Representing Christ E-Book

Uche Anizor

• Herausgeber: IVP Academic
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 299

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The priesthood of all believers is a core Protestant belief. But what does it actually mean?Uche Anizor and Hank Voss set the record straight in this concise treatment of a doctrine that lies at the center of church life and Christian spirituality. The authors look at the priesthood of all believers in terms of the biblical witness, the contribution of Martin Luther and the doctrine of the Trinity. They place this concept in the context of the canonical description of Israel and the church as a royal priesthood that responds to God in witness and service to the world.Representing Christ is much more than a piece of Reformation history. It shows that the priesthood of all believers is interwoven with the practical, spiritual and missional life of the church.

Leseprobe

REPRESENTING

CHRIST

A Vision for the Priesthood of All Believers

UCHE ANIZOR & HANK VOSS

Dedicated to

Zoe, Eli and Ezra

Samuel, David, Renée and Isaiah

May you represent Christ with joy as you share in his royal priesthood

Contents

Acknowledgments

1 Exalted Clergy or Egalitarian Priests?

Potential Priesthood Problems

A Common Priesthood?

A Theological Vision for the Doctrine

A Brief Note on Authorship

2 A Royal Priesthood: Scripture’s Story

Royal Priesthood in the Garden Sanctuary: Adam the Priest-King

The Founding of a Priestly People: Exodus

Royal Priesthood Rooted in David’s Son: Psalm 110

Restoration Through the Priestly Servant: Isaiah 52–66

The Great High Priest: Christ’s Eschatological Priesthood

The Royal Priesthood of the Church: 1 Peter 2

The Service of the Gospel: Paul’s Letters

Priesthood and New Covenant Worship: Hebrews

A Suffering and Victorious Priesthood: Revelation

Conclusion: The Biblical Vision of a Royal Priesthood

3 Priesthood Reformed: Luther’s Burden

Setting the Stage: The Medieval Priesthood

Luther and the Sacrament of Ordination

The Biblical Doctrine of the Priesthood of Believers

Seven Ministries of the Priesthood

Luther’s Unique Contributions

4 Life in Communion: The Trinity and the Priesthood of All Believers

Does the Trinity Make Any Difference?

The Royal Priesthood Is Christocentric-Trinitarian

The Best of Songs: The Royal Priesthood Responds to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

Three Inadequate Protestant Versions of the Priesthood of All Believers

Summary: Mystery and Maturity

5 Worship, Work and Witness: The Practices of the Royal Priesthood

How Do Members of the Royal Priesthood Respond to God?

What Is a “Central Practice” of the Royal Priesthood?

The Seven Practices and Spiritual Sacrifices

Seven Practices of the Royal Priesthood

Conclusion: The Unity of Worship, Work and Witness

6 Representing Christ

Mature in Christ, the Great Priest-King

One Vision, Four Perspectives

So What?

Notes

Bibliography

Name and Subject Index

Scripture Index

Praise for Representing Christ

About the Authors

More Titles from InterVarsity Press

IVP Academic Textbook Selector

Copyright

Acknowledgments

We would like to express a special thanks to those who helped this project along. First, we are grateful to Dan Treier, who provided both of us with the opportunity to explore the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers during our doctoral studies. We appreciate also our LA “Inklings” group that read and commented on chapters of this book. Your care and insights have benefited this project. We are grateful for David Congdon and the IVP staff who saw this project from proposal to completion. Hank would like to thank Dr. Don Davis and the staff at The Urban Ministry Institute for their encouragement and their deep commitment to fleshing out the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Uche would like to thank Biola University for providing a research and development grant, which lightened his teaching load and freed him to work on this project. Thanks also to Chad Duarte for cheerfully compiling the index. Finally, thank you to Johanna and Melissa who faithfully encouraged us (and continue to do so) along the way.

Portions of chapters two and three contain revised material from Uche’s former work, Kings and Priests: Scripture’s Theological Account of Its Readers (Pickwick, 2014). Portions of chapters four and five contain revised material from Hank’s work The Priesthood of All Believers and the Missio Dei (Pickwick, 2016). These portions are used by permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers.

1

Exalted Clergy or Egalitarian Priests?

For through him [Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 2:18

Developing a faithful doctrine of the church is a practical and theological challenge facing the global evangelical church in the twenty-first century. Pastors and church leaders are asking new questions about the church and often finding the answers of previous generations unsatisfactory. One Roman Catholic author suggests that “as far as the development of doctrine is concerned, the twentieth century was the century of the church.”1 We believe something similar may be said at the end of this century—if the Lord tarries—about the Protestant and indigenous churches exploding around the globe. In the midst of rapid change, a return to the sources can provide much-needed guidance for a new generation of missional disciples. Some five hundred years ago, similar winds of change were blowing. At that time the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers was retrieved by a man named Martin Luther. The doctrine became a pillar for the Protestant church and continues to possess powerful resources for the church today. Yet like any good thing—money, sex or power, for example—the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers can be used for good or ill. What is a faithful and fruitful understanding of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers?

Potential Priesthood Problems

Ordained priests have recently received much negative attention. Headlines abound: “Priest Faces 7 Years for Endangering Children,” “Archbishop, Under Fire over Abuse, Apologizes but Says He Won’t Resign,” “U.N. Panel Says Vatican Is Lax over Abusive Priests” and so on.2 In much of Europe and North America ordained priesthood is associated in the popular imagination with scandal, cover-ups and abuses of power. Others find themselves confused and ambivalent regarding clergy, describing priests as at once holy, detached, committed, aloof, devoted and out of touch.

At one end of the spectrum, there is the admirable Bishop Myriel of Les Miserables—a paragon of goodness and mercy. The novel begins with a description of Myriel’s characteristic benevolence. When he arrives in Digne he is installed in the episcopal palace, “a vast and handsome town house built in stone,” which happens to be next to a hospital. Three days after his arrival the bishop visits the hospital, and upon seeing its small size and bad conditions he resolves to house its twenty-six poor patients in his palace and himself in the hospital.3 It is this same priest who later welcomes the vagrant Jean Valjean with open arms. Who can forget the scene where, after running off in the night with the bishop’s silverware, Valjean is apprehended by police and escorted back to Myriel? When the police inform the priest that they found his silver in the thief’s bag, the priest responds by turning to Valjean and saying, “Ah, there you are. Am I glad to see you! But, heavens! I gave you the candlesticks, too, you know; they are made of silver like the rest and you can get two hundred francs for them, easily. Why didn’t you take them with the cutlery?” Upon giving the crook the candlesticks, he releases him and sends him on his way to go and become “an honest man.”4

At the other end of the spectrum, one might think (scornfully) of Jane Austen’s fairly irreligious parson, Rev. Collins, whose high esteem of himself and his authority as clergy “made him altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility.”5

Yet for many of the faithful the ordained priest stands at the top of an ecclesiastical hierarchy—one, perhaps, divinely instituted—as a go-between for God and his people. When the ordained priest comes to be seen as categorically different from and highly elevated above the common believer, it is no wonder that falls from grace amount to catastrophes.

What about the “priesthood of all believers”? What comes to mind when this notion is trumpeted? If we entertain some of the previously mentioned concepts of priesthood, it is difficult to imagine anything good coming from the idea. One reaction might be a sense of incongruence between what is being affirmed (“Everyone’s a priest to God!”) and our honest self-evaluation (“Me, a priest?!”). The syllogism is simple: (1) If priests are holy (or anything else we typically ascribe to priests) and (2) we are not, then (3) we are not priests. For those with such a mindset, the priesthood of all believers is not a doctrine so readily embraced. That’s the first potential problem.

Second, the doctrine has often come to mean something akin to the First Amendment right to “freedom of speech” or “to petition the [church] Government for a redress of grievances.” Under the guise of freedom of conscience or religious liberty (two wonderful concepts, mind you), the priesthood of believers has sometimes been used to sanction unfettered individualism and schism in Christ’s church. If I do not approve of another’s judgment, I can simply secede and band together with those who agree with me. According to one story, likely satirical, a Georgia church split forty-eight times in a hundred-year period.6 Denominations, factions and sects often appear to be the natural offspring of the priesthood of all believers.

We are thus confronted with two potential priesthood problems: clerical priesthood and individualistic priesthood. The former sometimes manifests itself in unhealthy hierarchy, the latter in unfettered democracy—and neither is desirable. What, then, do we mean when we declare every Christian a priest? Is the priesthood of all believers a concept worth salvaging?

A Common Priesthood?

Yes! The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is essential for the church today! However, as with many doctrines, the devil is in the details. Much depends on how we understand and practice the doctrine. Ordained leadership need not carry with it the aura of superiority, and believers’ priesthood need not be individualistic. Both official leadership and the priesthood of all believers are necessary for Christ’s body to grow into maturity (see Eph 4:11-16).

When we look at the New Testament, we discover that no ordained Christian leader is explicitly called “priest.”7 This term is reserved for Christ and for all of God’s people. During the first two centuries of the post-apostolic church, priestly language and imagery were similarly applied in this restricted manner.8 Justin Martyr (AD 100–165), for example, identifies Christians as a priestly race because of their unique election, unique worship and unique mission (i.e., preaching for the conversion of humankind).9 Being a priest is at the core of what it means to be a Christian. It is an identity, not simply a set of lofty but optional tasks one might perform should he or she choose. Priesthood connotes a dignity before God and a responsibility to creation. That such a motley crew as the church should be given such a designation seems completely out of touch with reality. Nevertheless it is true, and therefore must be regularly restated.

Early church theologians such as the author of the Didache, Tertullian (d. AD 222) and Origen (d. AD 254) would sometimes describe church leaders as priests, but they never did so in a way that denied the priesthood of all believers. Origen’s sermons on Leviticus, for instance, regularly appeal to the “royal priesthood” described in 1 Peter 2:9. He speaks of believers as a “spiritual priesthood” and applies priesthood to all believers at least a dozen times.10 Origen’s example illustrates that, for the most part, the title “priest” applied to all believers during the early centuries of the church.11 This emphasis on the priesthood of all believers never completely faded from the church’s consciousness, but it did undergo a decline—what we might call “the dark ages” of the doctrine (the medieval period)—until its rehabilitation by Luther and others (described in some detail in chapter three). Today the doctrine goes by different names within different traditions: “the priesthood of the baptized” (most often used in the Orthodox communion), “the priesthood of the faithful” (the preferred term among Roman Catholics) and “the priesthood of all believers” (usually used by Protestants and global indigenous church movements). Each term, carrying slightly different connotations, can helpfully illumine an important aspect of the doctrine, and we will look at each in turn.

The priesthood of the baptized (Orthodox). One writer observes that “the Orthodox baptismal rite preserves to this day the idea of the ordination of the laics.”12 Another writer notes that the connection between baptism and ordination into the universal priesthood is “found uniformly in Latin, Greek and Syriac writers of the early Church.”13 Contemporary Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas writes, “It must be said emphatically, that there is no such thing as ‘non-ordained’ persons in the Church.” He elaborates on the connection between baptism and ordination:

Baptism and especially confirmation as an inseparable aspect of the mystery of Christian initiation involves a “laying on of hands.” . . . The East has kept these two aspects (baptism—confirmation) not only inseparably linked with one another but also with what follows, namely the eucharist. The theological significance of this lies in the fact that it reveals the nature of baptism and confirmation as being essentially an ordination. . . . The immediate and inevitable result of baptism and confirmation was that the newly baptized would take his particular “place” in the eucharistic assembly, i.e. that he would become a layman. That this implies ordination is clear from the fact that the baptized person does not simply become a “Christian,” as we tend to think, but he becomes a member of a particular “ordo” [structure] in the eucharistic community.14

For the Orthodox Church baptism does not merely initiate someone into the church, but it gives them a particular office; namely, a priestly layperson—one who participates in the church’s worship (chiefly the Eucharist) in a particular way. To be a Christian is to be simultaneously baptized and ordained for a certain kind of priestly ministry. Hence the preferred Orthodox term for the doctrine is the “priesthood of the baptized.”15

The priesthood of the faithful (Roman Catholic). The Second Vatican Council’s Lumen Gentium is the first conciliar document to address “the common priesthood of the faithful.”16 It provides a clear affirmation that the whole church is a priestly people—in a manner reminiscent of Luther and other Protestants. Archbishop Oscar Romero explained the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church to his parishioners this way:

How beautiful will be the day when all the baptized understand that their work, their job, is a priestly work, . . . and each metalworker, each professional, each doctor with the scalpel, the market woman at her stand, is performing a priestly office! How many cabdrivers, I know, listen to this message there in their cabs; you are a priest at the wheel, my friend, if you work with honesty, consecrating that taxi of yours to God, bearing a message of peace and love to the passengers who ride in your cab.17

Roman Catholic doctrine teaches that there is only one priesthood—Christ’s—but there are two distinct participations in it—one ministerial, belonging to ordained clergy, the other common, belonging to all baptized believers. Christ the high priest made the church into a kingdom and priests to serve God. The Catholic catechism reads: “Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation the faithful are ‘consecrated to be . . . a holy priesthood,’” and they live out their baptismal priesthood “through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christ’s mission as priest, prophet, and king.”18 Each Christian exercises his or her priesthood in a distinctive way, in accordance with their calling. Within the baptismal priesthood of the faithful, a subgroup is ordained to the ministerial priesthood. This group of ordained leaders are the ones most people think about when the word priest is mentioned. They lead congregations in celebrations of the Lord’s Supper, preach the Word of God, baptize and perform other duties in the Roman Catholic Church. For Catholics the ordained priesthood is special, with a unique sacrament, but it exists to serve the common priesthood. It is “the means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church.”19 While “the common priesthood of the faithful” is the most common term used by Roman Catholic theologians, many now also use the traditionally Protestant “priesthood of all believers.”20

The priesthood of all believers (Protestant). Martin Luther did not coin the phrase “the priesthood of all believers”—the closest he comes is the “general priesthood of all baptized believers”—but he remains the most important source for the Protestant understanding of the doctrine, referring to believers as priests hundreds of times throughout his writings. The doctrine, according to Luther, denotes the believer’s sharing in Christ’s royal priesthood through faith and baptism. Its primary implications are every believer’s access to the Father through Christ and responsibility to minister to other believers, especially through the proclamation of the Word.

Other traditions took up Luther’s mantle, some conforming to his intent and others diverging. For example, the Anabaptist traditions held what Luther deemed a radicalized version of the doctrine. Like Luther, they emphasized believers’ direct access to God, although they sometimes minimized the role of ordained leaders in the church. One writer observes:

The experience of the immediacy with God led Anabaptists to reject any notion that special places, persons or objects brought one closer to God. The relationship of the human being with God was not dependent on clerical or sacramental mediation. In the Anabaptist view, religious institutions were human inventions, at best, and downright detrimental to spiritual well being at worst. . . . The spiritual experience of the immediate relationship between God and human beings had the consequence of elevating the common person to a position equal to that of the clergy and nobility.21

In addition to this emphasis, Anabaptists stressed the responsibility of every believer to preach the gospel to those without a sincere faith in Christ. This missional dimension of the priesthood of all believers “contributed greatly to the launching of the modern missionary movement . . . a logical result of a church-view which made every baptized person a missioner.”22 While different Protestant traditions have emphasized different aspects of the doctrine, a common core can be identified.

The heart of the Protestant understanding of the priesthood of believers is Trinitarian. First, the baptized believer now has direct access to the Father in the Most Holy Place. Through Christ we can all experience God intimately. Second, as those who have been united to Christ we have the privilege of priestly ministry to one another in the place of Christ, especially as we speak his words and announce the good news about his grace and forgiveness. Finally, every member of the priesthood of all believers has received the Holy Spirit’s anointing and empowerment for mission and witness in the world. Each baptized believer has received gifts for service and ministry. Just as Jesus was empowered for mission at his baptism, so baptized believers have received the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. They too are now called to join in the missio Dei—the mission of God in the world.

The principles and practices of the priesthood of all believers must be considered carefully lest the doctrine become a wax nose twisted in unseemly directions. How we finish the statement “We believe in the priesthood of all believers, therefore . . .” reveals a good deal about what we understand the doctrine to mean. At my (Uche’s) church, for example, the sentence might be completed with any of the following statements:

We share the preaching responsibilities among a group of five to ten teachers.

We place much of the directing of the church in the hands of laypeople.

We speak of small group leaders as the “real” pastors of the church.

We treat small groups as the heartbeat of the church, the place where all members are encouraged to “speak the truth in love” to one another.

We devote large portions of our service times to hearing spontaneous prayers and words of testimony from various members of the congregation.

We have reflection services where the congregation “preaches the sermon” through spontaneous reflections on Scripture.

Without evaluating the relative strengths or weaknesses of these practices, we can see that they betray a particular take (a fairly Anabaptistic one) on what the priesthood of all believers entails. In fact, all renderings of the doctrine are contextual and their validity rests on how much they cohere with Scripture’s overall vision. As will become clear, some practices necessarily follow from an affirmation of the priesthood of believers and some do not.

Despite their differences, the above terms—“priesthood of the faithful,” “priesthood of the baptized” and “priesthood of all believers”—all faithfully express aspects of Scripture’s teaching. Also of significance is the fact that all major traditions of the church emphasize this doctrine as vitally important for local congregations today.

A Theological Vision for the Doctrine

The priesthood of all believers lies near the center of church life and Christian spirituality. Rather than simply being a quaint Protestant slogan, it is a way of naming the Christian’s identity in Jesus Christ. As with many other teachings, fresh restatements must be made so that its truth remains living in the consciousness of the church. This book is one such contemporary restatement. We aim to present a well-rounded theological vision for the priesthood of all believers, one that is constructive rather than reactive. It develops in four stages—biblical, historical, theological and practical—with a chapter devoted to each stage.

The biblical chapter (chapter two) outlines the story of the priesthood of all believers. It is a story that begins in Eden and ends in the New Jerusalem, but we focus on a few highlights, starting with Exodus 19:4-6 followed by Psalm 110 and Isaiah 52–66. We then take up 1 Peter 2:4-9 as a programmatic New Testament text, and further build on its insights through an examination of several Pauline writings, Hebrews and the book of Revelation. The chapter also identifies some specific features of the Levitical priesthood, ultimately seeking to highlight the similarities between the labors of professional priests in the Old Testament and those of members of Christ’s royal priesthood. Finally, we point to the centrality of the Messiah as the one who fulfills the long-awaited office of eschatological royal priest and initiates the participation of God’s people in his own royal priesthood. Through the interweaving of these strands, we have the beginnings of a more thorough understanding of what the priesthood of believers entails for the church.

The third chapter is historical, detailing Martin Luther’s theology of the priesthood of believers and presenting it as a fruitful and concrete attempt to integrate and develop Scripture’s teaching on priesthood—both ordained and universal. We place Luther’s doctrine in context by setting it against the backdrop of medieval developments in the understanding of priesthood, particularly the elevation of ordained leadership over the laity. Much of Luther’s polemic is targeted toward these (negative) shifts. He argues that all believers share the privilege of royal priesthood and are called to “proclaim” the Word in its written, oral and sacramental forms. This chapter serves to correct some misconceptions of Luther’s teaching on the matter, while presenting him as a bridge between the biblical material and the present life and thought of the church. Luther’s life and teaching illustrate how revitalizing a vision of the priesthood of all believers opens the way for greater transformation of the church’s life and mission by the Word of God.

Chapter four is theological, arguing that a Christian doctrine of the priesthood of all believers should be developed with a Christocentric-Trinitarian understanding of the missio Dei. It brings the doctrine into dialogue with the church’s confession of the triune God, producing an explicitly Trinitarian account of the priesthood of believers. We contend that there are especially appropriate ways for the royal priesthood to relate to the Father (worship), the Son (service) and the Holy Spirit (witness). In­adequate Trinitarian versions of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers can be found in Islam, Mormonism and a number of Protestant theologies. This chapter concludes with a brief critique of several inadequate Protestant forms.

The final substantive chapter is practical, providing a contemporary ethics in outline for the royal priesthood. We hold that a canonically and catholically informed notion of the priesthood of all believers leads to particular contextualized ecclesial practices. The chapter addresses how a clear vision, a resolute intention and particular means (VIM) can lead to faithful and fruitful practices. It places particular weight on seven central practices essential to the health of the royal priesthood. These practices are closely associated with those emerging from the earlier chapter on Luther: (1) baptism as public ordination to the royal priesthood, (2) prayer, (3) lectio divina, (4) ministry, (5) church discipline, (6) proclamation and (7) the Lord’s Supper. Each of these is rooted in the apostolic doctrine of the royal priesthood, and each has played an important role in the doctrine’s history. Our hope for this book is that the richness of this doctrine, with its deep biblical and historical roots, will become evident so that its ramifications might be felt in our practices and everyday experience as followers of the great High Priest.

A Brief Note on Authorship

As with many dual-authored books, questions about which author is speaking may arise. While we both share responsibility for the entire book, it may be helpful for the reader to know that chapters one, two and three are primarily authored by Uche, while chapters four, five and six are primarily authored by Hank. Personal illustrations and anecdotes in the respective chapters belong to the primary author of the chapter.

2

A Royal Priesthood

Scripture’s Story

The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind,“You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 110:4

Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests.

Exodus 19:5-6 NIV

At first glance it might appear that the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers has a slender biblical basis comprising a handful of scriptural passages: 1 Peter 2:4-9, Revelation 1:6 and Revelation 5:10. Not only that, but some scholarship denies that the concept can be found anywhere in these verses or in the entire New Testament. John Elliott, for instance, writes in the introduction to his monograph-length treatment of 1 Peter 2:4-10, “The relatively few references to the ‘universal priesthood of all believers’ in this study indicate that this theme, though the original stimulus of this investigation, proved insignificant, if not altogether useless, in the specific exegesis of the text.”1 It would be unwise, however, to stop with first glances, as those can often be misleading. When examined more closely Scripture offers a bounty of material that goes toward funding a robust doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. The aim of this chapter is to bring out some of those riches—first by outlining the Old and New Testaments’ teaching on the priesthood of believers, highlighting Genesis 1–2, Exodus 19:4-6 and 1 Peter 2:4-9 as the programmatic texts, as well as Isaiah 56–66, the Pauline corpus and the books of Hebrews and Revelation. Second, the chapter identifies some specific features of the Israelite priesthood, ultimately seeking to fill out a picture of the universal priesthood through an examination of the particular labors or ministries of professional priests. Finally, we draw attention to Scripture’s depiction of Christ as the one who fulfills the office of priest and invites his church to participate in his priesthood. Through the interweaving of these three strands, we will have the beginnings of a more thorough understanding of the priesthood of believers and what this priesthood might entail for the church. Contrary to Elliott, who concludes that “the New Testament contains no unanimous viewpoint on the subject of Christian priesthood,”2 we will see that the Bible is rich, multifaceted and unified in its portrait of the priesthood of all believers.

Royal Priesthood in the Garden Sanctuary: Adam the Priest-King

Adam as king. The story of the royal priesthood truly begins at the very beginning. In the book of Genesis, both Adam and Melchizedek are portrayed as priest-kings. We will return to Melchizedek later; for now we start with Genesis 1. Here we see that human beings are the crown of God’s creation. Although the precise meaning of the two terms is a contentious issue, the idea of humanity as the “image” and “likeness” of God in Genesis 1:26-27 presents one avenue toward grasping what human beings are meant to be.3 Two things are noteworthy for our discussion. First, the creation of humanity in the image of God is tied to their unique relation to God. Second, image is connected to the exercise of authority over the nonhuman creation. The association of image with humanity’s rulership over the nonhuman world is confirmed in both 1:26 and 1:28. The term rule is often tied in the Old Testament to kingship or the rule of political leaders (Ps 72:8; 110:2; Is 14:6; Ezek 34:4).4 In Genesis 1, what is a political term is applied to the dominion of humans over the created order.5 The verb translated as “subdue” furthermore refers to bringing something or someone under subjection by the exercise of power. In Genesis 1:28 the term then expresses humanity’s responsibility and privilege to spread throughout the earth and make it a habitable home. Both terms taken together connote humankind’s royal status and duty of ruling over the entire nonhuman creation—plants and animals alike. Indeed, a central purpose for humanity being created in the image of God is that men and women would exercise royal rule.6 D. J. A. Clines says it well: “Though man’s rulership over the animals is not itself the image of God, no definition of the image is complete which does not refer to this function of rulership.”7 Whatever “image of God” denotes is inextricably tied to the subduing of and ruling over the earth as royalty before God.8 Humanity is representational and representative, being like God in the exercise of rule over the earth while receiving delegated authority.9 There is both royal dignity and responsibility in the imago Dei.10

Adam as priest. The focus of our study is on the sacral dimension of humanity’s role on the earth. A number of scholars see many similarities between the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2–3 and the tabernacle and temple in Israel.11 G. K. Beale, for example, presents at least fourteen signs that Israel’s later tabernacle and temple are to be seen as recapitulations and reflections of God’s first temple, Eden.12 One of the signs, and for our purposes the most important one, is that the garden is the place of the first priest. Beale argues, first, that the two Hebrew words often rendered as “cultivate and keep” in Genesis 2:15 are usually translated “serve and guard” elsewhere in the Old Testament, and when they occur together they refer either to Israelites serving God and keeping his word or to priests keeping the service of the tabernacle (Num 3:7-8; 8:25-26; 18:5-6; 1 Chron 23:32; Ezek 44:14).13 Second, Beale points to a number of ancient Jewish sources that describe Adam in priestly ways.14 Gordon Wenham further notes that the clothing of Adam in tunics of skin parallels the accounts of priestly ordination wherein Moses clothes Aaron and his sons in tunics (Ex 28:41; 29:8; 40:14; Lev 8:13).15 In light of these observations as well as the pervasive sanctuary imagery in Genesis 2–3 it would appear that Adam is portrayed, against the later picture of the Israelite priesthood and temple, as the “archetypal priest” who served in God’s primal temple.16 Thus, taken together with our prior discussion of humankind’s kingship, Adam is both king and priest—a royal priest, as it were. This theme of Adam as priest-king was also emphasized among various early Christian theologians.17

In Genesis 2:15, after the creation of the first man, Yahweh takes Adam and places him in the garden to serve and guard it, herein outlining some of his priestly duties. Viewing the garden as a temple allows for the multivalence of the two words. Adam, on the one hand, is to be a gardener who quite literally tends the garden and maintains its order. Yet on the other hand, his work is to serve God in the garden and guard the arboreal sanctuary from uncleanness and intruders.18 This spade work—this vocation—in the garden is priestly work. Then in the form of a twofold command God further defines how this priestly task is to be understood. The man is first permitted to partake to his heart’s delight of anything in the garden. He is however prohibited from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on penalty of death (Gen 2:16-17).19 Adam is to conduct his work within the liberating confines of the word of Yahweh so that the order of the garden might not be disrupted. The command of God undoubtedly shapes Adam’s understanding of his priestly duties, impressing on him that his labor is not outside the rule of God but rather is either fortified or frustrated based on his response to God’s word. Walter Brueggemann notes that it is the three key aspects in this account—vocation, permission and prohibition—that characterize human beings. The chief human task is to find a way to hold the three together and thus fulfill the role of royal priest by keeping Yahweh’s sovereign word.20

Perhaps a way to unify the functions of tending the garden and attending to God’s word might be to see them as one act of expanding the sanctuary of God.21 As those created in the image of the divine King, humanity was to spread and reflect his glorious reign by subduing and ruling the entire earth (Gen 1:26-28). Beale draws attention to Babylonian and Egyptian traditions that present humans as created to serve their god in a temple and to extend that god’s fame by building more temples or widening the parameters of an original temple.22 Moreover, images of the gods were customarily placed in the temples. Thus Adam as both king-priest and image of God was placed in the garden sanctuary with the task of expanding its boundaries. In this light, the commission to cultivate/serve and guard/keep the garden (Gen 2:15) is probably part of the commission to subdue and rule the earth as royal priests (Gen 1:26-28).23 Beale summarizes the point well: “They were on the primeval hillock of hospitable Eden, outside of which lay the inhospitable land. They were to extend the smaller liveable area of the garden by transforming the outer chaotic region into a habitable territory.”24 To subdue the earth was to extend God’s garden sanctuary throughout the earth and thus prepare the way for the presence of Yahweh to permeate the world in its entirety. This end would be achieved by obedience to God’s commands and the publication of the same throughout the earth and to succeeding generations.25

The Founding of a Priestly People: Exodus

“A kingdom of priests.” God’s program to found a priestly people continues in Israel’s deliverance from Egypt as recounted in the book of Exodus. After the Lord rescues his people from Egypt’s army (Ex 14), miraculously provides food and water (Ex 15:22-27; 16:1-21; 17:1-7) and secures the defeat of the Amalekites (Ex 17:8-16), the people arrive at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:1-2), where Moses is to ascend the mountain to meet with God on behalf of the people (Ex 19:3). The Lord speaks to him, beginning with a reminder of God’s past dealings with Israel: the plagues on Egypt, how he bore them “on eagles’ wings” and brought them to himself (Ex 19:4). By the use of three “I” statements (“what I did to the Egyptians,” “I bore you on eagles’ wings,” “I brought you to myself”), this early episode calls attention to the fact that the privilege and calling of royal priesthood (which will be brought out in the next verses) is not something procured by one’s desiring, but finds its root in divine initiative. God establishes the priesthood; we do not.