“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession.” — 1 Peter 2:9
“And made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the might forever and ever.” — Revelation 1:6
When Christ died, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). That veil had shut men out of the Holy of Holies, admitting only one high priest, once a year. The instant it tore, it announced one thing: from now on, the way into God’s presence stands open to everyone who believes. The New Testament has no mediating priestly class, because God made an entire body of priests — all His people.
Two things are constantly confused: the “universal priesthood” that Scripture establishes, and the “clericalism” that men construct.
A Priesthood Without a Class
Peter says it without hedging: all believers are priests. “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:5); “you are… a royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9). John also says Christ “made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father” (Rev. 1:6; 5:10). This was not a New Testament novelty — already at Sinai, God said Israel would be “to Me a kingdom of priests” (Exo. 19:6). In the original, “priesthood” (ἱεράτευμα, hierateuma) denotes the whole body of priests, the entire priestly order — not a select few at the top.
This priestly standing carries a stunning right: direct access to God. “Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus… let us come forward” (Heb. 10:19-22). Every believer has this boldness. For “there is one God and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5) — one Mediator, not one tier. This means there is no class of “holier” Christians and another of “more common” ones. Since the veil is torn, no one can sew it back and re-divide God’s people into those who may enter and those who may not.
Every Member Functions
The universal priesthood is not an abstract slogan; in the meeting it comes down to every member functioning. Paul describes a normal gathering: “Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation… Let all things be done for building up” (1 Cor. 14:26); “you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged” (1 Cor. 14:31). “Each one,” “you can all” — this is a picture of everyone having a part, not one speaking while the rest listen.
Then what of those with gifts — apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers? Paul says God gave them “for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-12). See where the sentence runs: the gifted are not a class that does the work in the saints’ place; they perfect the saints, equipping everyone, so that the work of the ministry is done by all the saints. The ministry belongs to the whole body of saints, and the gifted one’s glory is to serve them up to the point where they rise to serve, then to step behind.
The Nicolaitans: The System That Conquers the Laity
There is a thing in the New Testament that the resurrected Lord plainly says He “hates”: the works of the Nicolaitans. To the church in Ephesus He says, “you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (Rev. 2:6); to Pergamos He warns that some “hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans” (Rev. 2:15). This is heavy language — Scripture rarely records the Lord saying He “hates.”
How is the name “Nicolaitans” to be read? Historically there are different views. The early father Irenaeus said they were a corrupt sect that followed a man named Nicolas (Against Heresies, Book I, New Advent); scholars have reached no consensus on their origin. Another widely used reading looks at the roots: “Nicolaus” (Nikolaos) is composed of niko (to conquer, to be above) and laos (common people, laity) — meaning “conquering the common people, climbing above the laity.” This latter reading is not a settled lexical fact but an interpretation; yet it names the substance of what the Lord hates. The ministry of the Lord’s recovery understands it just so. Brother Witness Lee says: “The works of the Nicolaitans refer to a hierarchy among the saints in which some set themselves to rule over others” (“The works of the Nicolaitans refer to a hierarchy among the saints in which some set themselves to rule over others”), which “brings into being the so-called clergy and laity” (“brings into being the so-called clergy and laity”). He adds that this is “the hierarchy followed and established by Catholicism and Protestantism” (“the hierarchy followed and established by Catholicism and Protestantism”), and that it is what the Lord hates (Brother Witness Lee, Life-Study of Revelation, msg. 10, bibleread.online). Brother Watchman Nee is equally decisive: “First Peter 2 and Revelation 5 tell us clearly that all who are bought with the blood are priests” (“First Peter 2 and Revelation 5 tell us clearly that all who are bought with the blood are priests”). The Nicolaitans, by contrast, “specifically created the office of the priest” (“The Nicolaitans specifically created the office of the priest”), setting the clergy above the laity (Brother Watchman Nee, The Orthodoxy of the Church, ch. 7, bibleread.online).
Here is a telling detail. The word “clergy” comes from the Greek κλῆρος (klēros, “a lot, a portion, an allotted inheritance”). And how does Peter use this word when he speaks of the relationship between elders and the flock? He charges the elders not to lord it over “those allotted to your charge” (1 Pet. 5:3) — where “those allotted” is, in the original, klēros. That is, the very word later seized to mean “the clergy” is used by Peter to refer to the whole flock, the portion God has allotted to the elders’ care — the “laity,” not the leaders (Blue Letter Bible G2819). History quietly turned a word that belonged to all the people into a title for a select few. That, in miniature, is Nicolaitanism.
The Priests’ Accountability: Even Leaders Are Under the Word
The deepest layer of clericalism lies not in vestments, nor in titles, but in unequal accountability. It truly takes shape when a system implies that a certain class — “co-workers,” “elders,” “the ministry” — holds a higher spiritual access and insight, and is therefore exempt from the accountability everyone else must bear. Anyone may be corrected, except them. In that moment the wall between sacred and secular that Christ tore down is quietly built back up.
Scripture’s way is the exact opposite: before God, no one is so high that he cannot be corrected by the word. Paul was an apostle, and so was Peter, yet “when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned” (Gal. 2:11) — even an apostle was corrected to his face. The Bereans were called noble because they “examined the Scriptures daily,” testing even what Paul, an apostle, preached (Acts 17:11). Paul charged Timothy, concerning an elder who persists in sin, to “reprove him before all” (1 Tim. 5:20, while also protecting an elder from unsupported accusation, v. 19). The Lord Himself put it most absolutely: “you are all brothers… One is your Teacher, the Christ. And the greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matt. 23:8-11).
So to measure whether a group has fallen into Nicolaitanism, you need not check whether it has installed priests or donned robes; just ask one question: here, can those who lead be held accountable — by Scripture, by the brothers, by the flock — according to the truth? If the answer is “no,” then however loudly it proclaims “the priesthood of all believers,” in practice it has already divided the priests into two classes (see The Priesthood of All Believers: Denying the Clergy-Laity Distinction). A true priesthood is the boldness that brings every believer before God — and that just as surely places every serving one under the same word.
Brothers and sisters, Christ is our one great High Priest and our one Mediator; by His one death He tore the veil and made a kingdom of priests without a class. Those with gifts are the Lord’s gifts, given to perfect us so that all of us rise to serve — not to stand between us and God. May we treasure these gifts, yet lift no one into the Holy of Holies that now stands open; may we, drawing near to God with boldness, also gladly place ourselves under the light of His word, judged together with all the brothers, growing together. For we are all brothers, and all priests.