Is There a "Priesthood of All Believers"?

Criticism

There is no need for unbroken lines of priesthood authority since the Bible teaches that all believers hold the priesthood.

Source(s) of the criticism

• Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults (Revised) (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1997), 216. ( Index of claims )

Response

Here, we examine some of the scriptural passages cited in defense of the concept of a priesthood of all believers.

• "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of [H]im who hath called you out of darkness into [H]is marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9).

This was the principal passage cited by Martin Luther in defense of his idea. What he failed to note is that Peter was actually referring to an Old Testament passage, in which the Lord told the Israelites through Moses,

• "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: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Exodus 19:5-6).

Yet of the Israelites present at the mount of revelation, only the Levites were chosen for priesthood service.

Conclusion

Peter's reference to the priesthood was drawn from the ancient Israelite views of the priesthood, a view in which only a select group hold the priesthood.

Mormonism and priesthood

Jump to Subtopic:

• Restoration of the priesthood
• Administration of priesthood authority
• Criticisms of the Mormon priesthood

Restoration of the priesthood

Jump to Subtopic:

• The manner in which the priesthood was restored
• Date of the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood

Administration of priesthood authority

Jump to Subtopic:

• Exercising priesthood authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Granting of priesthood authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Criticisms of the Mormon priesthood

Jump to Subtopic:

• Criticisms by traditional Christians of the Mormon concept of priesthood
• Claims by ex-Mormons that Church leaders have lost priesthood authority
• Evidence that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Possesses Priesthood Authority

FAIR web site

FairMormon Priesthood FairMormon articles on-line

• John A. Tvedtnes, "Is There a Priesthood of All Believers?" FAIR link

External links

Priesthood links to articles

• Brian Q. Cannon, "Priesthood Restoration Documents," Brigham Young University Studies 35 no. 4 (1995–96), 162. PDF link (Key source)
• Donald Q. Cannon, Larry E. Dahl, and John W. Welch, "The Restoration of Major Doctrines through Joseph Smith: Priesthood, the Word of God, and the Temple," Ensign 19 (February 1989): 7. off-site
• William G. Hartley, "Review of Gregory L. Prince's Power from On High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood," Brigham Young University Studies 37 no. 1 (1997), 225–230.off-site
• John A. Tvedtnes, "Jesus' Apostles and Early Church Organization," Meridian Magazine (2 February 2007)off-site.

Print sources

Priesthood printed materials

• Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Second Witness of Priesthood Restoration," Improvement Era (71/9 (September 1968)), 15–24.
• Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Second Witness on Priesthood Succession," Improvement Era (September 1968), 14–20.
• Brain Q. Cannon and BYU Studies staff, "Seventy Contemporaneous Priesthood Restoration Documents," in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820–1844 (Documents in Latter-day Saint History), edited by John W. Welch with Erick B. Carlson, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press / Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2005), 215–263. ISBN 0842526072. This book has recently been reprinted, in paperback. BYU Studies and Deseret Book (July 13, 2011) (Key source)