Through your preaching the gospel ( and books and blogs etc), through mediating in administering the sacraments, through tending the flock we make Christ better known to all. It is to tear down the curtain around the Holy of holies so all may know Christ closer and more deeply.
And the NT also tears down the division between clergy and lay, between professional disciples and regular disciples. I think priest is a very OT term, and should not be applied to a special caste in the church.
Seriously, I don't know how I will feel when I am an ordained priest and being called a priest. I've read 'On Being a Priest Today' and the authors bounce between priest and presbyter. My priest calls herself 'pastor' in the community because many associate 'priest' with the Catholic church. Then there are others in my diocese who call themselves 'father' (yet, still no 'mothers').
I think there is a difference between a priestly duty and being a priest. Paul was from Benjamin and not Levi and so could never be a Levitical priest according to Torah, but the priests did have the duty of speaking and teaching Torah (and by extension, Tanakh) to the mostly non-literate Israelites. So I think Paul is claiming that God also gave him this duty of teaching Scripture to the Gentiles, but I do not think Paul was claiming to be a priest in the Levitical sense. Thoughts?
Through your preaching the gospel ( and books and blogs etc), through mediating in administering the sacraments, through tending the flock we make Christ better known to all. It is to tear down the curtain around the Holy of holies so all may know Christ closer and more deeply.
And the NT also tears down the division between clergy and lay, between professional disciples and regular disciples. I think priest is a very OT term, and should not be applied to a special caste in the church.
Now do the title 'father'!
Seriously, I don't know how I will feel when I am an ordained priest and being called a priest. I've read 'On Being a Priest Today' and the authors bounce between priest and presbyter. My priest calls herself 'pastor' in the community because many associate 'priest' with the Catholic church. Then there are others in my diocese who call themselves 'father' (yet, still no 'mothers').
I think there is a difference between a priestly duty and being a priest. Paul was from Benjamin and not Levi and so could never be a Levitical priest according to Torah, but the priests did have the duty of speaking and teaching Torah (and by extension, Tanakh) to the mostly non-literate Israelites. So I think Paul is claiming that God also gave him this duty of teaching Scripture to the Gentiles, but I do not think Paul was claiming to be a priest in the Levitical sense. Thoughts?