Christ’s Priesthood: 7 Compelling Superiority of His Priestly Office 

To grasp the person and the works of Christ, it is crucial for us to properly grasp the threefold office which He occupies and functions in—Prophet, Priest, and King. In two other articles, I have written about the prophetic and kingly offices and ministry of Jesus. Now, in this article, I want to explore Christ’s Priesthood.

Christ’s Priesthood is very central to our faith. By His prophetic office, He revealed God in a full and final way. And, by His kingly office, He reigns with authority and power. But it is through His priesthood that we were reconciled to God. Jesus’s Priestly office is crucial for reconciliation to God. Without a true and sufficient priest, humanity remains separated from the holy God, burdened by guilt, and unable to approach God with confidence.

Humanity faces a dreadful problem—sin, and our separation from God because of it. The Bible shows sin as requiring mediation. Fallen man cannot stand before God apart from mediation. Under the Old Covenant, this role was filled by the Levitical priesthood, which made atonement and interceded for the people. Yet that priesthood is ultimately insufficient to bring lasting reconciliation, because they themselves were sinful.

Then,  Jesus came, and in Him, everything the Old Testament priesthood anticipated found fulfillment. By His priesthood, Jesus secured eternal access through His once-for-all sacrifice and ongoing intercession.

Grasping Christ’s priesthood is crucial to Christian assurance, worship, and daily living. It is why believers can draw near to God without fear, why Christ’s sacrifice never needs repetition, and why salvation rests not on human effort but on Christ’s finished and continuing work. In this article, I present compelling superiority of Christ’s eternal priesthood.

Understanding the Biblical Priesthood

To rightly grasp Christ’s priesthood, we must first grasp the Old Testament priesthood which foreshadowed Him. In Scripture, a priest is a divinely appointed mediator who stands between God and His people. His task is dictated by God and governed by His holiness, not self-chosen. 

The Old Testament priesthood was saddled with three primary responsibilities:

1. Mediation Between God and Man

The priests represented the people before God and represented God before the people. Access to God was restricted, and only the priests could lawfully approach Him on behalf of others.

2. Atonement for Sin

Priests offered sacrifices to atone for sin, because sin and forgiveness required death and the shedding of blood (Leviticus 17:11).

3. Intercession for the People

The priests prayed on the people’s behalf to God, especially on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16).

Though divinely instituted, still the Levitical priesthood was inherently deficient.

1. The Priests were sinful and needed to atone for their own sins (Hebrews 5:3).

2. Their ministry was temporary, ending at death (Hebrews 7:23).

3. Their sacrifices were insufficient and repetitive (Hebrews 10:4).

These limitations were not failures of God’s design but deliberate indicators of a greater Priest to come. The Levitical priesthood pointed to a future priest who would be sinless, eternal, and fully effective. Only he could truly and eternally reconcile man to God. This expectation was fulfilled in Jesus’s priestly ministry.

Jesus did not abolish the Levitical priesthood, but perfects it. His priesthood is not built on the imperfect human system but on divine power, righteousness, and eternal life. Thus, Jesus’s Priestly office must be understood as the divinely intended climax of Old Testament priesthood—fully sufficient, eternally effective, and foundational to the believer’s access to God.

Recommended: Son of Man: Irrefutable Evidence for the Deity of Jesus

The Foundation of Christ’s Priesthood

The legitimacy of priesthood in the Levitical order is divine appointment. No one assumes priestly office by ambition, religious enthusiasm, or popular approval. God alone appoints priests and authorizes their ministry (Hebrews 5:4)

This principle is foundational to grasping Christ’s priesthood. Jesus’s priestly office is rooted in God’s eternal appointment. Jesus did not seize priestly office, nor did He exalt Himself into the office. Instead, His priesthood was conferred by the Father. 

Hebrews 5:5:

“So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’”

This declaration links Christ’s priesthood directly to His divine sonship. Jesus’s Priestly office is inseparable from His identity as the eternal Son of God. His authority to mediate between God and humanity flows from who He is, not merely from what He does.

The Levitical priesthood was hereditary. But Jesus’s priesthood was a departure from the norm—appointed by divine oath. Hebrews 7:21 says:

“For they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: ‘The LORD has sworn and will not relent, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’”

This scripture was a quote from Psalm 110:4. Three critical truths apparent from the text about Jesus’s Priestly office:

• It is permanent (“forever”)
• It is superior (to the Levitical priesthood).
• It is unchangeable (secured by God’s word).

Because Christ’s priesthood is grounded in God’s sworn promise, it cannot be annulled, replaced, or surpassed. It surpasses the Levitical priesthood.

Old Testament priesthood was regulated by law, but Jesus’s priesthood is established by God’s oath. While Law can be set aside, God’s oath cannot fail. This distinction explains why Christ’s priesthood is inherently superior (Hebrews 7:22).

Jesus’s Priestly office is therefore not provisional or experimental. It is the climax of God’s redemptive plan.

The divine appointment of Christ as Priest matters. Because He was appointed by God Himself, His sacrifice is fully accepted, His mediation is perfectly effective, and His intercession is eternally valid. Believers do not stand on human priests who fails, dies, or sins. We stand on a High Priest whose authority originates in heaven and whose ministry endures eternally.

Thus, Jesus’s Priestly office begins not at the cross, but in the divine appointment. His sacrificial death and ongoing intercession are effective precisely because His priesthood.

Christ’s Priesthood: The Order of Melchizedek

Jesus’s Priestly office does not arise from the Levitical system nor is it hereditary. Instead, Scripture presents Christ as a High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek”—a priesthood that is eternal, royal, and divinely empowered. This distinction is not incidental; it establishes the absolute superiority and permanence of Christ’s priesthood.

Melchizedek was a figure whose appearance was brief but profound in the Bible narrative (Genesis 14:18–20).

1. He was both king and priest.

2. He predated the Levitical priesthood by centuries.

3. Abraham paid tithes to him.

This establishes Melchizedek as a priest whose influence transcends Israel’s later priesthood.

While the legitimacy of the Levitical priests depended entirely on ancestry, Melchizedek’s priesthood is presented without reference to ancestry (Hebrews 7:3). The is not saying that Melchizedek was literally eternal, but that Scripture portrays his priesthood as unbounded by genealogical succession, making him a fitting type of Christ, whose priesthood does not depend on natural ancestry.

Now, if the Levitical priesthood had been sufficient, no further priesthood would have been necessary. Hebrews 7:11 states this explicitly. The rise of another priestly order—Christ’s priesthood— proves the incompleteness of the older one. 

Another defining basis for Jesus’s Priestly office is life—indestructible, eternal life. Hebrews 7:16, speaking of Christ’s priesthood, says:

“Who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.”

Levitical priests were limited by death. Butt Jesus, because of His indestructible life, stands as Priest eternally. His resurrection is not merely a victory; it is foundational to His eternal priesthood. Christ’s eternal priesthood stands in contrast to the temporary Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 7:23–24). 

And, since Christ’s priesthood does not pass to another, His mediation never weakens, expires, or needs renewal. This has significance for salvation. It is eternal! Hebrews 7:25 says Christ is able to save to the end those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to make intercession for them. Salvation is secure not because of human faithfulness, but because Christ’s priesthood, which brought it, is eternal and His intercession unceasing.

By grounding Jesus’s Priestly office in the order of Melchizedek, the Bible teaches that:

1. Christ’s priesthood is older than the Law.

2. It is greater than Aaron’s priesthood.

3. It is eternal and unchangeable.

4. It unites kingship and priesthood in one Person.

Thus, Jesus is not merely the final priest in a long line; He is the only priest whose ministry never ends.

Christ’s Priesthood and the Once-for-All Sacrifice

At the heart of Christ’s priesthood lies a truth that distinguishes Him from every priest before Him: He did not merely offer a sacrifice—He was the sacrifice. The entire Old Testament sacrificial system anticipated a final offering that would truly atone for sin, cleanse the conscience, and reconcile humanity to God. In Christ, that expectation finds its complete and decisive fulfillment.

Under the Mosaic Law, sacrifices for sin were offered repeatedly. This was a sign of the effectiveness of the sacrifics. 

Hebrews 10:11:

“And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.”

Animal sacrifices provided ceremonial cleansing and temporary covering, but they could not remove guilt or transform the heart. Their repetition testified that the problem of sin remained unresolved.

The Bible acknowledged that animal sacrifices were symbolic rather than final (Hebrews 10:4). Thus, the sacrifices served as shadows—pointing to a greater, sinless substitute who could truly bear the penalty of sin.

The Priest and the Sacrifice

What makes Jesus’s Priestly office utterly unique is that Christ fulfills both sides of the altar. He is the officiating Priest and the Sacrifice offered. Isaiah foretold this substitutionary role centuries before the cross (Isaiah 53:5).

Jesus willingly offered Himself (Hebrews 9:14). He was not coerced. It was a deliberate, obedient act of priestly devotion (John 10:17–18). And, His offering, unlike Levitical offerings, occurred once—with eternal effects (Hebrews 9:28). Hebrews 10:10 captures the finality of His sacrifice:

“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

The phrase once for all eliminates the need, and the possibility, of any further sacrifice for sin. After making His offering, Jesus did something no Levitical priest could ever do: He sat down. This signifies completion of His task (Hebrews 10:12). Levitical priests continually stood because their work was never finished. But Christ sat because His atoning work was complete.

A Clean Conscience

One of the greatest accomplishments of Jesus’s Priestly office is internal cleansing (Hebrews 10:22). Believers are not only forgiven, but we are also cleansed inwardly. Christ’s sacrifice accomplishes what the Law could never achieve—true inward purification and restored fellowship with God.

In summary, Jesus’s once-for-all self-offering guarantees that:

1. No further sacrifice for sin is required.

2. Forgiveness is complete and irreversible.

3. Worship is grounded in gratitude, not fear.

4. Salvation rests on Christ’s work, not human performance.

Christ’s priesthood reaches its sacrificial climax at the cross, where divine justice and mercy meet perfectly. The altar is no longer stained with recurring blood because the perfect sacrifice has already been made.

Christ’s Priesthood and His Sinless Perfection

A critical aspect of Jesus’s Priestly Office is His absolute sinlessness. Only a sinless priest could offer a sacrifice sufficient to atone for the sins of men. Sin undermines mediation, nullifies intercession, and disqualifies priesthood. Christ, however, fulfills the priestly requirement perfectly: He is fully human yet without sin (1 Peter 2:22; Hebrews 4:15), uniquely able to represent humanity before a holy God.

Levitical priests themselves were sinful and needed continual sacrifice (Hebrews 5:3). A priest burdened by personal sin cannot truly reconcile others to God. This problem raised the need for a sinless mediator. Jesus’s sinlessness is therefore not incidental but essential to His priestly role. Only a sinless priest could fully represent humanity before God and make sufficient atonement for us. Christ’s sinlessness qualifies Him to be such a priest. Hebrews 7:26 says:

“For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens.”

In contrast to the imperfect Levitical priests, Jesus’s sinlessness ensures that His priesthood is perfect and unblemished.

Jesus’s sinlessness does not distance Him from human experience. Rather, the book of Hebrews emphasizes that He was tempted “in all points as we are,” meaning He fully understands our struggles. Because He was tempted yet remained sinless, His priesthood combines empathy with efficacy, offering both comfort and true reconciliation ((Hebrews 7:25).

Christ’s sinless nature ensures that His sacrifice is perfect, His mediation fully reliable, and His intercession eternally effective. It guarantees unbroken fellowship with the Father, and full acceptance of His sacrifice on behalf of sinners.

1. Assurance that believers’ access to God is secure.

In essence, Jesus’s Priestly office is effective precisely because He is both human enough to represent us and sinless enough to fully reconcile us to God. Therefore, believers can approach God confidently because our High Priest understands our weaknesses without sharing our guilt, and He offered a perfect sacrifice that satisfies divine justice.

2. Intercedes eternally on our behalf.

Jesus’s sinless perfection is not only doctrinal or theological—it is also pastoral, providing comfort, confidence, and assurance to all who trust in Christ.

Christ’s Priesthood and His Ongoing Intercession

A vital aspect of Christ’s priesthood is His continuous intercession. Unlike Levitical priests, whose ministry ended with death, Christ is alive eternally, mediating perpetually on behalf of His people. 

The Levitical priests were mortals. Their death limited the tenure of their ministry. In contrast, Christ’s priesthood is eternal as ongoing (Hebrews 7:23–24), offering a guarantee that no believer is ever without a Mediator.

Intercession is a vital aspect of the Levitical High Priest’s ministry. Now, Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus forever “lives to make intercession for them.” This verse highlights an essential truth: Christ’s intercession is unending, rooted in His eternal life.

Jesus’s intercession is exercised from the right hand of God (Hebrews 4:14). The right hand symbolizes divine approval, power, and influence, ensuring that His prayers and advocacy are fully effective. Believers can confidently approach God because our High Priest occupies this supreme position.

The ongoing priestly intercession of Christ strengthens believers’ salvation assurance. Romans 8:34 says:

“Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

Because Jesus actively intercedes for us, no accusation or condemnation can avail against believers. This intercession is a practical expression of His priestly care and love. 

Christ’s priestly intercession is not abstract; it concerns the daily struggles of God’s people. As our eternal High Priest, Jesus represents our needs, bears our burdens, and secures divine grace continuously before the Father. Without this continuous priestly ministry, human access to God would remain limited and uncertain. Because of Jesus, however, believers enjoy unbroken fellowship with God, grounded in His priestly intercession.

Christ’s Priesthood and the Heavenly Sanctuary

A unique aspect of Jesus’s Priestly office is His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary—God’s true and eternal dwelling. Levitical priests served in an earthly sanctuary, but Christ’s priesthood work occurred in the heavenly sanctuary realm, giving His sacrifice eternal efficacy.

The Old Testament sanctuary symbolized God’s presence but was limited and temporary. It was an example and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 8:5). The earthly sanctuary was not perfect; it pointed to a superior, heavenly reality.

Once a year, the high priest entered the holiest place with the blood of atonement (Leviticus 16:34). But Jesus’s priesthood ranked high above the Levitical priesthood because when He rose from the dead, He entered, not into the earthly sanctuary, but the heavenly sanctuary with His own blood, to perfect atonement for sin, thus signifying the completeness and the permanent efficacy of His sacrifice (Hebrews 9:11–12).

The heavenly sanctuary stands superior above the earthly sanctuary, and underscores the superiority of Christ’s priesthood. The earthly sanctuary is a shadow, temporary, and repeated sacrifices. But the heavenly sanctuary is real, eternal, and its sacrifice is once-for-all. Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary indicates that His atonement is superior and sufficient (Hebrews 8:1).

After Jesus entered into the heavenly sanctuary, the access to God was opened for everyone to approach the Father (Hebrews 10:19–20). Jesus’s priestly office provides direct, confident access to God, something the Levitical priesthood only foreshadowed.

By serving in the true tabernacle, Jesus’s priestly ministry perfected what the Levitical priesthood could not, secured eternal redemption for all who believe, and provides a living, ongoing connection between God and His people Thus, Jesus’s Priestly office is not bound by earthly limitations but operates in the eternal realm, where His sacrifice, intercession, and mediation are eternally efficacious.

Christ’s Priesthood and the New Covenant

The climax of Jesus’s Priestly Office is His mediation of a better Covenant. The Old Covenant was limited, temporary, and reliant on repetitive sacrifices. But the New Covenant is eternal, has better promises, and grounded in Jesus’s once-for-all sacrifice and ongoing intercession.

The Old Covenant, though divinely instituted, could not provide true perfection; its sacrifices could not purify  consciences, making a better covenant necessary (Hebrews 8:7).

God first explicitly spoke of a new covenant through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31–33), which became fulfilled through Jesus’s priestly ministry. Jesus serves the role of Mediator in the New Covenant.

“But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6)

By the new covenant, God provided a better means by which humanity can have sin forgiveness, cleansing, and access to Himself. As Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus provides direct access to God (Hebrews 10:19–20). We who have believed no longer require human priests, rituals, or repetitive sacrifices. Christ’s priestly work has fully opened the way to God.

The New Covenant is eternal. The covenant Jesus, being both perfect High Priest and Sacrifice, mediates is eternal, superior, and irrevocable. Thus, the redemption it provides is also eternal (Hebrews 9:26).

Now, because of the New Covenant through Jesus’s Priestly office, believers have guarantees that we are completely forgiven, our conscience is cleansed from guilt, our access to God is unrestricted, and we live under grace, not under the burdensome Law.

The new covenant assures that salvation is grounded entirely in Christ’s person and priestly work, not in human effort or ritual observance. Jesus’s Priestly office reaches its climax here, demonstrating that He is the perfect Priest, Savior, and Mediator.

What Christ’s Priesthood Mean for Believers

Christ’s priesthood is not just theological; it impacts in profound ways, the life of believers. First, it gives confidence in prayer. Because Christ continuous to intercede for us, Paul asked who can condemn us? (Romans 8:34) Believers can approach God boldly, knowing that our High Priest advocates for us. Worship becomes a response to grace rather than fear of judgment.

Second, it gives assurance of salvation. Christ’s eternal priesthood provide security (Hebrews 10:14). Believers can rest in the certainty of God’s salvation, which is grounded in the person and works of Jesus, not our performance. 

Third, it gives motivation for holiness and obedience. True holiness and obedience is a response to Jesus’s redemptive love demonstrated through His suffering (Romans 12:1). Christ’s atonement moves our hearts to live for the One who died for us (2 Corinthians 5:14–15).

Fourth, it helps us to understand our own priesthood. Believers do have a priesthood, stemming from Christ’s priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). Christ’s priesthood positions us to offer the sacrifice of praise, intercede, witness Christ, and minister in His name.

Lastly, it provides encouragement in trials and temptations. The Bible presents Christ as the High Priest who sympathizes with believers’ weaknesses. Thus, we have find comfort in knowing our High Priest understands our struggles, and intercedes for us continually (Hebrews 4:15).

Resting in the Finished and Ongoing Priestly Work of Christ

These seven things—divine appointment, priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, once-for-all sacrifice, sinless perfection, ongoing intercession, ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, and mediation of the New Covenant—demonstrate that Jesus’s Priestly office is central to salvation, assurance, and worship. Believers today can draw near with boldness, rest in the sufficiency of Christ’s priesthood, and live in gratitude for the eternal mediation of the perfect High Priest. As Hebrews 4:1 exhorts:

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

By embracing the fullness of Jesus’s Priestly office, Christians gain assurance, strength, and confidence in approaching God—fully dependent on the perfect High Priest who lives forever to intercede on our behalf.

• Hebrews 7 — Exposition of Christ as High Priest “in the order of Melchizedek.”

• Hebrews 5 — Discussion of Christ’s calling and qualifications as High Priest.

• Psalm 110 — Old Testament basis for the eternal priesthood of Christ.