| rdfs:comment | - The priesthood of all believers is a Protestant doctrine founded on 1 Peter 2:9: "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." (KJV) Several ideas of Protestant theology begin from this text. It is used to show that the Christian faithful are a chosen people in a similar sense that the descendants of Abraham were a chosen people, called by God for His special purpose.
- The universal priesthood or the priesthood of all believers, as it would come to be known in the present day, is a Christian doctrine believed to be derived from several passages of the New Testament. It is a foundational concept of Protestantism. It is this doctrine that Martin Luther adduces in his 1520 To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation in order to dismiss the medieval Christian belief that Christians were to be divided into two classes: "spiritual" and "temporal" as on for the time on Earth, not unto eternity. He put forward the doctrine that all baptized Christians are "priests" and "spiritual" in the sight of God:
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| abstract | - The priesthood of all believers is a Protestant doctrine founded on 1 Peter 2:9: "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." (KJV) Several ideas of Protestant theology begin from this text. It is used to show that the Christian faithful are a chosen people in a similar sense that the descendants of Abraham were a chosen people, called by God for His special purpose. Many Protestants believe that in likening the whole body of believers to the priesthood of ancient Israel, it removes the possibility of a spiritual aristocracy or hierarchy within Christianity. God is equally accessible to all the faithful; no Christians have been set above others in matters of faith or worship. In this, it meshes with texts that say that God is no respecter of persons, and in him there is neither Hebrew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. (Galatians 3:28) The idea was found in a radical form in Lollard thought. Martin Luther later picked up on the idea, and it has become a central tenet of Lutheranism. It is also particularly strongly asserted within Methodism, and can plausibly be linked to the strong emphasis on social action and political radicalism evident within that denomination. In addition, some Protestant Church governments that operate on a form of "congregational polity" where each member has a voice in collective decisions can be traced to this concept, (seen for example in many modern Baptist movements). The vast majority of Protestants nonetheless draw some distinction between their own ordained ministers and lay people, but regard it as a matter of church order and discipline rather than spiritual hierarchy.
- The universal priesthood or the priesthood of all believers, as it would come to be known in the present day, is a Christian doctrine believed to be derived from several passages of the New Testament. It is a foundational concept of Protestantism. It is this doctrine that Martin Luther adduces in his 1520 To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation in order to dismiss the medieval Christian belief that Christians were to be divided into two classes: "spiritual" and "temporal" as on for the time on Earth, not unto eternity. He put forward the doctrine that all baptized Christians are "priests" and "spiritual" in the sight of God: That the pope or bishop anoints, makes tonsures, ordains, consecrates, or dresses differently from the laity, may make a hypocrite or an idolatrous oil-painted icon, but it in no way makes a Christian or spiritual human being. In fact, we are all consecrated priests through Baptism, as St. Peter in 1 Peter 2[:9] says, "You are a royal priesthood and a priestly kingdom," and Revelation [5:10], "Through your blood you have made us into priests and kings." Two months later Luther would write in his Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520): How then if they are forced to admit that we are all equally priests, as many of us as are baptized, and by this way we truly are; while to them is committed only the Ministry (ministerium Predigtamt) and consented to by us (nostro consensu)? If they recognize this they would know that they have no right to exercise power over us (ius imperii, in what has not been committed to them) except insofar as we may have granted it to them, for thus it says in 1 Peter 2, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a priestly kingdom." In this way we are all priests, as many of us as are Christians. There are indeed priests whom we call ministers. They are chosen from among us, and who do everything in our name. That is a priesthood which is nothing else than the Ministry. Thus 1 Corinthians 4:1: "No one should regard us as anything else than ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God." The Bible passage considered to be the basis of this belief is the First Epistle of Peter, 2:9: But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (This New Living Translation version reflects the Protestant view, as the universal "royal priesthood" from the Bible Luther cites above has been changed to individual "royal priests".) Other relevant Scripture passages include Exodus 19:5-6, First Peter 2:4-8, Revelation 1:4-6, 5:6-10, and many passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
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