Priests

greek HIERUS = priest

greek ARCHIERUS = high priest
greek HIERETEUMA = priesthood
greek PRESBYTEROS = elder

There is no such thing as a priest, as in the Roman Catholic Church, in the Church of Jesus.

In the New Testament we only hear of 5 different priests.

1. Israel's Priests.  Most often mentioned are the High Priests of Israel.  Sometimes it is the high priest, and sometimes regular priests.  Duties of the High Priests rotated through the various families of Priests in Israel.  Regular Priests: Matt 8:4, Mark 1:44, Luke 1:5, Luke 5:14, Luke 10:31  High Priests are mentioned often in the Gospels and Book of Acts.

2. False Priest of Jupiter is mentioned in Acts 14:13.

3. Melchisedec is the topic in Hebrews 5-7.

4. In 1 Peter 2 we ourselves are called a priesthood of believers.


5. Finally we read of our High Priest, Jesus.  Jesus is the high priest of God in heaven.  Parenthetically, when Jesus cried it is finished, and gave up the ghost, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, and once all was said and done we now have access to enter into the real Holy of Holies...the throne room of God Almighty!  In the old testament only the High Priests were able to enter the Holy of Holies! We see Jesus is our High Priest, and that he is in fact an High Priest after the order of Melchisedec in Hebrews.  Especially within Hebrews chapters 5-9 we see how Jesus is the High Priest of God, but he is put forth as the High Priest all over Hebrews.


Why did I include Presbyteros in the greek terms above?  Because some would have you believe that the New Testament includes the office of Priest, ie a "regular priest" like that in the Old Testament.  However, a concordance will plainly show you that this is in fact not true.  In the OT, and of course throughout the Gospels and Book of Acts we see references to the OT priests and elders.  Furthermore we see that they are seperate and distinct "offices" and had different roles.  In the NT Body of Believers there is never a mention of any priests other than Jesus our High Priest and ourselves.  There is however, many mentions of Elders or Presbyteros.  If this is the same thing as a Priest, then why would the High Priests, Priests of Israel, Priest of Jupiter, Melchisedec all be called some form of HIERUS, and we never have mention of that in the NT Church?  In stead we see the NT Church having overseers which are called PRESBYTEROS, the same as the OT elders, but no priests.  This is because priests offer physical sacrifices and there is no more sacrifice in the new covenant.