Jesus, the God-man, is our high priest! He made the one and only propitiatory sacrifice to merit the forgiveness of sins before God. The Levitical priesthood and sacrifices have ceased. “Accordingly the New Testament, since Levitical services have been abrogated, teaches that new and pure sacrifices will be made, namely, faith, prayer, thanksgiving, confession, and the preaching of the Gospel, afflictions on account of the Gospel, and the like” (Ap, XXIV, 30, Bente, page 395). The Scriptures do speak of New Testament believers as “a holy priesthood” and “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5,9). That priesthood (with an emphasis on the group of believers) is the church. In the New Testament these priests actively participate as laymen receiving the Lord’s gifts with praise and thanksgiving. When the Scriptures do talk about individual Christians as priests, it is always speaking about either living in our vocation(Romans 12:1-2, Hebrews 13:15-16), or about dying to sin and rising to new life(Psalm 51:13-19).
Among American protestants, the priesthood of believers is usually misunderstood to teach that individual Christians are all ministers. That is not the Scriptural teaching. God calls one of the priests to be a servant/minister to the priesthood. The pastor is not an Old Testament priest offering up sacrifices for the people. The pastor publicly preaches the Gospel and administers the sacraments to the priesthood (1 Cor 4:1). The pastor is an “ambassador for Christ” (2 Cor 5:17-21) so that the priesthood might receive the Lord’s gifts. God is reconciling the world though the Ministry(Pastoral Office) of Reconciliation which preaches the Word of reconciliation so that people come to believe! The pastor’s sacrifice, according to his vocation, is to preach the Law and the Gospel. The law kills the Old Adam in his hearers and the gospel creates faith and new life.
Overhead 1: Overheads-for-Dec-2-2018.pdf
Handout 1: AP-XXIV-Handout-for-Dec-2-2018.pdf
Handout 2 (yellow sheet): The-Third-Genus-Prophet-Priest-Pages-1-8.pdf
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