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On being Baptist: the Priesthood of all believers is explained
BY DR. PAUL PRIDGEN
Pastor
Edenton Baptist Church
With the great number of
Baptists and their churches in
our community. I think it could
be beneficial for non-Baptists
and Baptists alike to consider
what constitutes the Baptists'
identity, to highlight those
distinctives or qualities which
make Baptists an unique Chris
tian people.
For those who are Baptists,
you may Find this series a brief
review of principles which are at
the heart of your Baptist beliefs.
For you who are non-Baptists,
you may be curious and discover
some degree of commonality or
A
Pastor's
Perspective
REV. PAUL
PRIDGEN
on some points a considerable
difference of understanding. At
least you will be afforded an
exposure to Baptist thought and
an opportunity for a better
understanding of the Baptists
who live around you.
Carl you think of a word that
sounds more unbaptistic than
“priest" as “priesthood"? Well, it
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is with those terms that we must
begin an explanation of true
Baptists. Front and center in the
Bible, dominant in the major
discoveries of the Protestant
Reformers, and paramount to the
Baptist tradition is the principle
of the priesthood of all believers.
The priesthood of all believers
is the expression of the soul’s
competency, which is according
to theologian E. Y, Mullins, the
Baptists' unique contribution to
religion. Soul competency means
that the individual, because
created in the image of God, is
respoinsible for moral and
religious decisions. The indi
vidual is competent under the
leadership of God’s Spirit to
make a personal response to
God’s call in the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, to commune with God,
and to grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord. No
human priest may claim to be '
mediator between the soul and
God because no possible reason
can be assigned on his part not
common to all believers. There
fore, by the manner in which
God created each of us, in His
image, we are competent for
fellowship with and service for
our Creator. This is the essence
of the priesthood of all believers.
By defining our terms, even
further light is shed on the
principle. A “priest” is one who
relates to and acts for God. The
“priesthood” consists of "priests”
and their functions. “Believers”
are those who have received
Jesus Christ as Savior and are
following Him as Lord of life. So
the priesthood of all believers
means that every Christian is a
priest, a person who relates
directly to God without need of
any human mediator and who
servers God by serving others.
Baptist trace the origin of the
priesthood of all believers to
biblical teachings. In the Old
Testament we read of the Lord
God delivering the Israelites
from Egyptian slavery and
guiding them toward Canaan. In
the Sinai wilderness, Moses met
with God on the mountain who
said: “Thus you shall say to the
house of Jacob, and tell the
Israelites: You have seen what I
did to the Egyptians, and how I
bore you on eagles’ wings and
brought you to myself. Now,
therefore, if you obey my voice
and keep my covenant, you shall
be my treasured possession out
of all the peoples. Indeed, the
whole earth is mine, but shall be
for me a priestly kingdom and a
holy nation.” (Exodus 19:3-6),
This covenant is an invitation of
God to all Israelites to be priests,
for each individual to relate to
and serve God.
Birthed in the Old Testament,
the priesthood of all believers
came to fruition in the New
Testament. Biblical texts include
1 Peter 2:5,9; Revelation 1:5,6;5:9
10; and 20:6. Peter wrote to the
early church: “You are a chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, God’s own people, in
order that you may proclaim the
mighty acts of Him who called
you out of darkness into his
marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) We
see that Israel’s vocation and
calling to be a kingdom of priests
has now become the vocation
and calling of Christians.
But the priesthood of all
believers has not fared well
through church history. In fact,
from the second through the
sixteenth centuries, it was
shoved to the margin of the
church’s life. The tragic results
were threefold. First, the priest
hood was clericalized. The
church stressed the priesthood of
some believers rather than all
believers. This separated Chris
tians into two distinct classes —•
clergy and laity. Equality among
believers gave way to hierarchy
and the domination of the priests
over the laity.
Second, grace was
sacramentalized. Baptism and
the Lord’s Supper, dispensed by
the church through the clergy,
became the accepted means of
communicating grace and
salvation. Sacramental faith
replaced personal faith. Medi
ated access to God through the
priests usurped direct access for
the believers through Jesus
Christ. And, finally, the church •
was institutionalized to the point
that the church became a place to.
go rather than a people on the go.
The consequences of ,
marginalizing the priesthood of
all believers proved disastrous.
Yet, the Protestant Reforma
tion occurred in the sixteenth
century. Reformers like Martin
Luther, John Calvin and Ulrich
Zwingli rediscovered and
reasserted the priesthood of all
believers. In 1544 Luther empha
sized that each Christian is a
priest and needs no mediator
save Christ, that each Christian
is a minister with the duty to
share the gospel with others. The
priesthood of all believers
became a prominent tenant of
Protestantism.
As much as any other Protes
tant body of believers, early
Baptists reclaimed the principle.
John Smyth of England in 1608
and other founders sealed the
priesthood of all believers in the
very heart of the Baptist move
ment. It has remained there for
true Baptists.
The priesthood of all believers
is a foundational principle for
Baptists. It declares that every
follower of Jesus Christ is free-to
come to God without the media
tion of a priestly class which has
an exclusive control over the
dispensing of God’s favor. The
Christian is free to read the Bible
and be guided to its meaning by
God’s Spirit. It is not a carte
blanche for believing anything
one wants or claims to be a
Baptist. For one’s freedom in
doctrinal interpretation and
personal behavior is tempered by
the convictions of the commu
nity of believers.
To understand true Baptists
and their ways, you must begin
at the priesthood of all believers.
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District
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The United Methodist Women
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which includes Edenton, will
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