Saturday, March 7, 2020

John Murray on Romans 15:16 and the New Covenant Priesthood



That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. (Rom 15:16)

In his comments on this verse, Reformed theologian John Murray argues that Paul is based on Isa 66:20:

The expression “the offering up of the Gentiles” is without precise parallel in the New Testament. But it has its parallel in Isaiah 66:20: “And they shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations for an offering unto the Lord” (the Hebrew is מנחה and the LXX δωρον. But the word used by Paul, προσφορα would be the more appropriate). It may be that Paul derived this concept from the Isaianic passage which appears in a context of blessing to all nations and tongues (cf. Isa. 66:18). This then is the offering which Paul as apostle of the Gentiles offers to God in the exercise of priestly activity. The Gentiles as converted to the faith of the gospel are regarded as presented holy unto God. Again we see how extraneous of the Levitical pattern is the priestly function exercised by the ministers of the new covenant. (John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans: The English Text with Introduction, Exposition and Notes, Volume II: Chapters 9 to 16 [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1965], 210-11)

Perhaps unbeknownst to Murray and others, Isa 66:20 and other like-prophecies are not prophecies of all believers in the New Covenant but instead, a special class of people therein—those who are priests in the New Covenants ordained, ministerial priesthood.

In my book, After the Order of the Son of God: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Latter-day Saint Theology of the Priesthood, I discuss in chapter 1 the Old Testament prophecies of an ordained, ministerial priesthood as part of the prophesied New Covenant, discussing texts such as Isa 56:6-7; 66:18-22 and Jer 33:17-22 (cf. The Biblical Evidence for an Ordained, Ministerial Priesthood in the New Covenant from the Last Supper Accounts).

With reference too those who might claim that such prophecies were fulfilled singularly in the person of Jesus and/or the “priesthood of all believers,” Robert Bellarmine, one of the best critics of Protestant theology in history, responded thusly:

The fourth testimony is found in Isaiah 66:21, “And I will take from them priests and Levites, says the Lord.” This is similar to what we find in Jeremiah 33:17-18, “There shall not be cut off from David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel. Nor shall there be cut off from the priests and Levites a man before my face to offer holocausts, and to burn sacrifices, and to kill victims continually.” Jerome explains these passages from Isaiah, and Theodoret those of Jeremiah, in regard to the priests of Christ, who will perpetually remain even to the end of the world. It cannot be explained otherwise, since clearly both Prophets speak about the conversion of the gentiles and the building of the Church.

Chemnitz (Exam. 2 part. Pag. 753), acknowledges that these passages should be explained in regard to the priests of the New Testament, nor does he give any other response except that these prophecies were partly fulfilled in Christ, who was the true priest, and succeeded the priests of the Old Testament, and partly fulfilled in all Christians, who are spiritual priests. But neither exposition touches the matter. Not in regard to Christ alone can these prophecies be understood, since they clearly place priests and Levites, nor can they be understood in regard to all Christians, since both Prophets distinguish those who are going to be priests from the rest. (Robert Bellarmine, On the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass [trans. Ryan Grant; Post Falls, Idaho: Mediatrix Press, 2020], 75)