This blog is intended to share thoughts on why the Catholic Church is the one true universal Church personally established by Jesus Christ. Only in the Catholic Church can Christ's final prayer be fulfilled "that they may all be one, as you Father, are in me and I in you." John 17:21.
The various protestant denominations, which continuously divide and subdivide the Church, are founded upon a nonbiblical principal of sola scriptura. Sola scriptura is a man made doctrine which did not exist prior to the sixteenth century. No verse of scripture states that scripture is the "sole" authority. Rather, scripture tells us that the Church is the "pillar and foundation of truth."1 Timothy 3:15. Scripture tells us to cling fast not only to the written word of God, but also, to the oral teachings of the apostles. 2 Thessalonians 2:15.
The Bible tells us that not everything Jesus said or did was reduced to writing. John's Gospel concludes by telling us that not all of the books in the world could have told Christ's entire story. John 21:25. Christ did not hand out Bibles, and the only thing he has been reported to have written was in the sand. Rather than creating a set of writings, he formed a Church, on the rock of Peter, who was the first Pope. Mathew 16:18. Christ formed His Church not only for Peter's lifetime, but to withstand the very gates of Hell until his return. Mathew 16:18.
When Christ told Peter to feed His lambs and to tend His sheep, this also applied to Peter's successors, because Christ did not create His Church to last only for one man's lifetime. As the original Apostles died, they were replaced by successors. Acts 1:26. This system of apostolic succession has continued to this day, through the laying of hands. That is why the Apostle's creed, formed by the early Church refers to "one holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church."
Christ's Church later declared a canon of scripture, in the fourth century council of Hippo. In the same century, the Catholic Church disseminated the first widely available Bible, which is known as the Vulgate. The Bible was called the Vulgate because it was written in the vulgar tongue or common language, which was Latin, rather than in Hebrew or Greek.
The authority to declare which books were or were not canonical always belonged to the Church. Because Saint Paul and the Apostles never gave us a table of contents and, in general, did not declare which books should be in the Bible, that decision was left to apostolic successors. Although scripture is divinely inspired, the table of contents in your bible was not written by God nor by any of the divinely inspired human authors of the scriptures. Depending upon whether you use a Catholic or a Protestant Bible, the table of contents either reflects decisions made entirely by the early Catholic Church, in the fourth century, or it may also reflect decisions made by Martin Luther and other Protestant reformers, as to which books should be considered canonical.
The doctrine of sola scriptura entirely begs a threshold question: if scripture is the sole authority, who has authority to decide what is scripture? There is no divinely inspired table of contents written by Jesus nor by any apostle. Rather, the Church, which scripture tells us is "the pillar and foundation of truth," decided in the fourth century to publish a bible, called the "Vulgate." That original biblical canon includes all the books of the Protestant Old and New Testaments, but in addition, it contains other Old Testament books written in Greek, during an important period of jewish history.
Some of these Greek books, which can be found in Catholic and in Orthodox Bibles, but not in Protestant Bibles, contain a substantial portion of Jewish history that has been deleted from Protestant Bibles. The Books of Maccabees, in particular, tell us the story of Hannukah, and all about a time period after the return of Jews from Babylonian exile but before the coming of Christ. It fills in much of the time period after the books of Daniel, Isaiah and Ezra but before the Roman occupation described in the Gospels.
It is undeniable that there were grave abuses by individuals within the Church, at times including Popes, that provided fuel for a protestant reformation. But that is not the issue. After all, an abuse by an individual of his office does not invalidate the office itself, just as Watergate did not invalidate the authority of the office of the United States President.
Someone had to have the authority to declare what is or is not scripture. The Catholic Church's authority is based on Christ's foundation of the Church upon the rock of Peter, who was the first Pope. By what authority could Martin Luther and his fellow reformers supercede Paul's admonition that we are to cling fast to oral tradition? By what authority could he remove books from a canon of scripture that had been approved by a Church Council in the fourth century and that had then been in usage for over a thousand years? By what authority could he declare that this revised and abbreviated canon was the sole authority? Would you or I have authority to remove additional books from scripture and to then declare that a further abbreviated canon was now the sole authority? If we don't have authority to make such a declaration, why would Martin Luther and the reformers have authority to redefine Christianity or her Bible?
Martin Luther and the other reformers, knowing that they lacked authority to alter the canon of scripture, sought to justify their decision to redefine the canon of scripture on two basic arguments: (1) the Sanhedrin, around 90AD, had rejected all books written in Greek, which excluded not only the New Testament, but portions of the Old Testament that were also written in Greek; and to include only those books written in Hebrew; (2) St. Jerome, who translated the Vulgate, did not agree on the inclusion of the Greek books. Let's examine whether the Sanhedrin or St. Jerome can properly be cited as authorizing revision of the Christian canon.
If the reformers truly intended to rely upon the spiritual guidance of the Sanhedrin, circa 90AD, they would logically have been required to reject the entire New Testament, because the Sanhedrin did not recognize any of the Greek books as canonical and this included not just the Greek books that Protestants disparage as "apocrypha," but also, the entire New Testament. It is illogical for Protestant Christians to claim that the Sanhedrin was a moral authority, as that is the very body that rejected and ultimately crucified Christ. This is especially true where the Sanhedrin first declared a Hebrew canon after the time of Christ's crucifixion, in which the Sanhedren was complicit.
St. Jerome is a more persuasive spiritual authority than the Sanhedrin, but his opinion was not shared by St. Augustine, who, as a bishop, outranked Jerome, nor was St. Jerome's opinion shared by the Church as a whole. The Church declared in the council of Hippo, in the fourth century, that the Canon included the Greek works. St. Jerome, as a faithful Catholic, followed the Church's decision by including these Greek books in the first widely disseminated Bible. That Bible was written in the common vernacular language, which was Latin, and became known as the Vulgate. The one true canon of scripture has been followed by the Catholic Church ever since and to this day.
In the final analsis, Martin Luther and the reformers neither followed St. Jerome nor the Sanhedrin. To truly follow the Sanhedrin would mean to reject Jesus and the New Testament, as the Sanhedrin did. And, if Martin Luther and the reformers had really wanted to follow the thinking of St. Jerome, they would have done as St. Jerome did, which was to follow Church teaching. Martin Luther and the reformers ultimately followed their own thinking, and did what seemed right to them, in their own eyes. The end product of this thinking is an abbreviated Protestant canon, and a man made doctrine of sola scriptura.
The man made doctrine of sola scriptura, invented by Martin Luther, has caused thousands of divisions within the Church all of which are contrary to holy scripture. This is nothing short of scandalous. The apostle Paul warned the early Church against forming denominational divisions. 1 Corinthians 11-12. Paul made it clear that the unity demanded by Christ must be visible and real, and not solely metaphysical. For example, the apostle Paul chastised Peter for sitting exclusively with jewish followers of James, who had separated from their gentile brothers and sisters in Christ. Although the gentile and jewish followers of Christ were metaphysically united in Christ, they were not visibly united, as they would not sit together. Peter repented of his error. Galatians 2:11-14. We too must preserve the unity of the spirit, as we were called to one faith, one Lord and one baptism. Ephesians 4:3-6.
Unity can only be found in the Catholic Eucharist, where we share the body and blood of Christ, in holy communion. "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf." 1 Corinthians 10:16-17.
Christ founded the Catholic Church on the rock of Peter. Only on this rock may unity be found.
