The Priesthood
A Riddle for the Logical Mind
Three verses. One logical answer. Can you find it?
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Exodus 19:6 (KJV) And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
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1 Peter 2:9 (KJV) But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
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Matthew 23:8 (KJV) But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ [Messiah]; and all ye are brethren.
Read all three. Lay them side by side. What must be true?
Revelation says what He made us.
Revelation 1:6 (KJV) And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
- Yahuah called the whole nation a kingdom of priests. — Exodus 19:6
- Every believer is a royal priesthood. — 1 Peter 2:9
- One is your Master, and all are brethren. — Matthew 23:8
Every believer is a priest. There is one Master, and no clergy class.
Why It Matters
The church teaches that pastors and priests stand between God and the people, carrying a calling the pews do not. At Sinai Yahuah called the whole nation "a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Exodus 19:6). Peter applies those words to every believer: "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9). Yahushua forbade the rank outright: "be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Messiah; and all ye are brethren" (Matthew 23:8). One Master. Everyone else is a brother.
Paul names the only one who stands between: "one mediator between God and men, the man Messiah Yahushua" (1 Timothy 2:5). Note that he calls Him "the man." The veil of the Holy Place was torn at His death (Matthew 27:51), opening priestly access to the believer. Yahushua alone, as High Priest, entered the Most Holy by His own blood (Hebrews 9:11-12). There is no room left for a second tier.
The words "clergy" and "laity" show the turn. Peter warned elders not to be "lords over God's heritage" (1 Peter 5:3). "Heritage" is kleros, and in that verse the kleros is the flock. The church later took that word for its officials, the clergy, and used laos, "people," for everyone else, the laity. By around 110, Ignatius of Antioch was urging that nothing be done without the bishop. A ruling class grew from there.
This matters because a priestly class becomes a gatekeeper. When only the clergy are thought fit to handle Scripture, the people stop studying it and receive whatever they are handed. The Bereans did the opposite. They "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so," even after hearing Paul (Acts 17:11). A kingdom of priests reads for itself.
Revelation gives the same title to all the redeemed, not to a few. Messiah "hath made us kings and priests" (Revelation 1:6). The song before the throne repeats it for every people redeemed by the blood: "out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests" (Revelation 5:9-10).