"The work of Christ is described in Hebrews as the abolition of the priesthood. The perfect high priest, fully obedient among His brethren, by sacrificing Himself, puts an end to the recurrent functions of all priesthood, and gives us all access into the holy place. Priesthood, to the extent that it applies at all in the new covenant, is the character of the entire people of God, not of any single priestly person in the church. Thus Revelation 5 and 1 Peter 2 take up the mosaic phrase "a kingdom of priests" to designate the
abolition of the distinct priestly role (whereas the prophetic role and the eldership, and something like the rabbinate, are carried over in the N.T. church). Priests joining the Jerusalem church did not create a Christian priesthood....
The conclusion is inescapable that the multiplicity of ministries is not a mere
adiaphoron, a happenstance of only superficial significance, but a specific work of grace and a standard for the church ... We would expect, in a turbulent first-generation movement, that wisdom should call everyone to restrain his individualism; but the apostolic call is to each to be the most uniquely oneself. Not only should one not despise the other, not only should all work in unity like the organs of a healthy body, but each is invited to sharpen his or her distinctiveness (1 Pet. 4:10, Rom. 12:3, 6 ff). Harmony and diversity are not in tension but complementary."
John Howard Yoder, The Fullness of Christ: Paul's Vision of Universal Ministry (1987) 16-17
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