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Document Details : Title: The Mercy Seat and the Lamb Subtitle: Reframing Christ's Priesthood and Atonement in Origen Author(s): RIVERA, Charles Augustine Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Volume: 100 Issue: 2 Date: 2024 Pages: 257-288 DOI: 10.2143/ETL.100.2.3293344 Abstract : By re-evaluating Origen’s exegesis of Rom 3,25 (in which Christ is described as the mercy seat) and John 1,29 (in which he is called the Lamb of God), I argue that, in his mature works, Origen understands Christ’s priesthood and sacrificial self-offering to occur in heaven after his ascension and not at his death on the cross. In his detailed Christological interpretations of various Levitical rites in the Homilies on Leviticus, Origen repeatedly distinguishes between Jesus’s suffering on earth and the heavenly offerings he begins to make upon his ascension into heaven. This same distinction occurs in his exegesis of Rom 3,25 in the Commentary on Romans, but in his earlier Commentary on John he uses cultic language to describe Jesus’s death while interpreting John 1,29, indicating that he had not yet come to this clearer systematic integration of the concept of Christ’s priesthood. In addition to its relevance for understanding Origen’s theology of atonement, this article also participates in scholarship interrogating the modern category of 'sacrifice'. |
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