Papal Presumption

Question: The Pope recently [7-10-07] essentially put down evangelical churches as not deserving to be called churches (Orthodox churches defective, other Christian denominations not true churches). What do you think ?

In all honesty it is quite the opposite.

To qualify as a church, which in the Bible is a called-out-assembly of true believers (Acts 5:11-13; 11:26), one must believe the Biblical, apostolic “gospel of the grace of God” (Act 20:24), for it is only when one does that he/she become part of Christ's body the church (Jn. 3:3-7; Acts 2:38; 10:34-47; 15:7-9; 1Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:13). While the religions of this world teach various forms of salvation by personal merit and or trust in false gods and institutions, the Biblical gospel is principally distinctive in that the God of the Bible is the sole object of faith for salvation, and which is not based upon one's own merit or that of a church. Rather, coming before God as guilty sinners, destitute of any means whereby he may escape Hell and gain Heaven (Gn. 15:6; Rm. 3:9-5:1; Gal. 2:16; 3: Eph. 2:8,9; 2Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5), when the repentant soul effectually casts His faith upon Christ and His blood to save him (which faith is from God), then he is washed from all his sins, sanctified by God's life-giving Spirit (which then indwells him), and is justified by the perfect, imputed righteousness of Christ (1Cor. 6:11; Rm. 4:1-8; 2Cor. 5:21). And which decision is shown by baptism by immersion (Acts 8:38 – and which requires things an infant cannot exercise: Acts 2:38; 8:12, 37). That soul is then proven or "justified" as regarding him having saving faith by works of grace done in response to his being justified (Gn. 22; Ja. 2 – note: Abraham''s faith was “counted for righteousness before he offered up Issac: Gn. 15:6; 22; Rm. 4:3-6). One can even be saved/born again in the desert without even being introduced to a church (Acts 8:26-40), yet if such faith is real they will find a Bible believing/preaching church quickly and continue in the Word (Acts 2:41-47; 9:26-28).

But this saving gospel is not the gospel Rome officially teaches and effectual promotes, rather Rome erroneously sprinkles infants, supposing this takes way "original sin" and gives them the Holy Spirit (making Hitler born again!) by proxy faith, but neither their soteriology or their mode of baptism is Biblical (even for adult converts). Rome then teaches that after baptism, by participation in her sacraments (usually perfunctory) ones does works which help merit eternal salvation. And since no one (to their knowledge) except “canonized saints” co-operates with God's Roman – dispensed grace perfectly, they invented “purgatory, where souls suffer for an indeterminate time paying for sins that they did not pay for on earth. But which begats another unBiblical practice, that of “indulgences,” prayers, sufferings, or offering$ which promise to make one's stay in purgatory shorter, but which can be transferred to another person now in purgatory. This all has worked to keep Rome in business, in more ways than one (the pope's palace was largely built by extorting monetary indulgences).

This fruit of this gospel has been past generations and a present populace that largely are (very sadly) spiritually dead, showing very little fruit of having been born again, being typically disinterested in the Bible, with little heartfelt worship and prayer, but are politically liberal (USA), and who are often antagonistic to those who compassionately seek their conversion through the Biblical gospel.

Amazingly, the Holy Spirit warned of such a false Jesus and gospel 2,000 years ago: "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him." (2 Cor 11:3-4).

Many other false doctrines flow from Rome, but as this page is only meant to be a brief reply, and as her principal error of fostering faith in one's merit and in the power of Rome for salvation flows from her perpetuated Petrine papacy, i will deal more with that foundation.

Rome asserts that Peter was made the supreme head of the church, and whose power and position is to be perpetuated through a progression of ecclesiastical papal progeny. We shall see that Biblically this is a presumptuous sin, yet it should be stated that even if a Romish Petrine papacy did exist, the authenticity of the one (or a) true church is not based upon physical ecclesiastical linkage, any more than the authenticity of a true Jew rests upon physical lineage back to Abraham. Rather, in both cases (Rm. 2:28, 29), it rests upon Abrahamic type faith in the apostolic gospel of the grace of God, by which one enters the church, but which again Rome most manifestly does not preach!

The R.C. exaltation of Peter is foundationally based upon Mt. 16:13-19, wherein there is a play on the word "rock" by the Lord, in which the immovable "Rock" upon which Christ would build His church is the confession that Christ was the Son of God, and thus by implication it is Christ himself. To this "Rock" being the head of the church the Scripture confirms (Dt. 32:4, 1Cor. 10:4; Eph. 2:20), including by Peter himself (1Pt. 2:8). Rome's current catechism even (ecumenically) allows this to be q possible interpretation: “On the rock of this faith confessed by St Peter, Christ build his Church”' (paragraph 424). Peter in contrast, is not manifest as the immovable rock (Gal. 2:11-16), nor as the singular supreme infallible authority over the church.

Rather, while Peter certainly was the initial brethren type leader of the apostles and leader of the early church in Jerusalem, he was not held as some singular infallible head, nor venerated as a type of demi-god, which Rome has essentially made his supposed successors. Yet neither is there any provision given by the Holy Spirit in Scripture for a successor to his seat, in contrast to that given for Bishops/Elders/Pastors (and absent in the New Testament is Rome's separate, clerical, type of sacerdotal class of priests as well).

Proper exegesis requires that we interpret the Old Testament as well as the gospels 9and Mt. 16) by the revelation promised (Jn. 16:12-15) by Christ in the rest of the New Testament, in which we see the application and the doctrine behind what Christ declared. Searching therein we do not find even one command ever given to the New Testament church or churches to submit to Peter as a singular supreme pope, nor one example of them submitting to Peter as one (in Acts 15, it is James who gives the definitive sentence), nor does Peter ever refer to himself as such, but as "an" elder and "an" apostle, and "a servant" (1Pt. 5:1; 2Pt. 1:1).

And in contrast to the Roman papacy, humble and pious Peter was evidently poor (Acts 3:6), and was married (Mt. 8:14; 1Cor. 9:4), and would not even let a man bow down to him (Acts 10:25, 26). And as holy as he was, he once had to be publicly rebuked by the apostle Paul (Gal. 2:6-13. And whose words in vs. 5-9 make it clear he did not exalt Peter after the demi-god manner of Rome).

Considering how major a doctrine Rome's papacy is - and it is indeed major - and how faithful the Lord is to give us much evident substantiation for major doctrines (such as Jesus Deity, etc.), then to postulate the Roman papacy out of Mt. 16 when the Bible does not truly substantiate it, blasphemously implies neglect by the Holy Spirit! In reality, Rome's papacy comes more from the Roman Empire and it's Caesar (historians called it a “Caesario-Papacy”), which led to Catholicism becoming a vast, autocratic institution, which used the carnal means of the Roman empire to physically harm her enemies – including Bible believing Christians! In foisting her papacy and related things upon Christendom and persecuting those who disagreed with her, Rome did (and is doing) what the Lord Jesus reproved the presumptuous and Christ – killing Pharisees for doing, "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." (Mark 7:7, 13).

For as Scripture fails her, Rome indeed must and does rely upon "tradition," that of uncodified stories and fables outside of Scripture which often contradict it, but which they make of equal authority with Scripture. This thereby negates one of the purposes of a closed canon, that of separating the "wheat" from the "chaff" In making the two of equal authority Rome is essentially adding to the very canon they love to take credit for closing. Yet it was not out of "tradition" that the Lord and His apostles sought to convince the Jews from, rather Christ quoted or alluded to the Scripture abundantly and exhorted, "search the Scriptures (Jn. 5:39; cf. Mt. 4:4; Lk. 24: 27, 32). In so obeying the LORD, "Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures," "persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening" (Acts 17:2; 28:23).

And while Rome for hundreds of years worked (by commission and omission) to keep the public Biblically illiterate, erroneously teaching that only her magisterium (delirium) can be trusted to correctly interpret Scripture (and in which they misapply 2 Pt. 2:20 against Protestants); in contrast the Bible declares that it was the common people heard Jesus gladly (Mk. 12:37), and the Holy Spirit commends as "noble" the common Bereans, "in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11).*

Such seeking, done with an honest and contrite heart, will bring one to find and receive Christ as their Lord and Savior, by trusting in His sinless shed blood and righteousness to save them and not the presumed power of their church and or personal merit.

But you must search your own heart. How many of God's laws have you broken? Do you suppose your good deeds and or your church will allow you to escape your just punishment in Hell and gain Heaven? Be assured neither of them will! Instead humble yourself as a guilty sinner under the mighty hand of God, confess to Him your sinfulness and decide you want a new life with the Lord Jesus Christ (rather than your sins), and ask Him to save you by His precious blood that was shed for you! He will do so if you mean it with all your heart, and you will know His forgiveness and the life-giving power of His Holy Spirit (Rm. 3:25-5:1; Acts 10:34-47). You show this by being baptized under water (Acts 8:36-39) and following Him (despite persecutions) who alone can promise, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5). Praise ye the LORD.

Source(s):

The Bible, http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/rev.

http://www.ntrmin.org/rccorner.htm

http://www.gnfc.org/

http://www.excatholicsforchrist.com

(These recommended sites have much sound teaching to offer, though any such referrals do not assure that i necessarily agree with every single position that may be presented therein).

*Rome contends this methodology is the cause of divisions within Protestantism, which she contrasts with her “unity.” Yet without negating the need for pastors and teacher and obedience to the former, the New Testament Biblical model does not promote a type of implicit faith in men or an ultimately infallible authority (outside God), such as Rome does indeed promote herself as, rather it presents the word of God as the authority, and in such a way that truthfulness and honestly of the Biblical gospel is so manifest that it convinces true seekers who are encouraged to determine it's veracity by their own examination.

"For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ" (2 Cor 2:17).

"But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Cor 4:2)

The unity that results is of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3), and is of a far greater quality than the unity of nominal Christianity that is the fruit of passive acceptance of the authority of men. There are basically 2 kinds of unity:

A unity that is the fruit of implicit acceptance of a proclaimed earthly power, which may be one of either a resigned ambivalence or active blind zeal, such as seen in Germany under Hitler, and which usually appeals to man's idea that he can justify himself before God.
A unity that, although it can be less that unanimous, is the result of love for truth and free and objective inquiry, and which exalts God in His infinite holiness and abases man.

It is the latter form of unity that Scripture promotes under the New Covenant. We see the LORD Jesus engaging men to use Scripture and their reasoning powers, in all honesty, to determine truth, quoting or alluding to the Old Testament Scriptures over 100 times. And reproving His disciples for their lack of faith when He had provided evidence for such warranted trust. It was also the apostolic manner to reason with men “out of the scriptures” (Acts 17:3; 18:28; 28:23). In addition, we see the commendation of the Holy Spirit for the “noble” Bereans, "in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11) ― even though it was the very apostles whom they checked out.

However, it is more difficult to create this unconstrained and discerning superior unity, as it is far easier to foster faith in men and their visible organizations. Such organizations allow man to suppose they can in some way merit acceptance with almighty God, rather than requiring man to humble himself before God as a sinner helpless to save Himself. And in faith and surrender to Christ, personally receive Jesus as their LORD and Savior. The latter method is counterproductive to earthly men who seek implicit trust in themselves and their system, as they cannot enjoy such acceptance by souls for whom the Scriptures are the ultimate authority. "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes" (Psa 118:9). And as Rome's own doctrine makes the Bible a second class authority ― after it's own teaching magisterium and equal to the “chaff” of human (church) tradition ― therefore her history is one of suppressing Biblical literacy among it's people, as well as (recently) suppressing it's authority as a basically literal document. And thus, having debased the Bible she fosters implicit trust or resigned faith in her presumed powers and errors, perpetuating a false gospel and sterile church, all the whole attacking the evangelical church which, even in it's present condition, is manifestly superior to institutionalized churches (Rome and mainline denominations like it) in every quantifiable fruit of Biblical regeneration.