The metaphor of priesthood is a metaphor for privilege, access, and witness on behalf of God. Whether we say the “priesthood of all believers” or a “kingdom of priests,” all who are in union with Christ by faith are priests, set apart for His glory and enjoyment.

Old Testament Kingdom of Priests

God always intended Israel, His chosen people, to be a microcosm of what God was going to do in the world. In the book of Exodus, as Moses was preparing the people to move out of Egyptian exile and into the land of Palestine, He reminded them of this covenant blessing. “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:5-6). In both the Old and New Testaments, God’s purpose was to have His people represent Him before a fallen world, conveying a declarative missionary aspect to the kingdom of priests.

New Testament Use of an Old Testament Metaphor

In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter cites Exodus 19, writing, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” These believers in exile were reminded that they were a kingdom of priests and that, in the midst of their trials and sufferings, they were to stand before God’s presence and proclaim His “excellencies” to the world.

John, in Revelation, frequently uses the metaphor of priesthood in reference to the people of God (see 1:6, 5:10, 20:6), illustrating that the New Testament usage of priesthood is always connected to the fact that we are a royal priesthood. The kingdom-priests of the church are all the men and women who represent the kingdom in the midst of fallen humanity. As royal priests, Christ’s church engages in the worship of God, discerns the will of God, and proclaims the Word of God. These three applications of the metaphor show that the kingdom of God and its King stand central to the message of this priesthood.

Applying Our Priesthood

We often think of the priest as the one butchering lambs and bulls day and night on behalf of the people of God. But the OT priests did more than sacrifice. Even when they did sacrifice, they were leading the people of God in worship. The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology states, “The actual slaughtering of a sacrificial animal was never the exclusive duty of priests. The animal by law had to be killed by the man offering it (Lev. 1:5).…The priest’s role was to present the animal’s blood” (Paul Ellingworth, Downers Grove: IVP, 698). Priests were worship leaders calling others into worship.

The priests were also people who discerned the will of God. Exodus 18:15 tells us that the Urim and Thummim were used by the priests to discern God’s will in the ancient church. As people of God today, we stand as priests in a prophetic role before the world as we proclaim, “Thus says the Lord.” The church is to speak on behalf of God to the moral, cultural, and religious questions of the day. The church, as a royal priesthood, has the revealed will of God and must hold fast to that will as she proclaims it to a watching world.

The third area of the work of a priest has to do with the Word of God. The priests were proclaimers of God’s Word, instructors and teachers of God’s Word. Today, the role of the people of God as a royal priesthood proclaiming the Word is both a privilege and a responsibility.

Since We’re All Priests, Do I Need a Pastor?

Does this idea of a priestly kingdom mean that all offices and spheres of authority in the New Testament era are abolished? Does no authority exist besides you and your priestly Bible? We must not take the metaphor to unbiblical extremes and create a Western individualistic understanding of the metaphor. Martin Luther wrote Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants (1525) when newly empowered and enraged peasants took the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers to the extreme by attempting to overthrow all church and state authority. This is not an appropriate application of the metaphor. The New Testament sets particular men aside for leadership office while elevating individual believers to the role of royal priests. “We cannot overlook that in the OT context, the designation of all Israel as a royal priesthood did not preclude, a few chapters later, the establishment of the Levitical priesthood. One must infer that the designation of Christian believers as a royal priesthood does not preclude the existence of pastors/elders/overseers.”

So What Does It Mean for Me?

The fact that we are priests means that we can come before God in worship as we sing His praises and sit under His Word. The fact that we are a kingdom of priests means that we each have callings to show forth God’s will in our individual vocations. From housewife to grocery clerk, minister to janitor, and to all lawful callings, the church represents God in this world. The church is comprised of kingdom agents who carry His worship, His will, and His Word to all spheres of life.

Finally, there is a deeply experiential element to the fact that we as the church are a kingdom of priests. The priests lived before the face of God, within His presence. The priests were a people that offered praise and were set apart for holiness. John Brown of Edinburgh wrote, “The leading idea is that Christians are brought into a very near relation to God; and that the whole of their lives should be devoted to his spiritual service” (Expository Discourses on the First Epistle of the Apostle Peter). As the church, willingly embracing the priesthood of all believers, we must see that we are holy unto the Lord and that we are called to live before His face in the holiness given to us by our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ.

—Nathan Eshelman