Melchizedek

A sister’s view on Melchizedek being the pre-incarnate Christ:

“First of all they don’t speak of him having parents secondly he’s King and priest and nobody has that title but Jesus. And he’s from Salem which is Jerusalem and the Bible says Jesus comes after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus comes after no one especially a man. Abraham paid him tithes and they both took communion..”

My response:

Great points in your argument, all laced with scriptural support from Hebrews 7. He was first mentioned in Gen. 14:18-20 and later in Ps. 110:4. Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20 also say Jesus’ priesthood is “according to the order of Melchizedek.” All very convincing. I would give you an “A” for the way you presented your argument.

Here’s my interpretation:

I make a distinction between the person and the function of priesthood. “According to the order of Melchizedek” refers to the function of the priesthood, not the person, in my opinion. Though no genealogical record of “Mel” is given, and he is depicted as being greater than Abraham in both testaments, he lacks association with the eponym (derivative name or title) “Lord” or “God.” Generally, pre-incarnate appearances of Christ connected Him with the word “Lord” or “God” (Gen. 18; 32:24-30; Joshua 5:13-15), but not so with Melchizedek. Admittedly, the Jews were very keen on keeping genealogical records, but the lack of them doesn’t absolutely imply that a person has no beginning nor end. See 1 Kings 12:22; 13:1; 17:1. No genealogy is given in these passages (though the man of God’s death is recorded in 1 Kings 13:34) nor is there one for Ezekiel (though married [24:15-18]), nor Daniel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Haggai, and Malachi (even his name is controversial). Though all were prophets, the lack of a genealogical record doesn’t rule out a life of beginning and end for them nor necessarily for Melchizedek. To me, then, Scripture stresses the perpetual priestly function rather than his person. Now, I could be as blind about this as looking in a mirror in “black darkness.” If so, please turn on the lights! Blessings!