Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Jesus Creed

Home
Evangelical
All of the Privileges, None of the Responsibilities

All of the Privileges, None of the Responsibilities

Last updated on: July 26, 2019 at 4:19 am by Scot McKnight

All of the Privileges, None of the Responsibilities 2019-07-25T17:20:55-05:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mike Glenn

These days, it seems everyone is marching for or against something. Immigration, student debt, corporate greed, more taxes, less taxes, healthcare, and climate change are just a few of the issues that can get people so riled up they take to the streets. Every march, of course, seems to bring a counter march. For every group that is marching one way, there’s another group marching the other way.

As I’ve watched, I’ve discovered something all of these marches have in common. Have you ever noticed everyone marches for more rights, but no one ever marches for more responsibilities? Everybody wants more healthcare, but no one marches to work out more and eat better. People will march against higher taxes, but no one ever mentions what part of the unfunded government services they’ll be willing to do without or do themselves.

Every marcher knows who to blame – and it’s always someone else.

I think about this every time I hear two Baptists debating the issue of the “priesthood of the believer”. Simply stated, the doctrine teaches everyone has equal access to Christ. We don’t have to go through another human being to pray or be led to the presence of Christ. Every person is able to act as a priest in the presence of Christ.

As you can imagine, this is a very precious teaching to Baptists and whenever two Baptists are in a discussion, it won’t be too long before one of the Baptists throws the “priesthood of the believer” card. When one of the participants says something like, “most scholars” or “the church historically has taught…” the other Baptist will say, “We believe in the priesthood of believer. We don’t have to get anyone’s approval of what we believe. It’s just what the Bible says to me”.

There is so much wrong with that statement. For one thing, that’s not what the doctrine teaches. While this precious teaching of every believer being a priest means we don’t need a human intercessor between Christ and us. We have the privilege of His presence. When we pray, we pray in the presence of our Risen Savior. We don’t have to count on another person getting our prayers to Christ with the meaning we intended. We can go directly to Christ and share what’s on our hearts and minds.

We can open His Word and ask Him to teach us the depth of His truths. Our Rabbi is alive, and He has promised to meet us in His Word. What a rare privilege! To be able to sit in the presence of the Author and discuss what He has written.

This is one of the meanings of “the priesthood of the believer”, but only one. We have access to His presence without having to seek anyone else’s permission or authority. Christ has opened the door for us. We can come to Him any time we want and honestly, Christ desires for us to come to Him much more than we do.

Sadly, too many of us have interpreted this beautiful teaching to simply mean, “My opinion is as good as yours”. This misunderstanding and misapplication of this teaching has led to countless fractures of friendships, careers and even churches. The doctrine of “priesthood of the believer” was never meant to embolden personal opinions, but to increase individual participation in kingdom ministry and kingdom conversations.

And this is the one part of the doctrine everyone misses. Everyone interprets the teaching to be about “me” — “me and my relationship with Jesus.” That interpretation, however, misses the whole point of being a priest. Yes, the priesthood of the believer means we have direct access to Christ, but it also means we have the calling to represent Christ to our neighbors. We have the responsibility to be Christ to each other.

Paul reminds us we are ambassadors for Christ, and through us, Christ is making His appeal to the world to be reconciled to God. So, we visit our neighbor when they’re sick or grieving and by our presence remind them Christ is here. We sit with a friend who’s messed up and remind them Christ has not giving up on them.

We feed the hungry.

We give water to the thirsty and clothes to the naked.

We go to prisons, hospitals, funeral homes and mental health wards.

We pray.

We teach.

We listen.

This is what priests do. This is what believers do.

The next time someone talks about the teaching of the priesthood of the believer ask the speaker if they really believe it. After they tell you about how many times they have gone directly to Christ, ask them how many times they have taken Christ to someone else. Ask them how many times they have been Christ to someone else.

That’s what being a priest means…hearing from Christ intimately and personally, and then, running to your nearest neighbor to tell what you heard.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 25, 2019

Cosmic Catastrophe? (RJS)

Next Post

July 26, 2019 My RNS Interview

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God use to speak to Moses in the wilderness?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A thunderstorm A burning bush A mighty wind A pillar of fire