Jesus’s Standing at God’s Right Hand in Acts 7:55–56 as a Reference to His Priestly Function

(avg. read time: 4–7 mins.)

Hebrews has the distinction of giving the NT its most developed presentation of Christ as our High Priest. Indeed, it is its distinct contribution. But it would be inaccurate to say it is the only NT text attesting to such an idea. Today, we are going to examine a text that implies this idea. Specifically, we will be looking at the curious description of Jesus in Acts 7:55–56 as “standing” at God’s right hand and how it concerns his priestly function. In the process, I will be drawing on the previous post in which I examined this text and its combined allusion to Dan 7 and Ps 110, comparing the reference to the “right hand” to other cases in the NT, linking this text to the OT, and using the presentation of Christ’s work in Hebrews as a comparison.

As I noted in the aforementioned post, the combined allusion to Dan 7 and Ps 110 is rather clear here, particularly as it is built on Jesus’s previous allusion in his trial to these texts in his statement about what is in his future (despite the verdict of the Sanhedrin). The Son of Man may in some ways be reminiscent of imagery and functions associated with priests, but it would take a significant detour to support this idea. And it is not really necessary given that the priestly association of Ps 110 is blatant. The addressee of the text is a royal figure—as is clear from the often-cited v. 1—but the same figure is declared a priest in v. 4. The good priest king fulfills the functions God intended for humanity as image-bearing viceregents who maintain God’s will for order in creation (I have also noted how this text is often collocated with Ps 8 and its description of God’s ideal image-bearer). The king is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek because, not being a Levite, he cannot be a priest according to Israelite law and tradition. But he can be a priest like Melchizedek—also the king of Salem—was a priest. He was not priest by genealogy and one who is priest according to his order is a king who faithfully enacts God’s will and attends to the key duties of the priest.

The intentionality in evoking these texts and Jesus’s own declaration at his trial are clear. “Son of Man” was Jesus’s preferred form of self-reference and it is rarely used of him afterwards. The one case in which this reference appears in Acts is here in 7:56 when Stephen refers to him this way. The only other occasions in all the NT where this form of reference is used are in heavenly visions in Rev 1:13 and 14:14. While the texts from Revelation thus accentuate the connections with Dan 7, this story in Acts uses this combined allusion to provide another connection between Jesus’s and Stephen’s trials. This vision of Stephen’s serves as confirmation that Jesus’s promised vindication in his exaltation has indeed come true. But unlike Jesus’s reference, where Jesus describes himself as seated at the right hand of God, Jesus is here seen standing at God’s right hand. On the one hand, this makes sense for the legal setting, as witnesses and judges could stand for a verdict, and so the sense here is one of the Son of Man and God the Father vindicating Stephen over and against the verdict of the human court, again in imitation of how God had already vindicated Jesus. The High Priest in heaven will overturn what the mob did under the supervision of the earthly high priest and the Sanhedrin (7:1).

But what distinguishes this text from most others in the NT that appeal to the language of Ps 110 for Christology is the fact that Christ is “standing” at God’s right hand. Generally in the NT, when Ps 110 is quoted or alluded to, the description is of “sitting” at God’s right hand (Matt 22:44 // Mark 12:36 // Luke 20:42; Matt 26:64 // Mark 14:62 // Luke 22:69; Mark 16:19; Acts 2:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2). Besides Acts 7, the exceptions to this are 1 Pet 3:22, which otherwise invokes the subjection imagery and thus the royal sense, and Rom 8:34, which refers to Jesus interceding at God’s right hand. As such, only one other text uses the “right hand” description to suggest Jesus’s priestly work, but no other text refers to him as “standing” there. Why, then, would this language be suggestive of priestly work? For this, we must turn to the links with the OT.

It is not so much the vocabulary of “standing” itself that is suggestive, but the fact that this is the description used in place of the typical language of Jesus’s session. It implies work in which one must be upright. And the fact that the place of this standing is at the right hand is suggestive of some of the blended imagery from the OT. One must remember that God’s throne is biblically linked with God’s sanctuary, both in the heavenly reality and the earthly counterpart (particularly in the ark of the covenant and its mercy seat; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2 // 1 Chr 13:6; 2 Kgs 19:15; Pss 11:4; 80:1; 96; 99:1; Isa 6:1; 37:16; 66:1–2; Jer 3:16–17; Ezek 10; 37:24–28; 43:1–12; Zech 14:9, 16–21; cf. Rev 7:15). As noted already, Ps 110 further upholds the imagery of the priestly king, as the Lord who sits at the right hand of the Lord is also said to be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek (the priestly king). The Israelite king could also function in a priestly capacity, as seen in 2 Sam 6:14, 17–18; 8:18; 1 Kgs 8:14, 55, 62–64. This image could also reflect either Zech 6:13 or the basic idea conveyed in it of the priest standing beside the throne in harmony with the king, albeit now in the heavenly court and with God on the throne. Stephen himself made the point about how heaven is God’s true sanctuary, a notion which relied on heaven also being his throne (Acts 7:44, 48–49). Stephen’s vision of God’s glory is further indicative that his vision is set in the heavenly sanctuary (cf. Exod 40:34–35; 1 Kgs 8:10–11 // 2 Chr 5:13–14; 7:1–2; Ezek 10:4). Furthermore, in the sanctuary God would meet the earthly representative of his people (usually the high priest after Moses) in the holy of holies (Exod 25:18–22; 37:7–9; Num 7:89), and thus it was appropriately where the yearly atonement was performed in Lev 16. In the latter case, the high priest stood before the mercy seat in making atonement, but here Jesus goes beyond any earthly high priest in being able to stand at the right hand of God.

At this point, it is instructive to compare Acts 7:55–56 to what Hebrews says of Jesus as the heavenly High Priest. We will return to Hebrews in much greater detail another time, but here we must settle for an overview. Hebrews 1:3 is the first hint of Jesus’s multiple functions in that his session at the right hand of God follows his making purification for sins, which will later be described in Hebrews in relation to his work in the heavenly sanctuary. Psalm 110 is used most frequently in Hebrews for highlighting both his royal session in v. 1 (1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2) and his being the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek in v. 4 (5:6, 10; 6:20–7:1; 7:11, 15–17, 21–22). Thus, the priestly king presentation is thoroughly interwoven, so that 8:1–2 and 10:12–14 juxtapose these ideas in describing Jesus as the high priest who has sat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens as one who ministers in the heavenly sanctuary. Chapter 9 is occupied with this teaching about the heavenly sanctuary and the need for Jesus to make purification there, particularly as outlined in 9:11–15.

Although Hebrews is obviously more developed than Acts in this regard, we see a similar blending of priestly and royal imagery. Jesus is the one who is High Priest who is also the King who sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high. In Acts, that blending is signified by Jesus sitting and standing at the right hand. This is not the only function of the reference to “standing,” as indicated earlier, but it is one that should be acknowledged more often. As in Hebrews, Jesus is present in both the throne room and the holy of holies in heaven both ruling and ministering.¹

1. For more background on the sacrificial presentation in Acts, see David M. Moffitt, “Atonement at the Right Hand: The Sacrificial Significance of Jesus’ Exaltation in Acts,” NTS 62 (2016): 549–68.