I may be ignorant, dedication, or out of the loop with what is happening back in the homeland, but I'm not aware of anyone promoting a modern priesthood within our church. Certainly, I do not. The only "priesthood" one can legitimately point to in our modern society is that of the home, where the husband and father is to be priest. Mrs. White affirms this.

The reason we look at the Old Testament system of priesthood is to better understand God's ways and apply those same principles to our worship today. God only allowed a certain gender, of a certain family, of a certain tribe, of a certain nation to be His chosen leaders. The priests of old not only performed acts of worship in the sanctuary, but also were teachers and leaders of the people. In many respects, the pastors of the Waldenses modeled this system quite well. They were the authority figures who upheld spiritual standards in addition to other matters of concern to their societies.

God has no problem selecting a certain one or group to accomplish His purposes--or even in choosing their family to be His special instruments forever. Look at the line of David for an example of this--established to be "king" in Israel perpetually (ultimately fulfilled in Christ).

Did Jesus' appearance on earth suddenly change all this? Did God, after rejecting the Jews, suddenly accept any group, any tribe, any gender? If so, why were all of the disciples whom Jesus ordained male?

Anyone who follows Christ is one of His disciples, naturally. Johann points out correctly that Jesus had disciples who were women. But this fact makes the lack of ordination of any woman by Jesus the more striking and singular. He could have ordained Mary, or Martha, or the wife of any of His disciples. Why didn't He?

Jesus certainly knows the future, too. He knew as well back then as we know now that in this modern liberalized society, women would aspire to leadership in the church. Nor did Jesus particularly adhere to the traditions of the Jews in His day. He could easily have established a more egalitarian culture in the nascent Christian church. It would have been a simple thing for Him to ordain a woman--as simple as it was to ordain a traitor who did not deserve to be counted among His disciples. So why didn't He ordain a woman?

Apparently, Jesus did not wish to change this order of things. There is no instruction anywhere in the Bible to ordain a woman, nor even to place a woman in a position of authority over God's people. God does not leave this matter with us to decide. He retains the authority to establish whomsoever He will in leadership of His people.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

God had no problem selecting a group? What? God selected ALL the people. Exodus 19:5-6 "Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." The whole of the people were to be a kingdom of priests. ALL - to the fullest meaning of all. How long did that last? Not long. Why? Who then was to take the roll? The first born? How long did that last? Not long, and we finally end up with the Levites. They were squeaky clean, right Korah? God had no problem? The nation continually rejected God and went backwards, not forwards. God had a huge problem. God is still having problems with His people!!!

You raise a good point. So, then, why did God not grant Korah his wish? What was wrong with Korah? Wasn't he a good leader? Wasn't he among the 70 elders of Israel? What was the reason God denied him the position of priest?

If God wanted them ALL to be priests, as you imply (this was never God's intent, as I understand it), why was Korah positively disallowed?

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Green - It is written:Exodus 19:5-6 "Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;

All means all. But most rejected God.

APL,

What does "above all" mean? Should God have chosen ALL people, instead of some to be "above all?" What happened to "all means all?"

We can also examine another part of this. God said "if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then...." Who obeyed His command to kill the transgressors of His law? The Levites. Was it because the men only did this that they were made the priests? or was there another reason for this? Why did God choose the entire family of Aaron, but made only their menfolk priests? If "all means all," as you say, then why were the women not made to be priestesses?

You see, APL, you have looked at the text and misinterpreted it. The only "all" in the verse refers to those who were NOT made priests.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Who gives you the authority of an infallible interpretation of the Bible?

Martin Luther claimed the Roman Catholic church interpreted this passage the way you do, and that was one reason why he started the Reformation. Are we to refute the Reformation? Should we adopt the Roman Catholic interpretation, just like you do?

I have never seen Ellen White interpret this passage the way you do.

I guess Paul thought Phoebe should be a Deaconess. There isn't any problem with women being ordained to ministries as far as I can tell. It's when they are ordained to certain positions that is of concern.

Blessings Johann,

I don't believe it's fair to take one small part of Church history out of context like that. Those translators could look at history including that of the Jews and never see a woman ordained as a Pastor of Elder. When considering 1 Cor. 9:13-14, they would never see a woman consecrated to the Priesthood. As a matter of fact, even to our day there still has never been a woman consecrated to the Priesthood.

So, I don't believe there was any political or cultural bias that had any effect on on the KJV Bible's translation. Not in this regard anyway.

(bold emphasis mine)

What distinction unknown to Paul do you think is being invented today Johann?

Well, in 1 Corinthians 9:13-14, Paul compares the "preachers of the Gospel" with the priests in the earthly temple. You will never find any women there! (Hebrews 7:5)