Luther and the Saints: The Priesthood of All Believers – A True Treasure of the Lutheran Reformation

Abstract

This essay reviews Luther’s teaching about the universal priesthood of all believers and its relationship to the public ministry. The study naturally leads to a review of Luther’s thought on the family and the nobility of vocation and his efforts to arm and encourage the laity through worship, hymns and catechism.

President Mark Zarling (WLS ’80) reviewed Luther’s teaching about the universal priesthood of all believers and its relationship to the public ministry. “Christ has graciously given to his believers, all his believers, the ministry of the Word of God. We are to live and serve our neighbors as priests before God, having been washed in the blood of the Lamb and dressed in his righteousness,” he wrote. “Christians are content in our vocations knowing that everything we do as a priest of God, dressed in Christ, is a labor in which our thank-offering brings joy to Jesus. That means that no labor is unimportant. How this treasure can demolish the false levels of prestige sinners often ascribe to various careers!”