1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 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;
You see, when Christ died on the cross the veil was rent and the old Jewish priesthood was no longer needed because now each believer had access to the throne of God through the blood of Jesus. Jesus is now the High Priest who represents us before the Throne of God.
Hebrews 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Nice, CynicalBear, nice.
So RC's first "pope" has called out all Christians (love the lively stones reference) to be Priests, both Holy and Royal.
Nice how simple it really is.
I ran across this:
Traditional "ordination" concepts contradict the New Testament teaching on the priesthood of all believers (Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Peter 2:5,9; Revelation 1:6; 5:10). It confers upon one person special and priestly rights which is denied to the rest of the congregational members. Yet, according to the New Testament, the entire Christian church is a ministerial body – and in this sense "ordained" – with full authority to minister and actively participate during the church meeting (Romans 12:4-6; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11,14; 14:26; 1 Peter 4:10-11).
John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and
ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and
that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my
name, he may give it you.
(KJV WBS)The Church holds that, just as with the ancient Israelites, we are all a "nation of priests" and just as the ancient Israelites had ministerial priests set aside (Levites), so too do we have in the Church
The same structure -- with the difference that the High Priest is eternal Jesus Christ who is present at each Eucharist, each Mass
the Israelites abdicated their role as a “nation of priests” with their little foray into gold-calf making. -- sorry, that doesn't hold as we read in Exodus 16 how Aaron and Moses preach to the Israelites
Even in Exodus 19 with the pronouncement of you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ -- these come from God through Moses and in Exodus 19:22 you read And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.
This was before Moses went up into Mt. Sinai
during the Eucharist, Christ IS present as the High Priest
Christ is the High Priest and we are all His priestly nation -- whether lay priests or ministerial priests
The High Priest, Jesus Christ is the High Priest and the one-time Sacrifice -- note, this is a participation in the One-Time sacrifice famously captured by Van Eyck in the 14th century painting
We are participating in Christ's one-time sacrifice which as seen in the words of the Apocalypse of St. John of Patmos, as seen in Heaven is the Lamb standing proudly with the blood of Christ in the Eucharist
NOTE: the English term "priest" is simply a contraction of the Greek word presbuteros (presbyster/elder) -- these have the responsibility of teaching, governing, and providing the sacraments in a given congregation (1 Tim. 5:17; Jas. 5:14–15).