"PROPHET + KING - PRIEST = JESUS OF FUNDAMENTALISM
Fundamentalist Christians who are prone to legalism, moralism, and a general lack of love, grace, mercy, or patience are often the product of a deficient understanding of Jesus as priest. The strength of fundamentalism is its keen awareness of Jesus’ prophetic role as bold truth-teller and commander of repentance, along with his role as king who rules and reigns in all authority. However, they are also prone not to appreciate fully the priestly role of Jesus. As a result, God seems primarily cold, distant, stern, harsh, and even cruel. Their Jesus sits on a throne far away and yells at us but never gets off that throne to help. He’s just sitting there, disappointed, waiting for us to mess up. In short, this is a God that we are more prone to run away from than toward in our time of need. The result of this error is either despair or pride, but not worship, humility, or joy. Because God is a boss who yells at us, this form of religion traps us into a cycle where if we think we’re doing well, we get proud, and if we think we’re doing poorly, we get depressed. At no point do we receive loving help because Jesus is not fully valued as a priest.
PROPHET + PRIEST - KING = JESUS OF EVANGELICALISM
The curious fact of modern evangelicalism is that there is both a general assent to basic Christian truths, and a moral life that is virtually indistinguishable from the average non-Christian in areas such as sexual sin. Researchers such as George Barna have built entire ministries quantifying these facts statistically. Why does this happen? Because the role of Jesus as king is apparently diminished or dismissed. In this form of religion, people know that Jesus speaks the truth as their prophet and loves them as their priest. So when they sin, they know that Jesus will forgive them and still love them. But they still rule over their own life. When they need help, they read the Bible or ask Jesus to serve them. Practically, they don’t see Jesus ruling over them, but rather coming alongside them to help them to achieve their objectives. He is only allowed to do so when he is invited. The result is a double-life of hypocrisy in which we call Jesus Lord, call his Word true, and then do whatever we want in some areas of our life because the pants are mine, the money is mine, the web browser is mine, the food is mine, the alcohol is mine, the schedule is mine, the life is mine, and the glory is mine, and I will rule as king over aspects of my own life with Jesus as little more than my trusty assistant.
PRIEST + KING - PROPHET = JESUS OF LIBERALISM
Liberal Christianity is prone to understand Jesus as our priest, who is filled with grace, love, mercy, and tolerant patience, as well as our king, who rules over all peoples and seeks to extend to them grace, love, and mercy. However, the weakness of typical liberal Christianity is that it fails to fully appreciate the hard-edged role of Jesus as prophet. The sad result is that Jesus is seen as someone who would never offend us, raise his voice, hurt our feelings, speak harshly, or command individuals to repent with a sense of urgency because he is only infinitely patient, tolerant, and understanding.
By way of illustration, I recall a conversation I once had with a liberal Christian pastor who was president of a large network of liberal churches. He told me that a pastor should never say anything that would offend anyone because the only way we offend someone is when we speak out of a place of pride. I asked him if Jesus was therefore guilty of the sin of pride because many people were furious with him to the degree that they shouted, “Crucify him!” Seeing he was on the horns of a dilemma, he agreed that Jesus was both the most humble person who has ever lived and did say some things that his hearers considered harsh because of their prophetic edge. Jesus sometimes spoke tenderly as a priest, but he also spoke tersely as a prophet to ensure that the sword of truth was removed from its scabbard and wielded with full force. When Jesus is not seen as prophet, sinful beliefs and behaviors are blessed because to speak the truth and command repentance would require a prophetic voice. Subsequently, liberal Christianity is mired in such things as homosexuality and universalism, as if every sexual practice and every religious belief were acceptable in the eyes of Jesus. Jesus came to the earth to reveal himself to us as our prophet who speaks to us, priest who walks with us, and king who rules over us. Jesus’ ministry continues today and his roles are the same yesterday, today, and forever. For the three offices of Jesus to be of the greatest benefit to us, we must humbly ask God to reveal to us which aspect of Jesus’ ministry we are most likely to misunderstand or even ignore and read Scripture with a humble heart seeking to see Jesus in the fullness of his glory."
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From Chapter Four of "Vintage Jesus" pp.82-84
I think I can tend towards a fundamentalist evangelical, you?
