Third, all the believers are priests to God. In the Old Testament, among the people of Israel there was a group who served as priests, and the rest of the Israelites were common people. At that time there was a so-called intermediary class among the people of God. But in the New Testament, in the church, there is no longer such an intermediary class; rather, all the believers are priests to God, without any distinctions between the so-called clergy and laity.
The normal condition is for all the people of God to be priests to Him. It is abnormal if only a small number of the people of God serve as priests, but the majority are merely common people. The Bible shows that originally everyone could offer to God without a need for others to serve as a priest for him. When Abel offered sacrifices, did someone act as a priest for him? When Noah offered sacrifices, was there someone acting as his priest? When Abraham offered sacrifices, did someone act as his priest? When Isaac and Jacob offered sacrifices, did they have others serving as priests? When the people of Israel kept the feast of the Passover, every house offered a sacrifice. Did others serve as priests for them? None of them had a priest! As a rule, everyone who received God’s grace was a priest before Him, and they could all approach God directly and serve God directly. They began to have priests after they failed because of worshipping the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. From that time onward, God separated a tribe—the Levites—out of the children of Israel; furthermore, even out of the Levites, He separated the house of Aaron to be the priests. From that time on, the children of Israel could no longer approach God directly; instead, they needed priests to handle the service of God in their place. When the children of Israel wanted to offer sacrifices, they could not do it themselves; they needed to find a priest to do it for them. When they wanted to inquire of God, they could not do it themselves; instead, they needed to ask the priests to do it on their behalf. Thus, among the children of Israel, there were two separate groups of people: a class of priests and a class of common people. The priestly class became the intermediary between the children of Israel and God. This situation was abnormal; it was a deviation.
In the New Testament age, God wants all His chosen and saved people to be His priests (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). The Lord bought us with His own blood to be priests to God (Rev. 1:5-6; 5:9-10). Therefore, the saved ones are priests to God, and as such, we can all draw near to God directly, serve God directly, and offer spiritual sacrifices to God directly. This was the situation involving service to God in the original church. All were brothers, all were members one of another, and all were priests. A saved person was a member and a priest, fulfilling his function and serving. Therefore, the original church was living and strong. This was the first characteristic of the original church.
Another marked feature of the early church was that it was completely separated from the world; it was in the world but not of the world, just as the Lord said in John 17:14-17 and 18:36. This separation from the world was not merely a matter of not loving the things of the world; even more, it was a matter of not being mixed with the world and thereby being completely separated from the world.
The original church also completely forsook idols. Whereas idols are adversaries of God, the church is the testimony of God. If the church has idols, the nature of the church has been changed. This is a certain fact. From Acts 15:29 we can see that the original church forsook idols in a very thorough way.
Completely allowing God to speak was another important characteristic of the early church. In the original church there was no human opinion and no human system; instead, the believers completely allowed the Spirit to speak through the Scriptures. They allowed the Holy Scriptures of God to have their position, and they also allowed the Holy Spirit of God to have His position. Because at that time the New Testament books were not yet completed, they frequently read the Old Testament (Acts 17:11). Whenever they faced important issues, they would make decisions according to the Old Testament (15:15-16). At the same time, the Holy Spirit was present with them. Therefore, their original condition involved their completely allowing God to speak. The church as the expression of Christ is the place where God expresses Himself. If the church does not allow Christ to speak, the church is no longer the church. The early church was not like this; rather, it completely allowed God to express His mind.