| From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase |
Part three of a series. Read part two.
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Contemporary Evangelicals' ungodly cooperation with Roman Catholic politicians, pundits, and churchmen effectively denies the central truth that alone can change man and society: Since Christ is the great High Priest, we need no other -- in heaven or on earth.
Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. (Hebrews 8:1-2)
Continuing his comments on this great passage, J. Sidlow Baxter writes:
With Jesus as our all-sufficient High Priest we need no other; nor can we tolerate it that self-deluded, fictitious clerical priests should ever intrude between Him and us. Certainly, no other priest is needed in heaven, for Jesus has passed "into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb. 9:24) and His priesthood there has the all-sufficiency of perfection in every aspect.
Equally definitely no other priest is needed on earth. The old-time sacrifices are all done away in the one perfect sin-offering on Calvary. This is where the Romanists go fundamentally wrong. They are self-blinded to the fact that if priests are still offering sacrifice, then redemption is not completed. Hebrews 8:3 says, "Every high priest is ordained to offer sacrifices." Therefore, if the Roman church insists that its clerics are "priests", they must needs have a sacrifice to offer. This requires changing the Lord's Supper into their" Mass", which turns the Cross into a still-continuing offering instead of a once-completed offering. Thus Christ is kept on the Cross; and the Romanists miss the central truth and glory of the Gospel, namely, a once-for-all completed work of redemption on Calvary. The whole emphasis in this Hebrews epistle is upon the once-for-all finality of that Calvary sacrifice. The efficacy of it is ever-continuing, but the offering itself was once-for-all. Therefore the spurious priests of Rome are a contradictory superfluity. One only is our all-sufficient priest, even Jesus Himself.
This also is utterly true: no other priest was ever intended. Here, most of all, we see the sad error in the Roman doctrine of so-called "Apostolical Succession". Quite apart from lineal gaps which break the historical succession, the apostles themselves were not priests, but laymen; nor did they ever become priests; nor did they ever appoint priests to succeed them! There is no such thing as an apostolic succession in priesthood; the very idea is an exotic contradiction. If the Roman hierarchy insists on priesthood by descent, then obviously it must go back beyond the apostles, to the Aaronic priesthood; and if so, what then? Why this: the only priesthood which God ever appointed on earth He has Himself done away in Christ!
Most significant of all, perhaps, is the statement in Hebrews 7:24, "But this Priest [Christ], because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." The Greek word here translated as "unchangeable" (aparabatos) really means intransmissible, untransferable. That priesthood was never transmitted even to the apostles. It is solitary, inviolable, exclusive, incommunicable. No pope, cardinal, cleric, or any other religious dignitary on earth, is a priest of Christ; but in a subordinate way, all true believers are priests in Christ. HIS priesthood is solitary but absolutely ALL-SUFFICIENT. Thank God, we need no other.
No other priest in heaven I need,
No other priest on earth to plead.
His wounded hands and feet and side
Exclude all need of priests beside.
Thus I enjoy, through Him alone,
Glad fellowship with yonder throne!
The tragedy of our time is that we see many Evangelicals setting these truths aside as they rush to embrace politicians, pundits, and churchmen who believe Rome's falsehood that Christ's saving work requires man's further contribution. Evangelicals justify such unholy alliances by claiming that they can gain greater numbers and "clout" for what is, in fact, a vain effort to "reclaim the culture" by effecting political and social change.
Shame on the Evangelical church! Shame on pastors and leaders who are thus deceiving and being deceived! Dear friends, America's problems will not be solved in Washington, because her real problem is not "inside the Beltway." America's real problem is inside the church which has departed from the most fundamental truth of the Gospel. May those who are called by Christ's name turn from our wicked ways. We must repent. That is the prerequisite if Christ is to heal this land (2 Chronicles 7:14).
[Adapted from J. Sidlow Baxter, Awake My Heart (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 1960 and 1994), page 127.]
Next: We Have A Priest: What Is the Upshot?
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