# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S356
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

356

IX. 2016 RESOLUTION 13-01A TASK FORCE REPORT

exercise their priestly sacrifice, for the purpose of obtaining forgiveness of sins, either for themselves or for others.”59 Second, that
as priests with their Brother, the Great High Priest, we, too, share in
the three-fold priestly work of proclamation, sacrifice, and prayer.
On its face, then, 1 Peter 2:4–10 reinforces what we have
seen while considering Psalm 110: Our priestly identity comes
from “God through Jesus Christ” the High Priest. All Christians,
as Christ’s royal priests, enact their priestly life by proclaiming the
wonderful, saving deeds of God in Christ (His “excellencies”) and
by their “spiritual sacrifices” (which include everything from a holy
life in one’s vocation to praise, prayer, and intercession).
Peter first refers to “spiritual sacrifices” (1 Peter 2:6) and then
to proclamation of “the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). The adjective spiritual, referring to the sacrifices of the NT priesthood, is important.
It sets the sacrifices offered by this priesthood apart from the Levitical priesthood’s animal sacrifices. This is not to draw a Platonic
distinction between body and spirit, however, for Paul in Romans
12:1 parallels Peter’s exhortation to priestly sacrifice: “I appeal to
you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual worship.” As “living sacrifices,” the spiritual sacrifices of
the royal priests certainly also include conduct. Christ offers the
sacrifice of His body in death, while we offer the grateful sacrifice
of redeemed lives, graciously made new and eternal in Him. Thus,
the whole life of the royal priests is to be one of sacrifice within
their daily vocations.
The priestly life of prayer is not mentioned in 1 Peter 2, but
it appears in 1 Peter 3 where the relationship of husbands to wives
is framed as one of gentle understanding, with husbands honoring
wives as joint heirs of eternal life, with the result “that your prayers
may not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7). Prayer, of course, is not for husbands alone. All the royal priests, baptized as God’s adopted sons
and daughters through the work of Jesus our High Priest, are called
to a life of prayer. “Our High Priest, Jesus, teaches us in His words
and by His example.”60 Christ Jesus invites us to join in prayer,
saying to all His people: “When you pray, say, ‘Father, hallowed be
your name. Your kingdom come … ’” (Luke 11:2–4; see also Matt.
6:9–13). Anchored in the work of the High Priest, the royal priesthood prays confidently. As the CTCR states:
Therefore it is only “by the blood of Jesus,” by
“the new and living way opened for us through the
curtain, that is, his body,” that we are privileged
and invited to “draw near to God with a sincere
heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:19–22).
Only by virtue of our adoption as God’s children
through our baptism into Christ’s death and Resurrection are we enabled to cry out “Abba, Father!”
(Rom. 8:15). Only through the reconciling work of
our high priest, Jesus, the Son of God, can we “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that
we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in
our time of need” (Heb. 4:16).61
The royal priesthood therefore prays constantly (1 Thess. 5:17;
1 Tim. 2:1–5) for all people and under any and all circumstances
(Is. 55:6; Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:28; Phil. 4:6) in simple obedience to
God’s command and joyful response to His promises that He will
hear us.62 And we pray, most especially, for the work of the Gospel
so that God’s name is hallowed and many come to faith (First and
Second Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer; Luke 10:2; Acts 2:39; Col.
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4:2–4).
Prayer for the hallowing of God’s name as the Gospel is declared reminds us that the parallel to the call to offer spiritual sacrifices and prayer is Peter’s exhortation to proclaim the wonders
of God, who has brought us from darkness to light. The Greek
verb exangellō (ἐξαγγέλλω) in 1 Peter 2:9 appears only here.63 It is
translated as “proclaim” in the ESV and NKJV, as “declare” in the
NIV, and as “show forth” in KJV.64 The verb therefore is a straightforward reference to making something known to others. Here, of
course, it is the “excellencies” of God who, in Christ, calls people
from darkness into His marvelous light.
Luther calls this the “chief function” and “first and foremost
duty” of the royal priesthood.
A priest must be God’s messenger and must have
a command from God to proclaim His Word. You
must, says Peter, exercise the chief function of a
priest, that is, to proclaim the wonderful deed God
has performed for you to bring you out of darkness into the light. For you must bend every effort to realize what God has done for you. Then
let it be your chief work to proclaim this publicly
and to call everyone into the light into which you
have been called. Where you find people who do
not know this, you should instruct and also teach
them as you have learned, namely, how one must
be saved through the power and strength of God
and come out of darkness into the light. 65
Furthermore, “Thus we see that the first and foremost duty we
Christians should perform is to proclaim the wonderful deeds of
God.”66 As we will emphasize below, this proclamation by the royal
priesthood is distinct from, but not contradictory to the proclamation by the Office of Public Ministry. Nevertheless, every royal
priest also has both the joy and responsibility to share the Gospel
wherever God has placed him.
Every believer is called to confess “before men” the faith we
hold in Christ Jesus (Matt. 10:32–33). As Lewis Spitz put it, Peter’s
exhortation in verse 9 is straightforward: “In other words, believers
as priests must also be missionaries. What else could these words
mean: ‘That ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light’ [KJV]?”67
The validity of this simple conclusion is illustrated in Scripture. Three examples may be cited. First, consider Anna. Luke tells
of Anna in the temple, who, after hearing Simeon’s prophecy and
seeing the infant Savior, immediately begins to speak of Him to
others. Luther sees Anna as an example of living faith, breaking out
in loving testimony: “Faith and knowledge of Christ cannot remain
silent. Faith breaks forth and testifies in order to help others and to
share its light, as Psalm 116[:10] says: ‘I have believed, and so I
also speak.’ Faith is much too kind and good to keep such treasure
for itself alone.”68
In another example from the Acts of the Apostles it is the proclamation of the royal priesthood—“preaching the Lord Jesus” and
“speaking the word”—that resulted in the church being planted in
Samaria and Antioch (Acts 8:1–4; Acts 11:19–21, ESV).69 Such a
declaration of the Word by the royal priests is exactly what was
promised when Peter preached at Pentecost, declaring the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2:28–29):
And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I
will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons