Catholic
apologist Pauline Zingleman offered the following arguments against the
Protestant conception of the priesthood in the New Covenant:
A Universal Priesthood Only?
“But we are all priests,” says the Protestant, pointing to the First Epistle of
St. Peter, and quoting Luther. In his reference to a “chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a
purchased people” (1 Pet 2:5/9), St. Peter is only repeating what God said
to Moses: “If . . . you will . . . keep my covenant, you shall be my peculiar possession
above all people . . . And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom, and a holy
nation” (Ex 19:5-6) (see also Ex 24:4-11; 30:7-10; Lev 20:26, and Deut
14:2/21). If these words mean that “the Christian [is] his own priest” (Stanley
I. Stuber, Primer on Roman Catholicism
for Protestants, 92), i.e., that each of us is a priest, they had to mean
the same thing when God addressed the same words to the Jews in the Old
Testament. Was every Jew a priest?
When Moses’ sister Miriam and his brother
Aaron questioned his right to speak for God, Miriam was struck by leprosy (Num
12:2-10). The Levite Core and his followers challenged Moses and Aaron,
demanding the same priestly privileges as the sons of Aaron (Num 16:3). Core’s
followers were destroyed (Num 16:35-38), and Core, Dathan and Abiron perished
when the earth broke asunder under their feet (Num 16:21-33; 26:10). Ozias took
it upon himself to burn incense to the Lord, and was a leper until he died (2
Pa 26:16-21). When the oxen kicked and made the Ark lean aside (2 Kgs 6:3-8),
Oza put forth a hand to steady it, and “died therefore before the ark of God”
(2 Kgs 6:7; 1 Pa 13:5-11). When Nadab and Abiu put strange fire into their
censers and offered it to God, they were destroyed by fire He sent, even though
they were priests themselves (Num 3:4). King Saul went to the altar once,
offering sacrifice, performing the functions of a priest. God was so angry at
this that He took away the kingship out of the house of Saul and transferred it
to the house of David (1Kgs 13:9-14).
“And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom,
and a holy nation” (Ex 19:6); “You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am
holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine” (Lev
20:26). All Israel had been called “a priestly kingdom,” because they alone, in
the ancient world, preserved the knowledge and worship of the true God, but
they were not all priests. A separate priesthood ministered at the altar.
Thou and thy sons look ye to the priesthood:
and all things that pertain to the service of the altar, and that are within
the veil, shall be executed by the priests. If any stranger shall approach, he
shall be slain (Num 18:7-8; 16:39-40; 17:1-10); He chose [Aaron] out of all men
living, to offer sacrifice to God, incense, and a good savor, for a memorial to
make conciliation for his people. (Eccu 45:20)
The Church has always recognized the priesthood
of the laity, who offer Mass with the priest, while simultaneously upholding
the separate priesthood called by Christ. The priest is called, chosen out,
separated from the laity. The priest, the “ambassador for Christ” (2 Cor 5:20),
is the authorized teacher:
That you may have knowledge to discern
between holy and unholy . . . and may teach the children of Israel all my
ordinances which the Lord hath spoken to them by the hand of Moses (Lev
10:10-11); And he gave [Aaron] power in his commandments, in the covenants of
his judgments, that he should teach Jacob his testimonies, and give light to
Israel in his law (Eccu 45:21).
As was the nation of Israel, those united
through baptism to the Church, who accept her authority, and adhere to her
teaching are called a “holy priesthood, holy nation, kingly priesthood, a
purchased people” (Ex 19:6; 1 Pet 2:5/9), but we are not all priests with priestly
powers, any more than Core was. Only priests could offer sacrifice under the
Old Covenant; only priests can offer the Sacrifice of the New.
Ignoring Holy Scripture
The Levitical Priesthood [says a
Fundamentalist commentary] was divinely ordained as mediator between God and
the Hebrew nation in the ministry of animal sacrifices. These sacrifices were
fulfilled in Christ. Animal Sacrifices are no longer necessary. NEITHER ARE
PRIESTS (Henry H. Halley, Pocket Bible
Handbook, 129)
Holy Scripture discloses that with the
institution of the New Covenant priests are not from one family, as was the
Aaronic priesthood. This priesthood is a lasting personal priesthood, one “without
father, without mother, without genealogy” (Heb 7:3). They are now called “according
to the order of Melchisedech,” not “according to the order of Aaron” (Heb
7:11), because “the priesthood being translated, it is necessary that a
translation also be made of the law” (Heb 7:12). The priesthood was not
abolished, but only “translated.” This was the understanding of the Church
Fathers:
Ignatius . . . to the Church of God the
Father, and Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is at Philadelphia . . . which also I
salute in the blood of Jesus Christ, which is our eternal and undefiled joy,
especially if they are at unity with the bishop and presbyters who are with
Him, and the deacons appointed [i.e. ordained] according to the mind of Jesus
Christ (To the Philadelphians,
intro). There . . .is one bishop with the priests and deacons, my fellow
workers (To the Philadelphians, iv).
Protestant dogma denies a divine calling, a “vocation,”
and claims that the “minister” is only a man chosen by the congregation, all of
whom are priests themselves. St. Paul says otherwise: “Neither doth any man
take the honor to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was” (Heb
5:4). If everyone is a priest, of what honor does St. Paul speak? (Pauline
Zingleman, Catholics, Protestants and the
Bible [Long Prairie, Minn.: The Neumann Press, 1995], 49-52)
While one
disagrees with Zingleman vis-à-vis the nature of the Eucharist (on this, see my
listing of articles addressing the Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice and related
issues), she does raise some good arguments against Protestantism here.
For a
book-length study of the biblical evidence for there being an ordained, ministerial
priesthood in the New Covenant (not the Priesthood of All Believers, merely),
see my book:
After the Order
of the Son of God: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Latter-day Saint
Theology of the Priesthood (one can download a PDF of the book for free at this link)