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THE WORD priests appears several times in the Bible. In the Old Testament, Hebrew priests were headed by a high priest. The priests served as leaders of the congregation of Israel, God’s chosen people.
In the Old Testament, only Aaron and his male descendants as well as the tribe of Levi served as priests. Aaron, Abishua, Abiathar, Eleazar, Eli, Anna and Caiaphas are some of the high priests.
Who, then, are the priests and high priest under the New Covenant? In other words, who are the priests in Christianity?
The Lord Jesus Christ is the high priest under the New Covenant, but the teaching and tradition held in many Christian churches that only pastors are priests is biblically and doctrinally erroneous.
“…We have a great high priest who has passed through the heaven, Jesus, the Son of God” (Hebrews 4:14).
Various scriptural passages reveal that pastors are not the only priests in Christianity but all Christian believers. This truth informed Martin Luther’s doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, emphasizing that all believers are priests to God.
Thus, Robert A. Muthian stresses that the most obvious place to start, when exploring the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers in the New Testament, is with the texts that appear to speak most explicitly of a universal priesthood.
A second approach is to look for patterns or themes that emerge from the Scriptures. According to Muthian, there are four New Testament passages that explicitly apply priesthood language to Christians.
“…you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…” (1 Peter 2:4-10)
(“…made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:5-6).
“And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10).
“…but they will be priests of God and of Christ, they will reign with him for a thousand years (Revelation 20:6).
But Muthian notes that the passage that has traditionally been most closely connected to the priesthood of all believers is 1 Peter 2:4-10, especially vv. 5 and 9.
Fobes shares Muthian’s views and states that unless Christians fully understand the biblical call of the priesthood of all believers, the church will remain stuck in the present, or romanticizing about the past.
It is important that Christians in this generation fully embrace this sound biblical teaching and serve God as the priests they are in Christ Jesus, the great high priest.
By James Quansah
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James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.
Blessed to read this article. Thanks so much Pastor.
It’s great to hear from you, senior. Thank you for always making time to read the articles and expressing your views on them. May God bless you so much, God’s Servant.
Wow so wonderful, may you rule forever and ever Master JESUS.