Replies

And thus we see the ordination of priest leaders in every place. “Priest” is just an English mispronunciation of the word “presbyter.”

Priest is not a NT office of the Church. This is simply eisogesis from hundreds of years later, read back into Scripture to justify it... like so many other doctrines made up out of whole cloth.

cc: daniel1212

Ah the protestors again! Perhaps they only accept the Bad news!

Did everyone accept this as good news? No. Some, indeed many, were offended and sought to convict Christians as “disturbers of the peace.” Some don’t like to have their sin and bondage called out as such. They prefer bondage, sin, and darkness to light, holiness, and freedom.

Question http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/where-in-the-new-testament-are-priests-mentioned

The New Testament mentions three categories of Church leaders: bishops, presbyters, and deacons. So how can the Catholic Church justify its office of “priest”? The New Testament writers seem to understand “bishop” and “presbyter” to be synonymous terms for the same office (Acts 20:17-38).

Answer
The English word “priest” is derived from the Greek word presbuteros, which is commonly rendered into Bible English as “elder” or “presbyter.” The ministry of Catholic priests is that of the presbyters mentioned in the New Testament (Acts 15:6, 23). The Bible says little about the duties of presbyters, but it does reveal they functioned in a priestly capacity.

They were ordained by the laying on of hands (1 Tm 4:14, 5:22), they preached and taught the flock (1 Tm 5:17), and they administered sacraments (Jas 5:13-15). These are the essential functions of the priestly office, so wherever the various forms of presbuteros appear—except, of course, in instances which pertain to the Jewish elders (Mt 21:23, Acts 4:23)—the word may rightly be translated as “priest” instead of “elder” or “presbyter.”

There is more if you care to read it.

But consider this aspect: Jesus is our one High Priest because He offers Himself as the sacrificial Lamb to the Father. At the Last Supper He says "Do this is remembrance of Me," so He is telling His Apostles there assembled, to join in his priestly action.

Hence, Priest is not "a" NT office of the Church; Priest is "the" NT office of the Church. And who does this priestly action? Jesus Christ Our Lord.

This is all prophesied in Malachi, where He foresees that a pure and perfect sacrifice will be offered from the rising of the sun to its setting, among the gentiles.

I thank God I have seen this prophecy fulfilled.

Priest is not a NT office of the Church. This is simply eisogesis from hundreds of years later, read back into Scripture to justify it... like so many other doctrines made up out of whole cloth.

Indeed, it is error begetting error, as if the Holy Spirit of Christ had no good reason for distinctively using the word for priests/high priest over 280 times (mainly as the latter), but never using it for NT pastors but instead using presbuteros over 60 times for NT pastors.