Resources and arguments in defense of the Catholic Priesthood

[YehoiakhinEx232]

It appears that one of the biggest objections Protestants have to the Catholic Church is the Catholic Priesthood. I’ve seen several Protestants bring up this objection saying that there is no evidence that the Apostles and disciples were priests, that Christ being High Priest doesn’t need a Priesthood, and that Presbutoroi doesn’t mean priest, and the etymology of the english word “priest” doesn’t count etc.

Defending the Papacy is easy, but defending the priesthood appears to be a bit more tricky, and I haven’t found that many articles and resources that give a defense of the Catholic Priesthood. I won’t be debating for a really long time, but I would like everyone hear to provide me with a list of resources and arguments in defense of the Catholic Priesthood. It useful to have a list a resources in hand, and in mind, just in case, as well as for meditations and Scripture reading.

 

[Kei]

Like, the OT describes a priesthood, Jesus gives the apostles the ability to give the Sacraments, the early Church…

 

[ChurchSoldier]

Just acknowledge they have it right. The whole Christian community got it wrong for the first 1500 years. Jesus just waited until Martin Luther came along to correct the situation, but even that didn’t really fix it since most Christians in the world still believe it…

 

[MT1926]

Well this might take a few posts to cover.

I’ll post the info you pull what you want from it.

We all share in the priesthood of Christ.

But there are 2 types of priesthoods.

The common priesthood, all who are baptized.

1 Peter 2:9
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,[a] that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Through the sacrament of holy orders is the ministerial priesthood.

1 Corinthians 4:15
15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Priesthood has been around since the beginning.

The fathers of a household was the priest which was passed down to the son.

Adam held the first priestly role in the garden.

Genesis 2:15
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

In hebrew

obd·e means to-serve-of·her (til) u·l·shmr·e means to-keep-of·her

These words are used together in only one other place in the scriptures, when talking about the duties of the levitical priests.

Numbers 18:4
4 They shall join you, and attend to (u·shmru) the tent of meeting, for all the service of ( obdth·e) the tent; and no one else shall come near you.

Other priests in the OT. Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Issac. All building altars and offering sacrifice.

As well as Melchizidek who offered a sacrifice of bread and wine.

All of these men were part of the natural priesthood as fathers.

Up to this point in time every father and his son acted in a priestly role. God had originally intended for all of his tribes to be a kingdom of priests.

Exodus 19:6
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

Then the priesthood changed in Exodus 32.

Exodus 32 is about the Golden Calf

But because they worshipped other god’s in exodus 32 they lost this corporate vocation. Instead the levits were set apart from the rest of Isreal. Now instead of every father offering sacrifice to God only the Levits were allowed. They became the ministerial priesthood.

After this incident priests would come from the tribe of Levi only.

The levit priests served between the ages of 40 to 50. Interestingly when they were serving their priestly duties they were to remain celibate.

Also, the levit priests were called “FATHER”

Judges 17:10
10 And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, and a suit of apparel, and your living.”[a]

Judges 18:19
19 And they said to him, “Keep quiet, put your hand upon your mouth, and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and family in Israel?”

The levitical priesthood maintained it’s preminance until the Davidic kingdom.

Continue next post…

 

[MT1926]

King David was of the tribe of Judah.

Read 2 Samuel 6

Through the Davidic Kingdom God was beginning to lay the ground work for the New Covenant priesthood.

Now we move to the New Covenant…

Hebrews 5:1-6
5 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is bound to offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. 4 And one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was.
5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,
“Thou art my Son,
today I have begotten thee”;[a]
6 as he says also in another place,
“Thou art a priest for ever,
after the order of Melchiz′edek.”

As Christ fulfilled the sacrificial system of the old covenant he restored the natural priesthood as the faithful firstborn son of the Father.

But he didn’t stop there. Jesus doesn’t simply restore, He transforms.

He established a new supernatural priesthood from within the new isreal, the Church.

At the last supper Jesus gave His Apostles the power to say Mass.

He said

Luke 22:19
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

They were to represent His once and for all sacrifice.

Matthew 28:16-20
The Commissioning of the Disciples
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

After the resurection Christ gave the Apostles the power to continue His work

John 20:23
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

and forgiving sins.

Matthew 10:8
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without pay, give without pay.

Christ chose to exercise HIS Priesthood through HIS disciples.
continued…

 

[MT1926]

On to PETER…

Matthew 16:19
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,[a] and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

This alludes to

Isaiah 22:22
22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

WITH PETER AS THERE LEADER!

He also indicated that the office was to be passed on.

Acts 1:20
20 For it is written in the book of Psalms,
‘Let his habitation become desolate,
and let there be no one to live in it’;
and
‘His office let another take.’

This is the passing on of Apostolic Authority.

2 Timothy 2:2 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

SO IS THIS

Jesus made it Crystal clear that he was fulfilling and replacing the Old Covenant priesthood.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the New Moses.

The Old Moses set up the Levitical priesthood at the foot of Mt. Sinai.

Well the New Moses sets up the New Covenant priesthood in a similar way.

Exodus 24 Moses’ Order of Priesthood

1) Aaron was high priest

2) His inner scirle was Aaron, Nadab & Abihu
They accompanied Moses to the top of Mt. Sinai

3) 12 young men who represent the 12 tribes offer sacrifice at the 12 pillars which Moses' errected.

4) 70 elders of Isreal who became the prototype of the sanhedrin.  The highest Judicial council in Jesus' time.

In the New Covenant Jesus declares His fulfillment of the Mosaic covenant by mimicking Moses.

1) Jesus chooses Peteras the Head of the 12.

2) Peter, James and John are Jesus inner circle.
	a. They accompany Jeses to witness the Transfiguration

3) Jesus says the 12 Apostles shall rule over the 12 tribes

4) Jesus sends out the 70 desciples

The Sanhedrin saw clearly that Jesus was setting himself up as the new Moses, by Jesus instituting the New Priesthood.

The Priesthood is not a right, it is a calling.

Only men are ordained priests because Jesus only called Men.

Jesus was not just abiding by the customs of the time.

On a side note…

A celibate priest

Matthew 19:12Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.”[a]

Hope this helps,

God Bless

 

[YehoiakhinEx232]

Thank you! This is very useful, I’ll keep this in mind!

 

[De_Maria]

It appears that one of the biggest objections Protestants have to the Catholic Church is the Catholic Priesthood. I’ve seen several Protestants bring up this objection saying that there is no evidence that the Apostles and disciples were priests, that Christ being High Priest doesn’t need a Priesthood, and that Presbutoroi doesn’t mean priest, and the etymology of the english word “priest” doesn’t count etc.

Defending the Papacy is easy, but defending the priesthood appears to be a bit more tricky, and I haven’t found that many articles and resources that give a defense of the Catholic Priesthood. I won’t be debating for a really long time, but I would like everyone hear to provide me with a list of resources and arguments in defense of the Catholic Priesthood. It useful to have a list a resources in hand, and in mind, just in case, as well as for meditations and Scripture reading.

Here it is explicit in the original Greek, which loses something in the translation to English:
hierourgeō

1. to minister in the manner of a priest, minister in priestly service
   a) of those who defend the sanctity of the law by undergoing a violent death
   b) of the preaching of the gospel

Romans 15:16
King James Version (KJV)
16That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering (hierourgeo) the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

But my favorite way to defend the priesthood, is this. The problem is, that Protestants can’t recognize the ministerial priesthood in the pages of Scripture, because they are reading Scripture with their presuppositions.

We can see, for instance, the episode of the Apostles eating the corn on the Sabbath.

Matthew 12:
1At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. 2But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. 3But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; 4How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? 5Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
6But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. 7But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. 8For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Have you ever wondered why the Disciples are guiltless? They worked on the Sabbath day and were guiltless because they were the equivalent of the Levites, the ministerial priests of the Old Testament. The Levites were in the Temple, working on the Sabbath. But there is one greater than the Temple and His ministerial priests are free to work on the Sabbath, because He is Lord of the Sabbath.

I hope that helps!

 

[YehoiakhinEx232]

Thanks a lot! I did wonder a lot about that episode of picking grains of corn on the Sabbath.

 

[OsculeturMeOsculo]

Saint John Fisher wrote a good book about the priesthood. It was made to counter some of Luther’s theologY during the reformation.

 

[YehoiakhinEx232]

Do you remember what the title of that book is?

 

[OsculeturMeOsculo]

It was called Defense of the Holy Priesthood.

 

[YehoiakhinEx232]

Thanks you! I’ve found that Mediatrix Press has it in print, I’ll try to keep that in mind, and keep a copy of it for later.