The Lay People in the Holy Scripture

Abstract

The meaning of laity in the Bible can be approached from three points of view. The first one is the canonical, which defines the lay person as not belonging to the clergy (and, by extension, to the religious life), an approach that is not relevant to the New Testament, except for the allegorical understanding of sacrifice and priesthood of Christ, especially in the Letter to the Hebrews. The second one is the theology of the “people of God, a sacerdotal nation”, recognized in its Old Testament source in the Exodus, in its New Testament re-reading, especially in the First Letter of Peter, with multiple assonances in other Scriptures, and in recent theology, especially around the Second Vatican Council: the baptismal vocation to the priesthood of all faithful. The third strand, which is also nourished by Vatican II and complementary to the previous one, is theology (and pastoral) of earthly realities or Christian secularity, with its biblical background in the theology of Creation and the dignity of the human being. From these considerations follows the understanding of the vocation of all Christians as laity sanctifying the world.