# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1928_S28
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

28 Proceedings of the thirty-first convention

is, because an everlasting high priesthood belongs to him, therefore the
redemption or reconciliation that he accomplished is now also of eternal
validity. Because Jesus has an imperishable priesthood, says the Epistle to the
Hebrews, he is able also to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. That Christ prays for
us we shall take up in our last thesis. Here we point only to the connection
between his eternal high-priestly office and the eternal reconciliation that he
accomplished. Christ, it says in Heb. 9:12, "entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption"; and again in chapter 10:12: "But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the
right hand of God." "Eternal": the word attaches to his person in office, it
also attaches to his work. In what way does the one follow from the other? It
is not hard to see. Jesus' eternal high priesthood rests on his deity. Because
he is true God, therefore he also remains in this office eternally. His true
deity, however, also guarantees that his work suffices for all times. Because
he is God himself, therefore he could with one sacrifice perfect for ever them
that are sanctified, Heb. 10:14. O you sinners, gather with joy around the
accursed tree on Golgotha! There hangs your only High Priest, but also your
true, right, eternal High Priest, who reconciles you with God for ever. Seek
help from him in your need, and you are helped in time and in eternity.

Note. The following could not be read for lack of time, but is printed here for
completeness by resolution [of the convention].

VII.

In this thesis we go into the question who becomes partaker of the blessing
that the work of our High Priest has prepared, and how this takes place.

We have seen that Jesus went into death to reconcile God with us. We have also
seen that he carried out his plan, namely appeased the wrath of God and
obtained for us the divine forgiveness. A point that must now be discussed more
closely is the question: For whom is it that Christ has effected reconciliation
with God? John says: "He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world." And after Paul has said that
God has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, he adds: "God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself." Both writers first say that God is
reconciled with us, that is, with us Christians, through Jesus' work. But they
also add at once: God is reconciled with the world. So they first testify to us
that Christ has accomplished the reconciliation for us, the believers. That is
a small circle which they draw there. But then they at once make an addition.
No one is to think that what they say is limited to the small circle. They
draw a second circle, and they make it large, very large, so that it embraces
both the smaller circle and all other men.

But if anyone should be in doubt about the content of the word "world" that
both apostles use, then we can point him to the passages in which Scripture
itself states in still other words for whom the work of reconciliation of Jesus
has taken place, passages that thus form a commentary on the quoted words of
Paul and of John. Isaiah cries out in chapter 53:6: "The LORD hath laid