The Priesthood of the Spirit

Understanding the Sanctuary and Priesthood

To follow this lesson, we must first understand a few biblical terms.

The sanctuary was the sacred place where God appointed the services associated with worship, sacrifice, and the ministry of the priests. The earthly sanctuary, described in Exodus 25–40, had a divinely appointed service that taught important lessons about sin, atonement, cleansing, and access to God.

The priest was appointed to serve in matters pertaining to God on behalf of the people. Priests offered gifts and sacrifices, while the high priest held a special role in the sanctuary service. Hebrews 5:1–4 explains the qualifications and responsibilities of a high priest.

The High Priest of the New Covenant is Jesus Christ. Hebrews 8:1–2 identifies Him as our High Priest, ministering in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. The earthly priesthood and its services therefore provide a biblical background for understanding Christ's priesthood.

Intercession means appealing or pleading on behalf of another. Hebrews 7:25 says that Christ ever liveth to make intercession for those who come unto God by Him. His priestly work is therefore not merely a past event; Scripture presents Him as actively ministering on behalf of His people.

Type and antitype describe a relationship between an earlier biblical person, object, or service and the greater reality it points forward to. In this study, the earthly high priest is examined as a type, and Jesus Christ as the fulfilment, or antitype. The specific parallels must be established from the relevant passages of Scripture.

The bodily temple refers to the believer's body as a dwelling place of God. Paul writes, “your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost” (1 Corinthians 6:19). This introduces the question explored in this lesson: how does Christ, our High Priest in heaven, minister to and work within the believer?

These definitions establish the vocabulary we will use. They do not, by themselves, settle every question about the relationship between Christ and the Holy Spirit. We must examine the passages cited in this lesson to determine what conclusions the biblical evidence supports.

Start with a question On any view, Jesus is our one High Priest in heaven, ministering in the true tabernacle. So who is doing the work of a priest in the believer today? Who is teaching, convicting, guiding, and cleansing the bodily temple? Is it a third person, or is it Christ Himself?

The Five Qualifications of a Priest When we look at the earthly sanctuary, the Bible is very specific about the qualifications of a high priest. In Hebrews 5, we find five absolute requirements:

From these verses, we extract the five non-negotiable qualifications of a high priest:

1. Taken from among men: He must be a human being to represent human beings (Hebrews 5:1).
2. Offer for sins: Every high priest must have something to offer for sin (Hebrews 5:1; 8:3).
3. Compassed with infirmity: He must understand by experience what it means to be tempted with the weaknesses of the flesh (Hebrews 5:2).
4. Called of God: He must be ordained by God, not taking the honor upon himself (Hebrews 5:4–5).
5. Able to sympathize: Because he has been tempted and suffered, he can have compassion on those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:17; 4:15; 5:2).

The Failure of the “Third Person” Concept If the Holy Spirit is a “third person” distinct from the Father and the Son, as Trinitarian theology claims, we run into a massive theological problem.

Let us test the “third person” against the five qualifications:

1. Did the “third person” of the Godhead ever take upon Himself human flesh? No.
2. Did the “third person” ever offer Himself for the sins of the world? No.
3. Was the “third person” ever compassed with human infirmity and tempted in all points like as we are? No.
4. Was the “third person” called of God to be a high priest after the order of Melchisedec? No.
5. Did the “third person” learn obedience by the things which He suffered? No.

The “third person” fails every single biblical qualification of a priest. Therefore, a “third person” cannot be the priest of the bodily temple.

The True Priest and His Work in the Believer When we understand the biblical truth—that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit, life, and person of Jesus Christ—the paradox vanishes. Jesus is the fulfillment of what the earthly high priest represented. In biblical language, the earthly priest and his work serve as a type, or illustration, pointing forward to Christ, the antitype, who fulfills that picture. Here, “bodily temple” refers to the believer as the place where God dwells by His Spirit. “The sanctuary above” refers to the heavenly setting in which Scripture describes Christ's priestly ministry. The earthly sanctuary and its priests provide the illustrations used in this lesson to explain that ministry.

He fulfilled all five qualifications perfectly. He took on human flesh, He offered Himself for sin, He was tempted in all points, He was called of God, and He learned obedience through suffering.

When the Bible says the Spirit intercedes in the bodily temple (Romans 8:26), it is not a third person doing the work. It is Jesus Christ Himself, our one High Priest, ministering to us by His own Spirit.

The Change of Garments How can a divine, glorified Being minister in a human heart? The Old Testament sanctuary provides a beautiful illustration. The high priest had two sets of garments. When he went into the Holy of Holies to minister before God, he wore garments of glory and beauty (Exodus 28:2). But when he came out to teach and minister to the people, he changed his garments.

Just as the earthly high priest changed his garments when he came out from before God to teach the people, Jesus ministers in the sanctuary above in His divine, glorified form. But when He comes to teach, guide, instruct, and cleanse the church on earth, He comes in a different form—by His Spirit. It is the same Priest, just present in a different manifestation.

The Same Voice in the Churches This is exactly why the messages to the seven churches in Revelation begin with identifying the speaker as Jesus, and then end with, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Revelation 2:7).

It is the same Person. The Son of God speaks the message from Heaven, and delivers it to the bodily temple on earth as the Spirit. He does not send a proxy. He does not send a third person to deliver His mail. He comes Himself.