Thursday, February 27, 2020

John Fisher's Use of Hebrews 5:4 to Support an Ordained Ministerial New Covenant Priesthood Against Martin Luther



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)