The Equipping Ministry, Student Workbook, SW15

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T H E E Q U I P P I N G M I N I S T R Y

• Show from Scripture how all effective teaching strives to see individuals obey all that Christ has commanded us, through the leading of the Spirit.

The Universal Priesthood of Believers

Devotion

1 Pet. 2.9-10 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. [10] Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Are you aware that you are a priest of the most high God, charged with representing his interests in the Church and the world? One of the most dynamic concepts to come out the Reformation, that time of change and renewal in the Church which resulted in the birth of the Protestant Church in the 15th and 16th centuries, was a rediscovery of the universal priesthood of all believers. Simply stated, this idea undergirds our understanding of the equipping ministry: because all of God’s people are priests, all may participate in the work of the ministry, whatever their level of involvement, gifting, and contribution. Warren Wiersbe concisely summarizes the heart of this teaching for us in a discussion on the role of each member of the Church as priests: Under the old covenant, God’s people had a priesthood; but in the new covenant, God’s people are a priesthood. “The priesthood of the believer” is a precious article of the Christian faith, the defense of which has cost many a life. It means that all believers have the same acceptance before God and enjoy equal access to God through Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest. “Therefore all Christians are priests,” said Martin Luther, “and accursed be the statement that a priest is something different from a Christian.” In fact, Luther, like most of the Reformers, disapproved when people called the ministers of the church “priests.” He made it clear that “those who serve people with the Word and Sacraments may and must not be called priests… . According to the evangelical writings [the New Testament epistles] they should be called ministers, deacons, bishops and stewards.” His point is simply that all believers are priests, and no Christian should allow any other Christian to come between him and his Lord. All Christians are invited to come boldly into God’s presence to worship him and present their needs (Heb. 4.14-16; 10.19-22). Jesus Christ today is our High Priest in heaven, and there he represents us and intercedes for us before the Father (Heb. 8.1ff.). ~ Warren Wiersbe, Be What You Are: 12 Intriguing Pictures of the Christian from the New Testament (electronic ed.). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1996. pp. 67-68.

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