In the years leading up to the Protestant Reformation, the Christian Church had strayed far from the Biblical model Christ had set for His Body. This was true in many aspects of ecclesias­tical practice, including the preaching of a false gospel which included worship of images and the dead (a distortion of the Old Testament Prophetic Office), improper administration of the sacraments, particularly in the Mass (misinterpreting the Priestly Office) and in gross failures to properly administer Church disci­pline (thereby perverting the Kingly Office). So crucial are these three official responsibilities of the Church — faithful preaching, pure administration of the sacra­ments, and proper exercise of dis­cipline — that they are known as "The Marks of the True Church." In the Old Testament Church (Israel) those charged with these Offices, the Prophets, Priests and Kings, were set apart through anointing, a practice which signi­fied that the one who had been so marked was responsible to God for the proper exercise of his office.

That critical point — the responsi­bility of each particular Office directly to God rather than indi­rectly through another Office — was a central argument in the Reformation. While the Biblical model makes it clear through such passages as 1 Cor. 12 that each Office must work in cooperation with the others, the pre‑Reformation Church had descend­ed to a system in which most Officers were believed to be responsible not directly to God but to a hierarchy of other Officers.

It is important to note that the passage cited, 1 Cor. 12, speaks not only to the particular Offices of the church, but to believers in general. While God worked pri­marily through three special Offices in the Old Testament, New Testament believers have a different degree of responsibility toward Him, for Christ has ful­filled the demands of the Old Testament Offices. This new rela­tionship is seen especially in such passages as Romans 12:1 and Hebrews 13:15-16, where believ­ers — not just an ordained priest­hood — are told to offer sacrifices to God. Martin Luther recognized that this new relationship over­turned the hierarchy of the Church of Rome, and taught a concept which had been lost for many years, the Priesthood of Believers.

The understanding of this con­cept was refined over time, even­tually to be presented in the form taught by the Heidelberg Catechism. In Question and Answer 31, we are taught that Jesus is called Christ, meaning "Anointed," because He is so ordained as our chief Prophet, only High Priest, and eternal King. Q&A 32 immediately adds that the believer is called "Christian" because the believer partakes of Christ's anointing; that is, every believer partakes of the Offices of prophet, priest and king.

This partaking, often called the "Office of Believer," is not one of direct authority, but of responsi­bility. Remember, we are, accord­ing to Scripture, to offer OUR­SELVES as "living sacrifices." While to the world the prophetic aspect of the Office of Believer requires us to confess God's Name, within the Church we read­ily submit to the Sword of the Spirit, the Bible, through the Minister of the Gospel (1 Thess. 5:12-13). While in the world we exercise our priestly role through self-sacrifice, within the Church we act particularly through the special office of the Deacons (2 Cor. 9:7). Though we are required, as kings, to exercise dominion by the Word of God over ourselves and society, within the Church we submit willingly to those charged with discipling­ — discipline — the Elders (Heb. 13:17).

We are "ordained" to the Office of Believer by faith, and once granted that Office we hold it for life, a life of self-denial, of self-control, of self-sacrifice. But the Office of Believer is also one of the richest heritages of the Reformation, and above all it is a glorious and wonderful gift of God, for the badge of this Office is the name "Christian."

Q.32: "But why are you called a Christian?"

A.: "Because I am a mem­ber of Christ by faith, and thus a partaker of His anointing, that I may confess His name, present myself a living sac­rifice of thankfulness to Him, and with a free and good conscience fight against sin and the devil in this life, and hereafter reign with Him eternally over all creatures."