Paul W. Manuel: The priesthood of all believers

The Priesthood of All Believers¹
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Dr. Paul Manuel—2000

A belief many Protestant groups espouse is in "the priesthood of all believers." The doctrine, as such, originated during the Reformation in Martin Luther's reaction to the papal claim that its priests mediate God's grace to the laity through the sacraments (Latourette 1975 2:837). From certain New Testament passages, this Protestant tenet makes two assertions, each of which has a premise and a consequence:

1. An assertion concerning Jesus' atonement

a. Premise: Jesus' atonement eliminated the need for priestly mediation.
b. Consequence: Jesus' atonement, thus, abrogated the priestly caste.

2.. An assertion concerning believers' access to God

a. Premise: Believers now have direct access to God.
b. Consequence: Believers, thus, have become priests themselves.

Both premises are false, because they assert that certain conditions after the cross are different from conditions before the cross. The consequences are also false in that they either violate the constraints of context in (allegedly) supportive passages or they contradict the clear teaching of other passages. The primary error, though, is in failing to distinguish biblical priests from ecclesiastical priests.

Contrary to the first assertion, the ministry of the Aaronic priests and the ministry of Jesus are not different methods for achieving the same end. Neither are they sequential, with one replacing the other after it becomes obsolete. The two methods of atonement operate in different realms and have different roles.

The Levitical priesthood provides atonement in the physical realm for external impurity that prevents the worshiper from entering God's presence in the earthly sanctuary. It is ceremonial and temporary (i.e., repeatable).

The Messianic priesthood provides atonement in the spiritual realm for internal impurity that prevents the individual from entering God's presence in the heavenly sanctuary. It is soteriological and permanent (i.e., non-repeatable).

The two methods are complementary not competing and were, for a period (i.e., while the temple stood), co-terminous not consecutive!² Jesus' atonement does not replace that of the priesthood because it does something completely different. As long as there is a temple where God manifests His presence, there is need of priests to maintain the sanctity of that place in the face of potential (ceremonial) defilement. In fact, God states that the priesthood (Levitical not papal) is as permanent an institution in His kingdom as is the monarchy.

Jer 33:17 For this is what the LORD says: 'David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 nor will the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.'" 19 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 20 "This is what the LORD says: 'If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, 21 then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. 22 I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore."

Contrary to the second assertion, Jesus' death did not give (post-)New Testament believers more direct access to God than Old Testament saints had, by eliminating the need for priestly mediation. This idea confuses two different kinds of access.

In a physical sense, God restricts access to His presence so that priestly mediation is necessary.

The doctrine in question, however, has another kind of access in view, spiritual access through prayer.

In the spiritual sense, God permits access to His presence without the necessity of priestly aid, but that has always been the case, whether one lived before or after the cross.

When Solomon dedicated the temple, the place where God chose to dwell physically, he recognized that this second kind of access had nothing to do with the priesthood.

1 Kgs 8:37 'When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 38 and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel—each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple—39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men), 40 so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers. 41 "As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name—42 for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, 43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear You, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

To approach God, believers did not need to go through the priesthood or even come to the sanctuary—prayer gave them access. Being able to come before God in this manner was not a New Testament innovation; it has always been available.³ Such access, however, did not make the believer a priest.⁴

The chief error of this doctrine is in assigning too strict a chronological effect to Jesus' atoning work and in assuming that God dealt differently with man before that event than He did afterward (e.g., works versus grace). The lamb "slain before the creation of the world" has always been the basis for atonement (Rev 13:8),⁵ and faith in God (however imperfect or ill-informed) has always been the condition for justification.⁶ The cross validates those principles, and New Testament revelation explicates them; but they had already been in affect for centuries.

If the priesthood of all believers is not a biblical doctrine, at least in the way its proponents advocate, what do the passages they use to support it actually teach? The first text to which proponents of this view appeal is...⁷

1 Pet 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.... 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Many Christians have difficulty understanding and applying the Old Testament because of its focus on Israel. They have less difficulty with the New Testament, because it addresses all believers in Jesus and, thus, has relevance for them. This assumption often leads to another: Old Testament passages in the New Testament acquire a new meaning that makes them specifically relevant to Christians. Both assumptions are false and, in the case of 1 Peter, can lead the modern reader to misunderstand what the New Testament as well as the Old Testament have to say.

In his epistle, Peter is addressing believers, but he is not necessarily addressing all believers. Several factors, both internal and external, suggest that the recipients of this letter are Jewish believers.

First, the author's ministry is primarily to Jews. Peter has contact with gentiles (e.g., Cornelius⁸), but he is foremost "an apostle to the Jews" (Gal 2:8).

Second, the author's audience is probably Jews. Peter addresses them as those "scattered" throughout the Roman provinces in what is today Turkey (1:1), and the word he uses is diaspora, a term that (even now) refers to Jewish communities outside the land of Israel.⁹

Third, the author's many allusions and citations are from Old Testament passages addressed to Jews (Brachter 1961:69-73). Applying them to non-Jews would violate their original context. Moreover, these passages would not be familiar to most gentile Christians.

Peter is addressing messianic believers within the larger community of Israel and is using priesthood the same way God did in...

Exod 19:5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.

Far from suggesting that all Christians are priests, Peter is reminding his Jewish audience that, as part of the covenant God has with the nation, they will mediate His revelation and blessing to the gentiles ("that you may declare the praises of him" 1 Pet 2:9).¹⁰

God gave the Levitical priest the responsibility to model and promote His word to Israel.¹¹ Moses said...

Deut 33:10a He teaches your precepts to Jacob and your law to Israel.

Consequently, if an Israelite wanted to know how to deal with a particular situation, he would ask the priest, who would explain God's will.¹² As copies of scripture became more available, Israelites in general became more familiar with His expectations. Because God entrusted His word to Israel,¹³ when gentiles heard about God, saw Israel's example of devotion to Him, and wanted to know more, they would come to their Israelite neighbors who, as the priests did for them, would explain God's will.¹⁴ The Jerusalem Council alluded to this practice in its instructions to gentile converts, recognizing their regular attendance in the synagogue.

Acts 15:19 "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."

Two thousand years later, gentile believers continue to benefit from Israel's priestly role in having preserved and propagated God's revelation.¹⁵

The second passage to which proponents of this doctrine appeal for support is in John's revelation...¹⁶

Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

Here the priesthood clearly is inclusive, encompassing gentile as well as Jewish believers. Nevertheless, the passage does not focus on the privilege of access to God but rather on the believers' service to God, and the primary service of priests is mediation. Furthermore, the setting of the text is not the present circumstances of God's people but their future role in God's kingdom "on earth.¹⁷ This priesthood of believers is not the elimination of mediators but an expansion of their numbers!

Luther was correct in opposing the Roman church's conception of priestly mediation. By accepting the link of the papacy's priesthood to Israel's priesthood, however, he focused the debate on the wrong issue: the legitimacy of a priestly caste. This meant that he had to find scriptural justification for discontinuing the biblical institution. Had he argued instead against the legitimacy of the Roman priesthood—that it bore no relation to the Levitical priesthood—he would only have had to find scriptural justification for discontinuing the ecclesiastical institution. Luther chose to argue the former, and Protestantism has attempted to support that untenable position ever since.

God established the Levitical priesthood to encourage Israelite devotion to Him. Using that institution as a model, God expanded the priestly role to the nation as a whole, making the people of Israel "a kingdom of priests" responsible to encourage gentile devotion to Him. God will expand the priestly role again, this time to include non-Jewish believers in His "kingdom of priests" (perhaps in conjunction with a rebuilt temple), but that event awaits the Messianic Age. At the present time—as in all previous ages—any who wish to approach God's heavenly throne may do so directly through prayer, without the mediation of another human agent.