Melchisedeko, sed contra, nam Filius Dei est antiquior et archetypus (Bengel). So Theodoret: ejkei'no" touvtou tuvpo", ou|to" de; tou' tuvpou hJ ajlhvqeia . The truth is of general application. The physical, the historical, is the limited representation of the spiritual, the eternal.
The choice of the participle in place of o{moio" shews that the resemblance lies in the Biblical representation and not primarily in Melchizedek himself. The comparison is not between Christ and Melchizedek, but between Christ and the isolated portraiture of Melchizedek; and that in regard to the divine Nature of the Incarnate Son ( tw'/ uiJw'/ tou' qeou' ), and not to His human Nature in which He both was born and died, nor even to His official dignity ( tw'/ cristw'/ ). It is not however implied that the record in Genesis was purposely designed to convey the meaning which is found in it, but that the history sketched by prophetic power has the meaning.
Perhaps the remarkable variation in the language, which cannot be mere rhetorical ornament (
mhvte ajrc. hJm. mhvte zwh'" tevlo"
, not
mhvte ajrch;n mhvte tevlo" zwh'"
), may point to the fact that the Son of God was (in His Divine Nature) beyond time, while the human life which He assumed was to be without end. Compare Theophlct:
oJ cristo;"
...
a{te qeo;"
...
a[narco" kata; th;n tou' crovnou ajrch;n eij kai; to;n patevra e[cei ajrch;n kai; ai[tion
.
ajfwm.
] Latt.
assimilatus (similatus) made like to.
The word, which is found in the best authors, does not occur elsewhere in N. T.
Ep. Jerem.
4, 62,
70.
On the likeness Primasius remarks (following Chrysostom): In hoc est similitudo quod nec illius (Melch.) nec istius (Christi) initium legitur vel finis: illius quia non est scriptum; istius autem quia omnino non est. tw'/ uiJw'/ tou' qeou' ] The choice of this name here emphasises that aspect of the Lord's person which was typified by the absence of all notice of the birth or death of Melchizedek. See Heb. 4:14; 6:6; 10:29. mevnei iJereu;" eij" to; dihnekev" ] remaineth a priest perpetually , Latt. manet sacerdos in perpetuum. The use of the phrase eij" to; dihn. for eij" to;n aijw'na marks his priesthood as continued to the end in his person without break. He had no successors (so Theodoret rightly explains the words: ejpeidhvper th;n iJerwsuvnhn ouj parevpemyen eij" pai'da" ), and no provision for a successor to him is recorded in Scripture. He therefore abides a priest perpetually, for ever, not literally but in the Scriptural portraiture. This is one of the points in which he was made like to the Son of God.
The idea that the perpetuity of his priesthood lay in the fact that it was continued in Christ (
manet
...non in se sed in Christo. Primas.) destroys the parallel; and the structure of the whole paragraph absolutely forbids the application of this clause to any other than the Melchizedek of the record in Genesis.
eij" to; dihn.
] See Heb. 10:1 note. The phrase does not describe absolute perpetuity, duration without end, but duration continued under the conditions implied or expressed in the particular case. Thus it is said App.
B.
C.
i. § 4,
diktavtwr eij" to; dihneke;" hJ/revqh
. Cf.
Pun.
viii. § 136. Heliodor.
AEth.
i. § 14
fugh'/ eij" to; dihneke;" ejzhmivwsan
. Here no limit is marked negatively or positively, and the phrase simply excludes interruption in Melchizedek's tenure of his office. No one takes it from him (comp. Heb. 7:8). Such a condition is equally satisfied by his actual continuance for ever, a supposition