Yet another excellent entry in the “Short Studies in Biblical Theology” series from Crossway, David Schrock’s The Royal Priesthood and the Glory of God explores, well, exactly what the title says: how the priesthood–the royal priesthood–relates to the glory of God. The reflection this book provides is thoughtful careful, and absolutely worthwhile.
But not only is this little book excellent in its own right, it is also an excellent model of what Biblical theology should look like. Schrock begins at the beginning, with the priesthood of Adam in the Garden, of Noah after the flood, of Abraham over God’s people, and of Melchizedek with, well, whatever kind of priest he was. From there Schrock explores the Levitical priesthood as outlined in the law, the call for a repentant priesthood and the promise of a coming future priesthood offered in the prophets, and the (very, very, imperfect) model of a royal priesthood demonstrated and explained in the writings.
From the Old Testament, Schrock leads us into the New where the royal priest arrives as the office of ‘priest’ culminates in the life and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And I think here the problem of how short this volume is (and, presumably, has to be) runs into a minor issue. Specifically, in the case of Christ’s priesthood, the priest is also the sacrifice. I think that is probably an idea worthy of its own chapter, but again these are “short” studies in Biblical theology, so…
Following the chapter on the priesthood of Christ, Schrock ends with a discussion of the establishment of the priesthood of all believers both as we are now and as we will be in eternity on the other side of Christ’s return.
Again, this is a fantastic little book that should be on your shelf. Highly recommended.
Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog), and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO
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