Most Protestants, either by conviction or force of habit, have an aversion to priests in New Testament worship. Some ancient writers felt the same way, boasting that such Jewish trappings had been abandoned under the New Covenant. Nevertheless, priests, altars and sacrifices were not altogether missing in the writings of the apostles and descriptions of the ancient liturgy. Just as we have on other occasions encouraged Christians to become familiar with New Testament sacrifices as an apostolic imperative (Philippians 4:18, 1 Peter 2:5), Christians will also do well to understand why some early writers embraced the idea not only of sacrificial altars but also of a sacrificial priesthood, and even “high priests,” to minister at them. Let us set aside (for a moment) the objection to having priests, and focus instead on what those priests were supposed to be offering. Once we do that, instead of finding the later Roman Catholic medieval aberrations, we find an implicitly Protestant liturgy reflecting a desire to live out the new role of Christians as a peculiar, royal priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices in a spiritual temple (1 Peter 2:4-9). Under that construct, ancient Christians celebrated both the end of all propitiatory sacrifices for sin and embraced Malachi’s prophecy of an acceptable well-pleasing sacrifice of New Covenant worship (Malachi 1:10-11), complete with priests, high priests, altars, oblations and, in a figurative sense “incense” to accompany the sacrifices.

The End of Jewish Sacrifices

On the one hand, the widespread understanding of the end of priests, altars and sacrifices is evident from Origen of Alexandria (AD 235), who provides a succinct summary of the liturgical implications of the death of the Law:

“But if you wish to be taught how the Law is dead, look and see. Where now are the sacrifices? Where now is the altar? … Is not the Law dead in all these things?” (Origen, Homilies on Genesis, Homily VI, 3)

Lactantius (AD 311) said the only altar that remains for the Christian is that “which is placed in the heart of man” upon which spiritual sacrifices are offered (Divine Institutes 6.24)—his breast an “uncorrupted temple” (Divine Institutes 1.20)—for the temple of God “is not stones or clay, but man himself, who bears the image of God” (Divine Institutes 5.8). Of “sacrifices,” “oblations” and “incense,” first century Barnabas writes, “He has therefore abolished these things that the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is without the yoke of necessity, might have a human oblation” of “a broken spirit” (Epistle of Barnabas 2). Literal altars, priests, sacrifices and incense had ended. So it would seem.

The New Sacrificial Liturgy

On the other hand, to these rejections of literal altars, priests, sacrifices and incense, we may add a plethora of enthusiastic affirmations. These ancient liturgical writings attested to—just as emphatically as Barnabas, Lactantius and Origen had denied—a new liturgical order in which a Christian priest offers literal sacrifices on an altar to God. The apostles themselves insisted as much, speaking of priests offering sweet-smelling odours and well-pleasing sacrifices in a New Testament temple:

“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)

“We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.” (Hebrews 13:10)

“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15-16)

“But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.” (Philippians 4:18)

As with the apostolic writings, we also find in the ancient literature references to priests and high priests offering oblations and incense to God on an altar. Even Lactantius, who denied a literal temple and literal altar, nevertheless insisted that the Church is the new temple, “and if any one has not sacrificed in this, he will not have the reward of immortality” (Divine Institutes 4.14). High priests, altars, incense and sacrifices? What on Earth were they talking about?

The Malachi Prophecy

In a word, they were talking about Malachi. Displeased with Jewish burnt offerings at His altar, the Lord stated through him that one day the Gentiles would offer acceptable incense and oblations to Him.

“Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 1:10-11)

It wasn’t the Jews who introduced priests, altars, incense and sacrifices into the New Testament religion, and Roman Catholicism was certainly not the first to think of it, being three centuries late to the game. No, Christ’s Church was only too eager to engage in this new priestly sacrificial order, for she saw herself as the New Temple in which a new priesthood would fulfill the Malachi prophecy. Providing for the needs of the poor, attended by effusive praises of gratitude to God for the harvest and by supplications for continued provisions for His flock, would be, respectively, the oblations and the incense of that prophecy. The fruit of the harvest was the “oblation” Malachi had foreseen, and the accompanying prayers, the “incense.”

For this reason, the ancient liturgical sacrifice came to be called by its two constituent parts identified so long ago by Malachi: “thanksgiving” and “prayer.” And so the ancients described that liturgical sacrifice for centuries:

• Justin: “prayers and giving of thanks, when offered by worthy men, are the only perfect and well-pleasing sacrifices to God” (Dialogue with Trypho 117).

• Irenæus: “the Church alone offers this pure oblation to the Creator, offering to Him, with giving of thanks, [the things taken] from His creation … The altar, then, is in heaven (for towards that place are our prayers and oblations directed)” (Against Heresies 4.18.6).

• Tertullian: “offer unto God in the temple a gift, even prayer and thanksgiving in the church through Christ Jesus” (Against Marcion 4.9).

• Origen: “And to the Word Himself shall we also pray and make intercessions, and offer thanksgivings and supplications to Him” (Against Celsus 5.4).

• Lactantius: “Now let us speak briefly concerning sacrifice itself. … ‘let us give Him thanks, and adore Him’ … Therefore the chief ceremonial in the worship of God is praise from the mouth of a just man directed towards God” (Divine Institutes 6.25).

• Didascalia: “instead of the sacrifices which then were, offer now prayers and petitions and thanksgivings” (chapter 9).

• Cyprian: “And when we meet together with the brethren in one place, and celebrate divine sacrifices with God’s priest, we ought to be mindful of modesty and discipline — not to throw abroad our prayers indiscriminately … Since we are to pray and give thanks to God for ever, let us not cease in this life also to pray and give thanks.” (Treatise 4: On the Lord’s Prayer, 4 & 36). [H/T: Derek Ramsey]

• Eusebius: “we sacrifice and offer incense: On the one hand when we celebrate the Memorial of His great Sacrifice according to the Mysteries He delivered to us, and bring to God the Eucharist for our salvation with holy hymns and prayers” (Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10).

• Athanasius: “‘pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks‘ … the sacrifice is not offered in one place … in every place, praise and prayer shall ascend to the gracious and good Father” (Festal Letter 11.11).

• Aphrahat: “When you are provided for from his good things, give thanks to the Giver. … Observe, my friend, that sacrifices and offerings have been rejected, and that prayer has been chosen instead” (Demonstrations, On Prayer 17, 19).

We have highlighted each reference to “thanksgiving” in these citations because in Greek, “giving thanks” is “eucharist.” Thus in such cases as these, the oblation of the New Covenant may be understood as “eucharist” with prayers, just as Ignatius had suggested when he said the Gnostic heretics of his day abstained from the sacrifice: “They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer” (to the Smyrnæans 7). Thus the Didascalia cited above, having said that we offer “prayers and petitions and thanksgivings” in the place of sacrifices, restates it in summary fashion only a few chapters later: Jesus’ words “offer thy gift upon the altar” (Matthew 5:23) refer to prayer and thanksgiving, or rather to prayer and Eucharist: “Now the gift of God is our prayer and our Eucharist” (chapter 11).

In this way, the ancient writers observed and recorded for us something that may initially strike a discordant tune in the Protestant ear: sacrifice. But the tune is rather more euphonic than the sensitive Protestant reaction might suggest. A Eucharist sacrifice is exactly what Malachi had in mind, and it is precisely what the Apostles prescribed for us in their writings, and it is exactly what the ancient writers understood when they described their New Testament liturgy.

Priests of the New Testament Sacrifice

The best way to appreciate how the very early Christians understood the New Testament priesthood, is to understand how they understood the New Testament sacrifice. To put it another way, to understand the New Testament priesthood, we must understand what the priests thought they were sacrificing. Once that is understood, both the sacrifice and the priesthood not only become less offensive to Protestant ears, but in fact become strikingly familiar to him. He will therefore see in the ancient priestly offerings a liturgy very much like his own today, for the Protestant now offers the same Eucharistic sacrifice the earliest Christians did.

Didache (1st century)

The earliest extrascriptural mention of a Christian sacrificial priesthood is found in the Didache, one of the first accounts of the ancient liturgy. Recall from Nehemiah that “it is written in the law … that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God” (Nehemiah 10:36-37). Such was the Law’s instruction to the people to bring their tithes to the priests, that the Levites and the poor may be filled: “When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase,” it was to be given “unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled” (Deuteronomy 26:12). The tithe was for the priest and for the poor.

Following this moral imperative to set aside the best of the harvest, the author of the Didache saw in the Nehemiah’s offering of firstfruits, “dough,” “wine” and “oil” an analog of the New Testament liturgy. In the New Testament, the people would bring their offering to the “prophet” or “teacher” who would then lead them in the offering of thanks. If such a prophet or teacher was lacking, the Christian could give the firstfruits, dough, wine and oil directly to the poor. The “prophet” was, in this case, the New Testament analog for the High Priest of the Old Testament, and—note well—Old Testament dough, wine and oil offerings were therefore analogous to the tithe oblation, which could include Eucharist sacrifices of “money,” “clothing,” and “every possession”:

“But every true prophet that wills to abide among you is worthy of his support. So also a true teacher is himself worthy, as the workman, of his support. Every first-fruit, therefore, of the products of wine-press and threshing-floor, of oxen and of sheep, you shall take and give to the prophets, for they are your high priests. But if you have not a prophet, give it to the poor. If you make a batch of dough, take the first-fruit and give according to the commandment. So also when you open a jar of wine or of oil, take the first-fruit and give it to the prophets; and of money (silver) and clothing and every possession, take the first-fruit, as it may seem good to you, and give according to the commandment.” (Didache 13).

The “high priest” described by the Didache did not offer blood sacrifices. Rather he was a “prophet” or “teacher” who offered “Eucharist,” the thank offering of first-fruits of the harvest, of money, of clothing, of “every possession.” The reason there was a priestly role at all was not because there was a New Covenant blood sacrifice to be continued, but because Malachi had foreseen an offering of firstfruits by the Gentiles. Thus the Didache says, “every Lord’s day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.” This, the author says, is the sacrifice Malachi had foreseen: “In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice” (Didache 13). The use of “High Priest” to describe the minister’s role in the Didache will at first offend the Protestant ear, until he reads what was offered. It was a tithe offering, and the “high priest” was merely the “prophet” or “teacher” leading the congregation in public prayers and thanks for the Lord’s provisions that had been collected from the gathered Christians.

What is so striking about the Eucharist Prayers of firstfruit tithes for the “high priest” and the poor is that nothing is mentioned about offering the body and blood of Christ. Rather the Eucharist is performed by taking the cup and loaf in hand, and thanking the Lord for gathering and loving His Church, as the cup and loaf had also been gathered:

“Now concerning the Thanksgiving, thus give thanks. First, concerning the cup: We thank you, our Father … And concerning the broken bread: We thank You, our Father… Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth” (Didache 13).

At no point in the liturgy of the Didache are Jesus’ body and blood offered. Only the first fruits of the harvest with prayers, which is to say, only the Eucharist with prayers. And since the local prophet or teacher led those prayers over the offerings, they called him “high priest,” a term considerably less offensive once the Protestant sees that the sacrifice was simply the tithe with prayers of thanksgiving—a collection not unlike his own typical offertory on any given Sunday morning. The modern equivalent of those offerings are spent on the minister (who leads the prayers) and on the poor—just as the offerings brought to the priests of the Old Testament were used to feed the Levites, widows, orphans and strangers. And since the ancient Christian offering was a New Testament analog of an Old Testament firstfruits oblation, the person praying over those offerings was considered a New Testament analog of an Old Testament priest.

Clement of Rome (1st Century)

Much has been made by Roman Catholics of the first century author of First Clement making references to liturgical “sacrifices” that are offered by the presbyters. For example, Catholic Answers cites the letter to justify the modern Roman mass sacrifice:

“Our sin will not be small if we eject from the episcopate those who blamelessly and holily have offered its sacrifices.” (Letter to the Corinthians 44:4–5 [A.D. 80]).” (Catholic Answers, The Sacrifice of the Mass)

As if the mere mention of “sacrifices” could persuade us that the body and blood of Christ are to be offered in our liturgy. But the letter to Corinth says something considerably different than Catholic Answers has suggested here. The ancient presbyters indeed offered sacrifices, and with a little investigation we can discover what those sacrifices were.

The original the passage refers rather to the presbyters faithfully offering “the gifts (τὰ δῶρα)” (Migne P.G., vol I, 300)—a plain reference to the honorable handling of the tithe offerings. The word, dora (δῶρα) is the same word used in the Gospel of Luke to refer to the tithes being deposited into the temple treasury (Luke 21:1). In this very letter, Clement also instructed the rich to “provide for the wants of the poor” and the poor to “bless God” for the rich “by whom his need may be supplied” for “we ought for everything to give Him thanks (eucharist, ευχαριστειν)” (Clement, to the Corinthians 38; Migne P.G., vol I, 285). The truth is, in paragraph 44 of his letter, Clement had described the presbyters’ faithful and honorable handling of the tithes that had been brought to them, not an alleged offering of consecrated bread and wine. And their sacrifice was not unlike that of Protestants today, who entrust their offerings to elders, presbyters and pastors who faithfully handle the gifts, using them appropriately for the ministry of the Gospel and to provide for the needs of the poor.

Justin Martyr (AD 150)

Justin rejected a New Testament priestly caste, insisting rather that all Christians belong to “the true high priestly race of God, as even God Himself bears witness, saying that ‘in every place among the Gentiles sacrifices are presented to Him well-pleasing and pure’ [Malachi 1:11].’ Now God receives sacrifices from no one, except through His priests” (Dialogue with Trypho 116). It is here that Justin acknowledges that in the Old Testament, God called the prayers of His people “sacrifices.” He continues: “Now, that prayers and giving of thanks, when offered by worthy men, are the only perfect and well-pleasing sacrifices to God, I also admit”  (Dialogue with Trypho 117). In Justin, all Christians are members of a “priestly race,” God only receives sacrifices through “His priests,” and those sacrifices are comprised of “prayers and giving of thanks” offered by His people, which are, according to Malachi’s prophecy, the only acceptable sacrifice of the Christian religion. And Justin acknowledges these are the only perfect and well-pleasing sacrifices.

It is in his First Apology that Justin identifies the constituent parts of that New Testament priestly sacrifice. Only when a catechumen joins the Church and is baptized, is he finally allowed to participate in that sacrifice, being brought “to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized person” (First Apology 65). Those “hearty prayers” are about thanks for creation and the harvest, and prayers for the needs of the people: “to offer thanks by invocations and hymns for our creation, and for all the means of health, and for the various qualities of the different kinds of things, and for the changes of the seasons; and to present before Him petitions” (First Apology 13). Thanks “for our creation” and “the changes of the seasons.” He is referring to gratitude for the harvest. In fact, Justin again says here that such prayers with an offering of the first fruits of the harvest for the poor, are the only sacrifice the Christian priesthood can offer, just as Malachi prophesied:

“He has no need of streams of blood and libations and incense; whom we praise to the utmost of our power by the exercise of prayer and thanksgiving for all things wherewith we are supplied, as we have been taught that the only honour that is worthy of Him is not to consume by fire [Malachi 1:10] what He has brought into being for our sustenance, but to use it for ourselves and those who need” (First Apology 13).

The New Testament sacrifice in Justin was a tithe offering of the firstfruits of the harvest for the poor, with prayers of gratitude and supplication. Or more succinctly, Eucharist and prayer, offered corporately by the new priestly caste.

Thus, when Justin depicts the Christian liturgy in his First Apology, he has the people offering prayers with the “president” of the ceremony, and then bread and cup brought forward to the “president” who continues in the offering of thanks, followed by a distribution of the gifts to the poor:

“There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen.” (First Apology 65).

“And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.” (First Apology 66).

These—thanks for the firstfruits, prayers, and setting aside some of the harvest for the poor—according to Justin, are the only acceptable sacrifices by the priestly race of Christians. Christians gather together to offer it, and the minister concludes the offering, just as the Didache depicted, taking cup and loaf in hand to thank the Lord for saving His people. If there are “priests” in the New Covenant, their sacrifice is the one Malachi foresaw, and according to Justin, Malachi foresaw a thank offering of tithes to support the poor.

Justin has therefore described for us a sacrifice similar to the typical Protestant sacrifice on Sunday morning. The plate is passed, the people contribute, the offertory is brought forward to the minister, or “president,” who leads the congregation in prayers of gratitude. The gifts are then used for the gospel ministry in support of the minister and to feed widows, orphans and strangers—the only acceptable sacrifice to the Lord, according to Justin.

Irenæus (AD 189)

Like Justin, Irenæus understood all Christians to be of the Levitical caste, participating in a priestly ritual at a sacrificial altar. “For all the righteous possess the sacerdotal rank. And all the apostles of the Lord are priests, who do inherit here neither lands nor houses, but serve God and the altar continually. … To His disciples He said, who had a priesthood of the Lord” (Against Heresies, 4.8.3). Again in the next book: “Now, in the preceding book I have shown that all the disciples of the Lord are Levites and priests” (Against Heresies 5.34.3)

Thus, Irenæus had no qualms with a New Covenant priesthood, complete with altar and—as we shall see—sacrifice. This, too, will strike a discordant tone to the conscientious Protestant, but once the sacrifice itself is understood, the offense will dissipate as well. Irenæus, as those before him, believed the Malachi prophecy was fulfilled in Christians offering gratitude to the Lord through their tithes and accompanying prayers. One need not read far in Irenæus to discover this very construct.

As with the Didache, Irenæus believed the New Covenant oblation consisted of the best of our belongings, offered to Him in gratitude. Like Clement, he saw the Presbyters presenting gifts as a liturgical offering for the poor, equivalent to the widow’s mite, and like Justin, he saw the liturgical sacrifice as a tithe offering of the first fruits of the harvest for the widow, the orphan and the stranger.

The “oblation” of Malachi’s prophecy was fulfilled in the offering of “first-fruits,” (Against Heresies 4.17.5). And the “incense” of his prophecy was fulfilled in “the prayers of the saints” (Against Heresies 4.17.6). These were offered together on an altar in Heaven by the new priestly caste: “The altar, then, is in heaven (for towards that place are our prayers and oblations directed)” (Against Heresies 4.18.6). Although Irenæus did not verbalize the logical implications in precise terms, it may be drawn out from him as a necessity: all Christians are “priests” who fulfill Malachi’s prophecy by offering “incense” of prayers and “oblations” of first fruits on a heavenly altar, and thus in corporate worship the presbyters function as “high priests”, leading and performing the offering when the saints are gathered together. This is no more offensive to Protestant ears than a typical Sunday morning offertory at church when the collection plate is brought to the Pastor, Elder or Minister who leads the people in concluding the prayers and thanks.

Much consternation, however, has been introduced—to great rhetorical effect—by Catholics and Orthodox because Irenæus said Jesus “taught the new oblation of the new covenant” at the Last Supper (Against Heresies 4.17.5). Indeed, he did. But attempts to make the Lord’s Supper itself the “new oblation of the new covenant” are undermined by Irenæus himself. Although he taught that the “new oblation” was indeed established at the Last Supper, he did not believe the Lord’s Supper itself was the “new oblation.” On this point he is quite clear.

To understand Irenæus’ view of the liturgy, it is important to know that Jesus, as an adult male, was obligated under the Law to offer two sacrifices to His Father at Passover, a truth reflected explicitly in Irenæus’ writings. The first sacrifice was to be a thank offering at the Feast of Unleavened Bread as a token of gratitude to the Lord: “they shall not appear before the LORD empty: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee” (Deuteronomy 16:16-17). According to Exodus 23:19, that offering consisted of “the first of the firstfruits of thy land.” The second sacrifice was an offering of a Passover lamb as prescribed by the Law in Deuteronomy 16:6. As such, Irenæus believed Jesus had performed two sacrifices in His last 24 hours on Earth: the first sacrifice at the Last Supper, and the second at the Cross.

When Irenæus says Jesus instituted the “new oblation” at the Last Supper, he says Jesus “[gave] directions to His disciples to offer to God the first-fruits of His own, created things” (Against Heresies 4.17.5), explaining that Christians are therefore obligated, in imitation of Him, to offer their belongings to the Lord, just as the widow had (Against Heresies 4.18.2), that we be found “neither unfruitful nor ungrateful” (Against Heresies 4.17.5). On what basis are Christians so obligated? Because we are commanded to imitate Jesus’ offering of first fruits at the Last Supper, by which He fulfilled His obligation under Deuteronomy 16:16: “We are bound, therefore, to offer to God the first-fruits of His creation, as Moses also says, ‘You shall not appear in the presence of the Lord your God empty’ … being accounted as grateful” (Against Heresies 4.18.1). This, Irenæus says, is the “new oblation” Jesus instituted the night before He died, and he links it explicitly to the “firstfruit” offering Christ was obligated to present to the Lord on the Day of Unleavened Bread. He insists that Jesus fulfilled this “first fruit” offering not at the Cross but at His Last Supper.

Of the second sacrifice, the Passover lamb, Irenæus is unequivocal in His insistence that Jesus fulfilled it not at the Last Supper but at the Cross, appealing to Deuteronomy 16:6. Of this sacrifice he writes:

“Of the day of His passion … at that very festival, which had been proclaimed such a long time previously by Moses, did our Lord suffer, thus fulfilling the passover. And he did not describe the day only, but the place also, and the time of day at which the sufferings ceased, and the sign of the setting of the sun, saying: ‘ … in the place which the Lord your God shall choose that His name be called on there, you shall sacrifice the passover at even, towards the setting of the sun’ [Deuteronomy 16:6]” (Against Heresies, 4.10.1)

Thus, of the two sacrifices Jesus offered on His last day on Earth, the first was a “first fruit” offering for the poor (Deuteronomy 16:16-17), and the second was Himself as the Passover Lamb (Deuteronomy 16:6). It is the first that He commanded us to imitate, not the second. These are by no means “one and the same” sacrifice as Catholics claim (CCC 1367), and it is the former, not the latter, that Irenæus says Jesus instituted as the “new oblation of the new covenant” the night before He died.

This thinking in Irenæus may be confirmed another way by analyzing the original Greek in the relevant passage of Against Heresies when Irenæus discusses the “new oblation.” In the Latin rendering of the passage (widely known to be erroneous) Irenæus is alleged to state that the offering of the new covenant is the Lord’s Supper: “the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation (invocationem) of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly” (Against Heresies 4.18.5). This rendering suggests that the bread of the Lord’s Supper, once it is consecrated at the invocation, takes on two realities, “earthly and heavenly” such that in the Eucharistic sacrifice “we offer to Him His own [Son]” (Against Heresies 4.18.5). But the Greek does not support such a reading. Rather than επικλυσιν (epiclisin), which would be translated as “invocation” into Latin, Irenæus instead wrote έκκλησιν (ecclisin), which means “summons.” Thus, Reverend John Keble (1872) correctly renders the passage,

Priests of the Ancient Malachi Prophecy

We will continue on this topic next week. Let it suffice for now to say that when the offering itself is understood, the “priests,” “prophets,” “teachers,” “presidents,” “chief priests,” and “high priests” of the ancient church will also be very familiar to the modern Protestant. In fact, the priests were the individual Christians gathered for worship and the “prophets,” “teachers,” “presidents” and “chief priests” were their bishops, pastors, teachers, elders and presbyters who faithfully handled and distributed the tithes brought forward by the congregation. These “high priests” led the congregation in corporate acts of sacrificial worship to dedicate the products of their toil to the One Who had so graciously provided them. The offerings themselves being analogous to the ancient oblations of first fruits, the people bringing in the tithes were therefore the New Covenant analogy of a Levitical class, and the person leading the offering was therefore analogous to the “high priests” who were sustained by the offerings and charged with their faithful use. For this reason, through the third century and well into the fourth, Christians continued to be directed to bring their Eucharist oblation with them to church once they were baptized, and the bishop was charged with collecting that Eucharist for distribution to the poor and leading the congregation in prayer. Their Eucharist was their “oblation,” and the prayers were their “incense.” And thus did these New Covenant priests fulfill the Malachi prophecy. Not with an offering of the body and blood of Christ but an offering of the first fruits of creation along with “the prayers of the saints.”