Under the reign of grace every child of God is a clergyperson. Under the reign of grace every child of God is a part of God's laity. The two are one and the same. A passage which affirms this is 1 Peter 2:9: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people (laity), that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

It is obvious that God's "royal priesthood" today is also His laity. Since all of God's children constitute His "clergy" and since they also constitute his "laity" there should be no distinction in clergy and laity among God's people. Nevertheless, even though God did not make this distinction, Satan has duped us into making it. As a person once said, "God made men and women; Satan made 'clergymen,' and clergymen made 'laymen'!"

This distinction has been slower to infiltrate the Churches of Christ than it has the other denominations, but it has beset us, even the very conservative one cup, no Sunday School segment which has prided itself upon its claim of mutual ministry longer than most of the other segments. We have avoided the language of Rome, not using such terms as "father" and "reverend," but have stuck to scriptural terminology such as evangelist, minister, and preacher. Regardless, a special ministerial class exists among us which has in turn designated the rank and file as a separate laity.

These evangelists, these preachers, occupy a special place among us, performing duties for pay which are responsibilities of all. They dominate the functioning of our assemblies, they dominate congregational decision-making, and they dominate the doing of good works. Congregations have become so dependent upon a special group to lead us, the weaker we become. In this day and age when the value of exercise is seen as so eminently important, the rank and file of Christians have let a few exercise in their behalf, content to sit in a pew an hour or two a week, gradually losing their spiritual tone and becoming weak in faith. They don't link religion and daily life. Somebody else is being paid to be religious for them.

Such a tragedy, indeed.

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