The False Dichotomy of the Laity: Rejuvenating Evangelicalism with Jonathan Edwards’ Doctrine of The Priesthood of All Believers Nicholas Kye James Toccoa Falls College It is unfortunate that the indispensability that characterizes the doctrine of the Priesthood of All Believers has been all but dispensed with; this abuse is possibly the greatest concern of the postmodern church, rightly considered. It is so foundational to Protestantism, in fact, that it is asserted as one of three specific beliefs alongside Justification by Faith and the Authority of Scripture in the Encyclopedia Britannica entry on “The Protestant Heritage.”1 The abuse of priestly privilege and neglect of priestly responsibility is felt deeply throughout the congregations, Christian colleges and Christian universities of America. The doctrine may have been well preserved in encyclopedias and commentaries on 1 Peter, but there are many millions today who would never dare to deny that they are priests to God through Christ in abstract without ever having acted in that capacity. This is the greatest tragedy of the age, rampant nominalism, horrible public image, and a pervasive disinterest in Scripture’s doctrines and their applications rooted in the neglect of the Priesthood of Christ’s body. Albert Mohler captures this sentiment in his article “Has Theology a Place in the SBC?” by James and Dockery, saying: “These churches have lost the sense of theological

"The Protestant Heritage." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 11 May. 2016 1

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vocation… and this declining sense of theological stewardship has passed from the local congregation into all levels of Southern Baptist life.”2 As the Barna Group and others have revealed in the past decades, biblical literacy, worldview, and subscription to biblical authority are ubiquitously and interdenominationally declining in American churches. They reported in December of 2015 that: “Half of all Christian adults (52%) believe their church ‘definitely’ is doing well when it comes to discipleship. In stark contrast, only 1 percent of U.S. pastors say today’s churches are doing very well in this area.”3 What this means apart from suggesting some negative things about the church’s discipleship methods is that pastors—who are assumed to be more biblically literate people by Barna—and their parishioners have wildly differing ideas of what it means to be a growing disciple of Christ. Furthermore, what it suggests is that pastors are failing to communicate this discrepancy to at least half of their congregations in such a way that the members of the congregation recognize it and change. Reclaiming the doctrine of the Priesthood of All Believers, their privileges before God, responsibilities before God, and authority before unbelievers in declaring the Word of God,4 is one of the most direct and effective ways

James, Robison B., and David S. Dockery, eds. Beyond the Impasse? Scripture, Interpretation, & Theology in Baptist Life. Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1992. Print. 11 May 2016 3 "Year in Review: Barna's Top 10 Findings in 2015." Barna.org. Barna Group, 15 Dec. 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2016. 4 Adapted from Jonathan Edwards’ five sermons on 1 Peter 2:9- “Christians a Chosen Generation, a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation, A Peculiar People”- available from Edward Hickman’s 2nd volume of Edward’s collected works: Edwards, Jonathan. The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Ed. Edward Hickman. Vol. 2. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1974. Print. January 27, 2016. 2

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of addressing that discrepancy because of its ability to enliven and motivate the saints by reminding them of a thoroughly neglected aspect of their identity in Christ. The argument is twofold: Firstly, to posit that one of the most crippling factors at play in American congregations in the 21st Century is the increasing divide in biblical literacy between the clergy and laymen, and furthermore that the mechanism driving the chasm wider is the predilection of the majority of churchgoers for leaving the chasm uncrossed or for ignoring it altogether as a natural expression of church government. Secondly, that one of many necessary injunctions against that unfortunate reality is the reclaiming of the power of the doctrine of the Priesthood of all Believers, especially as exemplified in the preaching and practical theology of Jonathan Edwards. Theology and Motivation for Ministry Those oppressive forces mentioned above, best characterized by the vicious circle of a lack of motivation to do ministry or be a minister driven by a lack of equipping and motivating knowledge, have been by and large enabled by two disparaging trends throughout church history that have begun to culminate in the midst of the climate of cultural hostility in the Postmodern era: First, the development over time of the false dichotomy of clergy and laity exacerbated by the assumption of purely hierarchical styles of leadership and paid offices; second, the centralization of religious authority— and knowledge by extension—in powerful individuals or church staff. The second is only disparaging insomuch as knowledge is placed on a pedestal with the leadership of the body, which can be avoided by the proper implementation of the doctrine in question.

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Theological Knowledge

Figure 1- The Essential Interaction of Theology,

Lack of Biblical Literacy

Motivation, and Ministry

Motivation/ Satisfaction

Effective Ministry

Complacency/ Defeatism

Ineffective Ministry/ Lack of Participation

Paul made it abundantly clear to Titus that one of their main responsibilities was to appoint responsible men to administrate the local churches (Tit. 1:5ff), and Paul modeled this himself in every church in every city (Acts 14:23). However, it would be a foolish and destructive thing to assert that he did not believe that every member of the church was to be equipped with the fullness of Christian doctrine and practice. In fact, a common designation of those who had been converted to Christianity during the time of the Apostolic Fathers was “learner/disciple of the truth.”5 The anonymous author of The Letter to Diognetus from the beginning of the 2nd century characterized them this way in summarizing his ministry: To those who have become learners of the truth I try to be a worthy minister of the teaching that has been handed down. Is there any man who, once he has been properly taught and admitted as a friend of the Word, is not anxious to master as clearly as he can the lessons openly taught by the disciples of the Word?6

“Letter to Diognetus." The Apostolic Fathers. Ed. Roy J. Deferrari. Vol. 1. New York: Christian Heritage, 1948. 357-69. Print. Fathers of the Church. 367. Print. January 27, 2016. 6 Ibid. 367 5

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In many American congregations today, the answer is a resounding yes—people constantly desire to become what they believe is a disciple of Christ without committing themselves to the development of a consistent Christian worldview. The author’s rhetorical question strikes at the heart of what it means to be a Christian in the midst of postmodernism, or, rather, the heart of what it should mean to be one. Whether or not that standard—“mastering as clearly as [one] can the lessons openly taught by the [Apostles]”—is achievable is up for debate, but it is a matter of biblical and historical certainty that it should be striven for. Why is this Happening? There are three specific motivations behind the emerging collective viewpoint that the laity does not need to be educated in Biblical doctrine, whether that view is openly stated, which would be a rare and extreme case, or is simply practiced. Speaking with great regard to personal experience, those motivations are: First, the impression that certain types of gifts are more valuable to the life of the church than others, and that, therefore, people with certain gifts are meant to lead and engage the world in capacities that are restricted to the lesser members; second is the implementation, or simply passive acceptance, of the concept of lesser members in church-leadership models; third, the resultant neglect by those not in leadership of their responsibilities to edify the body with their spiritual gifts; in the worst case this may manifest as an individual’s lack of interest or knowledge about spiritual gifts altogether.

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Figure 2- The Slippery Slope of a Hierarchy of Spiritual Gifts

Knowledge , Teaching, and Prophecy are better, more valuable gifts; therefore, the ones with those gifts should lead. If I do not have those gifts, then my contribution to the life of the church is less valuable or nonexistent. My participation in the life of the church will be limited to socially-normalized gatherings (Sunday, Wednesday evening)

Those spiritual gifts which are typically elevated to such a status are prophecy, knowledge, and above all teaching. To be clear, Paul makes the assertion that there are such things as “greater gifts” 7, especially prophecy (1 Cor. 12:31). As context would dictate, this does not mean that the gifts themselves are grounds for election to church office, and it does not mean that those so gifted are more essential to the life of the body than any other (1 Cor. 12:4-7; 17). Rather, the gifts are given by the Spirit on the basis of His own will and all for the same purpose, the building up of the body, as Paul says: “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one

“τὰ χαρίσματα τὰ μείζονα”- It is increasingly argued that Paul’s statement is highly contextual, rather than a theology of a universal hierarchy of gifts, and is intended to contrast the abuse of the gift of tongues characterized by using the gifts for self-interest rather than building up the body with the usefulness of the gifts being used for edification. As the late Willem Unnik phrased it: “When prophecy is valued higher than glossolalia, it is because it has clearer, more communicative power to convey the message of God to the congregation (emphasis added),” not because the gift itself is more distinguished. See Unnik, Willem Cornelis van. 1993. "The meaning of 1 Corinthians 12:31." Novum Testamentum 35, no. 2: 142-159. January 28, 2016 7

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individually as He wills” (1 Cor. 12:11), and “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose” (1 Cor. 12:18). In 1 Cor. 14:5, Paul distinguishes his view from that of a hierarchy by emphasizing his point regarding the use of the gifts for the building up of the body rather than self-edification: “The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.” The gifts of tongues and prophecies are, according to this passage, equal when they are used for the building up of the body. What is ultimately being contrasted is not the value of the gifts themselves but the value of their usage/misuse and their proper expression. “The possession of spiritual gifts, says Paul, is not so important as the way in which gifts are exercised.”8 This is also why the thrust of Paul’s argument in chapter 12 is immediately followed by one regarding the proper context and method of expressing the gifts, love.9 This point has been belabored enough here and in other places, and it is fairly self-explanatory. The relevant application of this truth is straightforward—every true member of the body of Christ is a contributing member; no member is more valuable or more indispensable than the others, but rather the specific purpose of each member is intentional on the part of God for the specific purpose of building up all of the other members.

Mare, W. Harold. "1 Corinthians." The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Vol. 10. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1976. 173-298. Print. 267. 9 Ben Witherington does an excellent job of tracing the argument in Witherington, Ben. Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1995. 8

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Unfortunately, this is not the case in the mind of many Christians today. To a mind that does not presuppose these truths when it considers its role in the local church, it is very easy to see something reminiscent of their high school classrooms—a single leader teaching authoritatively to people who are meant to primarily be receivers of information. There is thankfully a trend in leadership styles and pedagogies in the church, to the credit of seminary professors and Christian leadership scholars with the insight to address these obstacles, to reverse this by moving into paradigms of ministry that do not reflect older authoritarian leadership models. Thus and so, the postmodern scholastic influence on the church is creating a burgeoning movement away from some of the styles of church leadership that create an environment in which the slippery slope of a hierarchical view of the gifts is at least less slippery, and in the best cases ruled out entirely, by church leadership that is thoroughly engaged in equipping every individual in the congregation to the end of active participation in the life of the church. However, the majority of churches facing this issue are already in the midst of spiritual lukewarmness that is only becoming worse as people in the congregation rely more and more on the authority of their pastor(s) for their spiritual wellbeing. There is great comfort for those churches and church leaders in reclaiming the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, just as there was for Luther in claiming it at the start of the Reformation and just as there was for Edwards claiming it in the midst of the Great Awakening. Calling the Body of Christ to its Priesthood: Lighting the Living Sacrifices

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The only place in the cycle in Figure 1 that pastors and lay-leaders might enter in to effect change is the area of theology and biblical literacy. They may try to no avail to motivate their congregations through any variety of means, and they certainly cannot make the record of a person’s past or present ministry, which informs that person’s view of ministry more than anything else, more positive. This begs the question: What are the most motivating and ministerially relevant doctrines pastors and educators can be teaching? It would be foolish to assert that they are anything but the fullness of the Lordship of Christ. However, that doctrine is rarely neglected (as if it could ever be done justice), and if it is that neglect speaks to much deeper theological difficulties than can be addressed here. As the title may reveal, it is the opinion of many that the doctrine of the priesthood of believers is inexhaustibly rich in its potential for motivating the saints to the work of ministry.10 The content of that deep, beautiful doctrine is too much to be adequately addressed. However, Jonathan Edwards was a man ministering to a congregation that was, at one time before his influence, similarly spiritually lifeless in a similarly spiritually lifeless context—to the extent that America’s finest theological mind was expelled from it after years of ministry—as the churches in America today. His treatment of the doctrine, then, even apart from its eloquence and theological

For a thorough treatment of this same doctrine to the same end, see Muthiah, Robert A. The Priesthood of All Believers in the Twenty-first Century: Living Faithfully as the Whole People of God in a Postmodern Context. Eugene, Or: Pickwick Publications, 2009. 10

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perspicuity, can serve as an excellent example of precisely the kind of content a spiritually unmotivated congregation may need today.11 The Content of Edwards’ Preaching In the midst of five consecutive sermons on the text of 1 Peter 2:9-10“you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”- Edwards unleashed a masterful diatribe on the nature of believers’ priesthood. His doctrine consisted primarily of two parts; first carefully defining the nature and extent of the priesthood’s royalty, he moved directly to a twofold application of the doctrine of priesthood itself: the privilege of believers before God and their correlating priestly responsibilities. “When Christians are called kings, the Scriptures include both what they actually have in this world and what they have in a future state… The saints shall also be advanced to the authority of kings.”12 In this word, Edwards captures the nature of Peter’s contrast between the Christian and the Jew, expanding the priesthood of the Old Covenant to include all of those who have been united with Christ. Union with Christ is as central to his thought as it is to a proper understanding of the doctrine itself; Strong would later remark in the same vein that “Union with Christ gives the believer the legal

See Sweeney, Douglas A. "The Word in Edwards' World." Introduction. Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word: A Model of Faith and Thought. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009. 2132 for an insightful summary of Edwards’ ministerial context. 12 Edwards, Jonathan. The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Ed. Edward Hickman. Vol. 2. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1974. 936-944. Print. (Accessed January 27, 2016). 941. 11

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standing and righteousness of Christ…In Christ the believer is prophet, priest, and king.”13 This is first and foremost what the congregations of America need to hear proclaimed: their union with Christ and their resulting identification with Him. In and through Christ, the believer speaks and lives with and under the authority of a king. The content of the believer’s fellow-kingship with Christ in Edwards’ perspective is threefold: “The honor of a kingdom, the possessions of kings,” and “the authority of kings,”14 all of which are but shadows in comparison to the weight of the glory of the kingdom believers will inherit. He argues that Peter employs the distinctive, just as Exodus 19:6 which he is referencing did, of royalty because “it is the common opinion that those who have a kingdom have the greatest possible happiness.”15 It is to the joy of the believer above all things that they have been made out to be like royalty in Christ! It is the holistic presentation of that standing that will enliven the hearts of the hearers. Having pricked the hearts of his congregation with the beauty and power of Christ’s atonement—the power to take a wretch and make him a king by grace alone— he proceeds immediately to their resultant behavior. Just as Peter moves immediately to the responsibility of the royal priesthood for proclamation, Edwards moves from the magnitude of the believers’ kingly estate to the responsibilities of their priestly office, first reminding them of its incomprehensible worth: “The office was so honorable that a

Strong, Augustus Hopkins. Systematic Theology. Philadelphia: Griffith & Rowland, 1907. Print. 805. 14 Edwards, Jonathan. The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Ed. Edward Hickman. Vol. 2. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1974. 936-944. Print. (Accessed January 27, 2016). 942. 15 Ibid. 942. 13

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king, Uzziah, coveted the honor of it, and it is mentioned as an instance of his pride that he did so”16 (2 Chron. 26:16). He enumerates five specific roles that believers are supposed to assume in their priesthood before God and men, excluding that one in the text of the proclamation of the Gospel, each roughly equivocated to sacrificial offerings: First, the believer offers up their heart, which he intends to mean the wholeness of the person’s inner being, to God as a sacrifice (Rom. 12:2); second, the priest offers their praise to God (Heb. 13:15); third, the believer offers a sacrifice of sincere obedience (Psalm 40:8); fourth, the believer works out their priesthood by expressing Christian love (Hos. 6:6); finally, the believer offers God the sacrifice of praise as a burnt offering (Psalm 141:2). The fullness of the implications of those responsibilities has been fleshed out in massive volumes of work through the centuries since the Reformation, especially in the works of Christian educators like Philip Melanchthon, whose insistence on the universal priesthood translated into his educational theory, ultimately becoming the first modern state-funded school system, the Saxony system. In every place where it has taken root, the saints have been moved to minister in new, holistic ways that have led to some of the greatest movements in recent memory. Oh, that the church today would lay hold of this doctrine as Edwards did in his time! That the ones in authority would consider themselves priests in this capacity, learn to love and cling to their unity with Christ, celebrate it, proclaim it, enjoy it, and call others into its fullness.

16

Ibid. 943.

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References Edwards, Jonathan. The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Ed. Edward Hickman. Vol. 2. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1974. Print. "Letter to Diognetus." The Apostolic Fathers. Ed. Roy J. Deferrari. Vol. 1. New York: Christian Heitage, 1948. 357-69. Print. Fathers of the Church. Mare, W. Harold. "1 Corinthians." The Expositor's Bible Commentary: With the New International Version of the Holy Bible. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Vol. 10. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1976. 173-298. Print. Muthiah, Robert A. The Priesthood of All Believers in the Twenty-first Century: Living Faithfully as the Whole People of God in a Postmodern Context. Eugene, Or.: Pickwick Publications, 2009. Print. Strong, Augustus Hopkins. Systematic Theology. Philadelphia: Griffith & Rowland, 1907. Print. Sweeney, Douglas A. "The Word in Edwards' World." Introduction. Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word: A Model of Faith and Thought. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009. 21-32. Print. Unnik, Willem Cornelis van. 1993. "The meaning of 1 Corinthians 12:31." Novum Testamentum 35, no. 2: 142-159. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost Witherington, Ben. Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1995. Print.

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"Year in Review: Barna's Top 10 Findings in 2015." Barna.org. Barna Group, 15 Dec. 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.

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