Talk:Priesthood of all believers

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The Messiah's ministry destroyed and obviated and made utterly irrelavant the Temple cult. It is no coincidence that the coming in of Christianity dove-tailed with the destruction of the Temple, the two were at odds. The Truth of Christianity comes only with the Falsehood of the (elite) Temple Priesthood. A "Kingdom of Priests" is precisely what the Messiah introduced, in the sense of 1 Peter 2:9.

In the Old Testament, Israel and Judah are notorious for persecuting Prophets and apostasizing. Scripture reads, "...Kingdom of Priests..." Yet, these kingdoms had an elite priesthood. Such is merely more apostasis. Do I understand that the orthodox churches use this as justification for theirs? That would not seem to make sense, to base church hierarchy on sin. This could perhaps be clarified to more properly portray the orthodox churches' positions. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.235.44.73 (talk • contribs) .

The priesthood in the Old Testament was established by God, as recorded in the Pentateuch, when Aaron and others were made priests. Priests played an essential role in the whole system of Temple worship. Jesus affirmed their role when he told the healed lepers to go and show themselves to the priests, in accordance with the scripture. Luke 1 also begins with Zechariah serving as a priest before God, and no hint is given of his office being part of any apostasy; only his initial unbelief is criticized by the narrative. So yes, Orthodox churches do base their priesthood in part on this Old Testament priesthood. The 'elders' or 'presbyters' that Paul speaks of are also understood to be priests. Wesley 22:53, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Also, regarding the sin of the temple priest was completely detached and seperate from the authority of given to the priest by God. This is clearly stated in Matthew Chapter 23: 1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. Despite the sins of some priest, they were still given authority by God. Orthodox teaching is based not only on the Old Testament, but on the words of Jesus himself. Just as God the Father founded the first covenant with Moses, the Church of Jesus was founded on St. Peter. staroftheshow86

[edit] Same thing?

If this is identical with priesthood of all people, universal priesthood, universal priesthood of all believers and all believers' priesthood, some redirects to this article would be nice. That is, if those are not merely similar names for similar concepts in individual branches of the religion.

If I knew anything about Christian theology, I would have done it myself. Wikipeditor 21:22, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Restorationist interpretations

Not sure the best way to introduce this into the article, but many Restorationist groups have significant doctrinal attachment to this tenet. In the churches of Christ fellowships, for example, it is used to establish that although a congregation may have one or more (paid or unpaid) designated minister(s), all the members have a responsibility for the church and for doing many of the activities commonly associated with a minister, such as evangelizing. Therefore there is, officially at least, no clergy/laity distinction, although those members who make up the congregation's eldership usually have authority over the members. Although this tenet would imply that all members could preach, women typically are excluded from certain roles on the basis of interpretation of other segments of the scriptures. It seems as if this should fit in somewhere around the place where the article mentions congregational polity, but I'm not sure where or how. Lawikitejana 02:25, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clarify please

from the section: Non-Protestant Interpretations of 1 Peter 2:9

"Korah then with his 250 followers break away from the authority of Moses to follow there person misinterpretation of the "priesthood" and as a result are slain by God for offering incense"

I don't understand what "to follow there person misinterpretation" means. It could be mispelling of (there -> their) and/or grammar. I would fix it myself if I understood what the author meant. EmeraldElement 20:23, 28 November 2006 (UTC)