Priesthood
Roger Seal considers ‘the priesthood of all believers’
Friends often refer to the idea of ‘the priesthood of all believers’, but what exactly do we mean by the term?
‘Priest’ literally comes from the Greek word presbyteros, meaning one who is older, whence the office of ‘elder’, a title predicated on the notion that one who is older can be assumed to be wiser and better suited to lead. Probably a richer meaning, and in the mainstream of Jewish and later Christian thinking, is one who represents God before humanity and humanity before God. From the time when the focus of Judaism was the temple at Jerusalem, there was absolute hierarchy (that is ‘rule by priests’) led by the high priest, who were believed, and believed themselves, to speak and act with divine authority and to command deference by the whole nation, and, conversely, to intercede uniquely with God on the nation’s behalf.
