All Christians Are Priests

According to Revelation 1:5-6, those who have had their sins washed away with Christ's blood have been made a kingdom and priests. It is this cleansing that qualifies us to serve as priests of God.

Although under the law of Moses, God chose among the Israelites the descendants of Aaron to serve as priests, absolutely nowhere in the New Testament do we read of a special class of Christians being appointed to serve as priests. All who are in the kingdom of Christ serve as priests. There is no clergy/laity division in Christ's kingdom.

But one may wonder how Christians function as priests. While the priests under the Law of Moses offered various types of sacrifices including animal sacrifices, priests in Christ's kingdom offer spiritual sacrifices. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:5, "you are living stones, being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God." Peter is addressing Christians, thus "you" must be all Christians. According to Romans 12:1, we are to (figuratively speaking) lay our bodies on the altar of God. This makes sense because our bodies are the instruments by which these spiritual sacrifices are to be offered. Hebrews 13:15-16 says that praising God, giving Him our thanks, doing good works and sharing are all spiritual sacrifices that God's New Testament priests are to offer. Also, according to Philippians 4:14-18, when we support the preaching of the gospel through giving, we offer a spiritual sacrifice to God. Are these not activities in which all Christians should be involved? And when any Christian engages in these activities, are they not acting as priests when they offer these spiritual sacrifices? The answer, of course, is yes.

Since Christians are priests, we go through no one to get to God except our High Priest, Christ. According to 1 Timothy 2:5, there is one mediator between God and man, that is Christ. This is part of the good news of the gospel! We don't have to go through any person except Christ to access God. Hebrews 4:15-16 says, "For we (Christians) do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Remember, there is ONE mediator between us and God, no more.

Having been cleansed by the blood of Christ, we are then elevated by God to serve Him as Priest. What a great privilege and blessing this is! Yet, what a great responsibility as well. We must keep ourselves pure if we want to serve God as Priests.

If you are interested in Bible-based teaching, service and worship without the imposition of man-made doctrines, contact us and we will be happy to set up a Bible study with you.