The Priesthood of All Believers: Meditations on 1st Peter 2

If there were any doctrine of the Reformation that has proved more practically helpful, and at the same time more universally calamitous, than this teaching drawn from St. Peter’s first epistle, I struggle to remember it.  Particularly in our day, the churches of the Reformation are shattered apart into all kinds of sects and schisms driven by misunderstandings of this doctrine, to the point that even historically stable Reformation churches are disintegrating.  Since this subject comes up in our pattern of readings for this week, I thought it timely to properly discuss what St. Peter does, and does not, teach regarding the Priesthood of All Believers.

First, what does he say?  As Christians, you are an holy priesthood, a peculiar people, an holy nation.  You have One High Priest, Jesus Christ, who has become for you both the Sacrifice that saves you, and the One who offers the Sacrifice on your behalf to the Father.  Jesus is your High Priest, offering Himself for the sins of the whole world, and giving His gifts of mercy and grace to His people through living faith in Him.  And so it is clear, that in whatever way Christ’s people are priests, it is different from the way He is High Priest.  While Jesus offers up His life for the life of the world, we who are redeemed offer up our sacrifices of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.  All our sacrifices are in gratitude for His most holy Sacrifice.  Everything we have to offer, we know comes first by His grace, so that none of us may boast of what we give.  Just as the branch cannot boast against the Tree for the fruit produced through it, so the individual Christian priest cannot boast against Jesus and the fruits of His Sacrifice made manifest through us.  He is primary, and we are secondary.  His priestly Sacrifice is efficacious for the salvation of the world, and our sacrifice is a response of faith to His magnificent work in us.

In this way, the whole Christian people is a priestly nation.  Through Christ, we have access to the Father.  In Christ, we have been given the Holy Spirit.  By Christ, our prayers are heard, our praises received, and our thanksgiving acknowledged.  Alone we are nothing but sinners condemned to eternal death, but in Him we live, and move, and have our being.  We reflect His glorious light—we are not lights of our own.  And in this way, our whole life becomes a sacrifice to God through Christ our Savior.  We become His living stones, built together into one people, One Holy Church that shall abide forever by grace through faith in Jesus.  His Word enlivens us, and we live in and through it.  We bear witness to Jesus and His salvation for us and the whole world.  We pray for all, give praise for all, offer thanksgiving for all.  And since our whole life is sacrificed to God, all our work in our various vocations becomes hallowed, too.  The Christian brick layer, soldier, banker, businessman—all are living witnesses to the Living Lord.  All are priests, under the authority and grace of the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ.

What this does not teach, is the abolition of the pastoral office, since Jesus established that, too, with His Apostles.  While all have their vocations, and all receive their universal priesthood through Water and the Word in Holy Baptism, the general witness of Christ’s people is not quite the same as the specific witness of the under-shepherds that our Chief Shepherd sends out to tend His people.  There is an Office Jesus established in John 20, to preach the Gospel, to forgive and retain sins, and administer His Sacraments.  This office of oversight has been called various things over the history of the Church:  Presbyter (and the shorthand term of Priest for Presbyter, which sometimes caused confusion,) Elder, Overseer, Bishop, Pastor, and still more.  But regardless of the terms used for the pastoral Office, or the Office of the Keys, there is still an ordained and holy office established by Jesus for the preaching, teaching, and administration of the Gospel.

What is important to remember, is that the Priesthood of All Believers does not negate the Pastoral Office, anymore than the Pastoral Office negates the Priesthood of All Believers.  Christ calls all His servants, all His people, to be witnesses to Him and His Gospel, through the lives they lead in their particular walks of life.  From this baptized priesthood, Christ also calls particular servants to shepherd His people.  Christ works through His Church to call, ordain, and send those who have learned what is necessary, and been examined for faithfulness to the Prophetic and Apostolic witness of Holy Scripture—those who fit the model that St. Paul gave to St. Timothy and St. Titus, as he instructed them to appoint pastors for the churches he had planted. 

Losing either of these offices in the Church is destructive, but keeping them in line with Holy Scripture has blessings and promises without number.  With a firm knowledge of the Priesthood of All Believers, we give comfort to the whole people of God that they are heard for Christ’s sake; that they are sent out into their various vocations to reflect the light of Christ to their neighbors; that they are beloved of the Father for the sake of the Son, and that the Holy Spirit rests upon them, sealing them for eternity.  With a firm knowledge of the Pastoral Office, we ensure that we have faithful and educated teachers who bring us the Law and Gospel of God without corruption or adulteration; we will have the Sacraments rightly administered according Christ’s institution and command; we will have shepherds who hold their office in humility and great fear, knowing that they are accountable to the Chief Shepherd for every soul under their care.  Understanding these gifts of Christ, given through His Word, we will not have confusion as one office attempts to take what they are not given, or is derelict in doing what they have been called to do.  Following our Chief Shepherd, we will be built up by His Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father, as living stones that all fit perfectly together into one great edifice:  The One Holy Church, the very Bride of Christ.  Amen.