ἱεράτευμα

From the study of 1 Peter 2:9

Range of meaning

A body of priests, a priestly community, or the priestly office held by a group. The ending -euma makes collective nouns, compare strateuma, "army", and politeuma, "citizen body."

Against the English

"Priesthood" is accurate. NLT "royal priests" turns the collective noun into a plural of individuals.

How it drifted

Readers tend to hear it either as "the clergy" or, through later Protestant teaching, as each individual believer being their own priest. The Greek word stresses a corporate body serving together.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rare. It appears in LXX Exodus 19:6 and 23:22 (βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, translating Hebrew mamleket kohanim, "a kingdom of priests"), 2 Maccabees 2:17 ("the kingdom and the priesthood"), and Philo (On Sobriety 66; On Abraham 56), who applies the phrase to Israel. In the NT it occurs only here and at 2:5, "a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices."

From the study of 1 Peter 2:5

Range of meaning

A rare word. The -euma ending marks a body or collective formed by an activity, as in politeuma ('a body of citizens, a commonwealth'). So hierateuma is 'a priesthood' in the sense of a priestly community or corps of priests, not 'the priestly office' of one person. BDAG glosses it 'priesthood' as 'a body of priests'.

Against the English

'Priesthood' in English can mean either the office ('he was called to the priesthood') or the group. Here only the group sense fits. NLT's 'you are his holy priests' keeps the plural people but loses the single-body sense.

How it drifted

Since the Reformation, 'the priesthood of all believers' has often been heard as describing each individual's standing before God. The verse instead describes a single corporate body, much as Exodus did for Israel.

Used elsewhere in the period

Its main use is the Septuagint's rendering of Exodus 19:6 (and 23:22): 'you shall be to me a royal priesthood (basileion hierateuma) and a holy nation', said of Israel as a whole at Sinai. 2 Maccabees 2:17 echoes it ('the kingdom and the priesthood'). Philo quotes the Exodus phrase (e.g. On Sobriety 66). It hardly occurs at all outside Jewish and Christian writing.