Luther’s doctrine of the priesthood of all believers (based on 1 Peter 2:9 — ‘a royal priesthood, a holy nation’) holds that every baptized Christian has direct access to God without any mediating human priesthood, and that every Christian is both priest and layperson. This directly challenges the Catholic distinction between ordained clergy (who can offer the Eucharistic sacrifice) and laity (who cannot). For Luther, this does not mean there are no ordained ministers — it means their ordination is a matter of function and order, not a separate spiritual estate. The practical consequences: translation of the Bible into vernacular languages (everyone can read Scripture), congregational singing (the whole assembly participates in worship, not just clergy), rejection of confession to a priest as required for forgiveness, and the affirmation of secular vocations (farming, parenting, commerce) as genuine callings from God.