QUESTION: Ever since you declared that you are a priest, I haven’t seen you do what priests used to do such as anoint people with oil. Why is that? Brenda.
RESPONSE: Thanks for asking. Brenda, you are the second person to ask me the same question. The first was Pedson, and I’m sure you guys represent a large number of people who are curious as to why I refer to myself as a Priest. This is also an opportunity to address individuals who are offended, as well as others who regard the title as only a theatrical name. My spiritual eyes see brighter and clearer as my relationship with God grows and as I age (1 Peter 2:1-3), while my physical eyes require spectacles.
Not a Self-Declaration
No religious institution or order has anointed or appointed me as a Priest, and I have not declared myself a Priest. “You, too, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, giving spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ,” says Jesus Christ through inspiration in 1 Peter 2:5-9. “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and valuable cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be ashamed,” the Bible says. This stone is valuable to those who believe. “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” and “a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that causes them to fall,” say those who do not believe. They make a mistake because they disobey the message, which is also what they were born to do. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who belong to God, and you have been called out of darkness into his glorious light.” I am a priest in the order of the priesthood of all believers, not in the order of any religious institution. I don’t declare myself a priest; rather, believing in Jesus Christ makes me and all other Christians priests.
Priesthood Early Stages
Abraham encountered a priest from Salem in the patriarchal days of Israel and tithed to him (Genesis 14:18-20). Whether or not Abraham met this Priest of Salem, the anachronistic chronicler of the Pentateuch claims that Abraham met a priest at some time in his life. The priest he encountered was a priest of peace, not a priest of race/tribe or religion. Thus, priesthood is not exclusive to Judaism; priests existed long before Israel established itself as a religion, even during patriarchal times. When Abraham married Keturah, a Kenite lady (Genesis 15:18), she bore him numerous sons, one of whom was Midian (Genesis 25:1-2). The offspring of Abraham and Keturah the Kenite, the Midians are of mixed race.
Jethro was a Midian-Kenite, and he belonged to them. Baal-peor, the Queen of Heaven, Ashteroth, and Yahweh, the patriarchal god, were among the gods worshipped by these people. In contrast to Midian Polytheism, Moses insists on a patriarchal God who proclaims himself as I am (Exodus 3).
Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, was a priest of Midian, a Kenite nation, where Moses sought refuge after killing an Egyptian (Exodus 2:15-16; 3:1). Midian religion was already systematic, and it had a significant role in the establishment of Judaism (Exodus 18:1-27). The Israelite priesthood was thus copied from the Midians by the Israelites, and it is the first of Israel’s three important offices to be established. The Prophet and the King are the other two significant offices.
Who is a Priest?
The gods chose individuals whose families had inherited the profession in the ancient world. The Aaronic priesthood is descended from this lineage. In the Old Testament, priesthood is an inheritance and hereditary rather than a study profession. To be eligible for the priesthood, one had to be of the Levite tribe (Exodus 28:1; Numbers 18:7), as well as physically “whole” (without any bodily defects) and holy in his behaviour (Leviticus 21:6-8). As a result, a priest is someone who was born into Aaron’s family. His three key jobs best demonstrate who he is to the community:
(a) – Priests were teachers of the law (belief and life) Deuteronomy 33:10, Leviticus 10:11, 18:18. (b) – Priests worked in the community as healthcare professionals (they determined who was sick and who was healthy) Priests were mediators between God and the people, according to Leviticus 13:1-3 and (c) (for the forgiveness of sins). This was the role of a priest.
The priesthood of all believers
The book of Hebrews portrays Jesus Christ as a priest who served and fulfilled the priestly ministry. Jesus was the true and perfect high priest, who offered the only proper priestly service to the entire world, not just a chosen few. He is the true high priest, free of sin in both mind and body, and he is the one who offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for the world rather than animals (Hebrews 7:23-28; 9:11-14; 10:10-14). Jesus’ priesthood is superior to Aaron’s priesthood (Hebrews 5:1-10). While the priesthood of the Old Testament was concerned with race and religion, the priesthood of Jesus Christ is concerned with the word and the world. It is a priesthood comprised of all believers in Jesus Christ, the high priest, who mediates the world between them and himself, rather than between them and another agent. It is God reconciling the world to himself through his body (2Corinthians 5:18-20)
The priesthood of all believers states that all believers in Christ, regardless of race (biological relationships) or religion, share in Christ’s priestly status (institutional belonging). Whoever believes in God has direct access to Him (Ephesians 2:14-19) and does not require the intervention of a third party. As a result, we do not need to confess our sins to religious priests, but rather to God directly. The belief that God works through a select group of people appointed and ordained by the institution to administer religious sacraments (such as Baptism, the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper), confirmation, ministerial ordination, penance, ointment anointing, marriage, and so on) is not biblical, but rather a religious attempt to act as middlemen between believers and God. I don’t anoint people with oil religiously for two reasons: first, I’m not a religious priest, but a Christian, and second, the Bible’s use of oil is medical and political (Mark 6:13; Exodus 30:29). To massage individuals with treatment oil, I don’t need to be a priest. Oil was also utilised to distinguish leaders (1 Samuel 10:1), but it is not my current calling as a priest.
The priesthood of all believers does not necessarily prevent some priests from serving as Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds/pastors, and Teachers, in order to equip the saints (priests) for ministry and the building up of Christ’s priesthood (Ephesians 4:11–12; 1Corinthians 12:7-11; Romans 8:26–27; 1Corinthians 7:7; 1Peter 4:9–10). Individually gifted Christians in the church of Christ, like the rest of the body of Christ, are priests. Even when we attend to their ministry, they are immediate channels of divine providence rather than exclusive intermediaries between us and God. The content is more important than the container. Healing is possible whether or not someone has the gift of healing. You don’t have to look for someone who has the gift of healing; instead, look for the God who heals, because he is the same God who gave the gift of healing to those who have it.
True, Jesus Christ fulfilled the three principal roles of Priest, Prophet, and King through his life, ministry, death, and resurrection (Luke 3:1–21; Matt. 3:1–17; Mark 1:1–11). We can be ordained in these positions by him, but we are not these offices; we are servants in them. We the Christians are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for his possession because Jesus is the priest of peace (Melchizedek) (1Peter 2:4-9). I address myself as Priest Isaiah White in this order and manner.
God bless you.
I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest M.I.T White (+256-775-822833)
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)
Questioning to Believe and Believing to Live
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