CORE #08 – He Founded the Catholic Church (Part 1)
Show Notes
Quick Tip
- Give more compliments in conversations with people potentially hostile to the faith.
- When you give compliments, the following can happen:
- You reduce negative emotions.
- The person is less likely to straw man your position or fling insults.
- Your ideas get a fairer hearing.
- Civility pervades the discussion.
Show Outline
- That Jesus Founded the Catholic Church is the best explanation of the following evidence:
- Jesus founded a visible Church
- The early historical evidence for the Papacy and Apostolic Succession
- In this episode, I give 3 arguments to show that Christ founded a visible Church, where visibility primarily refers to the visible unity held together by a visible hierarchy.
Argument #1: Statements in the Gospels show Christ founded a visible Church
Matthew 16:18 (ESV)
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hellshall not prevail against it.
Matthew 18:15-17 (ESV)
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Argument #2: Church visibility follows from Paul’s classification of the Church as the Body of Christ
Romans 12: 4-5 (ESV)
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV)
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
1 Corinthians 12: 12-31 (ESV)
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 in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts,yet one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
Argument #3: The visible Church makes the best sense of the ideas of Church discipline and schism
St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, d. AD 258, On the Unity of the Church, 23:
God is one and Christ is one, and one is His Church, and the faith is one, and one His people welded together by the glue of concord into a solid unity of body. Unity cannot be rent asunder, nor can the one body of the Church, through the division of its structure, be divided into pieces.
Jerome writes in Ep. ad Tit., iii, 10:
Between heresy and schism there is this difference, that heresy perverts dogma, while schism, by rebellion against the bishop, separates from the Church. Nevertheless there is no schism which does not trump up a heresy to justify its departure from the Church.
Resources Mentioned
- Christ Founded a Visible Church by Dr. Bryan Cross
- Why Protestantism Has No “visible catholic church” by Dr. Bryan Cross
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I have recently started to listen to this podcast, from the beginning. And I have enjoyed it, finding it informative. But Core 8 & 9 are a different story. I am a part of the catholic church, but not Roman Catholic. I find your arguments in support of the Roman church to be very unconvincing. They appear to be an attempt to prove something that you already believe rather than allowing the Scripture to be your guide. Especially your attempt to justify the importance of a visible hierarchical church.
All believers are members of the catholic, or universal, church, with Christ as our head. Your attempts to promote the Roman church over all traditions are, I believe, divisive and counter-productive.
I will likely continue to follow your podcast, at least for the time being. But I hope to can stick more to theology and less to defending and promoting a specific tradition of the Christian faith.