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To: Natural Law

Once again, God chose greek to have as the NT language because it is a precise language.. and because of that precision we know there was no role of the priesthood in the NT church


106 posted on 06/15/2010 9:39:33 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: RnMomof7
"Once again, God chose greek to have as the NT language because it is a precise language.. and because of that precision we know there was no role of the priesthood in the NT church."

And once again we do not agree. We are not at odds over the etymology of the term priest and agree that it is derived from the Greek presbuteros, not hiereus . We doi have further reason to agree that 1 Peter 2 indicated that all Christians are priests—just not ministerial priests.

The ministerial priests of the New Covenant are called apostles (cf. Eph. 4:11), elders (Jas. 5:14), bishops (1 Tim. 3:1), and deacons (1 Tim. 3:8ff). The German word priester also has its origin from the Greek word for “elder.” So there is etymological reason to say that the elder in the Christian Church was considered to be a priest.

This is where we begin to differ. It is the function of the apostle, bishop, and elder, which is clearly revealed to be of a priestly nature. (A deacon is ordained, but he is not a ministerial priest.) Paul refers specifically to his ministry as an apostle. He refers to his ministry as a “priestly service”: “Because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service [Greek: hierourgounta] of the gospel of God” (Rom. 15:15–16). 1 Peter 2:5–9 is a reference to Exodus 19:6: “and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” This text indicates a universal priesthood in the Old Covenant. Yet in that same chapter, verse 22, we read: “And also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves.” There was a universal priesthood in existence in the Old Covenant, but this did not exclude the possibility of a distinct ministerial priesthood as well. Catholics contend it is the same in the New Covenant..

112 posted on 06/15/2010 10:55:00 AM PDT by Natural Law
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