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| {{EarlyChristianityPortal}}
| | #REDIRECT [[Question: Was the priesthood held by Jesus priesthood not 'transferable' to members of the Church?]] |
| ==Criticism==
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| Critics claim that only Jesus held the priesthood, and that such priesthood was not 'transferable' to members of the Church.
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| ===Source(s) of the Criticism===
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| {{SearchForTheTruthDVD}}
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| *Walter Martin, ''The Maze of Mormonism''
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| ==Response==
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| One of the things that people who are opposed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints criticize us for is our belief in the Priesthood. Latter-day Saints believe the Priesthood is the authority God has given man to perform the ordinances (e.g. baptism, sacrament, sealing, etc.) that Jesus has declared to be necessary, in order that the atonement may have full effect in our lives.
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| Our critics oppose the Priesthood, claiming it does not exist among mortals, as Jesus Christ is the only one with the Priesthood. Unfortunately for them, the Bible contradicts them.
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| ===Using old scholarship===
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| Anti-Mormon critics tend to use older references, since these references agree with their idea that the Melchizedek priesthood is "untransferable."
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| However, this view is dated and incorrect. In Bauer's Greek-English lexicon, we read:
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| :''Aparabatos'', on (see parabaino; belonging to later Greek [Phryn. 313 Lob];not LXX) Hebrews 7:24 usually interpreted 'without a successor'. But this meaning is found nowhere else. ''Aparabatos'' rather has the sense of permanent, unchangeable" [followed by citations].{{ref|bauer1}}
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| Thus, it is the ''priesthood'' which is unchangeable, rather than being untransferrable. The critics' stance is not supported by the Biblical text. Rather, the priesthood is a permanent and necessary part of the Church—any Church claiming it is unnecessary does not meet the Biblical model.
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| The ten-volume ''Theological Dictionary of the New Testament'' agrees, in which the word ''aparabatos'' is discussed:
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| :This is a rare word found only in later Greek.... Its usual sense is 'unchangeable,' 'immutable.'"
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| :[after giving examples from secular literature: Plutarch, Josephus, Epictetus, etc]
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| :Hebrews 7.24 says of Christ that because He remains to eternity He has an unchangeable and imperishable priesthood. Instead of the passive 'unchangeable' [743] many expositors suggest the active sense 'which cannot be transferred to another;" 'Christ has a priesthood which cannot be transferred to anyone else' [citing Bengel]. This is a natural interpretation and yields a good sense, but it does not really fit the context. We should keep to the rendering 'unchangeable,' the more so as the active sense is not attested elsewhere." (742-3).{{ref|tdnt}}
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| The statement 'yields a good sense' suggests that those who choose that translation are probably doing so for theological reasons, not grammatical or linguistic reasons; and the ''TDNT'' author is voting against such a choice.
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| In a review of Walter Martin's book, ''The Maze of Mormonism'', in which Martin bases his argument against the Melchizedek Priesthood on the interpretation of "unchangeable" being "non-transferable, Richard Lloyd Anderson informs us that:
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| :''Instead of treating descriptions in the Acts or Pastoral Letters concerning the bestowal of apostolic authority on others, Martin prefers to base his case on a dubious translation of Hebrews 7:24, maintaining that Christ's priesthood is "untransferable." But his vintage 1889 citation from Thayer's lexicon for this use is squarely contradicted by the best authorities in the field. The lexicon of Arndt-Gingrich (in agreement with Moulton-Milligan) gives more than a dozen secular uses of the period to show that the term in question (''aparabatos'') "rather has the sense permanent, unchangeable." The point of the passage is not that Christ's priesthood cannot be transferred, but that it permanently remains superior, as does he, to all other authority.''{{ref|byus1}}
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| So we see that it is incorrect to interpret "unchangeable" as "nontransferable."
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| ===Additional evidence===
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| :The rather late Christian understanding that Jesus would be the last High Priest of the Melchizedek order (see Hebrew 7:24, marginal reading no. 5 in most King James Version translations) is based on an erroneous interpretation of the Greek word aparabaton which does not mean "intransmissible" but means "unchangeable" when referring to Jesus' priesthood.{{ref|brown1}}
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| And:
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| :''God's promises to Abraham are extended to all who come unto Christ: Jesus was a priest after the order of Melchizedek, who was the priest who blessed Abraham, in whose loins was Levi. The superiority of Christ's Melchizedek Priesthood over the Levitical priesthood and the Law of Moses is developed in chapter 7. Melchizedek was a type of Christ. His priesthood was more enduring than the Levitical priesthood, which was limited to blood lines and was not given with an oath and whose priests did not continue because of death and needed daily renewal (Heb. 7:3, 21, 23, 27). The Melchizedek order of priesthood, however, was directed by Jesus Christ, who, unlike the high priest under the Law of Moses on the annual Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:4), did not need to "offer sacrifice for his own sins, for he knew no sins" (JST Heb. 7:26). His priesthood was ''aparabatos''meaning "permanent, unchangeable, and incomparable" (Heb. 7:24). No other priesthood will succeed it. It will be the permanent power of salvation and eternal lives within Christ's church forever more'' (see TPJS, 166, 322)''{{ref|eom1}}
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| ===Modern Bible translations===
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| More modern versions of the Bible agree with this interpretation.
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| ;Hebrews 7:24 (NIV)
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| :''but because Jesus lives forever, he has a ''permanent'' priesthood.'' (emphasis added)
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| ;Hebrews 7:24 (NASB)
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| :''but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood ''permanently''.'' (emphasis added)
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| ;Hebrews 7:24 (RSV)
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| :''but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues for ever.'' (emphasis added)
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| The critics' interpretation of "unchangeable" to mean "non-transferable" does not stand up to scripture, correct doctrine, Biblical scholarship, or Greek terminology.
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| ''For an examination of Bible teachings about priesthood authority, see:'' [[What does the Bible teach about priesthood|What does the Bible teach about priesthood?]].
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| ===Why the opposition to priesthood?===
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| It is understandable that creedal Protestant Christians (who make up the vast majority of sectarian anti-Mormons) desperately need the priesthood, as understood by Latter-day Saints, to be non-existent today. The whole idea of authority, direct from God, being necessary for the saving ordinances of mankind, completely undermines and destroys the traditionally accepted doctrine that one is "saved by faith alone." It also completely destroys their own claims to authority, since they are the result of a break-off from the Roman Catholic faith.
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| If the Catholics did not have the priesthood authority, then the Protestants cannot have taken it with them. Hence, they are anxious to claim a "priesthood of all believers," or claim priesthood isn't needed at all.
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| If the Catholics ''did'' have the authority, then Protestants were wrong to leave in the first place.
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| And, the Church rejected the view that the priesthood was "non-transferrable." Biblical scholarship has now "caught up" to this view, but Joseph Smith had it right in the first place.
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| ==Endnotes==
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| #{{note|bauer1}} Reference "aparabatos," in Walter Bauer and Frederick William Danker (editors), ''A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature '', 3rd edition, (Urbana and Chicago, University Of Chicago Press, 2001), 97. ISBN 0226039331.
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| #{{note|tdnt1}} Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich (editors), Geoffrey W. Bromiley (translator), ''Theological Dictionary of the New Testament'' (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), 5: 742-743.
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| #{{note|benson1}} {{TETB1|start=223}}
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| #{{note|richards1}} LeGrand Richards, ''A Marvelous Work and a Wonder'', Ch.9, p.84
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| #{{note|byus1}} {{BYUS1|author=Richard Lloyd Anderson|start=60|num=1|vol=6|date=NEEDED|article=NEEDED}}{{nc}}{{nl}}
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| #{{note|brown1}} {{BYUS1|author=S. Kent Brown|start=56|start=56|vol=23|num=1|article=NEED|date=NEED}}{{nc}}{{nl}}
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| #{{note|eom1}} {{EoM1|vol=2|article=Epistle to the Hebrews|author=???}}{{nl}}{{nc}}
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| ==Further reading==
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| ===FAIR wiki articles===
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| {{ApostasyWiki}}
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| {{PriesthoodWiki}}
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| ===FAIR web site===
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| {{ApostasyFAIR}}
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| {{PriesthoodFAIR}}
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| ===External links===
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| {{ApostasyLinks}}
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| {{PriesthoodLinks}}
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| ===Printed material===
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| {{ApostasyPrint}}
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| {{PriesthoodPrint}}
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