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State of the question. It seems that it is not fitting: (1)
because a priest is less than an angel; (2) because Christ was not
descended from the priests of the Old Law, but from the tribe of
Juda; (3) because Christ is a legislator and in the Old
Testament, which is a figure of the New Testament, legislator and
priest are distinct.
Reply. Nevertheless the affirmative answer is of faith, for St.
Paul says: "Having, therefore, a great high priest that hath
passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God."[1543] The
councils of Ephesus[1544] and Trent[1545] and the
encyclical of Pius XI[1546] concerning Christ's kingship,
confirm this truth.
Theological proof. The office proper to a priest is to be a mediator
between God and the people, inasmuch as He bestows sacred things on
the people, and offers to God the prayers of the people and sacrifice
for them. But this is most befitting to Christ, for St. Peter
says: "He hath given us most great and precious promises, that by
these you may be made partakers of the divine nature."[1547]
And St. Paul says: "In Him [Christ] it hath well pleased the
Father that all fullness should dwell. And through Him to reconcile
all things."[1548] From these texts it is evident that Christ
as man is a priest.
Reply to first objection. Christ the priest, as regards the
passibility of His flesh, is inferior to the angels, but also as man
He is superior to them because of the hypostatic union and His
fullness of grace and glory.
Reply to second objection. Christ did not wish to be born of the
stock of the figural priests, that He might make it clear that the
true priesthood is not quite the same as the figural priesthood.
Reply to third objection. Christ, inasmuch as He is the head of all
men, has the perfection of all graces and so He is eminently and
formally legislator, priest, and king, as announced by the
prophet.[1549]
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