Today in Sunday school we talked about how every Christian has received at least one spiritual gift. One of the questions that the lesson raised was whether or not the church values every member equally. Our answer to that question was a resounding no. Some positions in church are elevated as more spiritual. For example, pastor, deacons, worship leader, missionaries, etc. People in these positions are seen as being more spiritual and having the more important ministry. But is this true?
I want to respond to this question with some thoughts from my reading for the D.Min that I am pursuing at George Fox University. Currently we are reading a book by Veli-Matti Kaerkkaeinen, An Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical & Global Perspectives. In the study of different church traditions and their understanding of the nature of the church, the concept of the priesthood of all believers comes up several times. I believe that this concept will help us to answer the question whether or not all Christians are given an equally important ministry by God.
Martin Luther was the one who brought the idea of the priesthood of all believers to the forefront. His writings can generally be understood as conflict-writings. This means he was writing and teaching about the priesthood of all believers during a time when this was not generally accepted. In fact, Luther is reacting against the Catholicism of his time which had elevated certain individuals as mediators between God and people.
Underlying the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer is the foundation of Christ’s work done in our lives. Roger Olson put’s it the following way:
“Because they are justified by grace through faith alone, according to Luther, all Christians are priests unto God. [….] Whereas the medieval church had elevated a certain class of men called priests to a special spiritual status as mediators between sinners and God with supernatural powers to absolve guilt and perform sacraments, Luther elevated every true believer to the same special spiritual status.”[1]
Luther goes on to delineate in more detail what this priesthood means:
“Not only are we the freest of kings, we are also priests forever, which his far more excellent than being kings, for as priests we are worthy to appear before God to pray for others and to teach one another divine things. These are the functions of priests, and they cannot be grated to any unbeliever. Thus Christ has made it possible for us, provided we believe in him, to be not only his brethren, co-heirs, and fellow-kings, but also his fellow-priests. Therefore we may boldly come into the presence of God in the spirit of faith [Heb. 10:19, 22] and cry “Abba, Father!” pray for one another, and do all things which we see done and foreshadowed in the outer and visible works of priests.”[2]
Because every believer is a priest we have direct access to God and salvation is no longer property exclusively held by the church. Furthermore, meaningful ministry is no longer property exclusively held by the church.
Kaerkkaeinen notes the lasting contribution of the Protestant principle of the priesthood of all believers:
“First, it rehabilitates the New Testament usage of the term “priest” as referring not to individual ordained persons (as in the earlier Catholic understanding) but to the whole people of god as they fulfill the Christ-given mandate. Second, it abolishes the difference between ordained and nonordained in the sense of these two groups differing from each other ontologically …. Third, the Protestant view sought to legitimize the use of ordained ministry in a way that should not – at least in principle – lessen the importance of the rest of the people of God” (44).
Thus, Luther accomplished a tremendous pastoral service when he affirmed each Christian as a “priest”.
In the Reformed tradition, I found Kaerkkaeinen’s discussion of Karl Barth’s understanding of the priesthood of all believers particular insightful. For Barth, “the Reformation doctrine of the priesthood of all believers will not take any concrete form unless the Pauline teaching on the gifts of the Spirit is being reaffirmed” (58). Barth touches on the point that often we verbally affirm the priesthood of all believers, but functionally it is not a lived-reality in our churches. If the church is to be the church, we need to teach and affirm the members of our churches who they are in Christ – people that have received spiritual gifts to carry out their God given ministry.
No comments:
Post a Comment