I am content to say the words employed by the apostle have priestly overtones, and that the passage employs an extended metaphor. There is no need to read into the figurative language a doctrine of priesthood which was foreign to the apostle. In Phil. 2, he uses a slightly different metaphor when he speaks of the service of the Philippian church as the sacrifice upon which his own life is poured out like a drink-offering. Figures of speech are by nature illustrative and are best interpreted that way.

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Yours sincerely,


"Illum oportet crescere me autem minui."