The Book of Mormon Site

Martin Luther on Melchizedek, 1537

Melchizedek a High Priest like unto Jesus Christ

In Alma 13:13–19, Alma preaches, emphasis added:

And now, my brethren, I would that ye should humble yourselves before God, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance, that ye may also enter into that rest. Yea, humble yourselves even as the people in the days of Melchizedek, who was also a high priest after this same order which I have spoken, who also took upon him the high priesthood forever. And it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yea, even our father Abraham paid tithes of one-tenth part of all he possessed. Now these ordinances were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that they might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord. Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of wickedness; But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father. Now, there were many before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater; therefore, of him they have more particularly made mention.

The direct references to Melchizedek in the Bible are fairly slim.

Gen 14:18–19:

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 14:20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

Psalm 110:4:

The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

In the New Testament, Melchizedek is not mentioned directly, but Hebrews 2:17–3:2 interprets the idea of Christ being a High Priest thus:

Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

Martin Luther and later preachers explained to the Protestant Christian world for hundreds of years this idea that Melchizedek was an archetype of Jesus. For example, 1788 (about 250 years after Martin Luther wrote about this interpretation of Pslam 110, see below), translated from Martin Luther (1483–1546) into Dutch, Lutheran Small Catechism translated from German by J. A. Cramer (3rd edition), p.204–205 (Google Translated into English, emphasis added):

Jesus Christ is called a High Priest in Scripture, not only as Aaron, but also as Melchizedek, who were his examples. He was a High Priest, like Aaron, because he taught people about God’s will, redeemed them from all its misery by his suffering, as the only true sacrifice for sin, and interceded for them, just as Aaron and his followers in the Holy High Priesthood were required to teach the Jews about God’s will, sacrifice for them, and pray for them. He was a High Priest, like Melchizedek, because he is also Lord of all people, and uses his power and dominion to save them, just as Melchizedek, who was King in Salem, blessed faithful Abraham, brought peace to his subjects, and made them happy. Because of all these works, our Savior is also called the Mediator between God and mankind.

From 1537, The 110th Pslam: Saith the Lord. Preached and Expounded through Dr. Martin Luther, p.228–231. (Google Translate, cleaned up and bold emphasis added):

Now this Story has carefully examined the Epistle to the Hebrews and interpreted from it this text (You are a priest after the way of Melchizedek) and shown the difference between the priesthood of the New Testament and the Old Testament and concluded that this priesthood of Christ (which was formed through Melchizedek) must be much higher and better than the Levite. Firstly, because this priest Melchizedek blesses the patriarch Abraham and takes tithes from him. For since he is thus blessed, he is lesser and less than he who blesses, and not the greater to the lesser, but the one who gives tithes to the greater, must therefore be greater and greater than Abraham. But if he [(Melchizedek)] is greater than Abraham, he must also be greater before Aaron. Abraham is indeed the highest man among all those the Jews can praise. As the source and fount, or stem and root, of the entire people, and indeed greater than Levi and Aaron, who were born of his blood and flesh. Therefore, all who can come from him (including Levi with his priesthood) must be under this Melchizedek who blesses their patriarch and priest and takes the tithes from him. Yes, they themselves are forsaken in Abraham (says the same epistle) when they were still in his loins and not born.

Secondly, the same epistle also noted that this priest, Melchizedek, is remembered so: briefly, and nothing is said about him, where he came from or where he stayed, but neither the beginning nor the end of his lineage is reported. Yet everything about Aaron is written clearly, and his entire lineage from Abraham is clearly distinguished, including how he was called to the priesthood and, indeed, how he died, and [from whom] he inherited the priesthood. This holy prophet also considered this and added the word (Eternal Priest) to it. That, just as one finds this Melchizedek no father and mother, beginning and end, it is not that he had no father and mother, but that nothing is written about it. Therefore, Christ (who was formed through him) is truly a such a priest, who has neither a beginning nor an end, but is from eternity and remains forever.

If the Jews had opened their eyes and read the Scriptures properly, they would have realized that their priesthood, the Levite one, and the Aaronic one, which came after, would not be the true permanent priesthood, but [they] would wait for another priest and priesthood, which would be higher and better than the temporal kingdom and priesthood that all their forefathers had been. For with this (which he calls Christ, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek) he lifts up all of them and casts them under the feet. The Word (a priest after the order of Melchizedek) which was swept through Abraham, sets it (as said) over Abraham and all his people, also over King David. But the Word, forever, does not raise him as only over Abraham and David, but over all kings and kingdoms, yes, over Israel and earth. For it shows and proves that he must not only be a true man (which the word, priest, brings with it), but must also be a true God, because he is without beginning and end and existed before both Abraham and David. As he which he also named his father above, before he was ordained.

Now this is said of the person of this priest [(Melchizedek)]: that he is a different man than Aaron, Abraham, and the entire Jewish people. But we must also consider the difference in office between Aaron’s and Christ’s Priesthood. This is also shown by the words (according to the way Melchizedek, that is, also as it is written and read by Melchizedek) For thus it is written there (as said in) Genesis 14, when Abraham came from the slaughter which he had won from the five kings, this Melchizedek brought bread and wine before him, and as he was a priest of God, he swept Abraham with a beautiful, glorious blessing.

To summarize the point here, as Wikipedia explain about Melchizedek in Protestanism: “Traditional Protestant Christian denominations, following Luther [(who died in 1546)], teach that Melchizedek was a historical figure and an archetype of Christ. Tremper Longman III notes that a popular understanding of the relationship between Melchizedek and Jesus is that Melchizedek is an Old Testament Christophany – in other words, that Melchizedek is Jesus, or at the very least, is a close resemblance of Jesus.” Martin Luthers’s interpretation for essentially all of Protestantism is not something that developed after Christians read the Book of Mormon, rather it predates the Book of Mormon intrepretation by nearly 300 years. Though grabbing a few quotes in German (1537) and Dutch (1788) does not show exactly how the idea made its way from 16th century European German to early 19th century English (1826), the point is that the idea is old (but newer and more fleshed out than in the New Testament, and well over a thousand years after Moroni buried the plates) and not original to JS Jr., and did not need to be delivered by revelation because it was already widely circulated in print for three hundred years. The novel part is where Joseph Smith, several years after the publication of the Book of Mormon, claimed others besides Melchizedek and Jesus Christ (including himself and officers of the church) had received this priesthood, a development beginning in D&C 84 and further developed over time.

< Back to Index