Who are real priests, real saints?

According to the Bible, all Christians are priests and all Christians are saints.

A priest is someone who speaks to God on behalf of the people. The concept was instituted in the Old Testament, where the tribe of Levi was set aside to be priests, in service to Israel [Deuteronomy 10:8].

Under the New Covenant, all believers in Jesus Christ are priests [1 Peter 2:9].

That means, if you are a Christian, one of your main tasks, apart from carrying the message of salvation, is to pray for the people around you. Our task is not to admonish unbelievers and criticise the government and our leaders, but to pray for them [1 Timothy 2:1-2].

This is not only the work of ordained ministers, bishops or pastors. It is the work of all believers.

The idea of a hierarchy of church priests came, not from the Bible, but from Ignatius, a church leader from Antioch, in about 100 AD. As the church grew from early house groups, he proposed a formal organisational structure based on the Roman system of city government.

The Bible does say that God has appointed leaders in the church – apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors and others [1 Corinthians 12:27-31, Ephesians 4:11-13].

These are job descriptions rather than titles [Matthew 23:8-10].

These leaders have spiritual authority [Hebrews 13:17].

None of this suggests that God had an organisational hierarchy in mind, nor that He wanted a separate priestly caste, with titles and special clothing, among believers in Christ.

When Paul wrote to the Galatians (2:9) he said that James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave him the hand of fellowship. This indicates that even the most respected apostles in the first church did not take titles and did not appoint themselves to the top of a hierarchy. It was reputation, the recognition of the hand of God upon them, that allowed this group of three, rather than one individual, to be considered the leadership.

I present this, not to denigrate the clergy, but to encourage all Christians to not see themselves as people of lesser spirituality or to think that ministry or service is only for an elite group.

As for the concept of a church council investigating the life of a “special” Christian and then announcing that person as worthy of being called a saint – the Bible does not see it that way. All believers are set apart, sanctified. They are all called saints. It is a status of legal right-standing with God, rather than experiential accomplishment. Because of our faith in Christ we are declared, by God, to have His righteousness imputed to us.