LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 230

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II. THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

In Exodus 19 God seeks to convince Israel of this
priestly identity. Yet, even when God plainly calls them
His kingdom of priests, Israel hesitates. In Exodus 20,
Moses is still asked by Israel to intervene. As the people
say to Moses (verse 19): “‘You speak to us, and we will
listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.’” They
rightly acknowledge or confess their inability to stand
before God on their own. Such cowering is perhaps
understandable. Who were they to stand before such a
God? But this was not something they had taken into
their own hands. Rather God had invited and established
the relationship. They did not wrest such an identity
from God. He bestowed it, calling them a kingdom of
priests. It is truly good news for those people God chooses and makes His own, but it also intimidates.
A few chapters later Israel would have a priesthood
established from the tribe of Levi, priests who served
as go-betweens or mediators in formal worship. The
entire tribe would maintain the Tabernacle and its environs, serving as the substitutes for the first-born sons
(Num. 3:12–13; Deut. 10:8). From among the Levites, Aaron
and his sons were to offer up the people’s daily and
yearly sacrifices (Ex. 28; Lev. 1:7–8). And the high priest
alone would stand in for the entire people making yearly
atonement for all sins in the Holy of Holies (Ex. 28:29;
Lev. 16:32–34). But these priests were not only to look one
way toward God; they also looked the other way as well
to the people, to those around, reminding Israel of their
present relationship and the work of the Messiah still
to come. As they offered sacrifices they also taught (see
Deut. 33:10), for Israel’s worship was thoroughly instructive — given by God and making Him known within
Israel and through Israel to the nations round about.
In fact, what the Levitical priests were doing formally
and publicly was also what all Israel had actually been
established to do daily and constantly. Recall again the
priestly work recorded in Genesis: Noah (8:20), Abram
(13:18), Abraham (renamed — 21:33). What these giants
of faith had done for their families and as a witness to all
who saw, the formal Levitical priesthood would also do
in a public worship setting. Yet the Levitical responsibilities did not put an end to that identity and work given to
the entire kingdom of priests in Exodus 19.
Thus, we can see the “both — and” nature of the
priesthood: (a) All Israel was called to priestly standing
before God and for mediation especially on behalf of
their future generations and on behalf of the surrounding nations, the Gentiles; but internally (b) there were
priests from within Israel who mediated on behalf of
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Israel, administering the sacrifices of forgiveness and
grace, proclaiming and teaching and praying. It was all
priestly service of God and to people done in different
places and ways.

serving rested on the foundational relationship of God’s
promise of a faithful “Servant” of the Lord (Is. 42:1–9;

49:1–13; 50:4–11; 52:13–53:12) who would fulfill the service

Israel could not achieve. The Servant’s faithfulness would
entail suffering and, as such, a priestly service, but not in
the way of Aaron. The Servant would suffer in self-sacrifice — offering Himself for sin (Is. 53:10), silent as a lamb
(53:7), bearing all griefs, sorrows, transgressions, iniquities, and chastisement (53:4–5) for “the Lord has laid on
him the iniquity of us all” (53:6).

From the start, God’s revelation to His people was
a revelation of grace, and their identity rested on that
continuing favor of God. It was sealed with God’s pledge
of faithfulness in the Covenant. But along the way, there
are pitfalls, perhaps the greatest of which is forgetting
on what this relationship rests. Thus Israel all too easily
could flatter themselves, thinking they possessed something inherent that had drawn God to them and caused
them to be chosen by Him (see Deut. 7:6–8). The attitude
is human and perennial. Luther noted as much in his
Heidelberg Theses #28: “The love of God does not find,
but creates, that which is pleasing to it. The love of man
comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.”18
A more colloquial version of Luther’s point: We are not
lovable but are made lovable by God who loves.
In addition, the people risked misunderstanding
their identity as a privilege exclusive to them and meant
for no one else. As the Old Testament sadly recounts,
Old Israel seemed too often to forget that they were no
people until God had made them who they were by
grace and kept them the same way. Hearing the warnings
of the temptations posed by the false gods of the nations
and well aware of the brutal reality of Gentile sin, they
lost track of the promise that the gracious blessing that
brought into being the family of the patriarchs — their
family! — would result in blessing for all the nations
(Gen. 12:1–3; 26:4–5). The Old Testament story only occasionally indicates any recognition by God’s people that
they were to be about a universal mission with a very
specific message.
One further element pertaining to priesthood in
the Old Testament is vital for our consideration. The
history of priestly service by Israel, both as a kingdom of
priests and by the ordained Levitical priests, is a history
of failure and, often, rank apostasy.19 Thus, all of Israel’s
18

AE 31:41.

19
One of the clearest examples of priestly apostasy is the case of Eli’s
sons (1 Sam. 2). God’s judgment is a revocation of the divine promise
to continue the Aaronic priesthood through Eli (vv. 30–36). Augustine
suggests that the installation of Samuel was only a partial fulfillment of
the prophecy to Eli and that its entire fulfillment would come only in
Christ and His priesthood: “No one who looks at these prophecies with
the eye of faith could fail to see that they have been fulfilled. For now,
to be sure, no tabernacle has been left to the Jews, no temple, no altar,
no sacrifice and, it follows, no priesthood” (Concerning the City of God
against the Pagans, trans. Henry Bettenson [New York: Penguin Books,
1972], 17.5.725).

I. THE OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND

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II. “PRIEST” IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

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So it is that God serves and that His people also serve
as His priests, living in witness, teaching the need for
God’s mercy and saving promises. The work promised in
the Servant who is King and Priest creates the kingdom
of priests. Their priestly service is forever grounded in
Him. He makes His people to be what they are: “Wherefore we are priests, as he is Priest, sons as he is Son, kings
as he is King.”21

1. Promises Fulfilled
To speak of “new” and “old” implies contrast, but it
leaves open the kind of contrast. It might contrast error
and truth — old, false ideas versus truths that are now
evident. The contrast of Old and New Testaments is not
of that sort. When we look at “priests” and “priesthood”
now in the New Testament, some aspects remain the
same, while others are significantly different. This is the
New Testament. It is new not as a correction of falsehood, however, but one of promise (prophecy) and
21

On the Ministry, AE 40:20.

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2019 Convention Workbook

While the Hebrew language does not have tenses per
se — no past, present, and future as in English — the
translations do well when they capture a future sense, a
forward-looking vantage point. So when Exodus 19 is
rendered “you shall be to me a kingdom of priests,” we
are told, in effect, that while God had acted to get the
people to that point, He was not finished working and
things were not over and done with. While Israel surely
was God’s, the people, like God Himself, were pointing
forward, as the promises of the Servant Messiah were
still to be fulfilled. In Him — the eternal royal Priest —
God’s call of Israel as a royal priesthood is to be resolved
in the universal priesthood of all justified believers, old
and new.
20
Acts reminds us that this psalm cannot be about David (2:34–36).
All potential confusion is erased when the author of Hebrews clearly
identifies the Lord Jesus as the One who fills the order of Melchizedek
with its full glory as the “Great High Priest” (see Heb. 5:5–10; 6:19–7:17).

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I. THE OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND

• The great High Priest of the New Testament, Christ
Jesus, is the eternal Priest who comes to offer the
one, full atoning sacrifice that countless Old Testament sacrifices could only anticipate.

fulfillment. The New Testament makes plain the preparatory character of the Old Testament.
The New Testament is utterly dependent upon Christ,
the fulfillment of the Old in all its parts. So Luke 24:44–47:
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I
spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and
the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the
Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written,
that the Christ should suffer and on the third day
rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name
to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

• In “the high priest of our confession,” we “share in
a heavenly calling” with Him to a priesthood now
conferred not by membership in the covenant with
Abraham and his family line, but in the covenant of
Baptism intended for all nations.
• In Christ, this new priesthood and heavenly calling
is not focused on Israel or its sacrifices, but on
proclaiming the Gospel of Christ’s sacrifice for
all people.

2. The Great High Priest
The complete and final revelation of God comes in
the Word made flesh — in Jesus, the Christ. Israel had
glimpsed flashes of God’s redemptive love all through its
history, even as the people often strayed from the covenant. God held to His promises to them as His kingdom
of priests. But now the time of glimpses was over with
the coming of the Redeemer.

“You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation,” declares
Peter, speaking in the present tense as he refers to
promises fulfilled! In the Old Testament, God had made
Himself known to His people in the foundational work
of creation, then in His mighty acts of deliverance, in
His election of Israel as His covenant people, and in His
messianic promises of the One who would be Prophet
(Deut. 18:15), Priest (Ps. 110:4) and King (Ps. 2). In all this
and more, God acted in grace and mercy. The people of
Israel were called to be His royal priests entirely because
of God’s gracious character, not on account of their virtue or merit. The Old Testament’s royal priesthood was
thus grounded entirely in God’s gracious provision, in
His redemptive work and in His promises — which is to
say that the royal priesthood of old is the people of God
redeemed by grace through faith alone, just as the whole
of life for the New Testament priesthood is also grounded entirely in grace.

II. “PRIEST ” IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Yet one more title for the promised Davidic Servant
must be mentioned. As implied by Isaiah’s Servant title,
he is also Priest, “a priest forever.” We earlier referred to
Melchizedek’s mysterious appearance in Genesis 14. He
reappears in one of the psalter’s great Messianic psalms,
Psalm 110, where he is declared to be the pattern for
the Lord and eternal royal priest who sits at the Lord’s
own right hand.20 It will be in the royal Priest after
the order of Melchizedek that all God’s promises find
their fulfillment.

Nevertheless, it is true that in the New Testament
there is “a new and different kind of priesthood.”22 What
is “new” in the New Testament? Most simply, it is Christ.
The New Testament priesthood is defined entirely in
light of Christ, who is the great High Priest. Hebrews
3:1–2 says, “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in
a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high
priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who
appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all
God’s house.”

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may
proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9

hat fulfillment has come. It is
the coming of the Servant, the Seed, the Son
and Offspring, and, yes, the Prophet, King and
eternal Priest. His coming, following on God’s
promise, is the good word of Gospel, for He is God with
us as anointed Son of Man, serving and saving people.
His coming is the fulfillment of every promise to Israel,
the righteousness that Israel failed to offer, the atonement that every other sacrifice anticipated, the victory
over death and every evil, and the mighty rule that alone
achieves the longed-for kingdom.

The need for that Servant is implicit in the proclamation of Law and judgment by the Lord’s prophets, from
Moses to Malachi. And the promises of the Servant refer
to Him by many titles and references in addition to “Servant.” The Word promises the Seed of Eve (Gen. 3:15), Son
and Offspring of the patriarchs (Gen. 12:3; 17:19; 28:14),
Ruler from Judah and Bethlehem (Gen. 49:10; Micah 5:2),
Prophet like Moses (Deut. 18:15–18), eternal King (2 Sam.
7:12–13), Immanuel (Is. 7:14), Son of Man (Dan. 7:13–14),
He who does God’s will (Ps. 40:6–8) and, of course, the
Messiah — the Anointed of David (1 Kings 2:4; Jer. 23:5–6;
33:14–18; Is. 11:1; Ezek. 34:20–24).

In the Messiah promised of old, the Light of the
World has come as promised (Is. 58:8; 60:1; John 1:9; 9:5),
with light for Israel and for the Gentiles (Luke 2:32). He
is the true Light enlightening everyone and everything
(John 1:9; 1 John 2:8). One of the Levitical priests rejoiced
in the Messiah’s advent: “Blessed be the Lord God of
Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and
has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of
his servant David,” sang Zechariah as he gave thanks for
the “sunrise” that gives “light to those that sit in darkness
and the shadow of death” (Luke 1:68–69, 78–79). But most
of Israel allowed itself to be blinded by a shadow, so to
22
Sermon on Psalm 110 (1535), AE 13:306. Luther’s extended “sermon”
on this psalm was preached over eight weeks. Throughout his comments, he sees the psalm in its proper, messianic light.

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speak. That which had once been a help to teach and
remind of the focus of God’s promise became an end in
itself, a burden to conscience. Colossians 2:17 speaks
of old covenant rituals as a shadow of things to come.
Indeed, as Hebrews 10:1 indicates, the Old Testament
priesthood and its work was a shadow as well. Shadows
are not the entire sum and substance of a thing, but
they do give an indication, an outline or idea of what
the thing is like. They serve to point to the substance
itself. So it is worth looking at the shadow, but it is also
essential to keep looking closely for the thing itself.
However, in large measure, Israel forsook the substance
for the shadow.
Israel as a whole was called by God from among the
nations. The Levites were then called from among the
twelve tribes. Then, from among the tribe of Levi, the
Levitical priests were in turn called. Lastly, the one high
priest was anointed from among the other priests.23 By
this representative arrangement, then, they were all a
part of the people and so could rightly speak to them
even as they would represent them before God and,
in turn, mediate God’s salvation to others (Gen. 12:3;
Ex. 19:4–6; Is. 49:6; 60:1–3; Mal. 2:7–9). When they offered
sacrifices, thanks, and praise to God, they offered what
would always be flawed as it arose from them; still, God
graciously promised to accept this service as perfect. In
a sense, the entire role of the Levitical tribe culminated
in the representative work of the high priest.24 Hebrews
5:1–3 says as much: “Every high priest is selected from
among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and
are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.
This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as
well as for the sins of the people.”
The high priests, together with the entire Levitical
system, were but shadows of the coming perfect Priest,
the complete Mediator who would offer sacrifice once for
all. The Great High Priest, Christ Jesus, perfectly fulfilled
23
The Levites as a whole were substitutes for the firstborn sons of Israel
(and thereby for each family). They provided general service in the
tabernacle or temple (Num. 3:12–13). Aaron and his descendants served
as priests, leading the people in the daily, yearly and special sacrifices (Lev. 1:7–8) of life in Israel. The high priest Aaron, and then those
individuals selected after him beginning with Eleazar, alone entered the
Most Holy Place on the yearly Day of Atonement to atone for the sins
of all Israel (Ex. 28:29; Lev. 16:32–34).
24
So the high priest Caiaphas, though he did not believe in Jesus the
Messiah, nevertheless prophesied truthfully in accord with his office
as high priest about Christ’s vicarious death for Israel and the world
(John 11:49–52).

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