Patrick the Protestant: Hey, Ron, what's up?
Ron the Roman Catholic: Not much, Patrick. You?
Patrick: Not much. Hey, I have a question. 1 Peter 2:5, 9 says, "�let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood�But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation�" Since all Christians are priests, why do you Catholics believe that only certain people are priests?
Ron: Well, just as the people of Israel were a "priestly kingdom" (Exodus 19:6) but still had ordained priests (Exodus 19:22, 29:1, Leviticus 21:1-24, Ezekiel 44:15-31), so too can all Christians be a "holy priesthood" but still have ordained priests.
Patrick: But how can there be priests in the New Covenant if Jesus' sacrifice on the cross did away with the need to offer sacrifice?
Ron: Well, this is where the mass comes in, which is a whole other issue. However, there is one Old Testament prophecy that CLEARLY shows that there will be sacrifices in the New Covenant:
"On that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, 'Holy to the LORD.' And the cooking-pots in the house of the LORD shall be as holy as the bowls in front of the altar; and every cooking-pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and use them to boil the flesh of the sacrifice. And there shall no longer be traders in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day." - Zechariah 14:20-21
Patrick: Interesting. I'll have to go ask my pastor about that passage. But in the mean time, for the sake of argument, I'll grant that there are sacrifices offered in the New Covenant. However, there's no reason to think that you need a specially ordained priest to offer these sacrifices.
Ron: Well, in Jude 11, we are warned not to "perish in Korah's rebellion." If we look at Numbers chapter 16, we see that Korah rebelled against Moses and Aaron because he and his men wanted to be priests (Numbers 16:8-10). Moses then told them to "take censors�and tomorrow put fire in them, and lay incense on them before the Lord" (Numbers 16:6-7). So, what happened to Korah and his men the next day? When they tried to offer a sacrifice, the earth swallowed them up (Numbers 16:32). We can see from this example that only a specially ordained priest can perform priestly functions, not just anybody.
Patrick: Maybe Jude was just warning us against rebelling against our pastors, and it just so happens that the pastors back in Moses' time were priests.
Ron: No, Patrick, Korah rebelled SPECIFICALLY because he wanted to be a priest, not just because Moses and Aaron were their teachers. Plus, in the New Testament, the pastors were priests. Paul tells Timothy to "rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands" (2 Timothy 1:6) and to "not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders" (1 Timothy 4:14). Now, if, as you Protestants say, pastors are just teachers with no extraordinary gifts from God, then what gift would Timothy have through the laying on of hands? In fact, the Old Testament says that there will be an ordained priesthood in the New Covenant:
"For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory�And I will also take some of them as priests and as Levites, says the LORD." - Isaiah 66:18, 21
Patrick: Wow, that's really interesting. I'm going to go talk to my pastor about this, and I'll get back to you in a few days. It was nice talking to you, Ron. Bye!
Ron: Okay, it was nice talking to you, Patrick. Bye!
