Page 93 - Biblical Theology Textbook - masters

Office of a Priest
A priest is someone who offers up sacrifices to God on behalf of people. Unlike a prophet who is a
mouthpiece for God, a priest represents the people before God. Jesus was not only a better High Priest
(Heb. 8:1-13; 9:13-14; 10:11-14) but the great High Priest (Heb. 4:14-6) after the older of Melchizedek
(Heb. 5:6, 10; 7:1-10). Gordon R. Lewis and Bruce A. Demarest says that we should offer allegiance to
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the “great High Priest, the once-for-all Sacrifice, the resurrected and ascended Head of the church.”

Office of a King
Prophet Nathan shared with David that God would establish his kingdom and
kingship forever (2 Sam 7:12-16). We know that Solomon walked away from God,
and eventually, his throne was defeated by Babylon. Luke confirmed to Mary that
she would bear a son. That Son would be given the throne of His father David and
would reign over the house of Jacob forever. Of His kingdom, there was going to be
no end (Luke 1:26-35). In Numbers, a scepter was usually associated with a king (Num. 24:17). The initial
fulfillment of that prophecy is seen in David (2 Sam 8:2, 14), however, its final is seen in Jesus (Rev 5:5;
22:16; Acts 2:29-36; Phil 2:9-11; Heb. 1:3). So, Jesus fulfilled the office of a king by assuming that role
after incarnation and continues to do so now. Jesus promised to come again to earth and set up His
kingdom as the ultimate fulfillment of all these promises.

Impeccability of Jesus Christ.

In theology, absolute impeccability means that Jesus was not able to sin. In contrast, peccability means
that Jesus could sin. Can an impeccable person be tempted? The answer that question is a resounding
“yes” because Jesus was tempted in every way just like any fallible human being (Heb. 4:15). Hodge
observes; “Temptation implies the possibility of sin. If. . . it was impossible for Christ to sin, then, His
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temptation was unreal and without effect, and He cannot sympathize with His people. Doesn’t the full
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humanity of Jesus makes it possible for Him to have sinned? Walvoord states that while Jesus did not
have a sinful nature (epithymia [“desire” or “lust,” James 1:14]), He could be tempted to sin because of
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His human nature. While the “temptation may be real, there may be infinite power to resist that
temptation.” William Greenough Thayer Shedd adds; Jesus’ “peccability, or the possibility of being
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overcome by those temptations, would depend upon the amount of voluntary resistance which He was
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able to bring to bear against them. If it was impossible for Jesus to have sinned, what suggestions can
be drawn from that? Jesus is fully God and fully man. His sinlessness qualifies Him to make a
substitutionary atonement for our sins. That Jesus Christ was and is still impeccable even after
experiencing temptations provides for us the perfect example that we can triumph over the temptations
we experience.

63 Gordon R. Lewis and Bruce A. Demarest, Integrative Theology: Historical, Biblical, Systematic, Apologetic,
Practical (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990), 2:360.
64 Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 2:457.
65 John F. Walvoord, Jesus Christ our Lord (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1969), 145-46.
66 Ibid, 146-47.
67 Ibid, 147.
68 William Greenough Thayer Shedd, Dogmatic Theology (New York: Scribner, 1891), 2:336.

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