Episode #9 Was Paul a Catholic Priest?

By

Taylor Marshall

Published: 19 July 2009 10:25 PM PDT

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27 minutes.

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Was Paul a Catholic priest? Yes, he refers to his “priestly ministry” in Romans 15:15-16. He administered the sacraments, called himself a “steward of the mysteries”, and he was even celibate! Join us as we look at the priestly language of Paul’s Epistles.

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About the Author

Taylor was an Episcopal priest in Fort Worth, Texas before being received into the Catholic Church by Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth. Taylor was also formerly the Assistant Director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C., located three blocks north of the White House, where he lectured regularly. He was served under Archbishop John J. Myers and Msgr. William Stetson for the Pastoral Provision of John Paul II, the canonical structure by which Anglican clergy are received into the Catholic Church and then go on to pursue Holy Orders in the Catholic Church. He is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary (M.A.R. Theology), Nashotah Theological House (Certificate in Anglican Studies), and University of Dallas (M.A. Philosophy). He is currently a Ph.D. student in Philosophy at the University of Dallas where he studies the Natural Law theory of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae Ia Iaa qq. 94-108). Taylor and his wife live in Dallas, Texas with their five children. He is the author of The Catholic Perspective on Paul (forthcoming). Visit his personal site at: www.taylormarshall.com Taylor is also the Editor of Christian and American at: www.christianandamerican.com.

7 Comments

1. Psychdoc

   Posted July 20, 2009 at 3:21 PM

   Our home study group just got finished with studying Paul and he is an amazing saint. Keep the information coming. And good luck on your book.
2. Barrett

   Posted July 29, 2009 at 8:49 PM

   volume’s too low
3. Barrett

   Posted July 30, 2009 at 3:14 PM

   Nevermind, Taylor, it was my fault. It’s not you, it’s me. No, really, it’s me… Feel free to remove the comment above.
4. Emil Anton

   Posted December 7, 2009 at 1:44 PM

   Good stuff. Some hard questions again:

   1) Where is the idea of an indelible character in Paul? Isn’t it impossible to determine whether he thought the gift of the Spirit would leave if the minister went apostate?

   2) Why doesn’t Paul call the ministers priests if he thought they share in Christ’s priesthood? Why doesn’t Hebrews talk about the ministerial priesthood offering the Eucharistic sacrifice? Why doesn’t Paul anywhere clearly connect the New Covenant priesthood with the Eucharistic sacrifice? Eg he never tells Timothy to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice with dignity and respect, though a Catholic would think that’d be the first thing Paul would tell a priest to do.
5. Taylor Marshall

   Posted December 7, 2009 at 2:58 PM

   Emil,

   The indelible character doctrine derives from Paul’s talk of “seal”.

   I sense a confusion in your question: “Isn’t it impossible to determine whether he thought the gift of the Spirit would leave if the minister went apostate?” Here it seems like you’re using “gift of the Spirit” as “seal”. Am I wrong.

   Clearly the gift of the Spirit does leave when a man is devoid of sanctifying grace, be he ordained or not. What does not leave an ordained man is the indelible character of Orders (which is distinct from the Holy Spirit).

   Paul doesn’t call ministers “priests” directly because of the confusion with the Temple cult in Jerusalem. However, he speaks of them as priestly as I demonstrated in the podcast.

   I’ve said elsewhere that the term “pater” and “presbyter” are priestly terms hearkening back to the priesthood of the first-born under the era of natural law (i.e. before the Exodus and the Old Law). This is my talk from last year’s Letter and Spirit, and I’ll try to put it up as a podcast soon.
6. Emil Anton

   Posted December 8, 2009 at 4:54 AM

   Taylor, thanks for the clarifications! But does Paul connect the seal with orders? As far as I recall he only talks about the charism.

   If Hebrews calls Jesus a priest and Peter calls Christians priests in spite of the temple cult in Jerusalem, why wouldn’t ministerial priests be called that as well? And why couldn’t Romans 15:15-16 apply to all Christians doing missionary work?

   About the pater terminology, 1 Cor 4:14-15 doesn’t contain pater, but gennao, begetting terminology, which is connected but not the same. The point is that X has begotten Y in the gospel, X is the father of Y in the gospel. But not all priests have begotten all believers, so should we call all priests our fathers or only the one that baptised us? Paul doesn’t call himself a father apart from his work of begetting as if the fatherhood came from “orders”.

   Paul only calls himself a father by analogy in 1 Tess but he also describes himself as a mother in the same way in the same letter. But we don’t call priests mothers.

   And yes, please do try to get the rest online on the Christmas break! Thank you!
7. Juan Diaz

   Posted January 14, 2010 at 8:57 AM

   Hi Taylor,

   These talks on the Apostle Paul are great! I really get inspired when I hear Catholics discuss the faith, especially those coming from previous Christian traditions who, then go and defend the faith with so much energy and passion. I learn a lot by listening to these talks.
   Thank you!