By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM
Part 3
The Church is indefectible because of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of the Church’s indefectibility: He promised the apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to them — the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Counselor — to bear witness to Him, Jesus; to remind them of everything He had taught them; and to remain with them forever.
“When the Advocate has come, whom I will send from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness concerning me” (John 15:26).
“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your mind whatever I have said to you” (John 14:26).
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to dwell with you forever, the Spirit of Truth…you shall know Him, because He will dwell with you, and be within you” (John 14:16-17).
Jesus deserves our trust. If He promises to protect His Church from corruption, we must believe Him. The mission was passed on to other men down through the times.
That is how all true faithful have understood it, since the days of the Early Christians: St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon (Gaul; today France), at the end of the second century in his major book Against Heresies to defend the integrity of the faith of the apostles, wrote about “the bishops and their successors down to our time who have been appointed apostles” (Adv. Haer., book 3, chapter 3).
St. Clement was the fourth Bishop of Rome, and died a martyr’s death in the year AD 97. He wrote a letter to the Church in Corinth, which was read in many places as inspired Scripture for nearly four centuries, until the Church held a Council in Hippo in 393 and another in Carthage in 397 and declared that it was not inspired Scripture — it was a papal encyclical. In that letter, he wrote that “Christ was sent by God, the apostles by Christ. They appointed bishops and deacons — and they made orders that when they died [bishops and deacons] other men of tried virtue should succeed them in the ministry.”
St. Clement was but repeating St. Paul’s exhortation: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). “What you have heard from me before many witnesses, entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 3:14).
+ + +
Two thousand years later, we can identify the Church founded by Jesus Christ by her four marks: She is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.
The first council of the Church after she received liberty in the Roman Empire took place in Nicaea in the year 325. The bishops defined the Creed of Christ’s Church, which was confirmed later on in the Council of Constantinople in the year 381. The Creed stated: “Credo in unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam” — I believe in One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. In those days there was no Protestantism; there were no “Christian denominations” and no individual interpretations of the Bible: There was only one Christian Church, later to be named in Antioch the Catholic Church.
The oldest profession of faith I have come across is the one contained in the Der-Balizeh papyrus, discovered in Upper Egypt in the sixth century, but its content goes back to the end of the second century, well before the Nicaean Council.
“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, and in His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, and in the Resurrection of the flesh in the holy Catholic Church.”
Unam — One Church, that is, no divisions in faith or morals.
Jesus made it quite clear when He said, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” So, He founded one Church, not many. Consequently, the very idea of having a multitude of “Christian denominations,” holding different creeds and moral principles, is thoroughly preposterous in terms of early Christianity.
“One Lord, one faith, one baptism, the one body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12). What is to be believed by all (faith) and the code of behavior to be obeyed by all (morals) and the forms of worship that are pleasing to God must be set out to all peoples, in all countries, at all times: The changing of times and cultures cannot alter the message: “Teach all nations — preach the Gospel to every creature — teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you — he who believes and is baptized, shall be saved, he who does not believe, shall be condemned – I am with you even unto the end of the world.”
Unity in teaching, therefore, is the first mark of the Church of Jesus Christ.
St. Paul affirms it beyond any shadow of doubt: “Now I beseech you brethren to mark them out who make dissensions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them” (Romans 16:17-18).
“Now we command you brethren, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who is living in idleness, and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us” (2 Thess. 3:6).
What doctrine, what tradition, is he talking about? The Apostolic Tradition, transmitted both in writing (New Testament) or orally (Church fathers). St. Paul says it again: “So then brethren, stand fast; and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth, or by letter” (2 Thess. 2:14).
The Greek schism broke down into several autocephalous churches in the East: Greek, Russian, Armenian, Coptic, Ukrainian, Serbian, etc., etc. All were divided in government and ecclesiastical discipline. To make matters worse, Luther’s deformation has broken down into thousands of splitting denominations.
If one were to list each and every religious denomination that calls itself “Christian” in the world today, that list would be thousands long. Perhaps hundreds of thousands. They disagree among themselves on this or that interpretation of any given biblical teaching on faith, morals, or church government. Splinter groups have split away from splinter groups which had previously split from other splinter groups…and the splitting confusion goes on.
The teaching on having “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism” has become thoroughly meaningless. There is simply no unity among the churches, groups, sects, denominations, affiliations, organizations, and all the other varieties of the “Christianity” that has emerged after the visceral inconsistencies of the Protestant Revolution, which brought about anarchy among Christians. Luther destroyed the unity of the Church. Every Tom, Dick, and Harriet has his own denomination to suit his religious preferences.
Do you think I exaggerate? A quotable quote about the sad end result of Luther’s deformation:
“There are as many sects and beliefs as there are heads. This fellow will have nothing to do with Baptism; another denies the Sacrament [Eucharist]. A third believes that there is another world between this and the Last Day. Some teach that Christ is not God; some say this, some say that. There is no rustic [peasant] so rude [simple, ignorant] but that, if he dreams or fancies anything it must be a whisper of the Holy Spirit, and he himself a prophet” (Grisar, Luther IV, pp. 386-407).
Conclusion: The Church of Christ is One — no divisions. If they occur, those who divide it are branches that break away from the vine.
Next article: The Church of Christ is holy.
+ + +
(Raymond de Souza is director of the Evangelization and Apologetics Office of the Winona Diocese, Minn.; 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.)
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress