New Testament Ministry Includes Everyone

It cannot be underestimated how much the Protestant Reformation revolutionized the church.  It wasn’t just the recaptured truth of justification by faith in Christ, but it was equally the recaptured truth of the priesthood of all believers.  The priesthood of the believer could be regarded as one of the central principles of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.

The Old Covenant was established on the Mosaic law with a priesthood, physical temple, sacrificial system and detailed rules to follow.  It was restrictive and confined.  To be a part of the priesthood you had to be born of a specific race, lineage, free from deformities (Leviticus 21).  In addition, the priesthood was confined to the physical temple in Jerusalem.    In contrasts, the New Covenant was founded on the body and blood of Christ.  It is established on a foundation of loving God with all our hearts and serving others.  It was not to be built upon a clergy class set above the people, but a kingdom of priests with every member using the gifts that God has freely given them.  The idea of the priesthood of all believers was recaptured by the Protestant Reformers and it is an operating framework for implementing spiritual gifts.

The priesthood of the believer is embedded into the New Covenant.   It’s the clear teaching of the apostolic writings that we have one Mediator (I Timothy 2:5), one High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16) and one King (Ephesians 1:20-21).  Jesus is our one foundation (I Cor. 3:11) because he is our all in all (Colossians 3:11) and we are all equally established on him (Galatians 3:26-29). 

Jesus did not say a lot about building the church, but he clearly said that it was to be established on humility and serving (Matthew 20:25-27: Matthew 23:11).  The kingdom of God is to be antithetical to the kingdom of this world who thrives on systems power, submission and control. Next lesson: Discovering an Inclusive Operating Framework for Spiritual Gifts.