Gospel Doctrine: Jesus’ Priesthood

Jesus’ Priesthood
By John A. Tvedtnes

[Supplement to Gospel Doctrine New Testament lesson 3]

As the divine Son of God and, indeed, Creator of “worlds without number,” Jesus clearly had priesthood power before coming to dwell in a mortal tabernacle. The epistle to the Hebrews calls the Savior “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession [belief]” (Hebrews 3:1) who, after his resurrection, serves in the heavenly temple (Hebrews 4:14).

Just as Christ “was foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20), other leaders were chosen in the premortal world from which we came (Abraham 3:22-23; Jeremiah 1:5).

The prophet Joseph Smith declared, “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was. I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council” (History of the Church 6:364). [1]

Despite his foreordination, Joseph had to be ordained and granted keys to the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods in mortality. Is it possible, then, that Jesus received an ordination during his mortal life? At least one early Christian leader believed it to be so.

The fourth-century A.D. Syrian bishop Ephraim wrote that:

Prophecy and priesthood, which were given through Moses, were handed down, both of them, and reached to Simeon,” a priest in the Jerusalem temple, and that “Simeon presented our Lord, and in Him offered both these things; so that that which was given to Moses in the wilderness, was received from Simeon in the Temple [Luke 2:25-35]... priesthood from His hands and prophecy from His lips,” so that Jesus held “priesthood and kingdom and prophecy.” Thus, “when he gave Him to His mother, he gave along with Him the priesthood; and when he prophesied to her concerning Him... He was outwardly wrapped in swaddling clothes, but secretly He was clothed with prophecy and priesthood.

Whatsoever then was handed down from Moses, was received from Simeon, but continued and was possessed by the Lord of both. So then the steward first, and the treasurer lastly, handed over the keys of priesthood and prophecy to Him who has authority over the treasurer of them both.”

Later, “the keys which He had received from Simeon the priest, them He gave to another Simeon the Apostle,” [2] who came to be called Peter [Matthew 16:15-19]. At his baptism, too, “because John also was the treasurer of baptism, the Lord of the stewardship came to him to receive from him the keys of the house of reconciliation” (Homily on Our Lord 51-53). [3]

Ephraim lived in a time of apostasy, so we cannot be sure of the authenticity of the tradition cited here, but it is interesting that it is consistent with Latter-day Saint beliefs and practices.

For additional material relating to this lesson, see: John A. Tvedtnes, “John the Baptist and the Keys of Baptism,” Insights 19/6 (June 1999), posted on the Maxwell Institute web site at http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=insights&id=69

For an introduction to the books of the New Testament and in-depth discussions of each verse in the New Testament, see Kevin L. Barney (ed.), John H. Jenkins, and John A. Tvedtnes, “Footnotes to the New Testament for Latter-day Saints,” go to: http://feastupontheword.org/Site:NTFootnotes

[1] Some Latter-day Saints hold this to mean that all who have been ordained to whatever office in the Church were foreordained to that office before coming to earth. I see it differently. Joseph Smith said that men who have “a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world” were foreordained. Only General Authorities are called to serve the inhabitants of all the world.

[2] The Hebrew name rendered Simeon in the Old Testament is the same as the one rendered Simon in the New Testament.

[3] Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, 13:328-9.