The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Hebrews 7:23-251
What comes to your mind when you hear the word priest? The idea of priests and priesthood is mostly foreign to us Westerners. We associate it with obsolete Old Testament ceremony or obscure heathen religions. But, a right understanding of priests is necessary for a right understanding of Christ. Apparently the writer of Hebrews thought this too, since a large portion of it is dedicated to Christ’s priesthood.
Hang on to this—a priest is a go-between, a mediator. In Hebrews 8:3 we read, “Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.” These were more than arbitrary; the reason a priest offered sacrifices was to atone for sin. A priest offers sacrifices for someone else—standing as his representative. Christ, our High Priest, is this representative. He goes to God on our behalf and makes a sacrifice to cover our sin.
The glorious dichotomy presented in Hebrews is that Christ is both the priest (the one who offers) and the atonement (the One offered, the perfect sacrifice to pay for sin). He goes to God to plead our case, and He gives His life—bearing God’s wrath—to secure our freedom. The Old Testament priests always came up short because they never had an offering good enough to pay for sin.2 Christ, in contrast, does. He is a priest beyond all others because He truly, finally, paid for sin. He is the perfect priest.
This priesthood is in the forefront here in Hebrews 7:23-25. Christ is our representative—the one who offers sacrifices to cover our sin. But we ask the question, “How complete is His mediation?”
Entirely.
Hebrews 7 says Christ “save[s] to the uttermost.” Pantelēs, the word translated “uttermost,” joins two Greek words.3 The first, pas, means “every, any, all, everything.”4 The second, telos, means “end.”5 Pantelēs proclaimes that Christ’s sacrifice is complete and it is eternal. Not only did He do everything necessary for us to be saved now, but He saves us to the end—to the uttermost. Christ is the priest who has done everything, and He will carry through what He started, all the way to the end.
We don’t have to worry that tomorrow, or in a week, or a year, or a decade, or a lifetime, or through eternity, that anything will hinder or change Christ’s mediation for us. He is our eternal representative, firmly established and forever unmoved. Christ saves us to the uttermost.
- The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2011.
- See Hebrews 10:1-4
- Pantelēs. Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3838
- Pas. Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G3956
- Telos. Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G5056