;70
PKIEST
PRIEST
and the former would have been open to all the objections, and liable to all the defects, that attach to every assumption of the right to speak or act for others. The appointment was made by the Father (He 5'), and the action of the Son was not that of initiation but of loving and resolute consent (10'"-, 1 Jn 5'-°). He needed no constraint, and was more than ready to undertake a priesthood that involved the pains of a life upon earth and death for men. Love, resolute from the beginninj; and persisted in througli all diHiculty and human unresponsiveness, is the explanation of the Incarnation on His part, and a fundamental (|ualilication for priesthood.
If it be asked. What is it exactly that constitutes the representative character of Christ? or Why did the Father appoint Him and no other? apos- tolic thought suggests several replies, that give prominence in turn to the typical, the federal, and the immanental relation of Christ to man. He is the antitj-pe of Adam, between whose relation to the race and that of Christ a striking parallel, with a more striking contrast, may be drawn (Ko 5'---', 1 Co lo'-"- *'•'•)• The one was the medium of sin and death, the other of redemption and life ; and as the one stands for a race sinful before God, so, in virtue of what He does for the race, lifting men up to higher spiritual privileges than the un- fallen Adam ever knew, the other is even a fitter representative. These typical representations of Christ's Headsliip of the race liave at times to be modified into His Headship of the Church on account of the difi'erent attitudes towards Him that men assume (Col 1", Eph I--'-, 1 Jn 2-), and are strengthened by various federal considerations. He brings the race into unity, especially by His priestly exercise of sympathy and brotherliness (He 2'"'" 4"'-), and creates human solidaritj' by the common tie of brotherhood, binding each indi- vidual to Himself (Jn 17"^). Thereby again He is qualified to act for all ; and an ettective motive is secured for unlimited forbearance among men and for mutual kindness and helpfulness of every degree.
But deep down at its foundations the rejjresenta- tive character of Christ rests not so much upon His ethical qualities and their exhibition and efl'ects, or upon typical connexions with OT beliefs, as upon what He actually is, upon His intrinsic and essential nature. He is God as well as man, and as God He is immanent in every man, and thereby naturally qualified to act as his representative. This is im- plied in the frequent references to the indwelling of Christ as a racial fact, which becomes when recognized a source of assurance and strength, to the universal Fatherhood and Sonship, and to the action of the Holy Spirit in leaving no man without internal witness and prevenient grace. Not only are we insphered in God (Ac 17"*), but we are the shrine in which His Spirit dwells (1 Co 3i« e'" ; cf. Ro 8"*^), dishonoured and powerless, or allowed to rule, and leading on to perfection. All the differ- entiations of the universe, personal or impersonal, were produced by Christ from an original unity, of which He was the centre (Col P^*-), just as again they will eventually be gathered up into a unity in Him (Eph 1'"). Meanwhile ' in him all things consist,' or hold together ; and Christ is thus the secret of the world's order and the natural repre- sentative of the race in the presence of God. In the apostolic period it was too soon to discuss at length the relations between the Divinity and the humanity of Christ, or to recover the doctrine of immanence from the pantheistic schools and apply it to the solution of the problems of Christ's work. Yet the germs are distinctly present, and one part of St. Paul's writings guards and completes the teaching of another. Christ as Priest is the sub- stitute and representative of man, not by any
arbitrary appointment on the part of God, still less by a legal fiction with which there is no corre- spondence in actual fact, but because as God lie is immanent in every man, and therefore in His nature the fit and only Person to act in the belialf and stead of all. As God-Man He stands in virtue of what He is lietween the two parties to be brought together, and represents perfectly each to the other.
{b) Since the apostolic teaching sprang imme- diately out of Jewish conceptions, it was to be expected that it would represent the Priesthood of Christ specifically as a continuation of the sacerdotal ministry of the UT, and knit the two together as a preparation with the fulfilment, or as provisional with the ideal (He S'G'-"'') and permanent. This it does in respect alike to the priestly qualifications and to the priestly functions of Christ. To the qualifications already referred to — (1) Divine ap- pointment and (2) sympathy — several are added. The list begins with (3) His perfect humanity, in- volving oneness with the men for whom lie acts, with the experience in His case as in theirs of the discipline of sufi'ering and temptation (He 2''"''- 4'^). (4) In personal character He was holy and guileless (He 7-", 1 P 3"*, Ac 3"), not only free from moral disqualification, but an example of virtue and godli- ness, with a personal right of access to God. (5) This freedom from limitations extends beyond the range of morality to all the infirmities to which man is subject (He 7^ 5"), and lifts Christ altogether above the Aaronio order. A better comparison is suggested by the writer of the Epistle to the He- brews: seeMELCHIZEDEK. The Priesthood of Christ is royal from the beginning, and still He sits 'on the right hand of the tlirone of the Majesty in the heavens' (S'). (6) Its timelessness and indissolu- bility arise from Christ's triumph over death (Ro 6"-, He 7-^'-), and render any delegation of His priestly duties unnecessary, and any succession to His office impossible. Because ' he ever liveth to make intercession,' salvation 'to the uttermost' (7-^) is a gift He can bestow at any moment upon the sincere and strenuous. Other priestly aids become superfluous and an encumbrance. (7) Finally, the offering He presents is perfect both in itself ('Gal l^ Eph 5^ He 9'=- ^) and in its value and ettect (Ro 5=^ 6»'-, He 9-^=^'- W"- '^■'\ Tit 2'%