Matthew 23:8, . . . and all ye are brethren.

[JD731]

Going back as far as chapter 9 (which is not that far. It is all the same epistle) you will find the phrase “the service of God.” This comes in a list of things that the Jews owned as duties and privileges. The following chapters present Israel’s rejection and gentile acceptance of these things.
While the term priesthood or priest are not used, “the service of God” refers specifically to the ministration in the temple.

I think you are not right about this. There are not two more Jewish chapters in Romans than Romans 9 and 10. As a matter of fact if you fail to fit Rom 7:1 through Romans 11:12 into a Jewish context and accept that Paul is explaining what God is doing with the Jews since the cross and resurrection and why he is doing it you will have little success in understanding his present purpose in this age. and why he allowed the gentiles to be partakers in the purpose.

Here is what Romans 7:1 says;
Ro 7:1 ¶ Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
He is speaking to Jews and proselytes.

Here is what Romans 11:12 says.
Ro 11:12 Now if the fall of them (Israel) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

Then he begins to speak to gentiles in Verse 13 (imagine that number) about Israel and their failure and why he later grafted the gentile tree into the root after the natural branches were cut off.

He leaves off speaking to them that knows the law and begins speaking to you gentiles to fill their place.

13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:


Jesus himself told us during his last days on the earth before the Jews killed him that this would happen and we can see the reason. Follow the prophesy;

Lu 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
15 ¶ And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden (that would be the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea - Acts 1-7)), Come; for all things are now ready.
18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. (This is Acts 8-9) the Samaritans and strangers and foreigners.
22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, (the world of gentiles) -( Why Lord?) that my house may be filled.
24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

Now we know why we gentiles are partakers with Israel in the family / house. It is because the Jews, those bidden, would not come. History tells us that. God then invited Samaritans and the gentiles.

Now, still talking to gentiles about Israel, Paul says this;

Rom 11:24 For if thou (gentiles) wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these (Israel who were cut off) , which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, (how long?) until the (remember, the purpose for bringing in the less desired was to fill up his house) fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: (Jacob is the family of Israel before they are saved)
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

God is not attempting to make an Israel, he is making a bride. There will be a marriage supper and it will be a gentile bride. Someone has said in the past that there is a priesthood of the believer and it has become a Baptist doctrine. I am going to have to be convinced.

 

[Ben1445]

The epistle is to the Romans. Romans are gentiles. Rome is, at the time of writing, the seat of government over the whole world. The Date is 58 AD. It is the sixth of Paul's thirteen letters. The history that has passed from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the beginning of his church is 28 years. It is 18 years since God opened the door of faith to gentiles through the preaching of Peter at the house of the Italian, Cornelius, in Acts 10 and was when God began saving them who would believe the gospel. This would have been in 40 AD. Paul would write this letter from the city of Corinth and the record of the time frame was after he first met Aquila and his wife Pricilla who were chased out of Rome by Claudius because they were Jews. The secular history books says he chased the Jews out of Rome sometimes during the decade of the 50.s.

Acts 18:1 ¶ After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;
2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome) and came unto them.
3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

Now, here is the point. There can not be an effective gospel without a series of historical events that shapes the workings of this age going forward and there cannot be a need for an explanation concerning the two groups, Jews and gentiles without a good deal of that history being already in the past. So Romans is the letter that explains the history that has unfolded so far in Acts 1-18 and defines the intentions of God for these two groups that have been, and mostly still are, enemies (he has dealt with both groups extensively up to chapter120). He is going to mesh both groups together IN CHRIST, that is in a new family that is neither Jewish or gentile, if and when they will be converted by faith in Jesus Christ.

There is therefore no mention about a priesthood because holding on to Jewish religious practices would certainly not endear the gentiles to Jesus. It would more likely drive them away. What would gentiles in Italy know about a priesthood in 58 AD any ways? The idea is to give them light into the things of God, not to confuse them.

God is not dealing with the church at Rome as servants, but as sons. Honoring God with our lives is a reasonable service.

This doesn’t change the fact that we are made kings and priests. I only meant to point out to you that the service of God is mentioned and noted as obtained not by the Jews but by the Gentiles grafted in. Priestly duties mentioned and noted as reasonable service for the gentiles. Note that those are the only two uses of that Greek word in the Book of Romans.
In my opinion, it is not accurate to say that Paul never mentions the priesthood of the believer.
I also believe Paul wrote Hebrews, but as that is up for debate, I only enter Hebrews as general teaching about priests and believers rather than Paul’s teaching.

 

[Ben1445]

I think you are not right about this. There are not two more Jewish chapters in Romans than Romans 9 and 10. As a matter of fact if you fail to fit Rom 7:1 through Romans 11:12 into a Jewish context and accept that Paul is explaining what God is doing with the Jews since the cross and resurrection and why he is doing it you will have little success in understanding his present purpose in this age. and why he allowed the gentiles to be partakers in the purpose.

Here is what Romans 7:1 says;
Ro 7:1 ¶ Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
He is speaking to Jews and proselytes.

Here is what Romans 11:12 says.
Ro 11:12 Now if the fall of them (Israel) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

Then he begins to speak to gentiles in Verse 13 (imagine that number) about Israel and their failure and why he later grafted the gentile tree into the root after the natural branches were cut off.

He leaves off speaking to them that knows the law and begins speaking to you gentiles to fill their place.

13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:


Jesus himself told us during his last days on the earth before the Jews killed him that this would happen and we can see the reason. Follow the prophesy;

Lu 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
15 ¶ And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden (that would be the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea - Acts 1-7)), Come; for all things are now ready.
18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. (This is Acts 8-9) the Samaritans and strangers and foreigners.
22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, (the world of gentiles) -( Why Lord?) that my house may be filled.
24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

Now we know why we gentiles are partakers with Israel in the family / house. It is because the Jews, those bidden, would not come. History tells us that. God then invited Samaritans and the gentiles.

Now, still talking to gentiles about Israel, Paul says this;

Rom 11:24 For if thou (gentiles) wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these (Israel who were cut off) , which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, (how long?) until the (remember, the purpose for bringing in the less desired was to fill up his house) fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: (Jacob is the family of Israel before they are saved)
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

God is not attempting to make an Israel, he is making a bride. There will be a marriage supper and it will be a gentile bride. Someone has said in the past that there is a priesthood of the believer and it has become a Baptist doctrine. I am going to have to be convinced.

John said it. That is good enough for me.
Once you accept it as John wrote it, you can begin to look for it and an amazing world of what God has planned and accomplishes in us becomes evident.
Trust me on this one. Accept it as John stated it in Revelation 1. There are so many beautiful pictures of the believer in the Old and New Testaments.

Remember that we inherit with Christ.

Romans 8:17
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Remember that we will be like Him.

1 John 3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Then, study it out. God has likened us to so much in Scripture. The kingdom of heaven is likened to many things. Getting a new comparison doesn’t negate the last.
But we are not only likened in the context of kings and priests.
If you refuse to acknowledge it, you will never see it. That is the way with a lot of truths. This is worth the discovery.

 

[JD731]

This doesn’t change the fact that we are made kings and priests. I only meant to point out to you that the service of God is mentioned and noted as obtained not by the Jews but by the Gentiles grafted in. Priestly duties mentioned and noted as reasonable service for the gentiles. Note that those are the only two uses of that Greek word in the Book of Romans.
In my opinion, it is not accurate to say that Paul never mentions the priesthood of the believer.
I also believe Paul wrote Hebrews, but as that is up for debate, I only enter Hebrews as general teaching about priests and believers rather than Paul’s teaching.

Hey Ben1445, I have attempted to show you how I am drawing my conclusions but admit I see through a glass darkly. I have partial knowledge but thank God for his wonderful word. I find that sometimes I must adjust my conclusions because of more light. Thank you for the discussion on this subject and God bless.