THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS

 

As I stated in previous articles, the Catholic Church has seven sacraments, and today’s topic will be the Sacrament of Holy Orders, also called the Rite of Ordination.  As most people know, the Catholic Church has a hierarchy, the lower ranks consisting of deacon, priest and bishop – in that order.  One must be a deacon before he becomes a priest and one must be a priest before he becomes a bishop. 

Supposedly, through the leadership of these three ranks, they help continue Jesus’ presence on earth in the tradition of the apostles.  At least, that’s what the Church claims (CCC #1549, 1575). 

They also claim that when a man goes through the rite of ordination, he receives a permanent spiritual mark, called a character, which helps him represent Jesus in the Church (CCC #1558, 1563).  It goes without saying that the seven sacraments are extremely important to the Catholic Church, and they claim that the other six sacraments could not even exist without this particular sacrament (Holy Orders).

The Magnitude of the Priest’s Office

So, how important are the priests in this Church?  The priests are responsible for conducting the Mass, or celebration of the Eucharist, which is the heart of the Catholic service.  Priests are exalted in the eyes of the people, sometimes astoundingly so.  For example, in the very popular book, The Faith of Millions: the Credentials of the Catholic Religion, by Catholic priest John Obrien, he says:

“When the priest announces the tremendous words of consecration, he reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from His throne and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the Victim for the sins of man… not once but a thousand times!  The priest speaks and lo!  Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows His head in humble obedience to the priest’s command.”  See the online book here (Page 270):

https://ia903106.us.archive.org/1/items/FaithOfMillions/Faith%20of%20Millions.pdf

I don’t know about you, but this deeply offends me.  The glorified Jesus Christ does not humble himself in order to “obey” any human being.  He is the Second Person of the Trinity and no one can command Him to do anything.  This is utter blasphemy!

By the way, if someone says that this is only one man’s (O’brien’s) opinion, notice that this is a Catholic book by a Catholic priest with the Catholic seals of approval, i.e., the Church officially declaring that this book is “free of doctrinal and moral error.”  O’brien’s book is a Catholic best seller and it was reprinted in 27 editions and translated into 10 languages.  If they didn’t approve of it, they had plenty opportunity to get rid of it or put it on the Forbidden Index of books.  Instead, they openly promote it, so this blasphemy appears to be fully accepted by the Church. 

Furthermore, according to the Catechism of Trent, the priest is “justly” called a god:

“… it is evident that no nobler function than theirs can be imagined. Justly, therefore, are they called not only Angels, but even gods, because of the fact that they exercise in our midst the power and prerogatives of the immortal God.”(Under “Dignity of this Sacrament,” page 194-195, online).  See here:

https://www.catholicsociety.com/documents/Catechism_of_the_Council%20of_Trent.pdf

Which Priesthood is for Today?

The priest is not a god.  Not only is he not a god, and not only can he not call Jesus down from His throne, but the fact is, according to Scripture, the Catholic priest’s office does not even exist in the New Testament!   

The Catholic Church claims that in the Old Testament there were three types of priesthoods: a high priesthood, a ministerial priesthood and a universal priesthood of all believers.  And they say that the New Testament reflects all three of the same offices/positions.

But I would heartily disagree and point out that there are only two priesthoods in both the Old and the New Testament.  We would agree with Catholics that there was a high priesthood and a ministerial priesthood in the Old Testament, but not a universal priesthood of all believers.  Catholics will say, “But what about Exodus 19:6?   Ok, let’s take a look at this verse:

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

Ok, sounds like the Catholic might have a point, right?  No, not if you observe the CONTEXT.  Let’s look at the previous verse:

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: (Exodus 19:5)

Well, that changes things, doesn’t it?  Yes, God promised Israel that they would be a “kingdom of priests” and a “holy nation.” But, this is a yet UNFULFILLED promise to the Jews. Notice that God’s promise to Israel was CONDITIONAL; that this would happen IF (and ONLY if) they would obey God’s voice and keep His covenant (Exodus 19:5). But they didn’t.  Over and over, Israel had broken God’s covenant and disobeyed His commands (e.g., Jeremiah chapter 11, 13, 22, 34, etc.). This continued even until the very end of the Old Testament period, where even the ministerial priests had profaned the covenant (Malachi 2:7-10). Even to this day, Israel (as a nation) is disobedient and blinded to the truth (2 Corinthians 3:12-14; Romans 11:25, 31).

So, there was no universal priesthood back then.  Funny how verse 5 never seems to be mentioned when Catholics quote Exodus 19:6!  That’s because it doesn’t support their view.

No Veil, No Priesthood

Moving to the New Testament, we certainly see Jesus as the High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16), and we see all Christians designated as the universal priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:5, 9; Revelation 1:6), but what is obviously missing from the New Testament is “ministerial priests” – those specifically ordained to stand and mediate between man and God, as they did in the Old Testament.  But God has shown us that the veil in the temple is torn down (Matthew 27:51), signifying that we now have direct access to God.  This doesn’t mean we don’t need leaders in the church, it just means we have no need of mediating priests.  That particular priesthood of the Old Testament has been replaced today by the universal priesthood of all believers.  So, as I said earlier, there are only two priesthoods in the Old Testament (high and ministerial) and only two in the New (high and universal).  Catholics will claim there is a ministerial priesthood in the church today (CCC #1547, #1551, #1592)…  Scripture doesn’t.

Twisting Scripture

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC #1590), they try to use certain Scripture verses to prove the Catholic concept of Holy Orders, using passages like 1 Timothy 3:1, 2 Timothy 1:6 and Titus 1:5, but NONE of these passages refer to an office of “priest.”  If the office of priest is so critical today, why does Scripture not even mention it?

Conclusion

While I believe that the office of deacon (Acts 6:1-6) and the office of bishop (1Timothy 3:1) are indeed biblical, again, there is no scriptural evidence for the office of “priest” in the New Testament, and no one in the Bible was ever ordained as such.  Therefore, the “Holy Orders” of the Catholic priesthood are null and void – not only the priesthood of the Catholic Church, but also any priesthood in Protestant denominations and the Orthodox Church, as well.

See these links:

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2016/05/does-exodus-196-support-catholic.html

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2010/03/priesthood.html

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2018/07/where-are-all-priests-in-new-testament.html