Topical Encyclopedia
The intercession of Christ is a fundamental doctrine within Christian theology, emphasizing the ongoing work of Jesus Christ as a mediator between God and humanity. This concept is rooted in the belief that Christ, following His resurrection and ascension, continues to serve as an advocate for believers before the Father. The intercession of Christ is a source of comfort and assurance for Christians, affirming that their salvation is secure through His continual advocacy.
Biblical FoundationThe New Testament provides several key passages that highlight the intercessory role of Christ. In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul writes, "Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us" (
Romans 8:34). This verse underscores the belief that Christ's resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of God enable Him to intercede on behalf of believers.
The Epistle to the Hebrews further elaborates on this role, presenting Christ as a high priest who continually intercedes for His people.
Hebrews 7:25 states, "Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them" . This passage emphasizes the perpetual nature of Christ's intercession, assuring believers of their complete salvation through His ongoing work.
Theological SignificanceThe intercession of Christ is closely linked to His priestly office, as described in the book of Hebrews. Unlike the priests of the Old Testament, who offered sacrifices repeatedly, Christ's sacrifice was once for all, and His intercession is eternal.
Hebrews 9:24 explains, "For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God" . This highlights the superiority of Christ's priesthood and His unique ability to represent humanity before God.
Christ's intercession is also seen as an expression of His love and compassion for His followers. In the Gospel of John, Jesus prays for His disciples, saying, "I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message" (
John 17:20). This prayer, often referred to as the High Priestly Prayer, illustrates Christ's concern for all believers and His desire for their unity and protection.
Practical ImplicationsFor believers, the intercession of Christ provides assurance of their standing before God. It is a reminder that their salvation is not based on their own merits but on the finished work of Christ. This doctrine encourages Christians to approach God with confidence, knowing that they have an advocate in Jesus. As stated in 1
John 2:1, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One" .
Furthermore, the intercession of Christ serves as a model for believers to intercede for others. Just as Christ prays for His followers, Christians are called to pray for one another, reflecting His love and concern in their own lives. This practice of intercessory prayer is an essential aspect of Christian community and spiritual growth.
In summary, the intercession of Christ is a vital aspect of His ongoing ministry, providing believers with assurance, comfort, and a model for their own prayer lives. Through His eternal advocacy, Christ secures the salvation of His people and continually represents them before the Father.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Intercession of ChristINTERCESSION OF CHRIST
The general conception of our Lord's mediatorial office is specially summed up in His intercession in which He appears in His high-priestly office, and also as interceding with the Father on behalf of that humanity whose cause He had espoused.
1. Christ's Intercession Viewed in Its Priestly Aspect:
The function of priesthood as developed under Judaism involved the position of mediation between man and God. The priest represented man, and on man's behalf approached God; thus he offered sacrifice, interceded and gave to the offerer whom he represented the benediction and expression of the Divine acceptance. (For the various forms of these offerings, see special articles.) As in sacrifice, so in the work of Christ, we find the proprietary rights of the offerer in the sacrifice. For man, Christ as one with man, and yet in His own personal right, offers Himself (seeRomans 5; and compareGalatians 4:5 withHebrews 2:11). There was also the transfer of guilt and its conditions, typically by laying the hand on the head of the animal, which then bore the sins of the offerer and was presented to God by the priest. The acknowledgment of sin and the surrender to God is completely fulfilled in Christ's offering of Himself, and His death (compareLeviticus 3:2, 8, 13;Leviticus 16:21; withIsaiah 53:62 Corinthians 5:21). our Lord's intercessory quality in the sacrifice of Himself is not only indicated by the imputation of guilt to Him as representing the sinner, but also in the victory of His life over death, which is then given to man in God's acceptance of His representative and substitute.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the intercessory character of our Lord's high-priestly office is transferred to the heavenly condition and work of Christ, where the relation of Christ's work to man's condition is regarded as being still continued in the heavenly place (seeHebrews 9:11-28). This entrance into heaven is once for all, and in the person of the high priest the way is open to the very presence of God. From one point of view (Hebrews 10:12) the priestly service of the Lord was concluded and gathered up into His kingly office (Hebrews 10:13, 14-18). But from another point of view, we ourselves are bidden to enter into the Holiest Place; as if in union with Christ we too become a kingly priesthood (Hebrews 10:19-22; and compare1 Peter 2:9).
It must not be forgotten, however, that this right of entrance into the most Holy Place is one that depends entirely upon our vital union with Christ, He appears in heaven for us and we with Him, and in this sense He fulfills the second duty of His high-priestly office as intercessor, with the added conception drawn from the legal advocacy of the Roman court. The term translated "Advocate" in 1John 2:2 is parakletos, which inJohn 14:16 is translated "Comforter." The word is of familiar use in Greek for the legal advocate or patronus who appeared on behalf of his client. Thus, in the double sense of priestly and legal representative, our Lord is our intercessor in Heaven.
Of the modes in which Christ carries out His intercessory office, we can have no knowledge except so far as we may fairly deduce them from the phraseology and suggested ideas of Scripture. As high priest, it may surely be right for us to aid our weak faith by assuring ourselves that our Lord pleads for us, while at the same time we must be careful not to deprave our thought concerning the glorified Lord by the metaphors and analogies of earthly relationship.
The intercessory work of Christ may thus be represented: He represents man before God in His perfect nature, His exalted office and His completed work. The Scripture word for this is (Hebrews 9:24) "to appear before the face of God for us." There is also an active intercession. This is the office of our Lord as advocate or parakletos. That this conveys some relation to the aid which one who has broken the law receives from an advocate cannot be overlooked, and we find Christ's intercession in this aspect brought into connection with the texts which refer to justification and its allied ideas (seeRomans 8:341 John 2:1).
2. Christ's Intercessory Work from the Standpoint of Prayer:
In PRAYERS OF CHRIST (which see), the intercessory character of many of our Lord's prayers, and especially that ofJohn 17, is considered. And it has been impossible for Christian thought to divest itself of the idea that the heavenly intercession of Christ is of the order of prayer. It is impossible for us to know; and even if Christ now prays to the Father, it can be in no way analogous to earthly prayers. The thought of some portion of Christendom distinctly combined prayer in the heavenly work of the Lord. There is danger in extreme views. Scriptural expressions must not be driven too far, and, on the other hand, they must not be emptied of all their contents. Modern Protestant teaching has, in its protest against a merely physical conception of our Lord's state and occupation in heaven, almost sublimed reality from His intercessory work. In Lutheran teaching the intercession of our Lord was said to be "vocal," "verbal" and "oral." It has been well remarked that such forms of prayer require flesh and blood, and naturally the teachers of the Reformed churches, for the most part, have contented themselves (as for example Hodge, Syst. Theol., II, 593) with the declaration that "the intercession of Christ includes: (1) His appearing before God in our behalf, as the sacrifice for our sins, as our high priest, on the ground of whose work we receive the remission of our sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and all needed good; (2) defense against the sentence of the law and the charges of Satan, who is the great accuser; (3) His offering Himself as our surety, not only that the demands of justice shall be shown to be satisfied, but that His people shall be obedient and faithful; (4) the oblation of the persons of the redeemed, sanctifying their prayers, and all their services, rendering them acceptable to God, through the savor of his own merits."
Even this expression of the elements which constitute the intercession of the Lord, cautious and spiritual as it is in its application to Christian thought and worship, must be carefully guarded from a too complete and materialistic use. Without this care, worship and devout thought may become degraded and fall into the mechanical forms by which our Lord's position of intercessor has been reduced to very little more than an imaginative and spectacular process which goes on in some heavenly place. It must not be forgotten that the metaphorical and symbolic origin of the ideas which constitute Christ's intercession is always in danger of dominating and materializing the spiritual reality of His intercessional office.
L. D. Bevan
Greek
5241. huperentugchano -- to intercede, to make petition for... beyond human language, and includes bringing into our daily walk with
Christ.
... From
huper and entugchano; to intercede in behalf of -- make
intercession for.
...Library
TheIntercession ofChrist
... Sermon XLVII. TheIntercession ofChrist. TheIntercession ofChrist Romans
8:34. Who is he that condemneth? It isChrist that died...
Christ's Intercession...
... Article XXVIChrist's Intercession?Christ's Intercession We believe that
we have no access unto God but alone through the only...
Moreover Since He Himself is the Only Way and the Only Access by...
... also made in the name ofChrist, what more do they than declare that no man can
derive the least benefit from any prayers without theintercession ofChrist?...
Of Prayer
... 20. Refutation of errors interfering with theintercession ofChrist.1.Christ the
Mediator of redemption; the saints mediators ofintercession....
Christ's Intercession.
... Hymns. Book 2. Composed on Divine Subjects. Hymn 2:36.Christ's intercession.
1 Well, the Redeemer's gone T' appear before our God...
Christ's Intercession.
... Hymns, Book II HYMN 37Christ's intercession. CMChrist's intercession. Lift
up your eyes to th' heav'nly seats. Where your Redeemer stays;...
Christ's Intercession.
... Hymns, Book II HYMN 36Christ's intercession. SMChrist's intercession.
Well, the Redeemer's gone. T' appear before our God;...
The Auburn Declaration. AD 1837.
... [INTERCESSION OFCHRIST.]. 10. Theintercession ofChrist for the elect
is previous, as well as subsequent, to their regeneration...
Helps toIntercession
... Take courage; it is in theintercession ofChrist you are called to take part. The
burden and the agony, the triumph and the victory are all His....
In the Name ofChrist
... Thy redemption, O believer, is a redemption wrought out by prayer andintercession:
thyChrist is a prayingChrist: the life He lived for thee, the life He...
Resources
What is intercessory prayer? | GotQuestions.orgWhat is All Saints' Day? | GotQuestions.orgWhat are the satanic verses? | GotQuestions.orgIntercession: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.comBible Concordance •
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