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Showing posts with the label Melchizedek

REASSIGNED is now available.

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  by Bart Denny After a lot of writing, rewriting, cutting, adding, checking sources, arguing with sentences, and wondering more than once whether this thing would ever actually be finished, I’m happy to say that my new book is now available on Amazon . Reassigned: Military Lessons for Ministry Leadership grew out of a question I’ve been wrestling with for years: What happens to everything the military formed in us when the uniform comes off? For me, the answer became especially important when my own life took an unexpected turn. I spent nearly twenty-two years in the U.S. Navy. I served on submarines and destroyers, commanded two coastal patrol ships, deployed overseas, and eventually finished my military career on a major combatant command staff. Years later, I found myself in seminary and then in pastoral ministry. Those two worlds can feel very far apart. And they are. A church is not a warship. A pastor is not a commanding officer. Church members are not sailors who...
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A Priest Forever: Christ and Melchizedek Compared

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This paper examines what the author of Hebrews means when he says, referring to Psalm 110, that Jesus is a priest, “forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 5:6; 6:20; 7:17).[1]   After surveying the scriptural evidence and attempting to gain a clear picture of first century Judaism’s understanding of Melchizedek, this paper will show that the best explanation for the comparisons between Christ and Melchizedek is simply that, like Melchizedek—and quite unlike the Levitical, or “Aaronic” priests—Christ’s priesthood was eternal and independent of lineage.  The ultimate intent of the author of Hebrews is not to make a statement about Melchizedek.  Rather, the author aims to put forth a solid Christology with which his audience, probably comprised of Jewish converts deeply familiar with Hellenistic culture, would acutely identify. The enigmatic nature of Melchizedek has given rise to numerous competing, and perhaps more interesting, theories surrounding the references...
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