The universal priesthood of all believers which excludes a ministerial priesthood is a foundational concept of
Protestantism. Some Protestant traditions, including
Anglican and
Lutheran churches, retain the office of
bishop.
Anglican Anglican churches ordain
priests and
deacons. However, opinions about what happens at
ordination vary, and ordination is sometimes, although not always, considered a
sacrament.
Lutheranism While
Martin Luther did not use the phrase "priesthood of all believers", he adduces a general priesthood in Christendom in his 1520
To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation in order to dismiss the medieval view that Christians in the present life were to be divided into two classes: "spiritual" and "
secular". He put forward the doctrine that all
baptized Christians are "priests" and "spiritual" in the sight of
God: Two months later Luther would write in his
On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520): The belief in the priesthood of all believers does not preclude order, authority or discipline within congregations or denominational organizations. For example, Lutheranism maintains the doctrine of "the
preaching office" or the "office of the holy
ministry" established by God in the Christian Church. The
Augsburg Confession states:
Nonconformists The doctrine is strongly asserted within
Methodism and the
Plymouth Brethren movement. Within Methodism it can plausibly be linked to the strong emphasis on social action and political involvement within that
denomination, and can be seen in the role of
local preachers and
lay speakers in Methodist churches. Within the Plymouth Brethren, the concept is most usually evidenced in the lack of distinction between "clergy" and "laity", the refusal to adopt formal titles such as reverend or bishop, the denial of formal ordination, and in some cases the refusal to hire any "professional staff" or paid Christian workers at all.
Baptists, who generally operate on a form of
congregational polity, also lean on this concept. The
Laestadian pietist movement has a specific interpretation of the doctrine as underlying its solemn
rite concerning the
declaration of the forgiveness of sins. British
Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) have no priests and no
order of service; they believe God can speak through any person present, and any planned service is at risk of getting in God's way, hence the bulk of the observance is in silence. Some groups during the
Reformation believed that priesthood authority was still needed but was lost from the earth. American
Puritan Roger Williams believed, "There is no regularly constituted church of Christ on earth, nor any person qualified to administer any church ordinances; nor can there be until new apostles are sent by the Great Head of the Church for whose coming I am seeking." The
Seekers, believed that the Roman Catholic Church had lost its authority through corruption and waited for Christ to restore his true church and authority. The vast majority of Protestants draw some distinction between their own ordained ministers and lay people.
Pastors and ordained ministers are usually regarded as congregational leaders and
theologians who are well versed with Christian liturgy, scripture, and church teachings, and are qualified to lead worship and preach sermons. Although many religions use priests, most Protestant denominations reject the idea of a priesthood as a group that is spiritually distinct from lay people. They typically employ professional clergy who perform many of the same functions as priests such as clarifying doctrine, administering communion, performing baptisms, marriages, etc. In many instances, Protestants see professional clergy as servants acting on behalf of the local believers. This is in contrast to the priest, whom some Protestants see as having a distinct authority and spiritual role different from that of ordinary believers.
Democratic churches Luther's doctrine of the universal priesthood of all believers gave laypersons and the clergy equal rights and responsibilities. It had strong, far-reaching consequences both within the Protestant churches and outside of them with respect to the development of distinct political and societal structures. Luther had the intention to organize the church in such a way as to give the members of a congregation the right to elect a pastor by majority-decision and, if necessary, to dismiss him again. The Lutheran church would get an institutional framework based on the
majoritarian principle, the central characteristic of
democracy. But mainly because of the strong political and military pressure from the Catholic powers, the developing Lutheran churches in the German territories had to seek the protection of their worldly rulers who turned them into
state churches. In the
Scandinavian countries, Lutheran state churches were established, too.
John Calvin put Luther's intended democratic
church polity into effect. The church members elected lay
elders from their midst who, together with pastors, teachers, and
deacons, were also elected by the parishioners, formed the representative church leadership. To this
presbyterian polity, the
Huguenots added regional
synods and a national synod, whose members, laymen and clergymen alike, were elected by the parishioners as well. This combination of
presbyteries and
synods was taken over by all
Reformed churches, except the
Congregationalists who had no synods. When Lutherans from Germany and Scandinavia emigrated to North America, they took over the church polity based on presbyteries and synods which had been developed by the denominations with Calvinist traditions (for example,
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod). In Germany, Lutheran churches established the first presbyteries in the 19th century, and after the downfall of the monarchies in 1918 synods were formed which assumed the task of leading the churches. They are made up of both laypersons and clergy. Since 1919, the Anglican church has also had a synod (
National Assembly), which has elected laypersons among its members. It is a featured doctrine of
Restorationist churches, such as the
Churches of Christ.
North American Pilgrims The
Separatist Congregationalists (
Pilgrim Fathers) who founded
Plymouth Colony in North America in 1620 took the next step in evolving the consequences of Luther's universal priesthood doctrine by combining it with the
federal theology that had been developed by Calvinist theologians, especially
Robert Browne,
Henry Barrowe, and
John Greenwood. On the basis of the
Mayflower Compact, a
social contract, the Pilgrims applied the principles that guided their congregational democracy also to the administration of the
worldly affairs of their community. It was, like
Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded by Puritans in 1628,
de facto a small democratic, self-governing
republic until 1691, when the two colonies were united under a royal governor. Both colonies had a
representative political structure and practiced
separation of powers. The General Court functioned as the legislative and the judiciary, the annually elected governor and his assistants were the executive branch of government. These Protestants believed that democracy was the will of God. In so doing, they followed Calvin who had, in order to safeguard the rights and liberties of ordinary people, praised the advantages of democracy and recommended that political power should be distributed among several institutions to minimise its misuse. He had in effect advocated separation of powers. In
Rhode Island (1636),
Connecticut (1636), and
Pennsylvania (1682), Baptist Roger Williams, Congregationalist
Thomas Hooker, and
Quaker William Penn, respectively, gave the democratic concept another turn by linking it with
religious freedom, a basic
human right that had its origin also in Luther's theology. In this view, faith in Jesus Christ was a gift of the
Holy Spirit and could therefore not be forced on a person. Williams, Hooker, and Penn adopted Luther's position. Precondition for granting
freedom of conscience in their colonies was the
separation of church and state. This had been made possible by Luther's separation of the spiritual and the worldly spheres in his doctrine of the
two kingdoms. The inseparable combination of democracy with its
civil rights on the one hand and religious freedom and other human rights on the other hand became the backbone of the American
Declaration of Independence (1776),
Constitution, and
Bill of Rights. In turn, these documents became models for the constitutions of nations in Europe, Latin America, and other parts of the world. The French
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) was mainly based on the draft of
Marquis de Lafayette, an ardent supporter of the American constitutional principles. These are also echoed in the
United Nations Charter and
Declaration of Human Rights. A practical example of the priesthood of all believers may be found in modern
Anabaptist churches, such as the
Amish,
Bruderhof and
Hutterites. While these groups appoint leaders, it is held that all members are responsible for the functioning of the church and church meetings. For example, at the Bruderhof, meetings are held with members sitting in a circle, breaking down the tradition of "preacher" and "congregation".
Priesthood of each believer The phrase "Priesthood of
each believer" has been used to express the teaching that this priesthood is not collective or participatory but entirely individual, especially in, as a Southern Baptist has expressed, "a congregation of faithful believers united in a common confession working as priests to each other."
Priesthood of no believers Commentators sometimes use the phrase "Priesthood of
no believers" for example for democratized Protestant groups where there are no clergy, or in churches which have purely symbolic, or no, sacraments, or which do not make a distinction between religions. Some Lutheran theologians have pushed back on idea that the priesthood of all believers entails a democratic leveling of offices: This expression has also been used for households without heads and for mutually-indifferent Christians. ==Theology==