And no man taketh
this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. (Heb 5:4)
While
reading John Fisher’s response to Martin Luther on the Priesthood, I found it
interesting that he appealed to Heb 5:4 in a way similar to how Latter-day Saints
do. In defence of his sixth axiom, “No one rightly exercise the pastoral office
unless he be called, and duly receive from the prelates of the Church both
ordination and mission,” Fisher wrote:
As to vocation, St. Paul speaks of its
necessity in the Epistle to the Hebrews: ‘No man taketh the honour to himself but
he that is called by God, as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself
to be made a high priest, but He that said to Him: Thou art My Son, this day
have I begotten Thee. As He saith also in another place: Thou art a priest for
ever according to the order of Melchisedech” (Hebrews 5:4-6). So that if
Christ, the first pastor, did not arrogate the honour nor glorify Himself that
He might become a priest, much less is it lawful to others. No one, then, may
claim the honour of pastor unless he be duly called by God. We have the example
of the first pastors who were called, one by one, by Christ, whereas the Scribe
who offered himself uncalled was repulsed by Him” (Matthew 8:19, 20). God, as
we see from St. Luke’s Gospel, does not bestow His gifts except upon those whom
He calls. ‘Calling’, He says, ‘his ten servants, he delivered to them ten
pounds’ (Luke 19:13). Note how the pounds were given to those who were called.
St. Paul, too, claimed to be an apostle because of the call of Christ (Cf. The first verse of each of his first
five Epistles as arranged in our Bible and especially the Epistle to the
Galatians). St. Matthias, again, did not put himself forward, but was chosen
after the apostles had prayed and cast lots, and thus he was made of their
number (Acts 1:26). The apostles had not yet received the Holy Ghost nor had
been instructed by Him what rite they should adopt for ordinations.
But St. Paul, though he had been personally
called by Christ, yet at the bidding of the Holy Spirit was afterwards
ordained, together with Barnabas. For, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles,
there were prophets and doctors at Antioch, offering sacrifice to God and
fasting, when they were commanded by the Spirit to separate Barnabas and Saul,
then present amongst them. ‘Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which
I have taken them.’ The prophets and doctors, then, who had received this
command ‘fasting and praying, and imposing their hands upon Barnabas and Saul,
sent them away.’ And note how these two, thus sent away by them, were said to
have been sent by the Holy Ghost. ‘So they, being sent by the Holy Ghost, went
away’ (Acts 13:1-3). Now the work to which they were summoned was not only the
conversion of the people to Christ, but also the appointment and ordination of
priests for the churches. Thus in the fourteenth chapter of the Acts we find
the word χειροτονησαντες,
which means, ‘when by the imposition of hands
they had ordained for the people priests in every church, and had prayed
with fasting, they commended them to the
Lord’ (Acts 14:22). And then we read that they returned to Antioch ‘from whence
they had been delivered to the grace of God unto the work which they
accomplished.
Weight all this, dear reader, carefully and
if I am not mistaken you will see how far Luther has departed from the truth. I
will not speak now of the liturgy or what the Fathers call sacrificing (The first
word of Acts 13:2, which our version [Douay] gives as ‘And as they were
ministering’, is in the original λειτουρουντων or ‘performing the liturgy,’ cf. infra, p. 105). Note, however, that
these two saintly men, Barnabas and Saul, though they were chosen by the Holy
Ghost, were yet made priests, by the prophets and doctors, by fasting, prayer
and the imposition of hands. Note secondly that the work to which they were
ordained was not simply the ministry of the word but the ordaining of other
priests in turn for every church. Note thirdly that the ceremonies they used
for ordaining priests were the same, viz. the laying-on of hands, prayer and
fasting. Note lastly that until they had done this the ministry entrusted to
them was not completed. For it was only when they had performed all these
things fully that St. Luke relates their return to Antioch ‘from whence they
had been delivered to the grace of God unto the work’ (he says) ‘which they
accomplished’ (Acts 14:25).
It is clear then that as Barnabas and Saul
themselves called, ordained and sent, so in turn, they called, ordained and
sent many others. But why need I labour the point? Christ Himself called,
appointed and sent the first apostles. St. Mark relates it briefly: ‘Jesus
going up into a mountain called unto Him whom He would Himself.’ Here is the
call. ‘And He made that twelve should be with Him.’ Here is the appointment:
‘And that He might sent them to preach’ (Mark
3:13, 14). Here is the sending: If anyone is not thus called ordained and sent,
he ‘entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,’ nor does the porter open to
him, ‘but he is ‘a thief and a robber’ (John 10:1-3). For he comes not with
Christ’s but with his own authority, and all such are undoubtedly thieves and
robbers. ‘All,’ He says, ‘who have come before Me,’ i.e. on their own authority and before the call of Christ ‘have broken
into the fold and are thieves and robbers’ (John 10:8. The words ‘before me’ [προ εμου] used by Fisher are not in the Vulgate,
though they have good authority in the Greek text).
It is, then, the clear teaching of the Bible
that no one can lawfully exercise the pastoral office unless he be duly called,
ordained and sent by the prelates of the Church. Neither can Luther in honour
disagree, for he has himself subscribed to it. Thus in his commentary on the
Epistle to the Galatians, he writes: ‘All this is said that you may appreciate
the care Christ showed in establishing and protecting His Church, that no one
should rashly presume to teach unless he be sent by Christ Himself or by those
sent by Christ.’ Luther, then, fully subscribes to our axiom and we need reason
no further about it. (John Fisher, Defence
of the Catholic Priesthood Against Martin Luther [trans. Philip E. Hallet; Post
Falls, Idaho: Mediatrix Press, 2016], 61-64)
For more on the biblical basis for an ordained, ministerial New Covenant priesthood, see my book:
After the Order of the Son of God: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Latter-day Saint Theology of the Priesthood (2018)