Sacraments, Faith, and Formation

Are Christians expected to submit to scripture alone, or to the church?

Those who hold to the belief that scripture is their authority find themselves in a paradox. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

Bible alone Christians do not submit to church authority. They only submit to scripture as they see it. They attempt to defend their rejection of church authority by referring to other verses such as:

Romans 16:17-18
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

Revelation 2:2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 KJV “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

These verses create a problem for Evangelicals because if they mean each individual is to determine what is truthful, then the command in Hebrews is wrong. Why is the writer of Hebrews telling us to submit to church leaders if the other Epistles writers are telling us to submit only to our understanding of scripture?

The answer is that the other epistle writers are not investing each believer with that authority. Note to whom the writers address their epistles. The epistles are written to churches; the church in Corinth, and “all  believers in Rome (corporately, not individually).  The passage cited in Revelation is directed to the church in Ephesus.

So we see that God invested the church with authority, not each individual believer.

I was asked why I believe the Catholic Church is God’s true church. After all both the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses both claim divine authority in being the one true church. A further claim was that there is no one true church. Therefore both conditions are evidence that the Catholic Church is false.

There are a couple of problems with the assertion. The claim is not logically supported. Reason tells us that multiple churches cannot all be the one true church. The Catholic Church, Mormons, and JWs (among others) have competing claims. We can conclude that at least two of them must be wrong. We cannot use their competing claims to conclude that all are wrong because the claims do not eliminate the possibility that one is right.

In the 50′s there was a game show called “To Tell the Truth” where a noteworthy person would be accompanied by two impostors. A celebrity panel would question the group to determine which was the real person. According to the logic employed in the claim about the 3 churches, the two impostors would negate the truthful claims of the real person.

That is not a rational conclusion. In the same way, one cannot automatically assume that there is no true church merely because Mormons and JWs make that claim. There must be some other evidence that supports the conclusion that there is no such thing as one true church.

We can look to scripture to see that Jesus did intend there to be one true church. St. Paul refers to the church as being the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim 3:15). Scripture also refers to the church as the body of Christ (Rom 12:5). A body is visible, it is organized. It is not fractured into various unaffiliated groupings. Scripture talks about unity. It talks about one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph 4:5). From these teachings we know there is one body and therefore one church.

We know there is one church. Competing claims of divine authority do not negate that. The question is which church? The Catholic Church has the only credible claim.

The following post is by “Narnia.”

1 Cor 4:2-6 “2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the LORD who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the LORD comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. 6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.”

Paul here is refusing to pronounce himself saved (an appropriate lesson for us all). He is stating that just because he believes his conscience to be clear, he is not necessarily innocent, and it will be the Lord who makes that judgment. Although Christ gave a great deal of His authority to the apostles, he reserved the authority to judge an individual to Himself alone. For Paul to pronounce any individual as being justified, including himself, usurps that which belongs to Christ alone.

You will notice here that Paul does not say to not go beyond what is written in the Scriptures, or the word of God. That’s because that’s not what he’s talking about. In the given context (who is saved or not and Christ’s sole authority to judge), he is speaking about the Lamb’s Book of Life. The Book in which Christ wrote the names of those who would be saved before the foundation of the world. Hence, don’t let yourselves get all puffed up with judging each other, for you will be going “beyond what is written”. When Christ comes at the appointed time, the names written in the book will be revealed.

I am a former Evangelical and was taught that one is saved by saying the “Sinner’s Prayer.” There are variations, but the prayer essentially goes likes this:

Dear God,

I know the I have sinned and sin separates me from you. I confess my sins and ask forgiveness through Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus is the son of God, died on the cross for my sins, and rose again.  I ask Jesus to come into my heart, save me, and help me to keep from sinning again. Jesus, please be my Lord and Savior.

I pray in Jesus name, Amen.

One problem with the prayer is that “asking Jesus into your heart” is not scriptural – the Bible does not say that asking Jesus into your heart saves you. Another issue is that the prayer is developed from the concept that we are saved by faith (i.e. belief in Jesus) alone .

The Catholic faith teaches that believing in Jesus without actions does not save us. The book of James in the Bible is explicit on that point, “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”

Bible scripture lists a number of things one must do to be saved:

1. Call on the name of the Lord. Romans 10:13
2. Believe in Jesus. Acts 16:30-31
3. Confess Jesus as Lord. Romans 10:9
4. Repent of sins. 2 Corinthians 7:10
5. Be baptized. Acts 2:38; Mark 16:16
6. Love God and neighbor. Luke 10:25-28
7. Keep the 10 Commandments. Matthew 19:17
8. Receive Holy Communion. John 6:51-58
9. Pursue holiness. Hebrews 12:14; James 1:21; Romans 6:22
10. Do God’s will. Matthew 6:21; Matthew 12:50; 1 John 2:17
11. Obey Christ. Hebrews 5:9; Acts 3:23
12. Do good works. Romans 2:6-7; James 2:14; Matthew 25:31-46)
13. Share in Christ’s suffering. Romans 8:17
14. Remain steadfast in faith. Matthew 10:22; Revelation 2:10
15. Die in a state of grace. Hebrews 6:4-6
16. Childbearing (for women!). 1 Timothy 2:15

Faith is more than belief alone. The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it this way (emphasis added).

176. Faith is a personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals himself. It involves an assent of the intellect and will to the self-revelation God has made through his deeds and words.

Called to Communion posted an article about Reformed Imputation and the Lord’s Prayer. (Really, C2C is a site you should be reading every week.)

Time magazine ran a hit piece on the Catholic Church this week and George Weigel showed why it is yellow journalism.

Glenn Beck gave a brief history lesson about the Dead Sea Scrolls, Roman Emperor Constantine, and the Nicene Council. Mark Shea explained why  just about everything Beck said was wrong. (hat tip: Francis Beckwith)

Happy Catholic reminds us of faith in a war zone.

The Year for Priests is coming to a close. Denver’s auxiliary Bishop Conley is in Rome and was interviewed by CNA or the occasion.

Denver’s auxiliary Bishop Conley is in Rome this week celebrating the close of the Year for Priests. Bishop Conley was interviewed by CNA and addressed the subject of men entering seminary.

“I think that with all the news of scandal in the priesthood that young men are entering the seminary today because of truly supernatural motives and not worldly reasons,” said the bishop. “They know that the world will ridicule their decision to become a priest and even mock them as strange or even perverted. In spite of this, they are responding to the call to serve the Church as priests in greater numbers each year.”

“I know the North American College boasts of the highest numbers in over 25 years. We just built a new 24 room dormitory in Denver at Saint John Vianney seminary. The numbers are up everywhere, in spite of all the bad news in the media about the priesthood.”

“The only explanation for me is the fact that the Church needs good, holy, normal, faithful priests now more than ever and young men are courageously responding,” Bishop Conley said.

Seminaries are more restrictive in accepting candidates for the priesthood. Attacks against the Church are increasing and the abuse scandal continues to take its toll. But seminaries are growing. I agree with the bishop that it must be supernatural.

When I converted to the faith years ago, I was convinced that I was coming in near the beginning of a renewal. This article is more evidence of that.

Julie at Happy Catholic reviewed the book “The ‘R’ Father”.

Catholic Dads pointed out the every once in a while, a sports figure can show us something good. The Anchoress also weighed in on the case.

This week was the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill and it turns out, women are not happier.

And the best article of the week was published on Called to Communion. Dr. David Anders described how John Calvin made him Catholic.

Denver’s Archbishop Chaput wrote about suing the church and the church’s structure.

I posted an article on the Importance of Dads at Catholic Dads.

Jimmy Akin gave us the facts about the nun who excommunicated herself by approving an abortion in Phoenix and a follow up on Phoenix’s Bishop Olmsted.

Mark Stricherz wrote about one of the keys to a stable marriage: spend time together.

The guys and gal over at Why I Am Catholic blog have announced their newest book club selection: Hilaire Belloc’s The Great Heresies.

The book is now public domain so there are places to find it online for free. Here for example.

Something bad, really bad, happened last night and my database got corrupted. So here is the relaunch of SFFNexus with all new content! (How is that for some spin?)