All True Christians Are Priests: Do Not Be Fooled By Fake Priests
“As you come to him, the living Stone —rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (I Peter 2:4-5 NIV)
All true Christians are priests. Therefore, do not pay any regard to those who claim to have special priestly authority above the common lay person. They are liars and deceivers who are usurping the power that God has given to all of his saints.
But what is a priest? A priest is someone who can come to God directly, talk to God, and God will listen to him. All those who truly believe are priests (I Peter 2:7,9). This is an impressive privilege that God has given us through the blood of Christ! We are part of a spiritual house that God is building. Our job is to “offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We do this through our prayers and our good works “which God prepared beforehand.” (Ephesians 2:10)
Therefore, let us constantly perform our priestly duties
“brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscienceand having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:19-23 NIV)
Posted on April 30, 2012, in blogging, Christianity, Culture, Events, Faith, family, God, love, musings, Opinion, relationships, religion, spirituality, thoughts, writing. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Normal man can not speak to God, are all people need through the priest? and how priest can come to God directly?
I will try to explain this the best I can. This is one of the most complicated doctrines of Christianity. Not all Christians agree on this doctrine. The Roman Catholic view is very different from my own.
I believe that all true believers are priests (see the verse above). This means that we are in contact with God so that when we confess our sins to God through prayer, He forgives our sins.
However, even though we are all priests, we have one High Priest over us, Jesus Christ.
“For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence…. so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:24,28)
So I believe that when a believing Christian confesses his sins, that they are forgiven by God on account of the blood of Christ.
The Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians believe something different. They believe that in order to have your sins forgiven you need special church-appointed priests to pray for you. If you do not go through one of their priests your sins are not forgiven. This view is not Biblical. They have invented this view over the centuries to give themselves power over the human soul and decide who goes to heaven and hell.