Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 136:541 (Jan 1979)
Article: Is the New Testament Minister a Priest?
Author: W. H. Griffith Thomas

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BSac 136:541 (Jan 79) p. 65

Is the New Testament Minister a Priest?

W. H. Griffith Thomas

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is published in recognition of the fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Dallas Theological Seminary in February, 1924, and of the death in June of that year of W. H. Griffith Thomas (1861–1924), renowned Anglican scholar, who was a cofounder of the Seminary with Lewis Sperry Chafer. The article was originally published in London in booklet form under the title Priest or Prophet? Its reappearance seems particularly timely in view of the aspirations of certain women to enter “the Christian priesthood.”]

In the Bible the fact of a ministry is clearly recorded. In the Old Testament the ministry consists chiefly of two orders or classes of men—the priests and the prophets—each with its own sphere more or less clearly defined, and with a work of great importance and absolute necessity, because of divine appointment.

The essence of the priesthood was the representation of man to God; the essence of the prophetic office was the representation of God to man. Anything else done by a priest or prophet was accidental and additional, and not a necessary part of his office. The essential work of the priest was expressed in sacrifice and intercession, and may be summed up in the word mediator. The essential work of the prophet was expressed in revelation and instruction, and may be summed up in the word ambassador. The priesthood meant propitiation, and the prophetic office meant revelation. The priest was concerned with the way of man to God; the prophet with the will of God to man. The two offices were thus complementary, and together they fulfilled the requirements of the relationship between God and man.

New Testament Silence on a Class of Believers as Priests

The ministry of the New Testament is equally clear and unequivocal, but with certain great and notable differences. In the

BSac 136:541 (Jan 79) p. 66

New Testament there is absolutely nothing about a special order or class of men called priests. The only priesthood, apart from the Lord’s priestly work, is the spiritual priesthood of all believers. There is, however, much that answers to the essential ministry of the Old Testament prophet, but with the difference that ministry in the New Testament is not confined to any one class of believers: it is the privilege and duty of all. There are most assuredly diversities of gifts in that ministry, but ministry generally and of some kind is for all. Indeed, the various gifts are for the express purpose of “equipping the saints for their work of ministering” (Eph 4:12, Greek).

Whether, ...

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