This month Pope Francis announced his decision to consider married men for ordination as a type of pseudo-priest for service to the Roman Catholic faithful. The Reason? The Roman Church suffers a lack of single men applying for ordination. In the US there are 2,500 Catholics per priest. In Brazil, the country of greatest need, there are 8,000 Catholics per priest.
So, to solve the problem Francis opened this topic for discussion in the upper echelons of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. He seems to be using the same method, as when he discussed the possibility of female deacons, saying, the Catholic faithful must ask, “What does this mean at that time [of the Bible]? What does it mean today?” He continued by encouraging the faithful to search the Scriptures, saying, “Don’t be afraid! That makes us free.”
Today, in the 500th year of the reformation, we will ask the same question: “What is a Priest?”
Interestingly enough, this call to search the Scriptures for the divine answers is identical to the call of Christ (John [5:39]) and served to rally the Reformation, as many in the 15th and 16th century humanist movement cried “ad fontes” or back to the sources- a plea to return to the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts composing our modern Bible. This is something we must remember: the Church did not decide the Scriptures, they were written long before, circulated among believers for hundreds of years before the church collected these known documents and placed them into the canon.
If you desire to know more about the Bible, go to our past podcast- “What is the Bible?”
So, let’s go back to the Scriptures- the fountainhead of meaning- and discover the purpose of the priesthood. Then, we may understand how such an institution fits into the modern church.
The priesthood is first explicitly defined in the time of Moses. Men have offered sacrifices since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden, but God first instituted the priesthood in relation to His covenant with Israel. In Leviticus 10:8-11, we read of the first ordination and the duty of the priests.
The Lord then spoke to Aaron, saying, “Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die—it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations—and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”
Priests have two primary roles: they are called to offer sacrifices and teach the people. The sacrifice serves as the object lesson to the Scriptural teaching.
The word priest literally means one who sacrifices and is often used to present both Jewish and pagan priests. What identifies one, as a priest is the act of sacrifice, what identifies one’s belief is what they teach. Roman Catholic priests also sacrifice, the Catholic Catechism, regarding the Eucharist states,
“The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner.
In The Faith of Millions, Catholic priest John O’Brien emphasizes this point, saying,
When the priest pronounces the tremendous words of consecration, he reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from His throne, and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the Victim for the sins of man. It is a power greater than that of monarchs and emperors: it is greater than that of saints and angels, greater than that of Seraphim and Cherubim. Indeed it is greater even than the power of the Virgin Mary. While the Blessed Virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time, the priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal Victim for the sins of man—not once but a thousand times! The priest speaks and lo! Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows His head in humble obedience to the priest’s command.
By now, you may be asking why a blood sacrifice? This is an important question! And, most directly answered in Hebrews [9:22], “According to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Only blood can forgive sins. Certainly, there are many different types of sacrifices- burnt offerings, guilt offerings, sin offerings, grain offerings, etc.- and many different reasons for offering a sacrifice- sin, joy, thanksgiving, the birth of a baby, etc. But, blood is the only way to cover sin. And, according to the Jewish Law, the priest must offer this sacrifice day-after-day and year-after-year.
Each year the priest offers a ram on behalf of all Israel and each individual is called to offer bulls, rams, and pigeons for their personal sin offerings throughout the year. Yet, the process is continuous for the blood of an innocent animal can never completely forgive the sin of any man.
Remember the sacrifice is an object lesson, and ultimately designed to point the Jews to their coming Messiah, Jesus Christ- the one who would completely cover their sins and reconcile the repentant sinner with the Father.
In Christ, the Priesthood and the entire sacrificial system comes to a screeching halt.
In Hebrew [10:11]-14, we read,
Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ fulfills the priesthood of old and places the entire system on hold till His return. He is the sacrifice- once and for all time.
In Christ’s death at Golgotha, the sacrificial system stands completed and for the priest only the teaching responsibility remains. That is why the New Testament never outlines the roles of a priest. Instead, the gospels and epistles frame the duty of the leader of the church as a pastor, teacher, shepherd, and guide. The overseer’s of the church must teach the Scriptures and point to the finished work of Christ- His hands carry the scars, so we may work in purity.
Yet, the apostle Peter calls all believers members of a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a Holy nation (1 Peter 2:9).” So, we are to offer a type of sacrifice! All of believers now hold the office of priest. But, our sacrifice is not one of immolation, but emulation- not in blood, but in service. We must sacrifice our lives by living like Jesus Christ.
Paul calls all believers to “to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship (Rom 12:1). The living host no longer remains locked in a tabernacle, or hidden behind an altar. Now, the spirit of Christ lives within all who believe in Him (John [14:23]).
His sacrifice voids the work of any priest. His death nullifies the hope of any who depend upon the hands of men. All who attempt to re-commission His sacrifice undermine His past work and desire His crown. The sacrifice of Christ is a past event and presently sufficient to cover the sins of those who believe in Him. He alone transforms the modern day believer into an everyday priest.
References:
Catholic Herald, http://bit.ly/2oDk1NL
Vatican Archive, http://bit.ly/1b7dNLz
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