# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S355
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

IX. 2016 RESOLUTION 13-01A TASK FORCE REPORT
vice—somewhat like Aaron and his sons (Lev. 8). But our cleansing supersedes Aaron’s for we, designated royal priests from Baptism, have access at all times to the “mercy seat” that Aaron could
enter only once each year (Lev. 16; Heb. 10:19–22).44
Thus, God’s people “share in a heavenly calling” because our
priesthood is derived from Christ, the great High Priest. Our heavenly calling to the royal priesthood is conferred as we are cleansed
by faith and Baptism into Christ (Acts 15:8–9; Eph. 5:26). 45 There,
as we are incorporated into His body (Eph. 1:22–23; Col. 1:18, 24)
and joined to Him as our head (Eph. 4:15), we see the character of
our priesthood—the royal priesthood, priesthood of the baptized,
kingdom of priests, or priesthood of all believers.46
It is also necessary to have a clear understanding of “priest.”
Luther can help us.47
According to the way the Scriptures picture him,
a priest is a person whom God has ordained and
commanded to mediate between God and men.
That is to say, a priest comes from God and brings
us His Word and doctrine; again, he presents himself to God to sacrifice and pray for us. Hence the
priestly office consists of three parts: to teach or
preach God’s Word, to sacrifice, and to pray. All
three of these functions are abundantly referred to
in the Scriptures.48
Luther speaks of priestly work as mediation, and notes that it
moves in two directions—from God and toward God. He speaks of
three areas of priestly work: proclaiming the Word, sacrificing, and
prayer. Proclamation is the priestly work directed from God to humanity. Sacrifice and prayer are the priestly work directed toward
God from man.
Since the identity of the High Priest is determinative of the
whole priesthood, we start with the work of sacrifice. Sacrifice is
central to the work of Christ, our Great High Priest. All depends
on this priestly work, the all-availing sacrifice He offered in His
body on the cross (Eph. 2:16; Eph. 5:2; Heb. 9:26). It is this work
that cleanses His disciples so that they can be His priests. Only
by faith in Him and in His atoning sacrifice do Christians become
priests and “holy brothers” with “a heavenly calling” (Heb. 3:1).49
But, since His atoning work is complete, His royal priests offer no
atonement to God in their sacrificial service.50
The Lord Jesus, our Priest and Mediator (1 Tim. 2:9), directly exercised in His earthly ministry the priestly work of sacrifice,
intercession, and teaching (John 17; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; Luke
5:20; 7:48) and He continues to exercise His priestly office today.
He grants the forgiveness of sins won by His atoning sacrifice
through mediators, that is, through His priestly people, to whom
He grants the Word of absolution—the Gospel of the forgiveness of
sins for Christ’s sake.
The Gospel unlocks heaven (Matt. 18:18–20). That the keys
of the kingdom (Office of the Keys) have been granted to all the
Church is a fundamental aspect of the Church’s identity as a royal
priesthood. So also, we rightly hear the command of Christ to go
and make disciples of the nations as a command addressed to the
whole Church (and not a command that is restricted to the pastoral Office alone).51 This is the proclamation of the Word—the first
priestly function.52 Simply put, we are all called to tell others about
Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of sins.
While Christ offered the once-for-all atoning sacrifice that we
proclaim (Heb. 9:26), the royal priesthood also freely offers sacrifices—a second priestly work (Gal. 3:13–14). Ours are sacrifices of

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praise (Heb. 13:15), living sacrifices of bodies and lives devoted to
the transforming work of the Spirit (Rom. 12:1–2), and also sacrificial gifts that meet temporal needs and are pleasing to God (Phil.
4:18).
The third priestly function is that the people of God are a people of intercession (1 Thess. 5:25; 1 Tim. 2:1; Heb. 13:18). It cannot be otherwise for our High Priest intercedes for us (John 17:9;
Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1). Moreover, He abundantly supplies us with His intercessory Spirit (Rom. 8:26–27). The lives of
Christ’s royal priests are intercessory in the mediatorial work of the
priesthood. For, “a priest is a mediator between God and men.”53
Cyprian’s dictum that no one knows God as his Father without the
Church as his mother is proven not by the work of the Church’s
ministers alone, but by the life and words of the whole Church.54
Luther sees this foretold by David in Psalm 110.55
We are to be sure and certain that this Christ, born,
according to the Scriptures, of the lineage of David, is truly the King and Priest promised in the
Scriptures. We alone, who believe in Him, have the
true faith, worship, and priesthood. We are the true
church, or people of God.56
The primary NT texts for the royal priesthood are 1 Peter
2:4–10, Revelation 1:4–6, Revelation 5:10, and Revelation 20:6.
Peter’s apostolic instruction is the richest NT source for the royal
priesthood (ἱεράτευμα):
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men
but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you
yourselves like living stones are being built up as
a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am
laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and
precious, and whoever believes in him will not be
put to shame.” So the honor is for you who believe,
but for those who do not believe, “The stone that
the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as
they were destined to do. 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. Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
First Peter begins with two images, a spiritual house and a
priesthood, to refer to God’s people (1 Peter 2:10)—to all who have
been “born again to a living hope … being guarded through faith,”
(1 Peter 1:3, 4). He goes on to speak of the people of God as “a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God’s]
own possession” (1 Peter 2:9). The people of God find their identity
in each instance in Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the One
who is Prophet, Priest, and King. Luther says: “Thus only those
are the holy and spiritual priesthood who are true Christians and
are built on the Stone.”57 Again: “We have only one single priest,
Christ, who has sacrificed himself for us and all of us with him.”58
That Christ is the unique High Priest through whom Christians become priests bears two vital implications. First, that He alone offers
the sacrifice by which His priests are sanctified: “Christians do not
2019 Convention Workbook