Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 23:1 (Spring 2019)
Article: Editorial: Ruminations On Priests And Priesthood In Scripture And Theology
Author: Stephen J. Wellum

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Editorial: Ruminations On Priests And Priesthood In Scripture And Theology

Stephen J. Wellum

Stephen J. Wellum is Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and editor of Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. He received his PhD from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and he is the author of numerous essays and articles and the co-author with Peter Gentry of Kingdom through Covenant, 2nd edition (Crossway, 2018) and God’s Kingdom through God’s Covenants: A Concise Biblical Theology (Crossway, 2015); the co-editor of Progressive Covenantalism (B&H, 2016); the author of God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of the Person of Christ (Crossway, 2016) and Christ Alone—The Uniqueness of Jesus as Savior (Zondervan, 2017); and the co-author of Christ from Beginning to End: How the Full Story of Scripture Reveals the Full Glory of Christ (Zondervan, 2018).

This issue of SBJT is part 2 of the theme of “priests and priesthood” in Scripture and theology which was first published in SBJT 22.2 (2018). In the prior issue, I noted that this theme is a rich and significant one in Scripture. In fact, the theme traverses the Bible’s storyline from creation to Christ and then to the consummation of the new creation. As traced through the biblical covenants, priests and priesthood reveal in an increasingly greater and glorious way who Jesus is and what he has done for us in his office of Mediator. It also leads us to a greater understanding of who we are as God’s image-bearers and sons, and how in Christ, believers, as individuals and the Church, are restored to our calling to be a “kingdom of priests” in service to our Lord (1 Pet 2:9; cf. Exod 19:6). Let’s note four points regarding this theme in Scripture and theology.

First, as noted previously, the theme of priests begins in creation with Adam. Adam is not merely the first created human; he is also the covenant head of creation. Even more: Adam is the first priest who dwells before God in Eden—a temple sanctuary. Adam’s task is to serve the Lord in worship,

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devotion, and work as he expands Eden’s borders to the entire creation (Gen 2:15). The Bible’s storyline and concept of priest, then, does not begin with the Abrahamic or law-covenant; instead it commences with Adam in creation. This entails that to grasp rightly the full dimensions of our creation and then Christ’s priestly work, before we think of Levites, we must first think about Adam’s role in creation as a p...