Melchizedek in Hebrews 7 191 sins” before he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty. The claim that the hymnic opening is not the work of the author of Hebrews is supported in various ways. First, the opening hymn offers the hapax legomena ajpauvgasma (“reflection”) and carakthvr (“exact repre- sentation”) (10). Neither of these words is exploited later on in Hebrews, despite their potential for the purpose of dealing with the pre-existence and incarnation of Christ (11). Further, the paraphrase of Ps 110,1 which we find in Heb 1,3, uses the term “Majesty”, not kuvrio", the Greek counterpart of hwhy. This seems to reflect a typical Jewish tendency to avoid using the tetragrammaton. It therefore seems likely that the author in Heb 1,1-4 either opens his writing by means of an already existing hymn or by alluding to traditional hymnic elements. Although Christ is not called “a priest”, he is nonetheless de facto depicted as one — even before the composition of Hebrews. It seems that the author presupposes that the addressees of the writing are — or at least should be — acquainted with the idea of Christ as heavenly priest, sitting at the right hand of his Father and interceding for his people. 2. Typology Before looking closer at chapter 7, a few words should be added about the way the author of Hebrews uses the OT. In many of the other NT texts, the Christian theologians interpret OT passages — including passages from the Torah and the book of Psalms — according to a prediction–fulfilment scheme. Typically, the OT passage in question is conceived of as offering a prediction which then accordingly is considered as having been fulfilled in the life and work of Jesus (12). Although not entirely absent, such a prophecy-fulfilment argumentation is not typical for Hebrews (13). The author of Hebrews instead favours a typological scheme. Persons, institutions and events that the OT speaks of are seen as anticipations — dim shadows — of (10) Likewise, the phrase ejn uJyhloi'" “on high” does not occur elsewhere in the NT. (11) In Wis 7,26 wisdom is a “reflection [ajpauvgasma] of eternal light”. In inter alia Heb 1,2-3 we have proof for the concepts of pre-existence and incarnation being rooted in Jewish sapiential theology. See O. SKARSAUNE, Inkarnasjonen - myte eller faktum? (Oslo 1988) 22-26 and O. SKARSAUNE, In the Shadow of the Temple. Jewish Influences on Early Christianity (Downers Grove, IL 2002) 325- 330. (12) See e.g. John 19,31-37. (13) The author is acquainted with it though. See Heb 8,8-12.