Horsefeathers!
It is YOU who has it ---- SIDEWAYS!!!
And that sideways-ness -- can be traced to Jerome's Latin translation of Greek NT texts.
Once we return again to Greek texts the fog of confusion can be dispelled.
If that be not enough, then going to Hebrew usage nails the matter.
Being that there are Greek, Hebrew, and Latin words for "priest" which DO NOT equate to presbuteros, there is no excuse for cramming in the word "priest" in present day English translation, as substitution for the word presbyter.
The literal meaning of the presbyter, in English language, is not "priest", but elder.
Where as ἱερεύς OR hiereús translates more directly to the English word "priest".
Hebrew = כָּהַן, kahan or kohen = priest (in English).
daniel, & S.R. -- please forgive me for jumping in here, for my own interjection at this juncture may render portion of either of your own possible further comments or rebuttal partially repetitious.
I have to disagree. English is heavily influenced by Latin usage. When we look at Latin words we often have the choice of translating their meaning into English or to use Latin base cognates that have entered into English usage. Thus the Latin senatus literally means "council of elders" but we use the cognate "Senate" which is a recognized English word. Examples of this in English would be countless. Thus while translating presbuteros into English by its meaning would produce "elder", the English word "priest" is its cognate that has been in constant English usage since before the 12th century to describe this office that itself has been in constant existence since the beginning of the church. The original and continual meaning of "priest" in English has been for the office of presbuteros. Its usage to describe cultic sacrificial ministers is the derivative one.
No, thanks for stating the obvious.