Did Christ institute One Church? Part III
Verifying the claims of the Catholic Church
Where is the Church?
When we read the Sacred Scriptures, we come across a passage where Christ speaks of taking a problem to the Church for a solution:
But if thy brother shall offend against thee,…tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican [Matthew 18:15-17]
There are many who like to interpret the words of God, and they particularly interpret clear passages like this one. Every time we read the New Testament in particular, we need to remind ourselves that Christ is God and He means what He says and doesn’t speak frivolously. When Christ says, go to the church — He know very well what the future is going to be. He knows that He is going to build and sustain His Church down the ages. Therefore, no one needs to interpret a meaning to what Christ means by Church. It is as St. Paul later says, “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” [1 Timothy 3:15]
Like each and every one of us was in the mind of God, before we were born, the Church too was in the mind of God. Each of our talents, attributes, responsibilities were all in God’s plan, and so was the Church. Thus, when Christ speaks of the Church, he is speaking of the (teaching and doctrinal) authority of the Church to resolve disputes between believers. He says, “tell the Church”. The seriousness of not listening to this Church is that one becomes a heathen and is outside the Church.
Ironically, non-Catholics walking about with the Holy Bible under their arm are carrying with them the sentence of their disbelief. They preach from the very book that condemns them for their disbelief in this Church. Some might say, which Church is Christ talking about, because there are so many “churches” today. The same person will happily claim to have read the Bible cover to cover.
When I studied English Literature at the University of Bombay, we always studied not just the book or play in question, but the era in which it was written, the life of the author and other works written during that time period. So, how is it that people profess to be bible scholars and have to be taught that the Holy Bible came from the Catholic Church? How is it that people don’t take the trouble to learn that the Church did not begin in the 1500s? The ignorance is shocking. More shocking than that is the disbelief in the hearts of those who profess belief in the Bible.
This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me.
[Matthew 15:8]
Many people know what the great commission is, “And he said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” [Mark 16:15] Unfortunately, they don’t believe it. Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk of the Catholic Church before he decided to go solo. He followed in the footsteps of another enemy of God, who would not serve and who hates the Blessed Mother. The Church did not begin with Luther.
Explaining the origins of the Catholic Church, to some is like teaching art to a goldfish. Pointing out that Luther was a Catholic monk, will immediately bring about the response that the Church was corrupt and people were buying and selling relics. The surprising thing is that we still use relics in our churches. The relics are something that connects us to the saints, they cannot be bought or sold under the severe penalty of mortal sin (simony)1. Plus, if anyone is buying or selling a relic, doesn’t it make more sense to try to correct them and pray for them, rather Luther gave up his religious vows and got married to a nun. What is pleasing to God in this? Can anything good come from breaking vows made to God? How then can any church that was born of this (breaking of holy vows) be the Church of God?
Next, we see Henry VIII, who was another Catholic, who started his own “church”. He was once given the title of defender of the Faith2 against the threat of Martin Luther. Unfortunately, he desired to be the head of the Church in England and later wanted to divorce and remarry for the sake of a male heir. Since, a divorce and remarriage was against the teaching of Christ, Henry VIII was not given permission, by the pope, to divorce his wife. Thus, he decided to start his own church. He erased the power of the pope and dissolved monasteries. Is this a church (that began in opposition to the teaching of Christ)? Does it seem pleasing to God to call this His house?
Which Church then is Christ referring to?
By the great commission, Christ intended for His Church to be spread across the globe, yet, she had to be one. What does it mean for the Church to be one? It means she has to be the One church no matter which country or town you are located in. Her laws, her prayer life, her liturgy, her language, her devotions, her dogma and doctrine, all have to be One. It seems impossible from a human standpoint, yet, for the last two thousand years, the Catholic Church has been One in law, dogma, doctrine, language, liturgy, etc.. Her dogma doesn’t change according to country, She is guided by the Holy Ghost, who ensures that the Church remains unchanged like Christ, Who is her head and her spouse.
In Part I and II of this series, I have spoken about the Apostolic character of the Church; the fact is that the Catholic Church claims to possess four marks, by which she can be identified as the One True Church of Christ.
In this article, I explain the second (mark) characteristic of the Church of Christ: that of being One.
Why should the Oneness of the Church be a mark of the True Church?
And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are. [John 17:11]
Our Lord Jesus Christ, prayed for the unity of His Church, just before He was arrested and crucified. He, God himself is a Trinity of Persons and the Church reflects to some extent this unity of the Godhead.
This Church, has to be One, it cannot offer different advice for the same kind of problem (sin). Therefore, its doctrine and dogma have to be one. This oneness cannot come from man, because this Church goes back to a time when there was no easy means of communication to consult globally. Its oneness comes from God, the Holy Ghost and from the prayer of Christ,
Thus, this Church is kept one by the Holy Trinity Himself, think 2000 years ago, the Church spread across vast distances, St. Thomas in India, St. Andrew in Scotland St. Lazarus in France. Yet the Church’s doctrine remains the same. Spread across place and time, the Church always maintained her doctrine and enshrines it with various councils and through formal declarations. In doing this She held on to the “Deposit of the Faith”3 (Sacred Tradition) given to her by Christ.
The understanding of doctrine may have grown and has been explained better over time, but it was not in conflict. One part of this Church did not teach something that was in opposition to another part of this Church, plus this Church did not splinter off into a million other smaller groups if there were disputes. Rather, the bishops met and prayed and defined the doctrine of the Church. Thus, maintaining its unity, its oneness, proving the Church’s supernatural origins.
The Church is the House of God, it is the New Temple. During the time of Moses, we read:
Moses also taking the tabernacle, pitched it without the camp afar off, and called the name thereof, The tabernacle of the covenant. And all the people that had any question, went forth to the tabernacle of the covenant, without the camp.
[Exodus 33:7]
The people therefore, went to this tabernacle if they had a question, this tabernacle prefigures the Church where Christ expects us to go to when we have questions.
We also know that King Solomon in his wisdom settled disputes. He built a magnificent temple for God, this temple was destroyed and later rebuilt and was the center of sacrifice and worship. And Christ says,
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up…But he spoke of the temple of his body.” [John 2:19, 21]
If the Old Temple built by Solomon was visible and tangible, so that people could go there and offer sacrifice to God, can the New Temple, built by the Son of God be less? Isn’t the New Temple (the Church) more magnificent than the Old Temple? What does Christ say?
But I tell you that there is here a greater than the temple.
[Matthew 12:6]
References:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/simony
https://stories.sal.org.uk/henryviii/#:~:text=In%201521%2C%20five%20hundred%20years,about%20England's%20most%20famous%20king%3F
The deposit of faith is not as we might speak of a deposit of dust on the furniture. It is not like a deposit of money in the bank. The deposit of faith is the Church’s possession of unchangeable truth: What God has revealed through His prophets in the Old Law, and through His Divine Son in the New Law. It is the ocean of divine wisdom that God has manifested to His people over the centuries, but especially revealed to us in the words and actions of Jesus Christ the Incarnate Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
Of course Christ instituted one Church. Can you imagine if He forgot? The Holy Spirit would never let Him hear the end of it. The sort of thing that will come up every Easter at the dinner table until the end of time . . .
Great point, I was simply referring to the timeline. God bless.