Editing Priesthood of all believers (section)

===Lutheranism===
While [[Martin Luther]] did not use the phrase "priesthood of all believers", he adduces a general priesthood in Christendom in his 1520 ''[[To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation]]'' in order to dismiss the medieval view that Christians in the present life were to be divided into two classes: "spiritual" and "[[Secularity|secular]]". He put forward the doctrine that all [[baptism|baptized]] Christians are "priests" and "spiritual" in the sight of [[God]]:

{{Quote|That the pope or bishop anoints, makes tonsures, ordains, consecrates, or dresses differently from the laity, may make a hypocrite or an idolatrous oil-painted icon, but it in no way makes a Christian or spiritual human being. In fact, we are all consecrated priests through Baptism, as St. Peter in [[1 Peter 2:9|1 Peter 2]][:9] says, "You are a royal priesthood and a priestly kingdom," and Revelation [5:10], "Through your blood you have made us into priests and kings."<ref>Martin Luther, ''Weimar Ausgabe'', vol. 6, p. 407, lines 19–25 as quoted in Timothy Wengert, "The Priesthood of All Believers and Other Pious Myths," page 12 {{cite web |url=http://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=ils_papers |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-06-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011213718/http://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=ils_papers |archive-date=2015-10-11 }}.</ref>}}

Two months later Luther would write in his ''[[On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church]]'' (1520):

{{Quote|How then if they are forced to admit that we are all equally priests, as many of us as are baptized, and by this way we truly are; while to them is committed only the Ministry (''ministerium'') and consented to by us (''nostro consensu'')? If they recognize this they would know that they have no right to exercise power over us (''ius imperii'', in what has not been committed to them) except insofar as we may have granted it to them, for thus it says in [[1 Peter 2]], "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a priestly kingdom." In this way we are all priests, as many of us as are Christians. There are indeed priests whom we call ministers. They are chosen from among us, and who do everything in our name. That is a priesthood which is nothing else than the Ministry. Thus [[1 Corinthians 4]]:1: "No one should regard us as anything else than ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God."<ref>''De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium'' [''Prelude concerning the Babylonian Captivity of the church''], ''Weimar Ausgabe'' 6, 564.6–14 as quoted in Norman Nagel, "Luther and the Priesthood of All Believers", ''[[Concordia Theological Quarterly]]'' 61 (October 1997) 4:283-84.</ref>}}

The belief in the priesthood of all believers does not preclude order, authority or discipline within congregations or denominational organizations. For example, Lutheranism maintains the doctrine of "the [[preaching]] office" or the "office of the holy [[Minister (Christianity)|ministry]]" established by God in the Christian Church. The [[Augsburg Confession]] states:

{{Quote| [From Article 5:] To obtain such (saving) faith God instituted the office of preaching, giving the gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] who produces faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the gospel ... [Article 14:] Concerning church government it is taught that no one should publicly teach, preach, or administer the sacraments without a proper [public] call.<ref>Articles 4, 5, and 14 of the [[Augsburg Confession]] in Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, trans. and eds., ''The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church'', (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 39, 40, 46.</ref>}}