LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 232

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232

II. THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

Christ. As a believer comes forth out of the waters of
Baptism, priesthood comes along as well.
In chapter 3, the author of Hebrews uses a priestly
title when he addresses “holy brothers” — holy “because
they share in the priestly holiness of Jesus by sharing in
his royal sonship,”33 partaking in a “heavenly calling”
with Him who is “the apostle and high priest of our confession”34 (Heb. 3:1). Jesus is faithful, as was Moses, and
the letter urges our own faithfulness in terms of holding
fast to “our confidence,” that is, to God’s promises. Moses
was faithful, declaring all that God revealed to Israel and
interceding on Israel’s behalf. As such, he was both an
apostle and priest.35 Far more gloriously still (Heb. 3:3–4),
Jesus the Son of God faithfully proclaimed the kingdom
of God as the Father’s emissary (“apostle”36) and provided the necessary eternal sacrifice before returning to
the Father’s right hand. To hold “fast our confidence and
our boasting in our hope” (Heb. 3:6) is to have faith in the
promises and priestly work of Jesus, whom we confess as
Lord (see also 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10–12 and Gal. 6:14).
The call of God from heaven in Christ Jesus is to be
His priests. Once more we are reminded of the threefold
dimension of priesthood: sacrifice, prayer and teaching.
They mark priesthood — both general and Levitical — in
the Old Testament, but the New Testament priesthood
portrays these responsibilities differently. Death and
sacrifice — the shedding of blood — have always been
close at hand and necessary for priests to carry out their
work. The bulk of Old Testament references to priesthood are to the sacrifices offered in Tabernacle and
Temple by Levitical priests. Prayer is assumed throughout the Old Testament as an element of priestly sacrifice,
but teaching is only infrequently emphasized there. This
emphasis changes, however, in the New Testament. Now,
with the complete, all-sufficient, fulfilling sacrifice of the
great High Priest (Eph. 5:2; Heb. 9:26; 10:12) and Passover
Lamb “whose blood sets us free to be people of God”37
(1 Cor. 5:7), the primary work of the Levitical priesthood
is finished as well. There is no reference throughout the

New Testament to any priestly office38 other than the
royal priesthood of the baptized. To be sure, in the New
Testament, individuals are still called and authorized for
the public ministry on behalf of the royal priesthood, but
“priest” is never included in the various titles applied to
the church’s public ministers.
Because of Adam and in Adam all within the human
race die; but in Christ, the second Adam, all live (1 Cor.

15:22). Sacrifice makes the difference and marks all in the

royal priesthood, given that identity in Baptism because
of Christ’s sacrifice. Sacrifice therefore remains prominent in the New Testament, but it is differently conceived
— no blood sacrifice of slaughtered beasts or grain or
wine. Now the sacrifices are the “spiritual sacrifices” of
the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:5), including the living
sacrifices of their bodies (Rom. 12:1), sacrificial deeds of
obedience (Heb. 13:16), sacrificial donations they offer
for the support of others (Phil. 4:18) and the sacrifice of
thanks and praise found on their lips (Heb. 13:15).

The ultimate sacrifice of the Great High Priest
prompts all the sacrifices of the royal priesthood. Their
efforts have meaning and value because of Christ. His
sacrifice lies behind the apostle Paul’s exhortation in
Romans 12:1, where Christians are urged to offer their
bodies as a living sacrifice on account of the mercies of
God. Moreover, even as their Great High Priest is the
humble Servant of Isaiah 53, so also His royal priests are
called to a priestly service which will be acquainted with
grief and suffering (53:3). “For it has been granted to you
that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe
in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same
conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have”
(Phil. 1:29–30). Suffering is indeed a mark of those who
belong to the Great High Priest, the Church. The royal
priesthood is His body and if one part suffers, the whole
does — from the Head to the toe (1 Cor. 12:26).39
Yes, martyrdom itself may be required of individual
members of the royal priesthood. But as Peter speaks
Some may cite, however, the possible exception of Romans 15:15–16.
There Paul refers to his “priestly service of the gospel of God” to the
Gentiles. CSB translates: “serving as a priest of God’s good news.” Paul
says this in the context of his apostolic ministry. However, while the
apostles — serving in an Office of the Public Ministry — do have a
particular responsibility for public proclamation as eyewitnesses, their
call to proclaim the Gospel is shared not only with everyone in the
public office, but also with everyone in the Church as a whole since
each believer is o proclaim God’s excellencies.
38

33
John W. Kleinig, Hebrews (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
2017), 161.
34

On confession in Hebrews, see Kleinig’s excursus in Hebrews, 168–70.

35
It has been noted that Moses, not Aaron, is here mentioned as a
priestly precursor to our Lord, a reminder of the general or royal
priesthood in Israel.
36
The term “apostle” in the New Testament indicates one with firsthand
knowledge or testimony acting with the full authority of another. See
Kleinig, Hebrews, 161–62.
37
Lutheran Service Book (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006),
155.

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II. “PRIEST ” IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

themselves to prayer (2:42). John and Peter, as well as
Paul, participate in the Temple prayer (3:1; 22:17). Royal
priests pray in prison (4:31; 16:25). The apostolic ministers
are marked by particular prayer responsibilities and pray
as they appoint others for designated service (6:4, 6; 14:23).
There is prayer for the Spirit’s bestowal on the Samaritans
(8:15). Saul prays (9:11); Peter prays (9:40; 10:9); Cornelius
prays (10:1–4). The church engages in its priestly work of
prayer in crisis, as normal practice, and to further the
mission (12:5, 12; 13:3). Missionaries pray with the newly
baptized (16:13–16), when they leave to serve elsewhere
(20:36; 21:5–6), and for the sick (28:8).
This cursory look at priestly prayer shows that it is
not limited to formal, liturgical settings, as important as
the prayers of public worship are. It also indicates that the
royal priesthood’s life of prayer must be coupled with the
New Testament concept of sacrifice as part of a kind of
worship broadly understood. Priestly identity is formed
and seen in formal worship, to be sure, but that hardly exhausts “service” or “worship” in a larger sense. Words from
the Greek Old Testament that tend to imply only formal
worship — e.g., “leitourgein” and its derivatives, the source
of our word “liturgy,” and “latreia” and its derivatives —
have a broader meaning in the New Testament.43 Worship
or service, in both a narrow and broad sense, marks royal
priests. The leitourgein word group occurs in the context
of public worship in Luke 1:23 and Hebrews 9:21, but
more frequently as service in a wider sense: the service of
governing authorities (Rom. 13:6), the faith of the Philippians (2:17), charity for saints in need (2 Cor. 9:12). None of
these three worthy activities is an official priestly function.
In Romans 12:1 St. Paul uses latreia as he exhorts royal
priests to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God. The thought here is of Christians offering up the whole of their lives, not someone else making
sacrifice in their behalf.
St. John has this same worship or service (latreuein)
in mind in Revelation 7:15. He writes, “Therefore they
are before the throne of God, and serve him day and
night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will
shelter them with his presence.” The worship and service
of the royal priesthood are marked by an eschatological
sense — by great hope. That day will come soon, but
in the meantime there is a workmanlike service to be
carried out by the royal priesthood. Those priests serve
The New Testament uses leitourgein and derivatives in the context of
formal worship (e.g., Luke 1:23) and for service to those in need (e.g.,
2 Cor. 9:12). Latreia and derivatives are used in a similar arrow and
broad way (e.g., Luke 2:37 and Rom. 1:9; 12:1).
43

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39
In On the Councils and the Church (1539), Luther refers to seven
marks of the church, one of which is “the sacred cross.” Luther explains
that Christians suffer “in order to become like their head, Christ” and
“that they steadfastly adhere to Christ and God’s word” (AE 41:164–
65).

Christ by serving others.
While they wait for all promises to be fulfilled,
priests are marked in yet another way: They are moved
by the Spirit to witness and to take up the mission of
the Church. They rejoice not in anything they might
bring to Christ, but rather in passing on what they first
received from Him — the promises of God made plain
in Baptism, in the words spoken, and in the word tied to
bread and wine, to body and blood. By participating in
all those things the priests, the believers, “show forth the
excellencies of God.” But what are God’s “excellencies”?
The Greek term, arete, is used infrequently in the New
Testament. It may be defined in English as “uncommon
character worthy of praise, excellence of character, exceptional civic virtue” or as a “manifestation of divine power,
miracle”.44 The term describes both virtuous people and
God.45 Here it describes God’s goodness — His excellence and worthiness of praise. Praise is His due! Peter
later couples the singular of arete, excellence, with glory
(2 Peter 1:3). Curtis Giese explains: “In 2 Peter 1:3 they
both [glory and excellence] refer to Christ’s saving, sacrificial acts, whose benefits the Gospel brings to people.”46
44
BDAG s.v. ἀρετή. Its plural is translated as “excellencies” by the ESV
in 1 Peter 2:9, but elsewhere as “praises” (KJV, NIV, CSB), “goodness”
(NLT), or “virtues.” Luther’s German Bible rendered it Tugenden,
“virtues” or “good deeds.”
45

An example of arete used for human virtue is in Philippians 4:8.

Curtis P. Giese, 2 Peter and Jude (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 2012), 48. Rather than “glory and excellence” (ESV), the NIV
and CSB translate the phrase in 2 Peter as “glory and goodness.” Second
Peter 1:5 uses the term to refer to the virtue or goodness that Christians
are to add to their faith. Giese’s view that excellence in 2 Peter refers
to Christ’s saving acts — articulated in the Gospel — seems to apply
perfectly with its plural usage in 1 Peter 2:9. This is corroborated in the
Greek Old Testament translation of Isaiah, where glory and excellence
(praise [arete]) are also paralleled in 42:8, 12:
8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor
my praise to carved idols.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I
now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.
10 Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and
their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that
Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout
from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the
coastlands. (Emphasis added.)
Verse 12 from the LXX is also instructive because the clause “declare
his praise in the coastlands” couples a root of the Greek verb angello
with the noun arete. Peter utilizes this same combination in 1 Peter 2:9.
Then, in Isaiah 43, the Lord calls Israel “the people whom I formed for
myself that they might declare my praise” (v. 21). This chapter contains
an important declaration of the Lord (vv. 11–21), in which He reminds
Israel that He alone is Savior (v. 11), Israel’s rescuer from Egypt (vv. 14–
17). They are His witnesses and therefore λαόν μου ὅν περιεποιησάμην
τὰς ἀρετάς διηγεῖσθαι, “the people whom I formed for myself that they
might declare my praise” (v. 21).
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II. “PRIEST ” IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

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of the royal priesthood’s life of sacrifice, his examples of
sacrifice are more mundane. It is workers submitting to
bosses and other human institutions — even odious ones
(1 Peter 2:13–25). It is the godly life of a woman who wins
her husband by example, not words (1 Peter 3:1–6). It is a
husband’s gentle love for his wife (1 Peter 3:7). It is believers bound together, loving one another with tenderness
and humility (1 Peter 3:8). Paul agrees. In 2 Corinthians 9:12, having commended the Corinthians for their
sacrificial gifts to suffering Christians, he adds: “For the
ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of
the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings
to God.”
Prayer and sacrifice are not to be divorced. In the Old
Testament this is obvious with its predominating focus
on the “liturgical” role of the Levitical priests. The Old
Testament’s portrayal of priestly prayer is largely within
the context of the public worship of Israel. People and
priests gathered in prayer as the sacrifices were offered.
Hebrews 13:15 indicates that prayer and sacrifice continue their intimate connection within the New Testament.
As the royal priesthood of the New Testament sacrifices,
it does so in prayer, the prayer of faith. And prayer itself
is a sacrifice of praise. Yet, although it is never divorced
from and sometimes subsumed by the believer’s whole
life of sacrifice, the royal priesthood’s life of prayer deserves special attention and comment. This aspect of the
universal priesthood also finds its foundation only in the
Great High Priest.
Our Lord’s prayer in John 17 is aptly called His
“high priestly prayer.” Although specific priestly terms
are not used, the priestly mediatorial role of Christ is
emphasized. Jesus refers to His work as One sent by
the Father, “the only true God” (17:3). Christ speaks of
having faithfully “manifested your name to the people
whom you gave me out of the world” (17:6), having given
them the Word of God (17:8). He consecrates Himself
(17:19) — unlike Aaron or the Levitical priests who must
be consecrated by another (Ex. 28, 40) — and does so
that He might in turn sanctify His own (17:17, 19). His
intercessory prayer for His people to be sanctified — a
holy people — is part and parcel of their identity as a
royal priesthood. His prayer recalls the attribution of the
royal priesthood as a “holy nation” in both Exodus 19
and 1 Peter 2.40
40
The English verbs “sanctify” and “consecrate,” as well as the compound verb “make holy,” are all used to render the same Greek verb
(ἁγιάζω). Many such references utilizing holiness terminology, including those in this paragraph, reflect the language of priesthood in the
Old Testament (e.g., Ex. 19, 28; Deut. 7:6).

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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.
Note well: God makes those who were “not a people”47 into His people — His royal priesthood, His
chosen race, His holy nation, His possession — for this:
to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light.” The believer made
alive becomes a witness to the change God has made and
to the hope that lives in the believer’s heart, the hope that
is meant for all. Good words that say this — God’s “excellencies” and especially the Gospel message — come from
the believer’s lips. It can’t be helped. It is as natural as
breathing, as life itself. Just as the Christian must pray,48
so the Christian must also praise God’s grace and mercy.
To say that the believer does not speak — or worse,
should not speak “the praises of Him who called us out
of darkness into His marvelous light” (NIV, NKJV) — is
a denial of one’s identity as a priest and a rejection of
Christ’s work for the world.
The priests of 1 Peter 2:9 serve by proclaiming the
Gospel. Proclamation — to make known the marvelous
works and gracious words of God — is the mission of the
Church, the mission of all priests, of all believers. 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]?”49 The “royal
priesthood” or “the believers” are simply appellatives of
the Church in the New Testament and, for that reason,
47
Those “not a people” echoes Hosea 1:8–9, where the prophet is told to
name his second son by Gomer Lo-Ammi “not my people.” This somber note of judgment is followed by the prophetic promise of a time to
follow, when Israelites will be countless under a single ruler (1:10–11).
That, too, is here fulfilled as the Lord calls a new chosen race, royal
priesthood, holy possession, and people for His own.

Luther, Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 14–16, AE 24:89.

49
Lewis Spitz, “The Universal Priesthood of Believers,” in The Abiding
Word: An Anthology of Doctrinal Essays for the Year 1945, ed. Theodore
Laetsch, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1946), 339.

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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).41
The royal priesthood therefore includes the mediatorial work of constant prayer (1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Tim. 2:1–5)
for all people and in all circumstances (Is. 55:6; Matt. 5:44;
Luke 6:28; Phil. 4:6). The priesthood prays in obedience
to God’s command and in confident response to His
promises to hear us.42 It prays, in particular, that God’s
name would be hallowed and many would come to faith
(1st and 2nd petitions; Luke 10:2; Acts 2:39; Col. 4:2–4).
And, as royal priests pray for others to believe, they share
with them the promises that faith holds to in confidence.
This is not only the prayer of the royal priesthood, but
also of the Great High Priest: “I do not ask for these only,
but also for those who will believe in me through their
word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in
me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the
world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20–21).
Even as the Great High Priest prays both alone and
with His disciples, so also the priestly life of prayer is
both corporate and individual. The Acts of the Apostles reveals this as disciples pray together awaiting the
“promise from on high” (1:14). The first followers together with Pentecost’s 3,000 newly baptized priests devote
41
LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR),
Theology and Practice of Prayer: A Lutheran View (2011), 14. Available
at http://www.lcms.org/Document.fdoc?src=lcm&id=1745. Emphasis
added.
42
See Luther on the Second Commandment, SC and LC. See also the
LC introduction to the Lord’s Prayer, KW, 441–43.

II. “PRIEST ” IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

It is this third element of priestly mediatorial work,
declaring Christ’s saving acts in the Gospel, that is given
particular focus in 1 Peter 2:9–10.

48

Through the High Priest, the royal priests are sanctified, set apart, as God’s own possession, His holy people,
His adopted sons and daughters. They, in turn are called
to a life of prayer themselves. Our High Priest, Jesus,
who prays for us, also invites us to join in prayer in the
“Our Father” or Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:2–4; Matt. 6:9–13).
As the Commission on Theology and Church Relations
states:

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the Church’s mission is not a work set aside to be carried
out by a few, consigned only to some or left only to “the
professionals.”50 The New Testament emphasis would not
be one of priest distinct from people. All believers were
the royal priesthood. All the baptized would render service as God placed them in life’s circumstances. Mission
would be, and it is, the work of all — universal service, a
universal priesthood of all baptized, of all believers.
The word mission deserves our attention. The Latin
“mitto” and “mittere” at the root of “mission” means to
send.51 But who sends whom? Why? Where are they
sent? To whom are they sent?
First, who sends whom? The sending that matters, of
course, is God’s. He sends His Son (John 3:16–17). Father
and Son send the Spirit (John 14:26). The one Triune God
sends the disciples into the world (John 20:21–23). Why
and where does God send in each of these cases — and
to whom? This is where we have come to use the word
mission as a handy term that indicates for what purpose
someone is sent. So the Son’s mission: He is sent to the
world to redeem it. The Spirit’s mission: He is sent to the
Church to teach and bring to remembrance all that God
has done in Christ Jesus. The disciples’ mission: they
are sent to humanity (“anyone”) to speak God’s Law and
Gospel — His retaining and forgiving of sins.
The focus of the mission of the Church — the royal
priesthood — is clear and distinct. It is to declare the
excellencies of God to the world — that is, to make the
Gospel known and thereby make disciples (Matt. 28:19),
going forth to make Christ known even to the “uttermost
parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8 KJV). Indeed, members of
the royal priesthood were “sent” to Samaria and Antioch
when they were scattered by persecution, and there
they proclaimed the Gospel (Acts 8:1–4; 11:19–21). But we
should add that the sending is not always to a distant
50
Although the New Testament uses several terms to refer to ministry,
it seems to favor diakonia rather than leitourgein, a term with more
sacerdotal overtones (although we should not see the word choice as
anti-sacerdotal). The LXX regularly used forms of leitourgein when
talking of ministry as service, so New Testament writers certainly
would have been familiar with the vocabulary used in that way. Why
then lean instead to diakonia? Perhaps because the New Testament’s
inspired writers wanted to emphasize the service of God’s entire people
as a holy nation and royal priesthood — something that had received
minimal attention compared to the formal work of the Levitical priesthood in the Old Testament.
51
It should be mentioned that there is no exact Hebrew or Greek
equivalent term for “mission” and that the word seldom appears in
English translations. The verb form, “to send,” is used frequently in
both Old Testament and New Testament (two Greek verbs, apostello
[ἀποστέλλω] and pempo [πέμπω]). Most importantly, apostello is
the root of the noun “apostle,” with its sense of one sent with the full
authority of the sender.

II. “PRIEST ” IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

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