Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Pauline Zingleman (Catholic) vs. the Protestant Understanding of the Priesthood in the New Covenant


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: