November 1924
T HE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
690
The Priesthood of the Ministry By Frederic W. Farr, D.D. Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Bos Angeles, California
Dr. Farr has the reputation of being able to say more, in choice, terse, understandable English, in a shorter space of time, than the majority of speakers and writers. We are sure those who read this article will concur in this opinion.
1. By offering sacrifice. 2. By making intercession. 3. By coming forth to bless the people.
New Testament teaches the priesthood of all evers. Ministers of the Gospel, therefore, are “ priests” in any different sense from that in ch all Christians are. Curiously enough the word “ priest” ( “ hiereus” ) is never applied to a minister in Scripture. Ministers are called all other imaginable names that express the manifold activi ties of the pastoral office, but not once are they called “ priests.” No priestly function is attributed to them. The silence of Scripture is as significant as its teaching. Christ is the one great Prophet, Priest and King. These three offices are necessary to the work of redemption. He must be a Prophet to save us from the ignorance of sin; a Priest to save us from the guilt of sin; and a King to save us from the power of sin. All believers exercise these offices in a qualified way by virtue of their union with Christ. This union is created by regeneration, which makes the believer a partaker of the Divine nature. The Approach to God Since all men are sinners, they can only approach God through the mediation of a priest who is appointed to offer sacrifice for sin. A priest is therefore a necessity in religion. There can be no religion without a priest. The Aaronic Priesthood The Aaronic priesthood was instituted for men in the flesh. Priests of that order were made according to the law of a carnal commandment, and they serve not unto heavenly things but “ unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.” The Aaronic order was part of a system of types and shadows, which passed away when Christ, who is the substance and fulfillment of all types and shad ows, came into this world and fulfilled His mission here. Although the people of God on earth have received a new birth from God in the washing of regeneration, nevertheless they have sin in them and they still inhabit the mortal, death-doomed bodies of their humiliation. Therefore, they can approach God only through the High Priest, the Minister of the true sanctuary and the heavenly tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. “ For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father.” ' “ I am the way; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” “ Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.” There is, therefore, no priest on earth today, since heaven is the sphere of priestly ministry. Moreover, if Christ Him self were on earth, He would not be a priest on this account. The assumption of a priest of any kind on earth is an impertinence and a sacrilege and is tantamount to a denial of the high priesthood of Jesus Christ. The Believer’s Priestly Character and Work Since a minister of the Gospel is to be an example in word, conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, to all believers, we may consider his priestly character and work, with the understanding that he is only a model and a sample of what every Christian ought to be. A priest is one Divinely appointed to transact business with God on man’s behalf. He fulfills his office in a three fold way:
At His first advent, Christ offered the one sacrifice for sin. In the present interval, between His first and second advents, He is appearing in the presence of God to make intercession for us. “ And unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time unto salvation.” The Old Testament priests were types and symbols of the true priesthood in Christ. In the New Testament, min isters of the Gospel do not mediate between God and men. They are never said to offer sacrifices for sin. They have no power as intercessors with God which every believer does not have. God has made all His people kings and priests unto Him, and each one has liberty of access through Christ. Is a Mediator Necessary? The church of Rome, on the contrary, teaches that her ministers are priests in the official sense of the word, because they mediate between God and His people, since they maintain that the sinner cannot of himself draw near to God through Christ, and obtain pardon and grace except through their intervention. They assume to offer sacrifice in the real body and -blood of Christ in the mass, as an expiation of the sins of the people. Again, they are inter cessors, not as one man may pray for another, but as having the power to forgive sins. “ Ego to absolvo.” Any school boy knows that the “ priest” of the Old Covenant and the “ presbyter or elder” of the New Covenant are two different personages having nothing in common to justify equivalency of names. Yet Rome has confounded them in her French version of the Scriptures in which these two different words are translated by the one French word “ piètre.” In what sense may a believer discharge these three func tions of the priestly office? The one sacrifice of Christ is not to be repeated and nothing can ever be added to it or taken from it. Even when we are exhorted to fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ for His body’s sake, which is the church, we are not for a moment to suppose that the sufferings of saints have any expiatory merit or sacrificial value. Expiatory sacrifices of all kinds were fulfilled in the offering upon the cross and therefore they have ceased forever, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. We find, however, that sacrifices are mentioned in the New Testament, the phraseology of Juda ism being carried over and applied to certain features of the Christian life that must have some correspondence with priestly work, otherwise the names would not apply. Whenever a Christian, therefore, engages in these exer cises, he may be considered to be magnifying his priestly office and performing his priestly functions. “ By Him, there fore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, confessing His name.” This corresponds to the continual burnt offering in Israel day by day. “Whoso offereth praise (literally, sacrificeth) glorifleth me.” “ Confessing to His name” does not mean using His name as the closing formula of a prayer. His name stands for Himself and for His (Continued on page 740)
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