Sorry, I wasn’t doing a comprehensive dissertation on all the myriad schismatic Catholics, nor every branch of that dense bush. There are some that do still honor baptism as a Sacrament, but I’d reckon a majority don’t.
Let’s explore for a moment the heresy of a universal priesthood of believers. There is, on its face, a definitional problem here. What is a “believer”? Call me when all of Christendom agrees on that.
The second is that the Bible doesn’t support a universal priesthood. The Priesthood is reserved. Let’s look at First Peter 1:1-2.
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.”
So we have a some establishing facts:
1. Peter is an apostle and we should expect apostles in God’s True Church.
2. His audience isn’t everybody, but he addresses himself to the elect. The elect are both blessed by the grace of Christ (sprinkled with his blood) and, here’s the kicker - they’re obedient.
Let’s continue. 1 Pet 1:3-9 reads:
“3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Here we get some very interesting Biblical insights that sound very Mormon.
1. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Note bene the conjunction “and”. In English you could write, “Praise be to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ!” and “Praise be to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
The conjunction “and” simply allows us to join those two sentences into one.
2. The above establishes clearly that Jesus the Lord has a God and that Jesus the Lord has a Father. They are two distinct personages.
3. He speaks of an inheritance. Keep in mind the very grave import of this word to the New Testament world. Today we don’t take inheritances as seriously as they did, but an inheritance was a portion of the father’s estate. Think on that.
4. Peter then closes with a clear and lovely disposition on the importance of faith, works and our own effort to remain obedient, despite not seeing Christ in the flesh. The reward for which is “praise, glory and honor” from God the Father, when Christ is revealed to all the world at the 2nd Coming.
Now comes the coup de grace for your heretical doctrine via 1 Peter 1:13-25.
“13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”[a]
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.[b] 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”[c]
And this is the word that was preached to you.”
As you can read plainly and for yourself, Peter calls for us to be holy.
It is a call for action.
Actions take effort and effort is measured by work.
God the Father judges work.
Christ was chosen before the world began.
With utter clarity you can see that “through him [Jesus Christ} you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.” God and Jesus Christ are distinct personages with distinct duties.
The situation for believers is dynamic: “22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.[b] 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
We must purify ourselves by obedience to the truth which leads to a sincere love and being born again via continuing revelation.
1st Peter is an excellent exposition, but it doesn’t certify a universal priesthood, quite the opposite.
The irony is that Peter could stand up in an LDS meeting hall and give this very dissertation. He sounds like a Mormon.
Sorry, but this tepid apology doesn't cut it.
Why not? Because the very word "Protestant" itself is based upon an extremely specific "protest" celebrated every late October...Reformation Day IS "Protest" Day...when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Door.
For you to write off the very foundational essence of what it means to "protest" -- the "protest" in the word Protestant...as some mere branch neglects the reality that just about EVERY Protestant branch comes from the trunk of Luther...
Your previous posts were guilty of misrepresentation & ignorance; your apology here is guilty of reductionism...
(You just can't stop misrepresenting the Christian faith, can you? Christian theology has ALWAYS taught 3 persons...a multiplicity/plurality of persons! 3 persons within the same God... If you're married, you & your wife are both of the one humankind...but different persons...You have the same name, but distinct personalities...You are biologically distinct, yet Jesus in matthew 19 says "you are no longer two, but one" (flesh)...
If that's true of you as one marital unit, then I'm not so sure why you Mormons continue to militate vs. the unity of God.
We as Christians don't go around claiming Mormon couples don't involve two persons...we don't try claiming you have one person in every marital arrangement...so stop pretending we teach that God is one person.
What? Women & boys 11 & under aren't part of God's elect? Or they are not part of "households"? (reference to these priests is that they are a "household" -- v. 5)...or do you mean to imply that women & boys 11 & under aren't part of the citizenship of given nations or people groups...as v.9 references?
To hear you tell it, you would likewise exclude women from citizenship in nations...and reduce them to slave status within households...
Sorry...but Peter... in verses 5 & 9 is referencing an entire nation of Israel...a "peculiar people"...a "household" of faith...
“As you can read plainly and for yourself, Peter calls for us to be holy.
It is a call for action.
Actions take effort and effort is measured by work.
God the Father judges work.
Christ was chosen before the world began.
With utter clarity you can see that “through him [Jesus Christ} you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.” God and Jesus Christ are distinct personages with distinct duties.
The situation for believers is dynamic: “22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.[b] 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
We must purify ourselves by obedience to the truth which leads to a sincere love and being born again via continuing revelation.
1st Peter is an excellent exposition, but it doesn’t certify a universal priesthood, quite the opposite.”
I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but nowhere in your argument did you actually prove that all Christians aren’t priests and kings in the sight of God. Except for the lame anti-Trinitarian arguments, you didn’t even make an argument here that disproves “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Pet 2:9).
You muttered something about the elect obeying, and said all sorts of things, but nothing I thought was in any way interesting or favorable for whatever position it is you are trying to promote.
For your education, the Elect are those who were chosen before the foundation of the world without regard for their merits (1 Ti 1:9). They did not choose Christ, Christ chose them, and ordained them for good works, which will abide forever (John 15:16). For it is God who works in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13).