By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM
Part 9
In this article we respond to objections against the Catholic priesthood. The first and most common objection is: “The words ‘priest’ and ‘bishop’ are not in the Bible.”
Reply: It is amazing how the objections coming from Protestants — and even from some superficial Catholics — are so inconsistent. Every Protestant believes in the Incarnation of the Word of God, and yet the word “Incarnation” is not in the Bible. Every Protestant believes in the Trinity, and yet the word “Trinity” is not in the Bible. Every Protestant believes in the Bible, and yet the word “Bible” is not in the Bible.
No Bible writer has ever stated that for a concept to be true, the word that represents that concept must be in the Bible! This erroneous idea stems from the Lutheran heresy of sola Scriptura, or the Bible alone, which we have had the opportunity to refute in chapter and in verse here in the pages of The Wanderer.
The fact is that in the Old Testament, the word cohen indicated a priest. In New Testament, certain men were ceremoniously empowered to teach the believers, administer the sacraments, and lead the Church, following Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist and His giving the apostles the power to do as He did. Such men would be called priests in our use of the word. The two words used for those men in Greek were presbyteros and episcopos (see Acts 14:23; 20:28).
Presbyteros can be translated as priest, elder, or presbyter. Episcopos can be translated as bishop, overseer, supervisor, or guardian. In the beginning of the Church, when the ecclesiastical vocabulary was still in its infancy, the two words were used interchangeably, but by the time of St. Ignatius of Antioch, as early as in AD 107, they were already being distinguished — episcopos regularly represented a higher rank than presbyteros. Presbyteros became “presbyter” and “priest” in English (preost in Old English).
Episcopos became “bishop”: likewise, in other languages. This usage is confirmed by the early writers of Christianity, the Early Fathers of the Church. Their historical testimony is on record for all to see.
St. John Chrysostom (d. 407), in his great work on the priesthood, says, “Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor archangels.”
St. Gregory of Nyssa (d. 395) says of a newly ordained priest, that “he who was but yesterday one of the people, suddenly becomes…the dispenser of hidden mysteries….Though in outward appearance he is the same as before, by a certain unseen power and grace, he is transformed into a higher being.”
Firmilian (d. 269), bishop of Caesarea, in a letter to St. Cyprian, teaches that the power of forgiving sins was bestowed on the apostles, and later on the churches and the bishops who have succeeded the apostles by successive Ordination.
But it is not only the Catholic Church that teaches about the priesthood: The Eastern non-Catholic Churches, commonly called “Orthodox,” also have the Sacrament of Holy Orders. They are as emphatic about maintaining its divine institution as are Catholics themselves.
Alongside the historical argument, we can also quote an argument based upon reason: The Gospels tell us that Christ appointed the apostles and their successors to the end of time to be His representatives on Earth. Their mission was to teach (go and teach all nations…) and govern all mankind (guard my sheep…), and to make them holy by means of sacred rites the sacraments (Baptize them, forgive their sins…). Evidently those who are raised to such a sublime office need a very special grace to discharge their duties worthily.
Christ commanded that by the Sacrament of Baptism people should be made members of His Church; that by the Sacrament of Penance their sins should be forgiven; and that by the Sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist they should be fed with His Precious Body and Blood. And the priest is the normal dispenser of such gifts.
Another childish objection is this: “Priests should not be called ‘Father,’ since Jesus said, ‘call no man your father on Earth, for you have one Father, who is in Heaven’” (Matt. 23:9).
Reply: By the same slavishly literal interpretation, no one should refer to his male parent as his father, even though our Lord Himself elsewhere spoke about people’s fathers. Honor thy father and thy mother — Matt. 10:21; 19:5; 19:19; 19:29; 23:32; John 6:49; 8:56 when Jesus calls fathers, fathers (how else would He refer to them?).
Similarly, we should forbid calling any man by the title “Mister” (Old English for “Master”) or “Teacher,” since the verse following says, “Neither be called masters” (or, “teachers,” in some translations). For the same reason, most Christians by now ought to be one-handed, for Scripture says, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off” (Mark 9:43).
Priests are rightly called “Father” since they possess spiritual fatherhood, because of which St. Paul could say, “I became your father in Christ Jesus” — 1 Cor. 4:15; cf. 2 Cor. 6:13; 1 Thess. 2:11; 1 Tim. 1:2; 1:18; 2 Tim. 1:2; Acts 7:1; 1 John 2:13-14.
St. Gabriel the Archangel refers to David as Jesus’ father: “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32-33). Surely an angel from Heaven would not use such a word if Jesus has forbidden it!
“Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you” (Luke 2:48). Our Lady refers to St Joseph as Jesus’ father.
“For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all fatherhood in Heaven and Earth is named” (Eph. 3:14-15). Every fatherhood on Earth reflects the fatherhood of God in Heaven.
Illogical Interpretations
But the deeper question is: Which sayings of Christ are to be interpreted literally and which ones figuratively? Fundamentalists claim to take everything literally, and yet refuse to do so when they read, “This is my Body,” and “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 14:22; 10:9).
Only the Catholic Church, founded by Jesus Christ and to whom the Bible belongs, can guide us as to what is literal and what is not.
Those who have forsaken the guidance and wisdom of the Catholic Church finish up in the most bizarre and illogical interpretations.
Next article: Marriage, the Great Sacrament under threat in the Church today.
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(Raymond de Souza, KM, is a Knight of the Sovereign and Military Order of Malta; a delegate for International Missions for Human Life International [HLI]; and an EWTN program host. Website: www. RaymonddeSouza.com.)
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