed, and the debt that is owed has been paid. The Latin theological phrase ‘pactum salutis’ that is employed to express the eternal covenant that exists between the Three Persons of the Trinity arose from the understanding of Christ’s own offering of himself to the Father. The notion that satisfaction for sins through Christ’s death is not necessary for salvation, as the Socinians taught⁶⁶The Socinians were a 16th and 17th movement that rejected the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, and original sin. Their intellectual descendants are the Unitarians, who believe that Jesus Christ was not God, but inspired by God in his moral teachings, and only in that way is he the saviour of mankind. Unitarianism still has a presence in parts of the United States of America, Europe, the United Kingdom, India, Australia, South Africa., is rejected (12, 20-22). In this context, attention is paid to the fact that Christ underwent death on the cross for which he had been pre-ordained both out of necessity and of his own accord (12-15). The relation of Christ’s office as Mediator to the Trinity and his Divine and human nature is treated and defended against several false teachings (16-31, with some axiomatic statements on the topic in thesis 25. Thereafter, the question is raised whether Christ should be called the Mediator also of the good angels (34-36). The three parts and functions Christ performed in his mediatorial office – that of Prophet (39-41), Priest (42-50), and King (51-54) – and which can be discerned together only in Christ, are treated in the remainder of the disputation (37-54), with a summary in thesis 38). The discussion of the royal aspect of Christ’s office ends in an eschatological perspective: Christ will hand over all the elect together with his mediatorial sceptre to his Father (53).⁶⁷Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Disputation 26, ‘On the Office of Christ;’ Boer and Faber eds., 291.

Christ’s Two Natures in Mediation – Axiomatic Statements

25. For we offer to posit the following axiomatic statements: (1) that Christ is the subject and common principle of the mediatorial work, not in that he is God nor in that he is man only, but in that he is simultaneously God and man. (2) That Christ’s human nature is coming together with the Divine nature for that work, as serving the Divine, which is the higher cause that acts as the principal one. (3) That the sacred books of the Bible ascribe the infinite worthiness and efficacy of Christ’s mediation to his divinity, and from them necessarily come the following points: (1) Christ’s mediatorial work proceeds not by the strength of one nature only but by the power of both as each acts following its own property. (2) Christ’s human nature serves the Divine nature in the work of the God-and-man, and one cannot simply call it the starting point for the mediatorial action, nor just the strictly formal starting-point, but rather the material or instrumental one. (3) Without the protection and support of his divinity, the man Christ was not able to extend the mysteries of Divine wisdom from the bosom of the Father, not to pay him as ransom sufficient for our sins, nor in time past to rend asunder the gates of hell by his death on this earth. And even now he would not be able to hear in heaven the prayers of his chosen ones dwelling over all the earth and likewise to commend them to his Father or grant them their request to shield them from evil.

Prophet, Priest, and King – A Summary

38. Because those three functions can be discerned together only in Christ, it says that it was he whom God made to be our wisdom, justice, sanctification and redemption (1 Cor 1:30). He was made our wisdom in order to turn us by his prophetic instruction from being foolish at hearing into wise unto salvation. He was made our righteousness and sanctification, so that by the two-fold nature of his priestly office he might first render satisfaction to the aggrieved Divine majesty on our behalf. He was made redemption for us so that by his kingly power he might keep us (who have been released from our slavery to sin) within the boundaries of our calling by the restraining reins of his control; and so that by his protection he might keep us safe from all harm done by the enemy.

Christ the Prophet

            Right Doctrines and Gifts for Ministry

39. Prophecy is the function whereby Christ establishes his people in the right doctrines of the Law and the Gospel; sealed by his wonders, each of these doctrines is cleansed from the corruptions of false teachers. Sometimes he does this by himself directly, at other times indirectly, through other servants of his Word who have been endowed with gifts needed for that purpose. Of these the former are included by synecdoche⁶⁸A figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole, or the whole for a part. under the name ‘prophets’ and the latter ‘apostles’ (Matt 5:22ff; John 17:8)

            The Multi-Ethnic People of God

40. We should consider the people of God, whom we regard as the object of Christ’s prophetic work, under the Old and New Testament. Under the former nearly all were Jews, while under the latter they were partly Jews and partly Gentiles. The former had been preferred to the latter in the teaching of Divine wisdom, so that the promises made to Abraham and the other patriarchs might in the first place be fulfilled in their circumcised sons. For this reason also Christ as the minister of circumcision called to himself especially the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24; Rom 15:8). It was after Christ’s ascension into heaven that the apostles declared the Gospel of Christ equally to Jews and Gentiles, so Christ might be not only the glory of the people of Israel, but also the light to the Gentiles, according to the prophecies of Isa 49:6 and Luke 2:32.

            Two Means of Prophetic Teaching

41. In our opinion the prophetic teaching uses two means, immediate and mediate. For the most part Christ made use of the of the former means, either by only his Divine nature for the prophets of the Old Testament, or by both natures for the apostles of the New Testament. For he, the Sun of righteousness, with the rays of the prophetic light that it possesses, shines  powerfully upon and illuminates both [prophets and apostles]. He made use of the latter means when he commanded his prophets and apostles in their speaking and writing to unfold to his people all the secrets of his wisdom that they must know salvation. With this in mind, the church of God was moved to reject every tradition that is not contained in the holy book [Old and New Testament Scripture]. In the former [immediate] mode of teaching, the minds of men can be thoroughly enlightened without the help of the latter means, and their hearts could be bent to the obedience of faith. In the latter [mediate] mode, neither of these results can be effected without the help of the former means.

Christ the Priest

Entering God’s Presence

42. Christ’s priesthood is the function wherein he appears before God’ presence in order to keep the Law (that he had received from him) in our name, to present himself to him as the victim of reconciliation for our sins, and by his intercession, with him to obtain for us his constant help and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and to apply them to us effectively (Heb 10:7ff).

43.This three-fold way of coming into God’s presence was foreshadowed in former times by the Levitic high priest, who by God’s command watched over the tables of the Law that had been placed in the ark of the covenant, and who stood before God on behalf of the people like a mediator accompanied by offerings of sacrifice and prayers.

44. The same priesthood of Christ was formerly prefigured also by the priesthood of Melchizedek, albeit for a different god, i.e., to demonstrate that its excellence surpassed the Levitic priesthood by these three advantages: (1) its eternal duration, since like Melchizedek figuratively, Christ in true reality is called a Priest to God who is without father and mother, and without beginning and end; (2) its double office, since both are distinguished by the titles ‘King’ and ‘Priest;’ (3) its pre-eminence over the Levitic order, since it is said that Levi himself, while has was yet in the loins of Abraham, gave tithes to Melchizedek (Heb 7:3, 9; cf. Gen 14:17-20).

45. Christ fulfilled the Law of God in two ways: by generally observing all of God’s commandments, and by voluntarily discharging the penalties we wretched sinners were liable to undergo as the Law had warned. We shall give more copious explanation of both fulfilments of the law in sequence disputation about Christ’s satisfaction and our justification

            Obedience and Sacrifice

46. In the letter to the Hebrews the apostle distinguishes the sacrifice of Christ (who is the Word that offers the sacrificial victim, and flesh or victim that is offered) from the Levtic priest and their sacrifices with the following points: (1) Because the Person who is making the offer is a special Priest in the order of Melchizedek who remains forever and so permit no-one else to share his office with him or to succeed him (Heb 7:3); (2) Because this Priest is blameless in himself and set apart from all sinners (Heb 7:26); (3) Because the offering of himself that was made once sufficient in every way to preserve us perfectly, and so it never to be repeated (Heb 7:24, 25). (4) Because the flesh or sacrificial victim that was offered is united in Person to the Word that offers it (Heb 9:12). (5) Because for God the value and force of this sacrificial victim is everlasting (Heb 7:24, 25, and 10:14).

47. The apostle’s five-part distinction completely overturns the tradition of the papal [Roman Catholic] theologians about the primacy of their pope as the vicar of Jesus Christ, and about the sacrifice of the mass that is to be offered to God still today by the secondary priests of the New Testament. The following statements of principle are entirely inconsistent and contradict one another: that Christ is our only High Priest, but meanwhile the pope is his vicar. That the bloody sacrifice which Christ offered in his own flesh once and for all to God through his eternal Spirit is the only one that makes atonement, but meanwhile the bloodless sacrifice of the mass, which by their own human spirit the sacrificers offer in the flesh of another (namely Christ’s flesh, as they think) is also an atoning sacrifice. Moreover, that in former times men who were mortal and subject to sin could not have offered the atoning sacrifice (in the strict sense of the world) to God in the Old Testament, and that therefore only the Son of God should have offered it, as he is equal with the Father in his essential immortality and holiness; but [they say] nowadays men of the sort of the priests were in the Old Testament should and are able to offer a truly atoning sacrifice. And similar statements which will be examined more fully afterwards.

Intercession

48. The intercession by Christ is the function whereby Christ takes his place in the heavenly sanctuary and pleads earnestly on our behalf with God the Father for his mercy and the forgiveness of sins that he obtained by the merit of his atoning sacrifice. He also pleads for his help and gifts of the Holy Spirit, whereby daily we are rendered better equipped for the duties of obedience and gratitude.

49. The Son of God brings this intercession about by a voluntarily administered grace and in a manner that befits his mediatorial work, not because he now, after having put of his state of self-renunciation, falls upon bended knees before his Father in heaven, but because like a Priest or advocate he takes his place and face to face with him earnestly requests that he continue to grant his grace and the hep we need, no less ardently in his human nature that effectively in his Divine nature.

50. It is no more possible for Christ’s intercession to be communicated to the holy angels or the souls of people in heaven that his sacrificial offer can be communicated to the Roman sacrificers. For he is the sole Mediatory of the redemption as well as the intercession, and so the papal theologians who link the holy angels and men departed from this life to Christ as his secondary intercessors, do him no small harm – as will be made clear in a later [disputation, viz, 36.9-20], if God shall grant it.

Christ the King

Governing, Guarding, Guiding, and Equipping the Church

51. In his office as King, Christ, as its only Head, governs the church that was purchased with his own blood [Acts 20:28), and he powerfully guards her against every enemy within and without. By his guidance he equips her with suitable weapons as she battles in the ‘arena’ of this world, so that when at long last she is made partaker of the victory he promised, she celebrates in heaven with him an eternal triumph over her defeated enemies, and without stopping praises God for the victory obtained. For only Christ stands out far above all members of his mystic body in this unique and boundless way; he does so by the worthiness of his rank and his power to rule, enliven, and preserve her, and also by the amount of perfect spiritual gifts (Rom 8:29; Col 1:18; John 3:34). And in Disputation 41, ‘On Christ as the Only Head of the Church,’ we shall demonstrate this explicitly over against the papal theologians, who make the false claim that Christ bestowed the world-wide government over his church to Peter as vicar alone, and that Peter in turn handed that same government over to the one Roman pope as his lawful successor.

            The Church’s Twofold State

52. But as Christ’s church has a twofold state, the one of grace in this age and the other of glory in the future, we should distinguish the current government of the church from the one that is to come. For in this life Christ rules his church through the intervening agencies of ecclesiastical administration by faithful pastors, and he protects it by the administration of devout political magistrates. In the life that is to come, he will rule it directly, without the external supports of that kind and by the divinity he shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit, so that together with them he may be all things to every member of the household of faith, whom he shall cause to rejoice in beholding him and communicating with him most closely and happily (1 Cor 15:28; Rev 21, 22, and 23).

53. Hence it says that when Christ will hand over to God all the elect who clung to him in the unity of perfect faith and who have been freed completely from their fear of the enemy, he will also hand over to him his mediatorial (or dispensational) scepter so that he may forever conduct his purely Divine reign over his elect with the same glory and majesty that he shared with the Father from eternity (1 Cor 15:24, 26).

Final Judgment, Eternal Death, and Eternal Life

54. Handing over that mediatorial scepter will happen on the day of the last judgment, after Christ, by the personal power of judging which the Father has granted him, and by an act of grace undeserved, will bestow on his friend the reward of life, which with vengeance deserved, he will give to his enemies the punishment of eternal death.

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647). Chapter 8. Of Christ the Mediator

What has been traced through Scripture and the above Synopsis — the Person of the Mediator, the union of two natures in one, the threefold office, the satisfaction rendered to the Father, and the certain application of redemption to those given him — receives further classical confessional expression in The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), Chapter 8, ‘Of Christ the Mediator’:

Text

1. It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only-begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King; the Head and Saviour of his Church, the Heir of all things and Judge of the world; unto whom he did, from all eternity, give a people to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.

2. The Son of God, the second Person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin: being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and manhood, were inseparably joined together in one Person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which Person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.

3. The Lord Jesus, in his human nature thus united to the Divine, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure; having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell; to the end that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a Mediator and surety. Which office he took not unto himself, but was thereunto called by his Father, who put all power and judgement into his hand, and gave him commandment to execute the same.

4. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake, which, that he might discharge, he was made under the law, and did perfectly fulfil it; endured most grievous torments immediately in his soul, and most painful sufferings in his body; was crucified, and died; was buried, and remained under the power of death, yet saw no corruption. On the third day he arose from the dead, with the same body in which he suffered; with which also he ascended into heaven, and there sits at the right hand of his Father, making intercession; and shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the world.

5. The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God, has fully satisfied the justice of his Father, and purchased not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the Kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him.

6. Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by Christ until after his incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefits thereof were communicated unto the elect, in all ages successively from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices, wherein he was revealed, and signified to be the seed of the woman which should bruise the serpent’s head, and the lamb slain from the beginning of the world, being yesterday and to-day the same and forever.

7. Christ, in the work of mediation, acts according to both natures; by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet, by reason of the unity of the Person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes, in Scripture, attributed to the Person denominated by the other nature.

8. To all those for whom Christ has purchased redemption he does certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same; making intercession for them, and revealing unto them, in and by the Word, the mysteries of salvation; effectually persuading them by his Spirit to believe and obey; and governing their hearts by his Word and Spirit; overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.⁶⁹Van Dixhoorn ed., Creeds, 197-200.

Commentary

On Christ’s Work – A Series of Roles or Offices

It will come as no surprise that The Westminster Confession of Faith is one of the most detailed confessional treatments of the work of Christ.⁷⁰Commentary here is extracted from Thompson and Doyle, ‘Work of Christ,’ 3-4; headings are mine. See further Brannon Ellis, ‘Post-Reformation Dogmatics,’ in T & T Clark Companion to the Atonement, 693-700. It grounds the work of Christ firmly in the eternal purpose of God and identifies a series of roles or offices which God ordained for Christ to fulfil. The Christological affirmations of the Confession are grounded in precisely the same purpose: in order for God’s intention to be accomplished, Christ is who he is. The emphasis in this chapter is clearly upon the mediatorial role of Christ — he stands between God and man by virtue of Father’s decision and an anointing of the Spirit. The chronological outline of the work which was undertaken in fulfilment of this role adds a number of interesting features: the ‘most grievous torments’ which Christ endured ‘immediately in his soul’; his remaining under the power of death ‘but without corruption’; an explicit statement that Christ rose from the dead ‘with the same body in which he suffered’; an elaboration of the physical nature of the ascension: the same body which suffered and was raised is that which ascended into heaven; a description of Christ’s work at the right hand of the Father as ‘intercession’; and the inclusion of angels amongst those judged by Christ ‘at the end of the world’.

            Definite Redemption

The more specific discussion of Christ’s death and its benefits repays careful study. Here are affirmations of the role of Christ’s perfect obedience which finds its high-point in his sacrifice of himself and the trinitarian nature of the atonement (the Son offered through the Spirit and fully satisfying the justice of the Father). The language of sacrifice, obedience, satisfaction, redemption (purchase), reconciliation, and inheritance are all found here. However, most distinctive is the circumscription of Christ’s atoning work in terms of the decree of election: in section one the choice of a people as his seed is mentioned; the work of reconciliation etc. is ‘for all those whom the Father has given him’ in section five; section six affirms that the benefits of Christ’s redemptive work are for the elect in all ages; and section eight insists that achievement of redemption is co-extensive with the application of redemption.  The emphasis is on the certainty of the benefits of the work of Christ for the elect.  Here the, in the face of Arminianism, is statement of particular or definite redemption.  Note thought that the Confession does not state that Christ died only for those who are saved, but implies it.  We will return later to examine this issue further.

The Confession’s Chronological Approach

However, creeds and confessions (even the Westminster Confession) were necessarily compact and indeed compressed affirmations of Christian doctrine. They essentially followed the chronological course of Jesus’ life, sometimes augmented (as most notably in the Westminster Confession of Faith) with statements of purpose and extent. Other approaches would be more schematic.

—

• 1
  ‘This method of examining the work of Christ found early expression in the writings of Eusebius (quoting Hegesippus in Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, especially chapters 11, 16, and 19-20). He noted that three types of office bearers were mentioned in Israel: the prophets were anointed (1 Kgs 19:16); the priests were anointed (Exod 28:41); and the kings were anointed (1 Kgs 2:34). He then drew a link with the title ‘Christ’ and its connotation of anointing (Matt 16:17; cf Acts 4:27)’ (Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ: Traditional Interpretations,’ 4). ↩︎
• 2
  Battles, ed., 494-503. See also, for example, The Westminster Confession, 8; The Westminster Larger Catechism, 42-45; Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Disputation 26, ‘On the Office of Christ’; Boer and Faber eds., 291-304. ↩︎
• 3
  Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ,’ 4-5. ↩︎
• 4
  Hermann Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics. Abridged in One Volume, ed. John Bolt (Baker Academic, 2011), 465-66. ↩︎
• 5
  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. ↩︎
• 6
  Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Baker, 1983-1985), 761-779. ↩︎
• 7
  D. T. Williams, ‘The Four-Fold Office of Christ’, Expository Times 100 (1989), 134-137. ↩︎
• 8
  Eric J. Tully, ‘Prophet,’ in Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament [DNTUOT], 635, 638. Tully’s article is an excellent survey as well as a valuable analysis. More broadly, see Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:926-87; Robert Letham, Work of Christ, 91-104; Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 453-56. ↩︎
• 9
  Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ,’ 5. ↩︎
• 10
  Doyle, ‘Did the Father Punish the Son?,’ 3. ↩︎
• 11
  Tully, ‘Prophet,’ 639. ↩︎
• 12
  Tully, ‘Prophet,’ 639. ↩︎
• 13
  Chase R. Kuhn and Paul Grimmond eds., Theology is for Preaching: Biblical Foundations, Method, and Practice (Lexham Press, 2021). See also, for example, Peter Adam, Speaking God’s Words: A Practical Theology of Preaching (IVP, 1996); Joel Beeke, Reformed Preaching: Proclaiming God’s Word from the Heart of the Preacher to the Heart of his People (Crossway, 2018); Benjamin Dean, ‘Packer on Preaching: A Recommendation,’ Churchman, 129:2 (2015), 131-147;Christopher Green, Cutting to the Heart: Applying the Bible in Preaching and Teaching (IVP, 2015); Christopher Green and David Jackman eds., When God’s Voice is Heard (IVP, 2003); Conrad Mbewe, Pastoral Preaching: Building a People for God (Langham, 2017). ↩︎
• 14
  Peter Jensen, ‘Now is the Time to Preach: Preaching in Eschatological Context,’ in Kuhn and Grimmond eds., 225. ↩︎
• 15
  Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 2:463. ↩︎
• 16
  Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry: with an inquiry into the causes of its inefficiency (The Banner of Truth Trust, 1959 [Orig. 1830]), 2. ↩︎
• 17
  Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.2; Battles ed., 496. ↩︎
• 18
  Tully, ‘Prophet,’ 640. ↩︎
• 19
  Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 377. ↩︎
• 20
  Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 377-78. ↩︎
• 21
  Henry Bullinger, ‘Of the Ministry, and the Ministries of God’s Word,’ The Fifth Decade, Third Sermon, The Decades of Henry Bullinger, Volume 5, Thomas Harding ed. (Parker Society / Cambridge University Press, 1852), 93.  Thanks to Robert C. Doyle. ↩︎
• 22
  The Westminster Confession of Faith, 8.8; Schaff ed., Creeds, 3:622. ↩︎
• 23
  Jensen, Life of Faith, 204-205. ↩︎
• 24
  Jensen and Doyle, ‘Ascension and Heavenly Session,’ 2. ↩︎
• 25
  Dana M. Harris, ‘Priest,’ in DNTUOT, 625. In this section, I am indebted to Harris’ survey of priesthood in the Old Testament (625-628) and the New Testament (628-30). More fully, see Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:988-1110; Robert Letham, The Work of Christ (IVP, 1993), 105-196; idem, Systematic Theology, 545-583; Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 456-536. ↩︎
• 26
  Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 52, 55. ↩︎
• 27
  Thompson and Doyle, ‘The Work of Christ,’ 5. On Christ’s Person and office in the introductory part of Hebrews, see John Webster, ‘One Who is Son: Theological Reflections on the Exordium to the Epistle to the Hebrews,’ in Richard Bauckham ed., The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology (Eerdmans, 2009), 69-94. ↩︎
• 28
  Richard Gaffin, ‘The Priesthood of Christ: A Servant in the Sanctuary,’ in Jonathan Griffiths ed., A Perfect Saviour: Key Themes in Hebrews (Inter-Varsity Press, 2012), 61. ↩︎
• 29
  Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 49. ↩︎
• 30
  Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 65; see 61-68 for fuller discussion. ↩︎
• 31
  Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 50. ↩︎
• 32
  Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 59. ↩︎
• 33
  Mark Jones presses further, arguing that Christ’s intercessory work in heaven is not a postscript to the gospel but integral to it — the necessary continuation of everything his earthly obedience and death set in motion: ‘[T]he application of salvation, properly speaking, is not Christ’s death or resurrection, but his intercession. Christ’s words “It is finished” (John 19:30) should always be understood relative to his continuing work as the exalted High Priest in heaven. If Goodwin is correct, “It is finished” likely refers to Christ’s work of humiliation. These points only serve to show that the gospel, strictly considered, has in view Christ’s mediatorial work from birth (the beginning of his active obedience) to heaven (the continuation of his exalted priestly work). This necessarily means that salvation accomplished and salvation applied are organically related to one another, so that, in the final analysis, the gospel is that Christ, in his threefold office, savingly accomplishes for his people. Justification, adoption, and sanctification are applied benefits of Christ’s work. Once we speak of the Gospel in terms of God justifying sinners, we are no less correct to say that the gospel also involves God sanctifying sinners’ (Mark Jones, Antinomianism: Reformed Theology? Unwelcome Guest, P&R Publishing, 2013, 58-59). See also Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 3:568-70; Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 56-58. ↩︎
• 34
  Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 379-80. ↩︎
• 35
  Jensen, Life of Faith, 204. ↩︎
• 36
  Thanks to Robert Doyle for elaboration here. ↩︎
• 37
  Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 592. ↩︎
• 38
  Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 592. ↩︎
• 39
  Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 593. ↩︎
• 40
  Gaffin, ‘Priesthood of Christ,’ 51. ↩︎
• 41
  Harris, ‘Priest,’ 629. ↩︎
• 42
  Van Dixhoorn, Creeds, 352; to aid clarity, the language has been slightly amended. ↩︎
• 43
  This phrase appears in some versions of the well-known hymn Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, originally written by Helen H. Lemuel in 1922. ↩︎
• 44
  Calvin, Comm 1 Timothy 2:6, trans. Smail, 212. ↩︎
• 45
  Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 501-2. ↩︎
• 46
  Jensen and Doyle, ‘Ascension and Heavenly Session,’ 2. ↩︎
• 47
  Jensen and Doyle, ‘Ascension and Heavenly Session,’ 2. ↩︎
• 48
  Bray, Faith we Confess, 34. The Kingdom of God and Kingship of Christ are properly understood against the background of the Old Testament. For a short yet detailed survey, see Stephen G. Dempster, ‘Kingdom and King,’ in DNTUOT, 431-432. On Christ the King and the Kingdom of Christ, see Calvin, Commentaries, 176-191; then to Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:1111-80; Robert Letham, The Work of Christ (IVP, 1993), 197-224; idem, Systematic Theology, 584-596; Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 537-544. ↩︎
• 49
  Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 500. ↩︎
• 50
  Thompson and Doyle, ‘Work of Christ,’ 5. ↩︎
• 51
  Thompson and Doyle, ‘Work of Christ,’ 5. ↩︎
• 52
  Bauckham, ‘Jesus Christ,’ in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, 600. ↩︎
• 53
  Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 501. ↩︎
• 54
  A. A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology, 232-33. ↩︎
• 55
  Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:904. ↩︎
• 56
  Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 374-75. ↩︎
• 57
  Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 375-77. ↩︎
• 58
  Westminster Confession of Faith, 8.8; Van Dixhoorn, Creeds, 199-200, slightly amended. ↩︎
• 59
  Frederick Dale Brunner, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Eerdmans, 2012), 810. ↩︎
• 60
  See Ian J. Shaw, Christianity: A Biography. 2000 Years of Global History (IVP/Zondervan, 2016). Also refer to Nick Needham, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power, 4 volumes (Christian Focus, 1998-2017). ↩︎
• 61
  Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 500. ↩︎
• 62
  Jonathan Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 1 (The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974]), 591. See Garry J. William, ‘Jonathan Edwards,’ in T & T Clark Companion to Atonement, 467-72. ↩︎
• 63
  American Standard Version. A literal translation of the Greek text: ho ōn eis ton kolpon tou patros. Kolpon means ‘lap area, side, bosom, chest.’ ↩︎
• 64
  Jurgen Moltmann, The Crucified God (SCM Press, 1974) 266. ↩︎
• 65
  Many thanks to Robert Doyle for elaboration here. ↩︎
• 66
  The Socinians were a 16th and 17th movement that rejected the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, and original sin. Their intellectual descendants are the Unitarians, who believe that Jesus Christ was not God, but inspired by God in his moral teachings, and only in that way is he the saviour of mankind. Unitarianism still has a presence in parts of the United States of America, Europe, the United Kingdom, India, Australia, South Africa. ↩︎
• 67
  Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Disputation 26, ‘On the Office of Christ;’ Boer and Faber eds., 291. ↩︎
• 68
  A figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole, or the whole for a part. ↩︎
• 69
  Van Dixhoorn ed., Creeds, 197-200. ↩︎
• 70
  Commentary here is extracted from Thompson and Doyle, ‘Work of Christ,’ 3-4; headings are mine. See further Brannon Ellis, ‘Post-Reformation Dogmatics,’ in T & T Clark Companion to the Atonement, 693-700. ↩︎