Should there be a Clergy-Laity Distinction? No, Christianity has no class distinction says my pastor, Apostle Zilly Aggrey at a leadership session at Royal House of Grace International Church, Port Harcourt on 2nd June 2013. Most Reverend, Right Reverend, Father, Most Holy Father, Rabbi, His Eminence, His Excellency, His Holiness, His All-Holinessthese are some of the titles that distinguish the clergy of various religions from the laity. The separation of the clergy from the laity is common to many religions, but is the arrangement from God, or is it a human tradition? More important, does it have God’s approval? “IN THE New Testament and during the early apostolic times there is no mention of clergy or laity,” wrote professor of theology Cletus Wessels. The Encyclopedia of Christianity states: “There gradually arose a differentiation into clergy as the officeholders and the laity as the rest . . . ‘Ordinary’ church members now came to be seen as an unqualified mass.” That differentiation became prominent during the third century C.E.more than two hundred years after Jesus Christ! If, then, the clergy-laity distinction is not based on the model set by Jesus’ apostles and other early Christians, does that make it wrong? According to the Bible, yes. Consider why. “All You Are Brothers” God’s Word tells us that all Christians serve as God’s ministers and that none is above or beneath the other. (2 Corinthians 3:5, 6) “There was a very positive insistence on the absence of class” among early Christians, says religion writer Alexandre Faivre. That “absence of class” harmonizes with Jesus’ words to his followers: “All you are brothers.”Matthew 23:8. Spiritually older men did, of course, serve as overseers, which included being shepherds and teachers. (Acts 20:28) However, these men were not paid clerics. For the most part, they were ordinary working menhusbands and fathers. Moreover, they qualified to serve as overseers, not by attending religious seminaries, but by being diligent students of God’s Word and by cultivating the spiritual qualities required by God. These qualities include being “moderate in habits, sound in mind, orderly, hospitable, qualified to teach, . . . reasonable, not belligerent, not a lover of money, a man presiding over his own household in a fine manner.”1 Timothy 3:1-7.
Writing in the same vein on the subject “Christians Have No Class”, Dr. Charles Franklin DeVane, Jr., (Pastor, Lake Hamilton Baptist Church, Hot Springs, Arkansas) quoting Jesus on servant leadership from Mark 10:35-45, ESV, “[35] And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” [36] And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” [37] And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” [38] Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” [39] And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, [40] but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” [41] And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. [42] And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. [43] But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, [44] and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. [45] For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Said:
One of the most interesting classes I took in seminary was a class on class. It was a communications class on communicating to the classes of society (and each subdivision within each division of class). I never knew before that virtually every citizen in our society can be classified by class, as either lower-lower class, middle-lower class, upper-lower class, lower-middle class, middle-middle class, upper-middle class, lower-upper class, middle-upper class, and upper-upper class. That’s classy, don’t you think? Classifying people sociologically has been done for years, but what about classifying them theologically? Does Christianity have a class system? Roman Catholicism has a hierarchy that descends from pope to cardinal to bishop to priest to parishioner. Some Protestant denominations have a similar scale with slightly different titles. Low churches, like the Baptists, have a more horizontal plane, yet sometimes the pastors and more often the deacons receive elevated authority. Are Christians supposed to have class? Are there levels in the church like seating on an airplane? Apparently, among the first Christians, at least James and John thought so. You can read it in their request, and learn from Jesus’ response, in Mark 10:35-45.
The Climb for Class whether or not we’d admit it, we all want to climb into the upper class. They get all the glory and live glamorous lives. They get to call the shots in politics, business, even sports (those Yankees are in the playoffs every year simply because they have the biggest payroll). It is human nature to strive for glory and authority in this earthly life, and often it blinds us to the priorities of the Christian life.
James and John wanted the honor and authority of the upper class. Thinking Jesus was an earthly, military Messiah, they wanted the choice seats at the table after Jesus kicked Rome’s backside in Jerusalem. Do you remember when Osama Bin Laden was killed? There is a photograph of President Obama depicting him in a special war room as the event unfolded. On his right hand was the Vice President, a position of symbolic honor and importance. On his left hand was the Joint Chief of Staff, the highest military rank in the country, a position of definite power and authority. So that’s what James and John were asking for, the best seats in the house, the positions of honor and power, the best seats in the upper class. There is a healthy ambition that can serve to make you and others around you better. Then there is selfish ambition that can make you think you are better than everyone else. James’ and John’s climb for the upper class in this text was selfishly ambitious and it caused great dissention among the disciples. It also earned them a sharp rebuke and dire prophecy from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Drop of the Cup: Those who selfishly seek to climb will inevitably tumble down. James’ and John’s selfish pride was exceeded only by their precipitous fall. After three years of following and imitating the Christ, they arrogantly confessed to Jesus that they could do anything that Jesus could do. While this was not true, Jesus did grant them at least a part of their wish.
The first member of Christ’s band of Apostles to be martyred was James, the same James who wanted to sit on Jesus’ right. The last one to die was John, after years of deprivation, persecution, and torture, a life that in no way resembled a lavish seat on Jesus’ left. They were not petulantly punished by God, nor did their fate deviate one inch from God’s sovereign plan for their lives. But, there is a lesson to be learned for Christians. Selfness will always make you suffer, if you are a true child of God. And, when it comes to positions in God’s church, let’s find a way to allow God to do the choosing. After all, it is His church. By the way, who will sit at Jesus’ right hand and left hand in Heaven? In the transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared. Abraham and David were Old Testament big shots, too. In the Gospels, James and John, along with Simon Peter, were Christ’s closest friends. And then along came the Apostle Paul. In Christian history, perhaps Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, or Charles Haddon Spurgeon might be a good fit for those seats. More likely, it will be someone no one has ever heard of before, some quiet, humble, persistent, committed, loving servant of God.
One Class for Christians: I suspect it was James, the eldest, who wanted that seat on the right hand of Jesus, the first class seat. John would have been well content with the left hand seat in second class. Peter and the rest would have to ride in third class. But Jesus taught them that Christians have no class. We are not to distinguish ourselves with levels of recognition and authority. While the biblical offices of pastor, elder, deacon, and member have different levels of credibility and responsibility, the reality of what Jesus said is this: every Christian rides in the servant class. We are servants, period. We are servants of God, servants of one another, and servants to the lost people in this world. Christ even refers to Christians as slaves. In Christianity there is sweetness to slavery. Slavery is a foul word in our age and rightly so. However, Christ calls all Christians slaves in this text, at least those who would be great Christians in God’s sight. If you have been effectually called by the gospel of Jesus Christ, the path to greatness in your life in Christ is paved with slavery and servitude. But it is not the forced kind of slavery that was perpetrated upon the ancestors of our African American brothers and sisters. It is the free slavery that comes to a child of God when they lose their ambition for recognition and power and embrace the privilege of serving God by serving others with whatever gifts, talents, and treasure God has given to them. At the end of the day it will not matter how much money we made, how many degrees we earned, or how many positions of rank or authority we held, but how many people did we serve in Jesus’ name.
And in serving others, we become like our servant Savior in every way, except one. Christ in a Class by Himself. Christ came to serve, and He calls His followers to a life of service.
Christ came to die, and He bids us to die to self, take up our cross, and follow Him. But there is one thing that Jesus did that no other man can do one thing that puts Him in a class by Himself. He is the “ransom for many” (vs. 45). The death of Jesus Christ is the capstone of the finest example of humanity ever set forth. Ever loving, ever sacrificing, ever serving, the life of Jesus touched so many lives in ways His followers seek to emulate every day. We preach the gospel, we help the poor, we comfort the sick and pray for their cure, we encourage one another; we make room for one more. Scattered throughout history are even Christians who died on mission fields because they were devoutly following Jesus. Jesus’ life and death serves as a supreme example, but an example is not enough. The death of Jesus Christ is much more than a mere example. It is a ransom, a payment, a price of redemption, a means of release, to the many that have been called by and have called on the name of the Lord. I can serve you, I can even die for you, but my service and death will not satisfy the wrath of a holy God for the sins committed against Him. Only the perfect, spotless, sinless Son of God could offer His perfect, spotless, sinless blood on behalf of others, so that holy God could let them be forgiven and go free.
Have you been forgiven and set free by grace through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, what are such free men to do? We are to become slaves of Christ, for His glory and the good of all people. We are to be without class or distinction, for we are all one in the body of Christ. We are to serve and give our lives for the one who served and gave His life for us. Christians have no class, but we have a great ambition, to be true servants of God by faithfully following our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Class distinction is destroying the bond of unity, peace and godliness in the Body of Christ. The worldly crave for class, titles and positions have getting so deep in Church Ministry that every dick, tom and harry want and get consecrated bishop with regalia cassock and robes, rings, big cross neck lace, staff and types of insignia. Special seats in the Church that no other person dare seat on. Like people of the world pastors get all manner of flattery titles and unearned doctoral degrees that most go with their being introduced and reverend or else you invite their wrath. They are so obsessed with this that the Holy Spirit have left many Church Ministry for carnal showmanship and celebrity cum ceremonial services. Has the veil that separate the holy of holies, that separate Jewish worshippers from Gentile worshippers been torn in Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross why all these aberrations?
Even within same Church there are class distinctions to the extent you cannot as a Christian believer seat in certain places in the Church. More or so if you have not gone through certain processes of admittance into the Church fellowship or membership. In some if you have not attain certain requirements you cannot take Holy Communion. What made us Christians different from one another? Is it title, position and status/achievements? We are one. One Lord. One Spirit. One Baptism. One family? No, no class distinction in Christianity (Eph.4). One group that teach and practice this truth even though l don’t agree with their conclusions on many teachings are the Jehovah Witnesses. Here is excerpt of their view on the subject. The Watchtower, April 15th 1955 Issue, Pages 229-230: “Christ made no provision for a clergy-laity distinction in the Christian congregation but said, “Do not you be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, whereas all you are brothers. Moreover, do not call anyone your father on earth, for One is your Father, the heavenly One.” However, he did provide for overseers and assistants, missionaries, shepherds and teachers, “with a view to the training of the holy ones for ministerial work, for the building up of the body of the Christ.” There was no clergy-laity distinction, because all were preachers. Christ set the example for all to follow, even as Paul shows: “Become imitators of me, even as I am of Christ.”-Matt. 23:8, 9; Eph. 4:11, 12; 1 Cor. 11:1, NW.
The Watchtower, November 1st 1957 Issue, Pages 647-648: “NO CHRISTIAN LAITY – Most persons who profess to be Christians think they are doing quite well if, in addition to being honest and giving to charity, they go to church on Sunday, listen to a sermon and contribute toward the clergyman’s salary and the other expenses of their religious organization. No doubt this misapprehension of theirs largely rests on the false distinction between clergy and laity. Such a distinction, while very common among pagan religions, never did have a place in true Christianity; it certainly did not exist in the early Christian congregation. As one religious journal observed in commenting on “Layman’s Sunday”: Not done read next issue part 2.
Dr. Lewis Akpogena
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E-mail: akpogena@yahoo.com
