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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman A
I was raised in the
Protestant Methodist tradition that believed the Catholic doctrine that a
human priest is needed to represent us to God is unbiblical.
That is still my belief. The
Bible clearly states that Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 2:17)
representing us to God (1 John 2:1 - 2).
Furthermore, verses like Revelation 1:6 tell us that all
Christians, not a church designated priest, are priests in God's kingdom.
That verse reads: "[God]
has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his [Jesus'] God and
Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen." We become priests when
we enter God's kingdom by being born again of God's Spirit (John 3:5).
As priests, we represent God to the world and the world to God.
Included in our priestly duties is the commission to forgive sins
on God's behalf, often called "representative forgiveness."
It's the meaning of John 20:23. "If
you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive
them, they are not forgiven." Concerning our forgiving
of sins, the verb "forgive" in "if you forgive" is an
aorist, active subjunctive Greek verb.
Subjunctive suggests the forgiveness we offer people is a
possibility (subjunctive) which depends on certain conditions being met,
which Biblically speaking are repentance and faith in Jesus.
Once these conditions are realized, the verb "are
forgiven," a perfect, passive, indicative Greek verb becomes a
reality in the life of the repentant and believing person (indicative).
We then pronounce this person to have been forgiven (perfect) by
Jesus (passive). When this
text states that "if you forgive anyone's sins" it means we as
priests announce the forgiveness of sins on behalf of God to the person in
question. It is called
"representative forgiveness." The reverse is also
true. If there is no
repentance and faith in Jesus in the person in question, there is no
forgiveness of sins, and that is what we as priests also pronounce to that
person.
Jesus is our High Priest
who represents us to God while Christians are a kingdom of priests who in
these New Testament days represent God to the world, just as Israel was to
be a kingdom of priests representing God to their Old Testament world
(Exodus 19:6). The forgiveness we
pronounce on God's behalf does not mean we provided what was necessary to
forgive. Jesus did that on the
cross. We simply act on God's
behalf and pronounce the forgiveness of sin because we have been
authorized as priests in God's kingdom. Bible
References Hebrews 2:17
"For this reason he
had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might
become a merciful and faithful high priest
in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the
people." John 2:1 - 2 "My dear children,
I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we
have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but
also for the sins of the whole world." John 3:5 "Jesus answered, 'Very
truly I tell you, no one can enter the Exodus 19:6 "you [
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