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Howard Snyder: The New Testament simply does not speak in terms of two classes of Christians "minister" and "laymen" as we do today. According to the Bible, the people (laos, "laity") of God comprise all Christians, and all Christians through the exercise of spiritual gifts have some "work of ministry" [Ephesians 4:12]. So if we wish to be biblical, we will have to say that all Christians are laymen (Gods people) and all are ministers. The clergy-laity dichotomy is unbiblical and therefore invalid. It grew up as an accident of church history and actually marked a drift away from biblical faithfulness. A professional, distinct priesthood did exist in Old Testament days. But in the New Testament this priesthood is replaced by two truths: Jesus Christ is our great high priest, and the Church is a kingdom of priests (Hebrews 4:14; 8:1; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6). The New Testament doctrine of ministry rests therefore not on the clergy-laity distinction but on the twin and complementary pillars of the priesthood of all believers and the gifts of the Spirit. Today, four centuries after the Reformation, the full implications of this Protestant affirmation have yet to be worked out. The clergy-laity dichotomy is a direct carry-over from pre-Reformation Roman Catholicism and a throwback to the Old Testament priesthood. It is one of the principle obstacles to the Church effectively being Gods agent of the Kingdom today because it creates the false idea that only "holy men," namely, ordained ministers, are really qualified and responsible for leadership and significant ministry. In the New Testament there are functional distinctions between various kinds of ministries but no hierarchical division between clergy and laity ( The Community of the King [Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1977] pp.94-95).
John Stott: It is only against the background of the equality and unity of the people of God that the real scandal of clericalism may be seen. What clericalism always does, by concentrating power and privilege in the hands of the clergy, is at least to obscure and at worst to annul the essential oneness of the people of God . . . I do not hesitate to say that to interpret the Church in terms of a privileged clerical caste or hierarchical structure is to destroy the New Testament doctrine of the Church . . . In other words, in revealing the nature and work of the Church, the overwhelming preoccupation of the New Testament is not with the status of the clergy, nor with clergy-laity relations, but with the whole people of God in their relations to Him and to each other, the unique people who have been called by His grace to be His inheritance and His ambassador in the world (One People [New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell, Co., 1973] pp.25-26).
Alfred Plummer: In these passages [Titus 1:5; Mark 3:14; John 15:16; 1 Timothy 2:7; Hebrews 5:1; 8:3] three different Greek words ( poieo, tithemi, kathistemi ) are used in the original; but not one of them has the special ecclesiastical meaning which we so frequently associate with the word "ordain"; not one of them implies, as "ordain" in such context almost of necessity implies, a rite of ordination, a special ceremonial, such as the laying on of hands. When in English we say, "He ordained twelve," . . . the mind almost inevitably thinks of ordination in the common sense of the word; and this is foisting upon the language of the New Testament a meaning which the words there used do not rightly bear . . . The Greek words used in the passages quoted might equally well be used of the appointment of a magistrate or a steward. And as we should avoid speaking of ordaining a magistrate or a steward, we ought to avoid using "ordain" to translate words which would be thoroughly in place in such a connection. The Greek words for "ordain" and "ordination," in the sense of imposition of hands in order to admit to an ecclesiastical office ( cheipotheti, cheipothesia ), do not occur in the New Testament at all ("The Pastoral Epistles," in The Expositors Bible, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll [New York: Armstrong, 1903], Vol.23, pp.219-221).
Leon Morris: Considering the role played by the ministry throughout the history of the church, references to ordination are surprisingly few in the New Testament. Indeed, the word "ordination" does not occur, and the verb "to ordain" in the technical sense does not occur either. A number of verbs are translated "ordain" in [the] Authorized Version, but these all have the meanings like "appoint" (New Bible Dictionary , 2nd ed., s.v. "Ordination," p.861).
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