Revelation 1:6

Context

Revelation 1:4–8 is the opening greeting of the letter that John sends to the seven churches in Asia. After wishing the churches grace and peace, John begins, in the latter part of verse 5, a doxology (a formula of praise ascribing glory to God) addressed to Christ. Verse 6 concludes this doxology. John confesses that Christ loved believers, freed them from their sins by His blood, and made them "a kingdom and priests." He then prays that "glory and dominion" be His forever. The verb "made" is in the past tense, referring to something already accomplished. Verse 7 announces the Second Coming, and verse 8 contains the declaration "Alpha and Omega."

Interpretation

• Reading as Old Testament fulfillment: Many commentators see this verse as taking up Exodus 19:6. On this view, the calling given there to Israel to be "a kingdom of priests" has passed to the church through Christ's redemption. The same expression appears in Revelation 5:10 and 20:6.
• Reading as a basis for the priesthood of all believers: Since the Reformation, Protestants have drawn on this verse and Revelation 5:10, together with 1 Peter 2:5 and 2:9, to set forth the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. This teaching holds that every believer is a priest who approaches God directly through Christ, without a human mediator.
• Catholic reading: The Catholic Church, in documents of the Second Vatican Council and elsewhere, cites this verse in speaking of the "common priesthood" of all the baptized faithful. It distinguishes this, however, from the ministerial priesthood conferred through ordination.
• Christological reading: Some interpreters note that a doxology of the kind addressed to God is here offered to Christ. This reading treats the passage as evidence that the early church worshiped Christ together with God (Christology).

Debates and Issues

• Manuscripts and translation: The Textus Receptus, a later manuscript tradition, reads "kings and priests," and the King James Version accordingly renders the phrase "kings and priests." The critical text widely used today reads "kingdom." The Korean Revised Version's rendering, "a kingdom and priests," reflects the critical-text reading. The phrase "God and his Father" means, in the original, "Christ's God and Father."
• Already and not yet: Whether the believers' reign has already begun or is yet to come depends on one's understanding of the millennium. Premillennialism connects it with a reign in the millennial kingdom after the Second Coming. Amillennialism understands it as a spiritual reign presently exercised within the church.
• Relation to church order: Denominations differ in how they relate the confession that all believers are priests to an ordained ministry.
• Presbyterians, Methodists, and others ordain ministers to an office of Word and sacrament but do not regard them as priestly mediators.
• Anglicans maintain the tradition of calling ordained clergy "priests."
• Movements without a separate ordained clergy, such as the Brethren, minimize the very distinction between clergy and laity.

Perspective: Korean Protestant practiceHow this idea is used in Korean churches, kept from the original Korean article.

In Korean churches, sermons and teaching on the priesthood of all believers or on lay ministry frequently cite this verse, alongside 1 Peter 2:9, to explain the status of believers.

Related Passages

• Exodus 19:5–6
• 1 Peter 2:5
• 1 Peter 2:9
• Revelation 5:10
• Revelation 20:6