An Apologetics Course . . . How Can The True Church Be Identified Among So Many Today?

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM

Part 20

If you were to attend a general meeting of the World Council of Churches, where every form of Protestantism is found, it would not difficult to identify the One Church founded by Jesus Christ — just outside of the council. If you believe in the New Testament as historically accurate documents, just read it and you will find the characteristics of Jesus’ Church.
First of all, as we have already seen, the Church founded by Christ is one — not many. The very idea of the World Council of Churches, with its cacophony of contradictory doctrines and denominations, has nothing to do with the unity wanted by Christ to reign in His Church. In the Last Supper, He prayed not only for the apostles who were present, but also for all those who would believe in Him through the preaching of the apostles and successors: “that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me” (John 17:20-21).
Now, to be united among ourselves as Christ is united to His Father presupposes an absolute union in every respect, particularly in faith, morals, and discipline. Right here we see, once again, the condemnation of the new doctrine of “sola Scriptura” of Martin Luther: It was through the individual interpretations of the Bible that the present-day cacophony of “Christian” doctrines emerged, and consequently destroyed the unity of doctrine, morals, and discipline that Christ wanted His Church to have.
St. Paul was not one of the twelve that Christ called, but he was formed by Christ and sent to preach to the Gentiles. He is always one in mind with Jesus his Master, especially when it comes to the question of Church unity: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks” (1 Cor. 12:12 f.; cf. Eph. 4; Romans 12). He sees the Church as one Body, with many members and organs, each fulfilling their specific function, but in perfect unity!
He does not see the Church of Christ, which he preached, as a multiplicity of denominations, but as a body of people believing the same beliefs, receiving the same sacraments, worshiping in the same ways pleasing to God, obeying the same Commandments and the same authority, just as in a living body. Therefore, unity is the first and evident characteristic of the Church founded by Christ. But, more precisely, unity in what?
First of all, unity in government. It has been already proved before, so it suffices to say that Christ founded one Church, not many; on society under one government, not several societies ruled by different and separate governments. He compared His Church to a “sheepfold,” a “city,” a “kingdom,” thereby necessarily implying unity of government, as the apostles themselves regarded the Church as one in government. Christ warned the apostles against divisions in His Church, His Kingdom, when He said that a kingdom divided against itself cannot endure (Matt. 12:25; Mark 3:24).
Therefore no division in government could be allowed or found in His Church, which was founded to last till the end of times. St. Paul teaches that the Church must be “one body and one Spirit” (Eph. 4:4). It must be like the living body; and as in the living body there is but one governing mind and will, so in the Church there must be but one governing authority. It does not take a degree in brain surgery to understand that.
But unity in government must exist for high purposes, such as, for instance, maintaining unity in faith. In order to make it clear that He wanted the people to believe the same things He taught the apostles, without deformation or private interpretation, Christ commanded the apostles to “Teach ye all nations…teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20; Douay).
The apostles, therefore, were to teach everybody the whole doctrine of Christ, not their opinions thereof! Jesus left nothing in writing for them to photocopy and pass around. No, He taught them, viva voce, and told them to do the same, without any change. And to make sure they would not add or leave anything out, He sent them the Holy Spirit — a complete job!
The apostles were commanded by Christ to insist that everybody should believe in one and the same body of truths. The same Creed. The same catechism, we would say today. The natural consequence is that there must be total unity in faith among true Christians: from Canada to Argentina, from the Fiji Islands to India, from South Africa to Denmark, you name it, yes, true Christians must hold the same beliefs.
In the Church of Jesus Christ, St. Paul insists, there must be “one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism” (Eph. 4:5). He often compares the Church to a living body, and as in the living body, there is but one mind, so in the Church there must be but one faith. The faithful, he says to the Romans, “With one voice” are to “glorify the God and Father of Our Lord, Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:6).
“I appeal to you, brethren,” he urges the Corinthians, “by the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgments” (1 Cor. 1:10). He could hardly have put it in clearer words the necessity of unity in belief!

The Unity Of Belief

But St. Paul did not only exhort the folks to hold the same beliefs: Oh, no, he went way beyond being just “positive” about the faith: He also condemned those who bring about dissensions, different opinions, different interpretations of the Bible that divide the unity of belief!
“Take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ” (Romans 16:17-18).
Here we have a prophetic condemnation of “sola Scriptura,” of the World Council of Churches, of the myriad of “Christian denominations” we see listed in the telephone directory. No, they are not the Church of Christ: They are man-made societies, holding man-made sets of beliefs, who, although intending to serve the good, do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ the way He wants to be served.
Ouch! That was very anti-ecumenical, wasn’t it?
Next article: The Church of Jesus Christ is one in worship unto holiness.

+ + +

(Raymond de Souza is an EWTN program host; regional coordinator for Portuguese-speaking countries for Human Life International [HLI]; president of the Sacred Heart Institute, and a member of the Sovereign, Military, and Hospitaller Order of the Knights of Malta. His website is: www.RaymonddeSouza.com.)