There are no priests needed in The Salvation Army. That time has gone. The life, death, and resurrection of Christ has changed that. But still the language of priesthood has clung on in Christian churches and ideas of ministry.

No Priests Needed – Everyone Is a Priest

When the Army first began, it pushed back against those ideas. Officers were not ordained and would never have used the language of priesthood to describe themselves. Today, the language of priests is making a resurgence. I think we need to resist it.

We do not need priests, and we should not have them. Let me clarify a moment. It is important to have people in formal ministry. It is important for there to be structures and mutually agreed functions within a congregation. But we do not need a priest for this. The lessons of the Reformation are sometimes forgotten. A person has no need for a priest because we need no one but Christ to intercede for us. We have direct access to God. This is perhaps one of the most fundamental components of the protestant faith.

What do I mean when I say we don’t need priests? I’ve already said I don’t mean no leadership at all. Although, if everyone was sanctified, there would be no need for hierarchy of any kind. Formal ministry and church leadership exists for the purposes of the Gospel and for maintaining a healthy, safe, and orderly church. So what do I mean when I use the word priest?

What is a priest?

A priest is not just a generic word for Christian minister, although it is sometimes used that way. Priest has a specific meaning. A priest is someone who intercedes between a person and God. They offer sacrifices, perform religious rituals, mediate the divine to the mortal, and stand in the place of God.

Does ordination change the person?

In some denominations, the ordination of a priest is believed to make an actual difference to the nature of the person becoming a priest. They need to have a special connection to God, a touch of the sacred around them, to perform their functions. These denominations typically have an understanding of priesthood broken down into three categories: the universal priesthood of all believers which undertakes to pray and to act in the world, the ministerial priesthood of the ordained who perform their sacramental tasks in the place of Christ, and the high priesthood of Christ who is the one true priest to whom all other ordained priests are his ministers.

Do priests limit ministry for everyone?

In denominations with priests, certain sacred acts, including the sacraments, are frequently reserved only for priests. Sometimes this is a matter of keeping good order; more frequently, it is because it is believed that those sacred ceremonies are valid only if performed by someone who has been properly ordained within a valid line of apostolic succession. For example, in those denominations, only a priest can perform communion or baptism, only a priest can marry someone, bury someone, or hear their confession. Priests in these contexts have a special status because of their ordination, which allows them to do things that others can’t.

The priest stands between ordinary humanity and God. They are the conduit for the divine, offering the congregation’s worship and prayer to God, and mediating God’s blessings and forgiveness to the congregation. However, I do not think that this is a biblical role for a Christian to have. This is an inheritance from Judaism and an collaboration with pagan influence. There no priests needed anymore. There is no need for the sacrificing and interceding priest. Instead, we need to turn out attention to something far more transformative and powerful than the mistaken ideas of priesthood. The priesthood of all believers.

Priesthood of all Believers

The phrase ‘priesthood of all believers’ does not come directly from the Bible. It was used by reformers and proto-protestants like Wycliffe and Tyndale and Huss for centuries, then it was popularised by Martin Luther. We will return to what the priesthood of all believers means for us. But first we will look at what the Bible says about followers of Jesus and priests.

Priesthood of all believers in Exodus

Exodus 19:5-6 says: ⁵ 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, ⁶ but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. 

This is the root of the priesthood of all believers. The reason why there are no priests needed anymore. The people of God were called to be a priestly kingdom. They were to mediate God to the world through their obedience to the Law and their holiness. Israel as a whole was itself a priest in its collective form. While the Levites were set aside to be the priestly tribe and to serve in the Tabernacle and the Temple, they were performing the ministerial form which is part of the vocation of the whole people. But the Bible does not give a perfect picture of the Temple priests. Throughout the Old Testament there are stories of corrupt priests and Levites, and the prophetic tradition is particularly critical of the sacrificial system.

Priesthood of all believers in 1 Peter

1 Peter 2:9 picks up on this: ⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,^[c] in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

You can see the same language between 1 Peter and Exodus. The language of a royal priesthood and holy nation. The people of God collectively act to intercede on behalf of humanity with God. The early Church was interpreting its self identity through their understanding of the people of God and the radical change that had come through the New Covenant as established by Christ and made effective by faith.

In both of these passages, we see the underpinning theology for starting to think of priesthood not as a specifically sacral role, reserved for special individuals, but part of what it means to be a follower of God. When you are a follower of God, you are part of that group of people, the Church, who together act as a representative for God and to reflect the worship of the world back to God. This will be developed to form the priesthood of all believers, but we will come back to that later.

The other pillar that underpins the priesthood of all believers is the emphasis on Christ as the one and only mediator between humanity and God. There are no priests needed but only Christ, because Christ is our one high priest.

Priesthood of all believers in 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 2:5-6 says: For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all.

Because Christ gave himself as a ransom for all, because his death and resurrection were for all of humanity, Christ stands as the bridge between humanity and God. There is no need for any other intercessor because we are united with Christ through the incarnation and the mediation of the Holy Spirit. We have direct access to God in Jesus. There is no need for anyone else to take on that role.

Priesthood of all believers in Hebrews

Hebrews 7: 26-28 says: ²⁶ For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other^[f] high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever.

This is a key text to understanding why the role of Christ undermines the claims to priesthood by humans. We need no other priests, we need no more sacrifices, we need only Christ. Christ in his sinlessness and perfection offered himself as the lasting and eternal sacrifice for all people in all places at all times, once for all.

Priesthood of all believers in Revelation

Revelation 5: 9-10 clarifies this further:

‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation, you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.’

It was Jesus’s sacrifice on behalf of humanity which made possible the transformation of the Church into the royal priesthood. Whereas the priestly role had been reserved for Israel, or for the Levites as a sacrificial priesthood, now it has been transformed through faith to include all people who are followers of Jesus.

The priesthood of all believers and the Bible – a Summary

We take those two things, the priestly people and the sole priesthood of Christ, and we come to where Martin Luther landed. The priesthood of all believers. Every believer, every follower of Jesus is part of the priestly people which is the Church, and they in themselves fulfil the role of a priest. They pray on behalf of others, and they minister to each other in the love of Jesus. They need no one to intercede on their behalf before Christ, but it is rather the privilege of every believer to offer prayers for one another. But, and this is key, we are not dependent on another to be able to know Christ.

The language of priests, and the role of the priesthood and its associated structures, are not needed. To an extent, they undermine part of the true power of the Gospel. We have no need of priests.

No Priests Needed – Leaders Still Wanted

But what would happen if the Church had no leaders? Well, personally I believe that if everyone was sanctified then there would be no need for leaders of any kind because we would be able to work together perfectly. Maybe we would come together to make decisions and recognise people’s particular giftings, but otherwise all would be equal. However, we live in a world where not everyone is sanctified, including in the Church.

As such, there needs to be a structure and order to restrain sin and promote faithful and loving holiness. There will be people called and appointed to lead God’s congregations, and the wider Church, but they do so not as priests but as ministers, as servants.

1 Corinthians 4:1 says: Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 

Church Leadership means being a servant

The Church leader, whether elected or appointed, is there as a servant to their congregation and the wider Church. They act out of their gifting by the Holy Spirit and through their experiences and capacities. But at no stage do they ever assume a higher position than any other disciple.

Being a minister does not equate to any kind of spiritual hierarchy. It is the performance of a function that God will bless through the Spirit’s giftings. As a minister, the disciple is a servant to both Christ and the congregation. But they are doing formally and on behalf of the Church what each disciple is called to do in their everyday life.

Every disciple is called to minister because every disciple is part of the royal priesthood, which is Christ’s Church on earth. Some people then do this formally on behalf of a congregation or a denomination. But again, we must not consider this to be spiritually superior to any other disciple. There is no spiritual hierarchy in Christianity. There is Christ, and there is everyone else. All have fallen short of God, all are saved by grace through faith, no one has anything that they can boast in. We all need Christ. Christ alone is our priest.

Conclusion – No Priests Needed, Church Leaders Wanted

I think we sometimes need to be bolder in laying claim to the freedom we have in Christ. There are no priests needed anymore because Christ is our priest. Ministers are there to formally carry out what every disciple is called to in their day to day life. People in formal ministry are trained and equipped to serve Christ and the congregation. But they are not anyone’s superior. Each person has their own role to play.

The Army needs to be particularly careful of this as a hierarchical movement. An organisational hierarchical structure does not imply spiritual hierarchy. Rather, it exists only to enable positive decision-making, curtail sin, and promote reflexive mission at the ground level. An officer or envoy is doing formally what every soldier, adherent, and member is called to do: love God and love others. They simply have a particular responsibility for the care and support of a particular community given to them by their denomination or by that community. They perform their function in God’s name and on behalf of the Church, but not in the place of God.

Recapturing our boldness

If we can recapture some of that boldness to say that we need no priests because every disciple is part of God’s priestly people, recognising that every disciple is called to ministry, we will gain some fire amongst our ranks. A proper and full understanding of the priesthood of all believers can lead to a passionate focus on personal discipleship and the responsibility to take direct action for the sake of the Gospel, and not leave such work only to those who are in formal ministry positions.

I hope you found this interesting. It has been something I have been challenged by over the last few months and is something I am still exploring, so any comments or thoughts are warmly welcomed!

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