Revisiting High Priesthood Christology in Hebrews

Abstract

This paper revisits the author’s research on the christology of Hebrews completed in the 1970s in the light of subsequent research. It concentrates, in particular, on the way key problems of interpretation have been handled. These include the extent to which the author’s atonement day typology dictates a soteriology which reduces Christ’s death to a preparatory event and depicts a heavenly offering as the salvific event or, conversely, whether the author employs atonement day typology selectively to interpret Jesus’ death as salvific. It also addresses the associated problems created by parts of the book which report Jesus’ appointment at high priesthood as occurring after his death at his exaltation and other parts which appear to imply that he was acting as a high priest already during his earthly ministry.