The Priesthood

Sometimes the charge is made by non-Catholics that the Priesthood is now unnecessary and obsolete.  They say that because of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, there is no need for priests because Jesus is now our high Priest.  The truth is that Jesus is indeed our High Priest.  However, the claim that the ministerial priesthood is dead because of what Christ did on Calvary it is a failure to understand God’s plan of salvation as well as the Scriptures themselves.

In the Old Testament, we read about three distinct levels of Priests: There was Aaron, the High Priest. Then, there was the Levitical/Ministerial Priesthood and finally, the General priesthood of the rest of Israel.

The New Testament also speaks of a three-tiered priesthood.  First, there is Jesus, our High Priest whom we read about in 1 Tim. 2:5 and Heb. 7:22-25). Secondly, we read about the Ministerial/Levitical Priests (James 5:14-15).  And, finally, we read about the General Priesthood of all Christians (1 Peter 2:5-9).  Whereas the Old Testament priests would offer slaughtered bulls and goats as a sacrifice before God as reparation for sins, the ministerial priest in the New Covenant offers up the eternal and perfect sacrifice made by Christ on our behalf, which is represented in the Eucharist.   New Testament fulfillments are always more glorious than their Old Testament types.

Jesus conferred the ministerial Priesthood onto his Apostles and gave them the power to confect the sacraments.  God knew that, as physical beings, it was good for us to have physical means to carry on in our faith. Water, bread, wine and chrism (oil) are some of these elements.  He also conferred upon the priesthood the power to forgive sins in his name (Matt. 16:18-19, 18:18, John 20:21-23).  In fact, the very first thing he did before his Apostles after rising from the dead was to breathe on them and give them the power to forgive sins or hold them bound.  There are only 2 times in all of Scripture where God breathes on man.  The first is when he breathed life into Adam (Gen. 2:7).  The second is when he gave the Apostles the power to forgive or retain sins in (John 20:21-23).

In the Epistle of Jude, we see that he spends much of this letter warning about those who perverted the early Church’s Eucharistic celebrations by assuming the ministerial priesthood without the Church’s consent (Jude 1:11).  In this passage he compares them to the Old Testament rebellion of Korah and their subsequent punishment (Numbers 16:1-35, 31:16).