Problem: “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually” (Hebrews 7:3)
There are some who identify Melchizedek as the pre-incarnate Christ. That is, they believe that Christ Himself appeared to Abraham in Genesis 14. This seems to be based primarily on a misunderstanding of the verse cited above (Heb. 7:3).
Solution: Melchizedek is identified in the Genesis record as an earthly ruler, the king of Salem, and as a priest of the most high God (Genesis 14:18). There is nothing in the text to suggest that he was not a genuine human being who lived on earth in those days.
It is better to understand Melchizedek as a type of Christ. He is not said to be the Son of God, but He is said to be “made like unto the Son of God” (Heb. 7:3). Christ was a High Priest, not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 6:20). It does not make sense to say that Christ was a High Priest after the order of Himself! No, Aaron and Melchizedek were both men who lived on earth, and Melchizedek’s priesthood was a type of Christ’s priesthood.
What is of interest is the lack of information given to us about Melchizedek from the Old Testament account. He appears out of nowhere. He is mentioned in one chapter in the Bible. And then we hear nothing about him again in the Old Testament record, apart from one verse in the Psalms. We are told nothing about his father and mother or his genealogical records. This does not mean he had no father or mother or ancestry, but the Genesis account is silent about this. We are also told nothing about his birth or his death. Such omissions almost make it seem like he was eternal.
“Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually” (Hebrews 7:3)
The strong testimony that this verse presents for the eternal Sonship of Christ must not be missed. The blessed Spirit of God guided the pen of Moses in such a way that the biography of Melchizedek says nothing about his parents or his birth or his age or his death. These deliberate omissions were for the purpose of presenting Melchizedek as a type of the Son of God: “He was made ‘like unto the Son of God,’ and the similarity lay in this, that he had ‘neither beginning of days nor end of life.’ Accordingly it was as the Son of God that Christ was without beginning of days. His Sonship was therefore unoriginated and eternal.” [W. E. Vine, The Divine Sonship, Part 2, pp. 16-17]
In His incarnation He was not “without mother.” As the “Son of Man” He was “made of a woman” (Gal. 4:4). As the “Son of God” He was “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life.” His Sonship has nothing to do with human parents, human lineage, human birth or time measurements. It is eternal.
Heb. 7:1-3—“For this Melchisedec, King of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham
returning from smiting the kings, and blessed him; whom Abraham gave also the tenth portion of all;
first being interpreted is King of righteousness, and then also King of Salem, which is King of peace;
without father, without mother, without genealogy; having neither beginning of days nor end
of life, but assimilated to the Son of God, abides a priest continually.”
For this Melchisedec, King of Salem, priest of the most high God [recorded in Genesis 14], who
met Abraham returning from smiting the kings, and blessed him; whom Abraham gave also the
tenth portion of all; first [‘Melchisedec’] being interpreted is King of righteousness, and then also
King of Salem, which is King of peace; [who is further ‘interpreted’ as being] without father,
without mother, without genealogy; having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but
[that is, the Holy Spirit designed the inspired historical record of Gen.14 to omit any such
references, so that Melchisedec’s person and priesthood would serve as a type and thus be]
assimilated to the Son of God, abides a priest continually.
“In the Old Testament story Melchizedec is introduced abruptly; no genealogy is given, no mention is
made of his birth, his death, nor of the number of his years, no hint is given of another arising to
succeed him in his priestly office. This is the more remarkable inasmuch as Genesis is exactly the
book which does furnish us with just those details in regard to the other striking characters that pass
across its pages. Why then were these details omitted as regards Melchizedec? Just that he might be
a more accurate type of the Son of God.” (F.B. Hole)
Our Lord, in regard to His Manhood, did have ‘mother,’ ‘genealogy,’ ‘beginning of days’ and ‘end of
life,’ but absolutely not so in regard to His deity as the eternal Son of God, who as such has
neither beginning nor end, being Himself the Eternal Life in His Person, who in this sense was thus
‘without father’ too, i.e., in the sense of being without any derivation or source of origin/life/existence, but is Eternal, Timeless and Self-Existent.
“How could ‘Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor
end of life’ apply to our Lord’s Manhood in this world? Father here is the idea of derivation . . . . But,
was He without mother as to His Manhood? Was He without beginning of days when in this
world? Yea, was He without end of life in so far as His responsible life in this world was concerned?
Even in resurrection He is not without beginning of days, though thank God He is now a Man in the
power of endless life [7:16]. As a Man then, ‘born in this world’ . . . He had Father [‘this day have I
begotten Thee’]; mother; beginning of days and end of life. Transfer these statements from His
Manhood to His [Divine] Person as Son, and every difficulty is removed. The Eternal Son
was ever without an ancestry, without a beginning and without an end. It is such a Person as
this who is a Priest for ever in the power of an endless life. Take note it is the Person and not
so much the Priesthood which is brought before us in this verse [Heb. 7:3].” (G. Davison)
“It is the Son who fills this office [this high priestly office] according to all the glory of His
Person.”
Now compare the following for the significance of His name and eternal relationship to the Father—
that is, the Son of God, eternal Son of the eternal Father, co-equal in every way in the eternal
relations of the Triune Godhead:
“And as they went to bring his disciples word, behold also, Jesus met them, saying, Hail! And
they coming up took him by the feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus says to them, Fear not;
go, bring word to my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me. . . But the
eleven disciples went into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed them. And when
they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus coming up spoke to
them, saying, All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth. Go therefore and
make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name [not ‘Names,’ but the singular
Name of the fully revealed God, the Triune Name] of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. And behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age” (Matt.
28:9-10, 16-20)
“But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto and I [the Son] work. For this therefore
the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he had not only violated the Sabbath, but also said
that God was his own Father [in such a manner as to be] making himself equal with God.”
(John 5:17-18)
“That all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who honours not the Son,
honours not the Father who has sent him.” (John 5:23)
“I [the Son] and the Father are one. The Jews therefore again took stones that they might
stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewn you of my Father; for which
work of them do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, For a good work we stone thee not, but
for blasphemy, and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is
it not written in your law, I said, ‘Ye are gods’? If he called them ‘gods’ to whom the word of God
came (and the scripture cannot be broken), do ye say of him whom the Father has sanctified
and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am Son of God? (John 10:30-
36)
“The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because
he made himself Son of God.” (John 19:7)
“He that beholds me [the Son], beholds him [the Father] that sent me.” (John 12:45)
“Jesus says to him, Am I so long a time with you, and thou hast not known me, Philip? He that
has seen me [the Son] has seen the Father; and how sayest thou, Shew us the Father?”
(John 14:9)
“I [the Son] came out from [Gr. para, from with] the Father and have come into the world
[‘being the Son, He both willed and submitted to be sent, and being sent, He did the will of Him
that sent Him’]; again I leave the world and go to the Father.” (John 16:28)
“And now glorify me, thou Father, along with thyself, with the glory which I [the Son] had
along with thee before the world was [i.e., in eternity past, before the beginning of
time/creation].” (John 17:5)
“Father, as to those whom thou hast given me [the Son], I desire that where I am they also may
be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou [the Father]
lovedst me [the Son] before the foundation of the world [i.e., in eternity past, before the
beginning of time/creation, in the eternal communion and intimacy of the Godhead the
Father’s love ever dwelt in complacent affection upon ‘the Son of His love.’ ].” (John 17:24)
“Grace shall be with you, mercy, peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” (2 John 3)
“That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, which we have seen with our
eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life; (and the
life has been manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and report to you the eternal life
[the eternal Son], which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us). . . . And we
know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we should know
him that is true; and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God
and eternal life. Children, keep yourselves from idols.” (1 John 1:1-2, 5:20-21)
“God [God as such, the (now fully revealed) Triune God] having spoken in many parts and in
many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in
the person of the Son [the Son become flesh, the Son in manhood], whom he [the personal God
as such] has established heir of all things, by whom [by the Creator-Son] also he made the
worlds [Gr. aiones, lit. “ages,” meaning the Son made ‘the whole created universe of time
and space’; and since the Son created the ages of time, the Son is therefore timeless, the
eternal Son]; who being [inherently being in His Divine Person in manhood; the God-Man being]
the effulgence of his glory [the radiance of God’s intrinsic splendor and perfections, the
outshining of Divine excellence in display] and the expression of his substance [the exact
expression and representation of the essential nature or being of God], and upholding all things
by the word of his power [i.e., upholding ‘ALL things’ by the Son’s own word of power, and thus
His own Omnipotent, Almighty utterance of power!], having made by himself the purification of
sins, set himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high.” (Heb. 1:1-3)
“But as to the Son [the Father says in Ps. 45:6], Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, and a
sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. . . . And [as to the Son, the Father says in
Ps. 102:25-27], Thou in the beginning, Lord [Jehovah, the Self-Existent, Uncreated, Ever
Existing, Eternal One, who caused the ‘beginning’ of all things to begin], hast founded the
earth, and works of thy hands are the heavens. They shall perish, but thou continuest still; and
they all shall grow old as a garment, and as a covering shalt thou roll them up, and they shall be
changed; but thou art the Same [another Divine title of the only true God, Jehovah, meaning
‘the self-existent one who does not change,’ in contrast to all creatures who are such as
are indeed changeable], and thy years shall not fail.” (Heb. 1:8, 10-12)
“Though he were Son [i.e., ‘notwithstanding the fact that he was the Son,’ and thus not in
a place of obedience or subjection, but co-equal in every way in the eternal relations of the
Triune Godhead], he learned obedience from the things which he suffered [on earth as the God-
Man].“ (Heb. 5:8)
“For this Melchisedec, King of Salem, priest of the most high God [recorded in Genesis 14], who
met Abraham returning from smiting the kings, and blessed him; whom Abraham gave also the
tenth portion of all; first [‘Melchisedec’] being interpreted is King of righteousness, and then also
King of Salem, which is King of peace; [who is further ‘interpreted’ as being] without father,
without mother, without genealogy; having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but
[that is, the Holy Spirit designed the inspired historical record of Gen.14 to omit any such
references, so that Melchisedec’s person and priesthood would serve as a type and thus be]
assimilated to the Son of God, abides a priest continually [our Lord, in regard to His
Manhood, did have ‘mother,’ ‘genealogy,’ ‘beginning of days’ and ‘end of life,’ but absolutely not
so in regard to His deity as the eternal Son of God, who as such has neither beginning nor end,
being Himself the Eternal Life in His Person, who in this sense was thus ‘without father’ too, i.e.,
in the sense of being without any derivation or source of origin/life/existence, but is Eternal,
Timeless and Self-Existent].” (Heb. 7:1-3)
“Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only-begotten
[monogenes, meaning only, unique, one-of-a-kind and most-deeply-loved] Son into the
world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)
“No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten [monogenes, meaning only, unique,
one-of-a-kind and most-deeply-loved] Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath
declared him.” (John 1:18)
The eternal Sonship of Christ is not dependent on the notion of the “eternal generation” of the Son,
which latter I reject. But the truth of His eternal Sonship itself is absolutely vital!
“While I hold to eternal relationships in the Godhead, I reject the metaphysical speculations about ‘the
eternal generation of the Son,’ ‘begotten before all worlds,’ eternal procession’ of either the Son or the
Spirit, or any thought of subordination within the Godhead. The notion that when one rejects ‘eternal
generation of the Son,’ therefore he must also reject the eternal Sonship, is absurd. The eternal
Sonship is not dependent on metaphysical speculations based on misunderstanding of certain
scriptures and confusion about ‘only begotten Son.’ ” (R.A. Huebner)
Note on “only-begotten” (Gr. monogenes): Monogenes occurs a total of nine times in the NT, five
of which are used in reference to Christ (and only in the writings of John: John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1
John 4:9). It means only, unique, one-of-a-kind and most-deeply-loved, and as such speaks of God
the Son’s underived, unacquired, unique, eternal relationship with the Father. Monogenes carries no
inherent notions of being “generated” or “begotten” (which are entirely different words in the
original Hebrew and Greek, and never used of Christ as to His eternal Sonship in the
Godhead, but only in relation to the manhood taken into His Person as, e.g., in Psalm 2:7 and
Luke 1:35). This is evident from the fact that our Saviour is and always remains the Monogenes Son
even with the myriad of believers who have indeed been “begotten” as children of God through the
new birth and given the place of sonship as “sons of God.” Moreover, compare the use and meaning
of monogenes in Heb. 11:17—along with the Hebrew equivalent in Gen. 22:2 (on which Heb.
11:17 is based)—in regard to Isaac in relationship to Abraham: “By faith Abraham, when tried, offered
up Isaac, and he who had received to himself the promises offered up his only-begotten
{monogenes}” (Heb. 11:17). “And he [God] said [to Abraham], Take now thy son, thine only son,
whom thou lovest, Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and there offer him up for a burnt-
offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (Gen. 22:2). But Abraham clearly had more
than one son; in fact, Ishmael was his first son, born 13 years earlier! Isaac was thus Abraham’s
“only-begotten” in the sense of being the unique, one-of-a-kind and most-deeply-loved son in
relationship with his father Abraham!
Christ is “the Son in the highest possible character, the only-begotten Son, distinguishing
Him thus from any other who might, in a subordinate sense, be son of God. ‘The only-begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.’ Observe: not which was [nor ‘which came to be’], but ‘which
is’ [‘the one being’]. He is viewed as retaining the same perfect intimacy with the Father, entirely
unimpaired by local or any other circumstances He had entered. Nothing in the slightest degree
detracted from His own personal glory, and from the infinitely near relationship which He had had with
the Father from all eternity…. Under all changes, outwardly, he abode as from eternity the only-
begotten Son in the bosom of the Father.” (William Kelly)
