There are many things that we do in the Church of Jesus Christ today which are very seldom questioned. Somehow we think that how we practice "church" doesn't really matter to God. Or perhaps we believe that it does matter to God, but that we are practicing our faith fairly closely to the way it was meant to be. How could we ever believe that after reading the New Testament? It would take a blind man not to see the tremendous difference between the first century church and the church of today! I think that most of us can see it, so I don't think that denial is the problem.

After talking to many believers about this in many different churches, I am convinced that we have actually talked ourselves into believing that the modern condition of the church is the way it's supposed to be. The reasoning goes something like this; times have changed, people have changed, and cultures are different. In order for the church to be relevant to society, it must change along with it. We must fit into our culture. We can't use the New Testament church as our model because that was two thousand years ago and we are in a different time and place.

The whole problem behind this reasoning, however, is that it is based upon man's philosophy and not on the Word of God. The Bible tells us not to lean upon our own understanding but to trust God (Proverbs 3:5, 6). You see, God is not only concerned about what we believe, but also what we do! Jesus said that the man who hears His word and does not do it is like a man who builds his house upon the sand (Matthew 7:26). What we do is very important to God! This includes how we practice "church."

We were never supposed to allow the world (culture or society) to call the shots for the church! In fact, the two should be in direct conflict with each other! Take a look at what the Word of God says and then decide for yourself.

"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." John 17:14

"Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." John 18:36

"You are the salt of the earth . . ." Matthew 5:13

"It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!" Matthew 10:25

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword." Matthew 10:34

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he woo does the will of God abides forever." I John 2:15-17

"And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one." I John 5:19

It should be painfully clear by now that we are not to bring anything from the world system into the church! The church is the temple of the Holy Ghost. It is to be a holy and pure vessel for God's use without any contamination from the world whatsoever. Unfortunately, that is exactly what has happened since around the third century. Many of the concepts, structures and systems of the world were brought into the church. The point of this paper is to discuss one of those; the clergy/laity system.

The clergy/laity concept and practice is one of those things that we never really stop to question. Is the concept of a professional clergy founded upon the scriptures? Where did this come from? Is there a 'caste' system within Christianity? Is it God's plan to send a man away to a seminary for four years, license and ordain him, and then pay him a salary to be the "pastor" of a church? If there are professional Christians then doesn't it stand to reason that there would be amateur ones as well? Are there some people who are called to be professional ministers and the rest of us are 'laymen' (der. = people who just 'lay' around)? Are not these questions crying out to you to be answered? They certainly were to me. I felt compelled to study these things in the scriptures as well as in church history. I needed some answers, and only the truth would satisfy me!

This is a subject which is far too vast for us to cover completely in this small paper. Therefore, I will cover some of the main points as best as I can. I propose to show you from the word of God that this clergy/laity system is not only absent from the New Testament, but also that it is in direct conflict with the principles taught thereof. Please open your spiritual eyes and ears to receive the truth!

ORIGIN OF THE CLERGY

First we need to ask ourselves: where did the professional clergy system come from? Did it originate with God in the bible or with man in the world system? Therefore, the most obvious question to ask first is: does the New Testament teach and establish a professional order of ministers who are set aside to do the work of the ministry such as preaching and teaching, baptisms, ordination of other ministers, the Lord's Supper, weddings, funerals, counseling, and such? Does it begin a professional class of pastors who are university or seminary trained and licensed? Did a New Testament church ever hire on any of these men and pay them a salary to be the 'Minister' for their congregation? The answer to all of these questions is without a doubt a big "N O ! ! !" You will not find any of these things in the New Testament scriptures. In fact, the early church would never even have entertained the thought of such a thing as the clergy/laity set up. Their concept of 'church' was totally to be a ministering body where all the members functioned (see I Corinthians 12). The idea of just one group of people doing all the ministry would have been preposterous! Even one of the greatest apostles of all time made tents for a living when necessary! Not only that, but most of the apostles were untrained and uneducated men as far as this would is concerned (see Acts 4:13). But they had spent time with Jesus!

So if the clerical, religious system did not originate from the New Testament, where did it come from? Some say that it actually came from the Old Testament. They say that the Levitical priesthood of Aaron and his sons was a prophetic forerunner of the modern day professional clergy. There are two major problems with this theory. First of all, any Old Testament shadows or types will always have a counterpart of fulfillment in the New Testament. This is not the case with the priesthood; at least not the way that we commonly think of when we refer to the ministerial profession. Remember, you must always interpret the Old Testament with the New, not the other way around. To understand the fulfillment of the Levitical priesthood, one must see it in the light of what the New Testament has to say about the priesthood. Actually the New Testament has a lot to say about the priesthood, but it is not to establish an elite separatist class of Christians who are called Pastor, Minister, Parson, Chaplain, Father, Bishop, Reverend, or doctor. Let's take a look at some of these scriptures.

"Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law." Hebrews 7:11, 12

"But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second." Hebrews 8:6, 7

part of the covenant . . .

"None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord', for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them." Hebrews 8:11

". . . you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." I Peter 2:5

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." I Peter 2:9

THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS

You see, God wants all of His people to be priests. That was even His original intention with the nation of Israel. (see Exodus 19:5, 6) before they rejected it and told God that they would rather have Moses do all the ministry. It is very clear from the teaching of Hebrews 7 & 8 that the old Levitical priesthood was done away with. It has been replaced by a new priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus is the High Priest over this new order of the priesthood of all believers as taught in I Peter, chapter two. Yes, it is true that the Old Testament priests represented the 'Ministers.' However, as both Peter and Paul taught; we, as the body of Christ, are all called to be ministers! The church is a ministerial body with all of the members functioning (see I Corinthians 12). In order for the body to be healthy, all the parts should be ministering (see Ephesians 4:16). Most churches say that they believe in the priesthood of the believer. The problem is that they don't practice it! It fits real nice into our theology but what good is it if we don't live it?

This lack of practical experience is the most evident in our gatherings. Judge for yourself. When you go to a worship service, is it more like a body with all the members participating, sharing, and ministering; or is it more like an audience with one or two people performing? Do you go to the meetings with an excitement and anticipation to be used by the Lord; or with the passive attitude which says, "Feed me; I'm hungry!"? You see we are so used to being an audience that if there was no pastor and no song leader we just wouldn't know what to do with ourselves! Our mind set is that we have hired the pastor and his 'staff' (who are trained professionals) to do the ministry. We (the laity or common Christians) are to receive what the 'real' ministers have to offer. Oh sure, you might be a Sunday School teacher or bus driver in your church and that's great. But what are your spiritual gifts according to I Corinthians 12? What is your ministry? What has God called you to do in the body of Christ? The bible clearly teaches that all believers have spiritual gifts. If this is true (and it definitely is!), then why aren't these gifts being exercised during the meetings of the church? The answer is quite simple. It is because of the clergy/laity system. It is the professional clergy (ministers) who are supposed to lead the meetings. It is the 'ordained' ministers who are supposed to do most, if not all, of the ministering. Is this what the bible teaches?

"How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation . . . For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged." I Corinthians 14:26, 31

So, if we did not get the clergy/laity system from the Old or New Testaments; where did we get it? Let me ask you this: if it didn't come from God, then where do you think it came from? Between the second and third centuries, more and more of the world's concepts came into the church. When Constantine became the Roman emperor, he had a so-called conversion experience. However, he still had a pagan mind. He brought all the pagan ideas into the churches in exchange for money and nice buildings. The churches sold out for the comforts of this world. In the pagan religions, each temple had a priest. When Constantine started constructing Christian buildings, he assigned a priest or bishop to be in charge of each building. You can imagine how one thing led to another and a priestly caste began forming among the churches.

BIBLICAL LEADERSHIP

Now you may be wondering if I am promoting anarchy or the overthrow of all leadership within the church. I am not! I am simply pointing out what the bible teaches about ministry. It is to be invested in all of the members of the body, not just a select group. It's true that we are not all called to be leaders in the Church. But the biblical principle of leadership is built upon humble servant hood among the brethren. In fact, Jesus taught against us elevating one over another. He said that we were like a family where all are equal and yet some have leadership responsibility and authority.

"But you, do not be called, 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant." Matthew 23: 8-11

In this one passage Jesus completely destroys all clerical distinctions and titles. We are all brethren, therefore, there is not to be any distinctions between us. Those who are called to leadership are still only leading brethren. They are merely leading priests among the priesthood. Biblically speaking, there are only two positions of leadership in the local church; elders and deacons. There are elders (plural) who oversee the church (singular). You never see the structure of a one-man leadership in the New Testament. The whole setup of the modern day pastor is not found in scripture!

Not only is the separation of 'ministers' and 'non-ministers' unbiblical; the use of titles is also unbiblical as we can clearly see in the above scripture. Jesus told us very plainly not to use titles! Why, then, do we do it? Could ego stroking has something to do with it? Isn't obeying Jesus more important than obeying some unbiblical system?

Without a doubt, the most used title in Christendom today is the term "Pastor." First of all, this position as it is practiced today has no foundation in scripture. Most of the early churches in the first century did not get elders for years. Even those who got elders never looked to them to lead them in the meetings. They were just some of the brothers who took care of problems in the church. The word pastor is from the Greek word, POIMEN, which is translated as shepherd everywhere except in Ephesians 4:11 where it is translated as pastor. It is clear from this scripture that the pastor is a gift, not an official position within the church. Some of the elders may have the gift of pastor and some may not. Even though this is true, the elders are still called upon to shepherd and oversee the flock (see Acts 20: 17-38). Furthermore, no one is ever called pastor in the New Testament. In fact, there are no titles ever used for anyone! The early Christians used very lowly, common, and unofficial terms with which to refer to one another such as: brother, beloved, fellow-workers, servant, slave, laborer, prisoner, and fellow-soldier. This is the direct opposite of terms we use today such as pastor, reverend, doctor, father, bishop, founder, etc. These terms are not at all compatible with Jesus' teaching on the humility and servant hood of leaders!

There is one other thing that I think we have almost totally missed. What I am referring to is the way in which Paul and the other New Testament writers addressed the local churches. With the exceptions of Philippians, all of the epistles are written to all of the saints within the churches. In other words, they were not addressed to 'the Pastor' or to the elders. They were addressed to the saints within that church! This shows that the apostles had a very high and lofty concept of the Church which we do not have today. All the members of the church must be addressed because they all share equally in a glorious new status in Christ and must all share in the responsibilities, privileges, and obligations of their new position. Responsibility does not solely lie upon the community leaders. Everyone in the church is accountable to God; not just the leaders!

CONCLUSION

In summary, it is obvious that we have strayed big time from the word of God! The institution of the clergy/laity system has crippled the body of Christ and made us a passive audience instead of an active, vibrant, healthy body. Jesus said that we would know the tree by its fruit. This unscriptural system has produced nothing but 'pew potatoes' for Jesus! Isn't it time we speak out about these things? Isn't time we discard the old wineskins that are rigid, crusty, and inflexible? Isn't it time to obey the word of God instead of just reading, hearing, and teaching it? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? Please seek the Lord with all of your heart and He will be faithful to show you.

written by Milt Rodriguez