Reference: Priest
Hastings
Priest' (Gr. hiereus) is employed in the NT to denote anyone whose function it is to offer a religious sacrifice. 1. It is used of a Gentile priesthood in Ac 14:15 ('the priest of Jupiter'), and also in Heb. as applied to the 'order of Melchizedek' (Ac 5:8,10; 7:1 ff.), for Melchizedek, it is evident, was not merely a pre-Aaronic but a Gentile priest.
2. It is constantly employed to denote the members of the Jewish priesthood in their various ranks and functions. The ordinary officiating priests of the Temple come before us discharging the same offices of which we read in the OT. They burn incense (Lu 1:5,8), present the sacrificial offerings (Mt 12:5, cf. Nu 28:9-10), effect the ceremonial cleansing of the leper (Mt 8:4 = Mr 1:44 = Lu 5:14; cf. Lu 17:14). The high priest (archiereus) appears as president of the Sanhedrin (Mt 26:57; Ac 5:27; 7:1; 23:2 etc.), and as entering every year on the Day of Atonement into the Most Holy Place with his offering of blood (Heb 9:25). Most frequently of all the word occurs in the plural form 'chief priests' (archiereis), an expression that probably designates a high-priestly party consisting of the high priest proper, the ex-high priests, and the members of those privileged families from which the high priests were drawn.
3. In the Ep. to the Hebrews Christ is described as both priest and high priest, but the fact that Melchizedek (wh. see), the chosen type of His eternal priesthood, is also described by the same two terms (cf. Heb 5:6 with Heb 5:10; 6:20 with Heb 7:1) shows that no distinction in principle is to be thought of, and that Christ is called a high priest simply to bring out the dignity of His priesthood. This conception of Christ as a priest is clearly stated in no other book of the NT, though suggestions of it appear elsewhere, and esp. in the Johannine writings (e.g. Joh 17:19; Re 1:13). In Heb. it is the regulating idea in the contrast that the author works out with such elaboration between the Old and the New Covenants. He thinks of a mediating priest as essential to a religion, and his purpose is to show the immense superiority in this respect of the new religion over the old. He finds certain points of contact between the priesthood of Aaron and that of Christ. This, indeed, was essential to his whole conception of the Law as having a shadow of the good things to come (Heb 10:1), and of the priests who offer gifts according to the Law as serving 'that which is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things' (Heb 8:5). Christ, e.g., was Divinely called and commissioned, even as Aaron was (Heb 5:4,6). He too was taken from among men, was tempted like His fellows, learned obedience through suffering, and so was qualified by His own human sympathies to be the High Priest of the human race (Heb 4:15 ff., Heb 5:1 ff.). But it is pre-eminently by way of antithesis and not of likeness that the Aaronic priesthood is used to illustrate the priesthood of Christ. The priests of the Jewish faith were sinful men (Heb 5:3), while Jesus was absolutely sinless (Heb 4:15). They were mortal creatures, 'many in number, because that by death they are hindered from continuing' (Heb 7:23), while Jesus 'abideth for ever,' and so 'hath his priesthood unchangeable' (Heb 7:24). The sacrifices of the Jewish Law were imperfect (Heb 10:1 ff.); but Christ 'by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are being sanctified' (Heb 10:14). The sanctuary of the old religion was a worldly structure (Heb 9:1), and so liable to destruction or decay; but Christ enters 'into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us' (Heb 9:24).
And this contrast between the priesthood of Aaron and the priesthood of Christ is brought to a head when Jesus is declared to be a priest
See Verses Found in Dictionary
If now you will truly give ear to my voice and keep my agreement, you will be my special property out of all the peoples: for all the earth is mine:
And on the Sabbath day, two he-lambs of the first year, without any mark, and two tenth parts of the best meal for a meal offering mixed with oil, and its drink offering: This is the burned offering for every Sabbath day, in addition to the regular burned offering, and its drink offering.
And Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing about this to anyone; but go and let the priest see you and make the offering which was ordered by Moses, for a witness to them.
Or is it not said in the law, how the Sabbath is broken by the priests in the Temple and they do no wrong?
And those who had made Jesus prisoner took him away to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and those in authority over the people had come together.
See that you say nothing to any man: but go and let the priest see you, and make yourself clean by an offering of the things ordered by Moses, for a witness to them.
In the days of Herod, king of Judaea, there was a certain priest, by name Zacharias, of the order of Abijah; and he had a wife of the family of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
Now it came about that in his turn he was acting as priest before God,
And he gave him orders: Say nothing to any man, but let the priest see you and give an offering so that you may be made clean, as the law of Moses says, and for a witness to them.
And when he saw them he said, Go, and let the priests see you. And, while they were going, they were made clean.
And Peter said to her, Give me an answer: was this amount of money the price of the land? And she said, Yes, it was.
And straight away she went down at his feet, and her life went from her: and the young men came in and saw her dead, and they took her out and put her in the earth with her husband.
Then the high priest said, Are these things true?
Then the high priest said, Are these things true?
Good people, why are you doing these things? We are men with the same feelings as you, and we give you the good news so that you may be turned away from these foolish things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things in them:
And the high priest, Ananias, gave orders to those who were near him to give him a blow on the mouth.
Through whom, in the same way, we have been able by faith to come to this grace in which we now are; and let us have joy in hope of the glory of God.
For this reason I make request to you, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you will give your bodies as a living offering, holy, pleasing to God, which is the worship it is right for you to give him.
And that the two might come into agreement with God in one body through the cross, so putting an end to that division.
By whom we come near to God without fear through faith in him.
For we have not a high priest who is not able to be touched by the feelings of our feeble flesh; but we have one who has been tested in all points as we ourselves are tested, but without sin.
For we have not a high priest who is not able to be touched by the feelings of our feeble flesh; but we have one who has been tested in all points as we ourselves are tested, but without sin. Then let us come near to the seat of grace without fear, so that mercy may be given to us, and we may get grace for our help in time of need.
Every high priest who is taken from among men is given his position to take care of the interests of men in those things which have to do with God, so that he may make offerings for sins.
And being feeble, he has to make sin-offerings for himself as well as for the people.
And being feeble, he has to make sin-offerings for himself as well as for the people. And no man who is not given authority by God, as Aaron was, takes this honour for himself.
As he says in another place, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
As he says in another place, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
And when he had been made complete, he became the giver of eternal salvation to all those who are under his orders; Being named by God a high priest of the order of Melchizedek.
Where Jesus has gone before us, as a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
For this Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who gave Abraham his blessing, meeting him when he came back after putting the kings to death,
Now if it was possible for things to be made complete through the priests of the house of Levi (for the law was given to the people in connection with them), what need was there for another priest who was of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron?
And it is true that there have been a great number of those priests, because death does not let them go on for ever; But this priest, because his life goes on for ever, is unchanging. read more. So that he is fully able to be the saviour of all who come to God through him, because he is ever living to make prayer to God for them.
Being servants of that which is a copy and an image of the things in heaven, as Moses, when he was about to make the Tent, had special orders from God: for, See, he said, that you make everything like the design which you saw in the mountain.
Now the first agreement had its rules of worship, and a holy order.
But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things of the future, through this greater and better Tent, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this world, And has gone once and for ever into the holy place, having got eternal salvation, not through the blood of goats and young oxen, but through his blood. read more. For if the blood of goats and oxen, and the dust from the burning of a young cow, being put on the unclean, make the flesh clean: How much more will the blood of Christ, who, being without sin, made an offering of himself to God through the Holy Spirit, make your hearts clean from dead works to be servants of the living God? And for this cause it is through him that a new agreement has come into being, so that after the errors under the first agreement had been taken away by his death, the word of God might have effect for those who were marked out for an eternal heritage. Because where there is a testament, there has to be the death of the man who made it.
For Christ did not go into a holy place which had been made by men's hands as the copy of the true one; but he went into heaven itself, and now takes his place before the face of God for us.
For Christ did not go into a holy place which had been made by men's hands as the copy of the true one; but he went into heaven itself, and now takes his place before the face of God for us. And he did not have to make an offering of himself again and again, as the high priest goes into the holy place every year with blood which is not his;
So Christ, having at his first coming taken on himself the sins of men, will be seen a second time, without sin, by those who are waiting for him, for their salvation.
For the law, being only a poor copy of the future good things, and not the true image of those things, is never able to make the people who come to the altar every year with the same offerings completely clean.
For the law, being only a poor copy of the future good things, and not the true image of those things, is never able to make the people who come to the altar every year with the same offerings completely clean.
Because by one offering he has made complete for ever those who are made holy.
Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no more offering for sin. So then, my brothers, being able to go into the holy place without fear, because of the blood of Jesus,
So then, my brothers, being able to go into the holy place without fear, because of the blood of Jesus, By the new and living way which he made open for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
By the new and living way which he made open for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having a great priest over the house of God,
And having a great priest over the house of God, Let us go in with true hearts, in certain faith, having our hearts made free from the sense of sin and our bodies washed with clean water:
Let us go in with true hearts, in certain faith, having our hearts made free from the sense of sin and our bodies washed with clean water:
Let us then make offerings of praise to God at all times through him, that is to say, the fruit of lips giving witness to his name. But go on doing good and giving to others, because God is well-pleased with such offerings.
You, as living stones, are being made into a house of the spirit, a holy order of priests, making those offerings of the spirit which are pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.
You, as living stones, are being made into a house of the spirit, a holy order of priests, making those offerings of the spirit which are pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.
But you are a special people, a holy nation, priests and kings, a people given up completely to God, so that you may make clear the virtues of him who took you out of the dark into the light of heaven.
And has made us to be a kingdom and priests to his God and Father; to him let glory and power be given for ever and ever. So be it.
And in the middle of them one like a son of man, clothed with a robe down to his feet, and with a band of gold round his breasts.
And have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are ruling on the earth.
And another angel came and took his place at the altar, having a gold vessel for burning perfume; and there was given to him much perfume, so that he might put it with the prayers of all the saints on the gold altar which was before the high seat.
Happy and holy is he who has a part in this first coming: over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will be ruling with him a thousand years.