The Bible teaches the doctrine we call “the priesthood of all believers.” What this teaches is that every believer is a “priest” before God (1 Peter 2:5, 2:9; Revelation 1:5-6; 5:9-10 and 20:6). Every believer has the same access to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. As priests we are called to be holy, to worship God, to interpret the scriptures, to intercede for others, and to share with others the gospel. Each is valuable in service to God and must have an active part in this service. The Lord’s church was not designed to have a hierarchical priesthood where the “laity” have a lower role. The role of the church depends not on the pastor or its leaders but on the members because we are all priests before God.
However, this does not eliminate the fact that the church has and should have leaders. Paul’s pattern in establishing churches was to appoint elders whose role was to shepherd, teach, direct, protect, and empower the church to carry out the mission of being and making disciples. In addition, there were servers or deacons that assisted in tangible service. In Ephesians 4:11-12 he tells us the leaders God has given his church to equip it and carry out God’s mission.
These “positions” (they are called “gifts” to the church in Ephesians 4:11-12) were not to do everything or be the elite. The purpose was to empower the entire church to perform the service or ministry of the Lord to which we have all been called.
“A correct understanding of the priesthood of believers traces an average path between individualism that leads to the arrogance and authoritarianism of the community that leads to the treatment of the individual as a puppet.” William Shurden, The Doctrine of the Priesthood of Believers, p. 139
All members have the active role of serving one another, of serving our community, of taking Christ’s message to people who do not know Him, and of building one another through discipleship as believers who are alert for the coming of Christ. Part of how we should live in our community of faith is specified by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15. We will look at this in the following blog posts.
For now let us reflect on our role as priests by asking ourselves these questions:
Knowing that you have access to God directly, are you taking time with the Lord to grow in your knowledge of Him?
As a priest of the Lord you have the privilege of reading and interpreting the scriptures. Are you taking time daily to study and apply them to your life?
How are you carrying out your role as a priest of the Lord in your church and community?
