Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 08:2 (Fall 2011)
Article: Baptists And The Priesthood Of Believers
Author: J. Terry Young

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JBTM 8:2 (Fall 2011) p. 107

Baptists And The Priesthood Of Believers

J. Terry Young

Dr. Young is Professor Emeritus of Theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a former colleague of Dr. Holcomb at NOBTS.

Those who don’t read history are vulnerable to some huge blunders. In June 1988 messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention passed Resolution Five, calling into question the importance of the priesthood of believers and alleging that it had only been a marginal idea to Baptists in the past. The resolution was blind to Baptist history and theology.

The controversial resolution was aimed at promoting authority for pastoral leadership. The insistence upon authority in pastoral leadership is contrary to the doctrine of the priesthood of believers.

Surely, a pastor must be a leader. Leadership requires vision, and the ability to plan, communicate, organize, promote, enlist, inspire, and motivate. If one has these abilities, authority adds nothing to him as a leader. Without these things, all the authority in the world cannot make the pastor a leader.

The power play for authority is questionable at best. It certainly comes at too high a price if we have to forsake nearly four centuries of Baptist commitment to the priesthood of believers.

Baptists have always placed a major emphasis on the priesthood of believers, religious liberty, and soul competency. These ideas are not identical, but they are closely related. The preamble to the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message states, “Baptists emphasize the soul’s competency before God, freedom in religion, and the priesthood of the believer,” linking these three ideas. The 2000 revision uses similar language.

Baptists take this cluster of ideas very seriously because they feel that they are scripturally based. Each person is made in the image of God, according to Gen. 1:26–27, meaning that humans are made in relationship with God–we can sense the leadership of God and can express ourselves to God.

We are made so that we need no intermediary to stand between us and God. From the theological perspective, this is called soul competency, meaning that all persons are capable of approaching God directly, without interference or the assistance of an intermediary. From the political-sociological perspective, this is called religious liberty, meaning that all persons have full freedom to worship--or not to worship--according to their own interests and needs, with no coercion from the state, the church, or individuals. From the standpoint of ecclesiology, this is

JBTM 8:2 (Fall 2011) p. 108

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