Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem unfitting that Christ should be a priest. For a priest is less than an angel; whence it is written (Zach. 3:1): "The Lord showed me the high-priest standing before the angel of the Lord." But Christ is greater than the angels, according to Heb. 1:4: "Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath inherited a more excellent name than they." Therefore it is unfitting that Christ should be a priest.

Objection 2: Further, things which were in the Old Testament were figures of Christ, according to Col. 2:17: "Which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ's." But Christ was not descended from the priests of the Old Law, for the Apostle says (Heb. 7:14): "It is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, in which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priests." Therefore it is not fitting that Christ should be a priest.

Objection 3: Further, in the Old Law, which is a figure of Christ, the lawgivers and the priests were distinct: wherefore the Lord said to Moses the lawgiver (Ex. 28:1): "Take unto thee Aaron, thy brother . . . that he may minister to Me in the priest's office." But Christ is the giver of the New Law, according to Jer. 31:33: "I will give My law in their bowels." Therefore it is unfitting that Christ should be a priest.

On the contrary, It is written (Heb. 4:14): "We have therefore a great high-priest that hath passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God."

I answer that, The office proper to a priest is to be a mediator between God and the people: to wit, inasmuch as He bestows Divine things on the people, wherefore "sacerdos" means a giver of sacred things , according to Malachi 2:7: "They shall seek the law at his," i.e. the priest's, "mouth"; and again, forasmuch as he offers up the people's prayers to God, and, in a manner, makes satisfaction to God for their sins; wherefore the Apostle says (Heb. 5:1): "Every high-priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins." Now this is most befitting to Christ. For through Him are gifts bestowed on men, according to 2 Pt. 1:4: "By Whom" (i.e. Christ) "He hath given us most great and precious promises, that by these you may be made partakers of the Divine Nature." Moreover, He reconciled the human race to God, according to Col. 1:19,20: "In Him" (i.e. Christ) "it hath well pleased (the Father) that all fulness should dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself." Therefore it is most fitting that Christ should be a priest.

Reply to Objection 1: Hierarchical power appertains to the angels, inasmuch as they also are between God and man, as Dionysius explains (Coel. Hier. ix), so that the priest himself, as being between God and man, is called an angel, according to Malachi 2:7: "He is the angel of the Lord of hosts." Now Christ was greater than the angels, not only in His Godhead, but also in His humanity, as having the fulness of grace and glory. Wherefore also He had the hierarchical or priestly power in a higher degree than the angels, so that even the angels were ministers of His priesthood, according to Mt. 4:11: "Angels came and ministered unto Him." But, in regard to His passibility, He "was made a little lower than the angels," as the Apostle says (Heb. 2:9): and thus He was conformed to those wayfarers who are ordained to the priesthood.

Reply to Objection 2: As Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iii, 26): "What is like in every particular must be, of course, identical, and not a copy." Since, therefore, the priesthood of the Old Law was a figure of the priesthood of Christ, He did not wish to be born of the stock of the figurative priests, that it might be made clear that His priesthood is not quite the same as theirs, but differs therefrom as truth from figure.

Reply to Objection 3: As stated above (Question 7, Article 7, ad 1), other men have certain graces distributed among them: but Christ, as being the Head of all, has the perfection of all graces. Wherefore, as to others, one is a lawgiver, another is a priest, another is a king; but all these concur in Christ, as the fount of all grace. Hence it is written (Is. 33:22): "The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our King: He will" come and "save us."

Articulus 1

Argumentum 1

Ad primum sic proceditur. Videtur quod christo non conveniat esse sacerdotem. Sacerdos enim est minor Angelo, unde dicitur Zach. III, ostendit mihi deus sacerdotem magnum stantem coram Angelo domini.

Sed christus est maior Angelis, secundum illud Heb. I, tanto melior Angelis effectus, quanto differentius prae illis nomen hereditavit.

Ergo christo non convenit esse sacerdotem.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, ea quae fuerunt in veteri testamento, fuerunt figurae christi, secundum illud Coloss. II, quae sunt umbra futurorum, corpus autem christi.

Sed christus non traxit carnis originem ex sacerdotibus veteris legis, dicit enim apostolus, Heb. VII, manifestum est quod ex Iuda ortus sit dominus noster, in qua tribu nihil de sacerdotibus Moyses locutus est.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, in veteri lege, quae est figura christi, non est idem legislator et sacerdos, unde dicit dominus ad Moysen, legislatorem, Exod. XXVIII, applica Aaron, fratrem tuum, ut sacerdotio fungatur mihi.

Christus autem est lator novae legis, secundum illud Ierem. XXXI, dabo leges meas in cordibus eorum.

Ergo christo non convenit esse sacerdotem.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod dicitur Heb. IV, habemus pontificem qui penetravit caelum, iesum, filium dei.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod proprium officium sacerdotis est esse mediatorem inter deum et populum, inquantum scilicet divina populo tradit, unde sacerdos dicitur quasi sacra dans, secundum illud Malach. II, legem requirent ex ore eius, scilicet sacerdotis; et iterum inquantum preces populi deo offert, et pro eorum peccatis deo aliqualiter satisfacit; unde apostolus dicit, Heb. V, omnis pontifex ex hominibus assumptus, pro hominibus constituitur in his quae sunt ad deum, ut offerat dona et sacrificia pro peccatis.

Hoc autem maxime convenit christo. Nam per ipsum dona hominibus sunt collata, secundum illud II Pet. I, per quem, scilicet christum, maxima et pretiosa nobis promissa donavit, ut per haec efficiamini divinae consortes naturae.

Ipse etiam humanum genus deo reconciliavit, secundum illud Coloss. I, in ipso, scilicet christo, complacuit omnem plenitudinem inhabitare, et per eum reconciliare omnia.

Unde christo maxime convenit esse sacerdotem.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod potestas hierarchica convenit quidem Angelis, inquantum et ipsi sunt medii inter deum et hominem, ut patet per dionysium, in libro cael. Hier., ita quod ipse sacerdos, inquantum est medius inter deum et populum, Angeli nomen habet, secundum illud Malach. II, Angelus domini exercituum est.

Christus autem maior Angelis fuit, non solum secundum divinitatem, sed etiam secundum humanitatem, inquantum habuit plenitudinem gratiae et gloriae. Unde etiam excellentiori modo hierarchicam seu sacerdotalem potestatem prae Angelis habuit, ita etiam quod ipsi Angeli fuerunt ministri sacerdotii eius, secundum illud Matth. IV, accesserunt Angeli et ministrabant ei.

Secundum tamen passibilitatem, modico ab Angelis minoratus est, ut apostolus dicit, Heb. II.

Et secundum hoc conformis fuit hominibus viatoribus in sacerdotio constitutis.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod, sicut dicit Damascenus, in III libro, quod in omnibus est simile, idem utique erit, et non exemplum.

Quia igitur sacerdotium veteris legis erat figura sacerdotii christi, noluit christus nasci de stirpe figuralium sacerdotum, ut ostenderetur non esse omnino idem sacerdotium, sed differre sicut verum a figurali.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod, sicut supra dictum est, alii homines particulatim habent quasdam gratias, sed christus, tanquam omnium caput, habet perfectionem omnium gratiarum. Et ideo, quantum ad alios pertinet, alius est legislator, et alius sacerdos, et alius rex, sed haec omnia concurrunt in christo, tanquam in fonte omnium gratiarum.

Unde dicitur Isaiae XXXIII, dominus iudex noster, dominus legifer noster, dominus rex noster, ipse veniet et salvabit nos.