The Priesthood of All Believers: Rejecting the Clergy-Laity Distinction
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession, so that you may tell out the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” — 1 Pet. 2:9
The identity God’s people received at Sinai was not that of an audience but of priests. “You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exo. 19:6) — this charge was fully realized in the New Testament through the blood of Christ. Yet from the second century onward, church history produced a different logic: some are clergy, the rest are laity, and a specially called class must mediate between God and the people. Brother Watchman Nee, in the Lord’s recovery, traced this system back to “the works of the Nicolaitans” that the Lord hates in Rev. 2:6 and 2:15, identifying it as one of the most destructive departures in the history of the church.
What Scripture Says
Priesthood: The Calling of All Believers
1 Pet. 2:5 declares that believers are “a holy priesthood (ἱεράτευμα, Strong’s G2406),” built up as living stones into a spiritual house to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. This word appears only twice in the New Testament, both in 1 Pet. 2 (verses 5 and 9), and both times it addresses all believers — not a special class. (biblehub, G2406)
Verse 9 elevates the identity further: believers are “a royal priesthood (βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, basileion hierateuma)” — combining royal authority with priestly function. Basileion (G934) means “royal, kingly,” making this priesthood not merely functional but a fulfillment of the Old Testament vision for Israel, now realized in Christ for all believers. (biblehub, 1 Pet. 2:9)
Rev. 1:6 and 5:10 repeatedly confirm this calling: “He loves us and has washed us from our sins by His blood… and made us a kingdom (βασιλείαν) and priests (ἱερεῖς) to His God and Father.” The priesthood is the direct fruit of Christ’s redemption — not a privilege conferred by ordination. (biblehub, Rev. 1:6)
Direct Access to God: No Human Mediator
Heb. 4:14–16 announces that we “have a great High Priest… Jesus the Son of God,” and therefore may “come forward with boldness to the throne of grace.” This “boldness” (παρρησία, parrhesia, G3954) is direct, unmediated access — for every believer, without passing through any human priest. (biblehub, Heb. 4:14)
The Lord Forbids Religious Titles
In Matt. 23:8–10, Jesus explicitly forbids his followers from using status-marking titles among themselves: “Do not be called Rabbi (Rhabbi, G4461)… do not call anyone on earth your father… do not be called instructors” — for one reason alone: “for you are all brothers.” This is not merely a ban on certain words; it is a refusal to replace brotherly relationship with religious hierarchy. (biblehub, Matt. 23:8)
Ministry Belongs to All
Eph. 4:11–12 reveals the design of gifted ministries: apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers were given to the church for the purpose of “perfecting the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the Body of Christ.” The function of these gifts is to equip (καταρτισμός, katartismos, G2677) all the saints for the work — not for a consecrated few to do the work in place of everyone else. Building up the Body is the ministry of every member, not the monopoly of a professional class. (biblehub, Eph. 4:11)
In Mark 10:42–45, Jesus explicitly names the pattern of “those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over (κατακυριεύουσιν, G2634) them” — and designates it as what must not be among his followers: “But it shall not be so among you.” The power structures of the nations cannot be transplanted into the church’s manner of leadership. (biblehub, Mark 10:42)
Historical Understanding
The Etymology of “Clergy” and “Laity”
Kleros (κλῆρος) originally meant “lot” or “portion”; in the Old Testament (Deut. 18:2) it refers to Jehovah as the Levites’ “portion” (inheritance). By the third century, the word was co-opted to mean “ordained clergy.” Laos (λαός) means “the people of God,” originally referring to all Israel, but was later narrowed to mean “the unordained ordinary believer.” This semantic shift precisely inverted Scripture’s meaning: 1 Pet. 5:3 used kleros to describe the whole flock as God’s possession and warned elders not to lord it over (κατακυριεύοντες) that possession — yet the church later used the same word to describe those who lorded over the flock. (servantsnews.com, etymology study)
The Historical Formation of the Clergy System
The apostolic church had no fixed clerical class. The Didache (c. AD 100) portrays leadership as still fluid: apostles and prophets moved from place to place, while bishops and deacons were chosen by the congregation. Around AD 200, Tertullian became the first writer to use clerus and laicus in print — yet he himself wrote, “Are not we laymen also priests?” He regarded the distinction as “an arrangement of the church, not a divine ordinance.” (ecclesiasticalhistory.org, clergy-laity history)
By the mid-third century, Cyprian systematically applied the Aaronic priestly language to the bishop, building a theology of the bishop as priest (sacerdotes) and placing the Eucharist, ordination, and the authority to absolve sins under the bishop’s exclusive control. This was the decisive step in the theologizing of the clergy system. In 590, the establishment of the papacy in Rome brought the clergy-laity binary to full institutional form across the Western church. (ministrysamples.org, formation of the clergy system)
The Reformation Recovery
Martin Luther in his 1520 Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation directly cited 1 Pet. 2:9 to declare: “We are all consecrated priests through baptism.” In the same year’s The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, he went further, arguing there was “no true, basic difference” between clergy and laity, and that ordination represented an assignment of function, not an elevation of spiritual status. The sacraments belonged not to priests but to all — priests were servants, not gatekeepers. (Wikipedia, Priesthood of all believers)
The Reformation recovery, however, was incomplete. John Calvin built a presbyterian polity that gave laity a measure of governance, but still retained salaried professional ministers. (academia.edu, Reformation and the priesthood of all believers) In the nineteenth century, John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren rejected the clergy system altogether: meetings were open for all members to speak, pray, and read Scripture; the breaking of bread required no ordained presider. (Wikipedia, Plymouth Brethren)
Brother Watchman Nee’s Teaching
In Chapter 9 of The Normal Christian Church Life (1938), Brother Watchman Nee directly critiqued the clergy-laity division in the modern church:
“The people in the church are divided into two classes — the clergy, who make a profession of handling spiritual things, and the laity, who give their attention to worldly matters.”
The New Testament entrusts the church’s affairs to elders, not to “pastors” or professionals. He drew a sharp line between the work (the itinerant apostolic ministry) and the church (the local, settled congregation): matters of the work belong in the hands of the workers; matters of the church belong in the hands of the local brothers and sisters. Once the “pulpit-and-pew” pattern replaces the “round-table” character of church meetings, the congregation becomes passively dependent — “always expecting to be helped but never helping others.” (livinglywrong.com, excerpt from Chapter 9)
On the Nicolaitans, Brother Nee identified “the works of the Nicolaitans” in Rev. 2:6 as the establishing of a priestly class — the insertion of an intermediary layer between God and the believers. The cross had brought believers near to God; this hierarchical system nullified the efficacy of the cross and once again separated God’s children from God. (ibid.)
Brother Witness Lee’s Development
Brother Witness Lee built on Brother Nee’s foundation and traced the meaning of the Nicolaitans systematically from its Greek roots:
- niko (νικᾶν): to conquer, to overcome
- laos (λαόν): the people
Together: “to conquer the people.”
This is what the Lord in Rev. 2:6 hates. He used the strongest word available — not “dislikes,” but hates (μισῶ, G3404). By the time of Pergamos (2:15), the Nicolaitan “works” had hardened into “doctrine” — a theologized, institutionalized teaching. Brother Lee warned: from the Catholic papacy to the Protestant professional pastor system, the underlying structure remains the same — differing only in degree. (ministrysamples.org, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans)
Brother Lee identified the clergy system as Satan’s primary strategy against the church:
“He invented the clergy-laity system to kill the function of all the members of the Body.”
“In the church there should be no clergy and no laity. Every believer must be a functioning member in the Body.”
“The function of the majority has been annulled, and the Body has been paralyzed.”
(ministrysamples.org, the clergy-laity system)
He traced the historical trajectory of this system: Ignatius (2nd century) → Cyprian (3rd century) → the Roman papacy (590) → the professional pastor systems of the post-Reformation denominations. The remedy he called for was this: in church meetings, all the saints prophesy (1 Cor. 14) — every member functioning. This is the mark of the recovery. (ministrysamples.org, formation of the clergy system)
Historical Orthodox vs. the Lord’s Recovery
| Historical Orthodox | Lord’s Recovery | |
|---|---|---|
| Key emphasis | The priesthood of all believers (Luther and the Reformers), but most denominations retain professional clergy as the center of governance and preaching | A thorough rejection of the clergy-laity distinction; every believer is a priest, every member functions, no professional spiritual intermediary |
| Assessment of the clergy system | The Reformers critiqued its absolute authority but preserved a special status for ordained ministry | Identified as the Nicolaitan spirit — something the Lord hates and Satan’s strategy to paralyze the Body |
| Terminology | Priesthood of all believers, ordained ministry, office | The functioning of all members, the clergy-laity system, Nicolaitans |
| Scripture focus | 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; Eph. 4:11 | Same, plus: Rev. 2:6, 15 (Nicolaitans); 1 Cor. 14 (all prophesying) |
| Where they align | Christ is the only High Priest and Mediator; all believers are equal before God; religious hierarchy is a departure from Christ’s redemption | Full agreement |
| Where they diverge | Most mainstream denominations retain ordained ministry (pastors, bishops, priests); some still regard sacramental authority as exclusive to the clergy | No professional salaried pastor; elders hold a servant function, not an institutional office; church meetings are designed for the participation of all members |
Conclusion
What 1 Pet. 2:9 declares is not a religious sentiment but a historical reality: through the redemption of Christ’s blood, the veil into the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom, and God himself in Christ stands open to all. The identity of “royal priesthood” was conferred before any ordination ceremony and stands valid outside any institutional recognition.
This truth carries liberating force for believers in high-control church environments: your access to God requires no one’s permission; your ministry to the church needs no institution to authorize it. This is not license to escape accountability — it is a call to return to the Body of Christ as it was designed: a body where every member functions and no one is merely an audience.