What Does The Bible Say About The Roman Catholic Church?

We continue our study of denominations by looking at the Roman Catholic Church, it's origin, organization, authority and doctrine. We find it impossible to locate a specific date as the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church or a specific founder of it. We do know that the Roman Catholic Church is the result of a general departure from the divine pattern of organization, doctrine, worship, and work given by Jesus Christ through His apostles as contained in the New Testament. This departure began soon after the death of the last apostle. The New Testament revealed that such a departure would occur and we discuss the passages the apostles wrote  predicting it. So, the Roman Catholic Church is an apostate church  which has some doctrines that are over 1800 years old and some that are not even a century old. We note the first Pope and what the Catholic Catechism says about that. We discuss the organization of the Catholic Church and the members of that organization. We look at it's basic authority according to it's Catechism of Christian Doctrine on page 44 and other locations in that document. We again note that the Bible teaches that the New Testament is the complete and  final revelation of God. We discuss those Bible passages that say so. We will begin the next episode by looking at the primary beliefs and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Take about 30 - minutes to listen in on our conversations. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

Transcript

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Fred Gosnell: 0:00

This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thirty pm We meet for Bible study at 9:30 am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com or to Glenn Landrum at scbamaboy2003@yahoo.com or to Eric McClam at ericmcclam50@outlook.com or to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net.

Arnie: 0:55

Ah, good afternoon. This is Arnie Granke with the Woodland church of Christ in Sumter, South Carolina, and with me is Fred Gosnell, and got Glenn with me, and Eric with me as well. And this is what does the Bible say. We want to invite you to get your Bible out, follow along. We'll be looking at a number of passages of scripture, and want you to be able to look at those in your Bible to see where they are, and to, and to verify that we're not misleading anyone about the things that we're saying that the Bible says. And if you have any questions at all, feel welcome to give us a holler at the Woodland church of Christ. You can drop in and visit with us on the Lord's Day. We have Bible class on in the morning on 9 o'clock worship at 10 o'clock, and then also again on Sunday evenings, and we'd like to invite you to come and ask your questions, and bring your Bible with you, and let us show you in passages of scripture where the things that we talk about are there. So now that you know who we are, I want to pass it to Glenn, and he's got his Bible open here on the table. I see,

Glenn: 2:28

Yeah. Well, last week we introduced this subject of denominations, and we, we introduced it as being a title of the truth about denominations. This week we're going to get into one denomination in particular, and the thing that we're trying to do is, is show you and compare what the Bible says to what the practices are of different denominations. We started last week showing you that Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, And I also say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Jesus was saying, I say unto Peter, now what he was saying is not, not Peter that the church would be built upon, but He, Jesus Christ, was the rock that was the church would be built on. First Corinthians 10, 3, 10 and 11 says, According to the grace God, which is given done to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation in other builders, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So we understand that Jesus is the foundation of the church. First Peter 4, 11 says, If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and dominion forever and ever. So here Peter is saying that if we say anything about our religion, about Christ, about the church, then we need to do it according to the scriptures, that's the oracles of God. And then I look like to look at another passage, Second Peter one verse three, and we've read this a number of times, As His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue. So you see anything and everything that we learn and know about Christ and about the church should come directly from the Bible, and that's exactly the title of our program. What does the Bible say? And so that's what we're going to be doing, and so we're going to be introducing the Catholic Church, and we're going to be showing some of the doctrines within the Catholic Church, and things that are done in the Catholic Church that are different than what the Bible says. I'll pass it to Fred.

Fred Gosnell: 5:34

Well, some of the facts about the Roman Catholic Church is, of course, it's the largest of the denominations. It's probably the most powerful religious organization in the Western world. So it claims it's a membership of over one and a half billion people. So the majority of those who claim to be Christians, as the world uses the term, are members of the Catholic Church. Because of her great power she's able not only to wield tremendous pressure in advancing her religious views in the political arena, but also in holding sway over the millions who are under her domination. Of course, you know, we remember just recently they elected a new pope, and it was every news organization covered that, and it was the biggest thing going at that time. So we need to look at the origin of the Roman Catholic Church. Of course, one can really neither locate or identify a specific date as the birth or the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church. Nor specify some individual as a founder. The Roman Catholic Church is a result of a general departure from the divine pattern of organization, doctrine, worship, and work given by Jesus Christ through the apostles, which is contained in the New Testament. Of course, we've already talked about that. So, beginning in the second century, just a few years after the death of the last apostle, so this departure moved very slowly, but surely, gradually introducing human doctrines over a long period of time. The first departures were in church organization, which ultimately led to the recognition as of a papacy as the head of the church. So this departure brought forth a church which bears little resemblance to the one built and belonging to Jesus.

Eric: 7:26

The New Testament not only reveals that such a departure was possible, but also prophesied that it would take place. The Apostle Paul warning to the elders in the church of Ephesus in Acts chapter 20 verses 29 and 30, it says, Also of yourselves when you're talking about the overseers, shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore, watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every everyone night and day with tears. In Thessalonian Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verses three through five, it says, Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there be a coming, except there be a come of falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who uphold and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he as God, seated in the temples of God, showing Himself that he is God. Remember you not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things. So these are the things that Paul was talking to those that are in Thessalonica about those things, Timothy was told some of the doctrine, which will be taught by those who advocate this departure in First Timothy, chapter four, verses one through four, and it says, Now the Spirit speaking expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrine of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with the hot iron, forbidden to marry, commanded to abstain from meat which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and knoweth the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving.

Arnie: 9:53

I'm looking, Eric, at Second Timothy, chapter. Four, this is a somewhat lengthy section. 14 verses, there you'll stay, stay with us. This will be Second Timothy four, verses one through 14, where Paul says to Timothy, I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I'm now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and unto me not only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is deported into Thessalonica. Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he's profitable to me for the ministry, and Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. The cloak that I left at Troas with Corpus. When thou comest, bring it with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. So, here, here are a number of statements about a number of individuals. Some were righteous, some were not. Some were promoting the gospel, others were not, and Paul is not, is not shy about telling Timothy just who did what, or rather, yeah, Timothy, who, who did what, and, and whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. This epistle is, where Paul also told Timothy about false teachings of those that that had departed, that would be which people would desire to hear and follow. So they needed to be on the lookout for these things to understand what obstacles they were going to, that they were going to encounter as they're busy teaching the gospel. Not everybody was in favor of the gospel, there were some adversaries there, and each gospel teacher, I think, during the first century, and probably even up till the present time, runs into someone, or maybe someone's over a period of time that are unfaithful to God's word, and saying things that are that are not according to what the Bible teaches.

Glenn: 14:06

You may remember last week we read a passage in Galatians one six through 10, where Paul said that he was amazed that the Galatians had so soon departed from the gospel, which they had heard before, and he ended up telling them that, If even if an angel from heaven or anyone else came and preached something different than what they had heard before, then that person should be accursed. So we see when someone departs from the teaching of God's word, that that person is wrong. So anytime someone is teaching something different than God's word, we know that that is not correct, and that's not the way it should be. The Roman Catholic Church is an apostate church, which is some doctrines which are 18 centuries old, and some not even a century old. According to this teaching, there can be no Roman Catholic Church without a pope. The Roman Catholic Church is the congregation of all baptized persons united in the same true faith, the same sacrifice, the same sacrament sacraments under the Holy Father, the Pope, and that's from the Catechism of Christian Doctrine on page 12. The first man in history to actually exert power in anything like a universal domination was Gregory the Great, and 590 to 604 after Christ, but he refused to be called ecumenical bishop or pope. There was no pope until Boniface the third was elected universal pope or universal bishop or pope in 606 AD. So we're seeing the the actual history now. If you were to talk to not to Catholics, they would tell you that that the Catholic Church was started on 33 AD, but that's not what history shows, since by their own teaching there could be no Roman Catholic Church without a pope, and since there was no pope prior to 606 AD, it is obvious that our Roman Catholic Church, by their own admission and history, is a product of apostasy, and it is not the New Testament Church.

Fred Gosnell: 16:36

So, let's look at the organization of the Roman Catholic Church, and again, keep in mind that the name of the program was What does the Bible say. So when we're looking at the organization of the Roman Catholic Church, we're going to see whether or not it's organized as we have already talked about in previous lessons, according to the New Testament. So the government of the Roman Catholic Church is really an absolute hierarchy. Of course, a hierarchy is a ruling body of clergy organized into orders or ranks, each subordinate to the one above it, and that's according to Webster. Of course, the Pope stands at the top of the hierarchy. You know, if you watch any news organization today, you'll, you'll notice who they talk about, they'll have the Pope on there, and they'll talk about the Pope as being the head of the Catholic Roman Catholic Church. So, the Pope is believed to be quote the bishop of Rome, the Vicar of Christ, and the quote visible head of the Roman Catholic Church. So, his authority is supreme in all matters of faith and morals as head of the church. He's elected by the College of Cardinals, College of Cardinals elects the Pope, serves as his advisors, and holds authority over the Church between popes. Remember that here recently, when they need to elect a new Pope, the College of Cardinals were the ones you know, they, everybody's looking for the white smoke to come up to tell them when the pope was selected, and the college cardinals are the ones that do that. So, so most of the cardinals reside in Rome. So, with them and the Roman Curia, the administrative arm of the church, the pope governs worldwide Catholicism. And so next in descending order are archbishops, archbishops, bishops, and priests. An archbishop is the spiritual ruler of an archdiocese made up of several dioceses. Bishops rule over diocese as their territorial jurisdiction. Under the bishops, the parish priests preside over the parishes. A parish is the ecclesiastical unit of area committed to one pastor. All members of the hierarchy are ordained priests. So, in addition to the regular ranks of the Roman clergy in the hierarchy are other priests, monks, deacons, sub-deacons, and the whole army of orders of congregations. Of course, there

are two types of orders: 19:05

they're monastic orders and the religious congregations of priests and various brotherhoods and sisterhoods, such as Jesuits and Franciscans, and etc.

Arnie: 19:18

I want to just add something here to what Fred has just talked about. He pointed out that the Pope is one of his roles is as the Vicar of Christ. A lot of people don't know what a vicar is, that's not common, common English there for most of us there, but a vicar is a term for one who stands in the place of another, he's a substitute, and, and the bishop of Rome, or the pope, is the vicar, or stands in, in the place as a substitute for. Christ, there, I don't think I don't think that any human that's alive is equal to Christ there, and so that's an assumed position, and certainly not one that the Bible teaches.

Eric: 20:18

So we will talk about the basic authority of the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church faith and doctrine is founded upon that deposits of faith given to it by Christ and through his apostles sustained by the Bible and by tradition according to the Catechism of Christian doctrine on page 44. While they make use of certain passages in the Bible in an effort to justify their particular doctrine doctrine, they make no claims to follow the teachings of the word of God. In addition to the Bible, they have added what they call divine tradition, catechism statement. Not all truth revealed for us by God are found in the Bible. Some are found only in divine tradition. By divine tradition is meant the revealed truth taught by Christ and his apostles, which were given to the church only by his, only by word of mouth, and not through the Bible, though they were put, they were put in writing, particularly by the fathers of the church. Divine tradition must be believed and firmly as the Bible, because it also contains the word of God. The doctrine of papal infallibility recognized the bishop of Rome as being incapable of being in error when he defines any matter of faith or morals for the entire church as a consequence of his occupying the chair of Peter. Catholic doctrine teaches that when the Pope speaks, that his message is binding, his message is binding as the word of God, since he is viewed as the vicar of Christ. If this doctrine is accepted, then any new doctrine of practice, or any invocation, must be accepted by the membership,

Arnie: 22:30

And once again, you'll notice that Eric pointed out that that the Pope served as Vicar of Christ, in other words, he, Christ isn't here, so he becomes essentially the equal, equal of qui.et Christ, and holds, holds that position. I want, want to give you a passage of scripture here from from Second Timothy in, in chapter three, and beginning in verse 16, we'll just give you two verses here. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. And here the Bible is teaching that the New Testament is complete, and it's the final, final revelation of God and and His will for for all times to come. And so if someone comes along after Christ's death and claims to be offering new revelations from from God, it just ain't so, it's not the truth there, and he's playing vicar rather than letting Christ's word stand for itself, and also abiding, abiding by it.

Glenn: 24:19

We read a few moments ago, and I'm going to read it again, Second Peter one verse three. His divine power is given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue. This simply says that everything that pertains to godliness and to living our lives is given to us, and it's given to us in this book that we call the Bible. This is the word of God. We don't need anything else. Therefore, if we have something by tradition, or we have some new information given by anyone, it's incorrect. We read the Second Timothy 3, 16 and 17, and all the things that that God's word, the inspired word of God, is good for. We don't need anything else, and to use anything else, and to listen to some something that anyone else says is not correct, and we show we should not be doing that. We're forbidden to go beyond the revealed will of Christ. In Second John nine and 10, that's Second John nine and 10, and that's, Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, nor greet him. So if anything is different than what we find in God's word, what's it say? It says to reject that, If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, nor greet him. It's, it's real plain. We are not to listen to and pay attention to. One is not to teach anything other than the gospel revealed by the apostles in the New Testament. To do this is to be accursed. I mentioned a few moments ago, Galatians one six through nine, where Paul said he was amazed that they had so soon departed from the word or the gospel that they had received, and then he tells them that even if an angel from heaven or anyone else comes and teaches something different than what they received, and what we can say, what they received, that's the same as this book, this Bible, this word of God that we have. If anything is taught other than that, that that person should be, be accursed. That was Cath, Catholics called divine, divine tradition is nothing more than the doctrines and commandments of men, which Jesus said makes religion vain, Matthew 15 8 & 9 and we'll take a look at that just soon as I get there, Matthew 15 eight and nine. These people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men, the teaching the things that people, that men profess, and not God's word.

Fred Gosnell: 27:54

Well, of course, one of the things that that they believe, we'll look at the primary beliefs and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, so some of the identifying characteristics of the church. Now we first look at, remember, it was mentioned that the Pope claims to be infallible, in other words, he is the one that's over the Roman Catholic Church, so he's the one bishop over the entire church. The New Testament, of course, doesn't say that in every place when it talks about elders or bishops, it's always a plurality. Now, in Acts 20 verse 17, now here, of course, Paul was in Miletus, and he sent for notice, he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. There wasn't one. There was a plurality, of course, this was a local church. Then, in Acts 20, in verse 28, there Paul is again speaking to the elders. He says, "Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. And again, this is a local church. This is not a number of local churches, but it's one local church at Ephesus, and there are a plurality of elders. Then in Acts 14 verse verse 23 There says, when they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. So, again the apostles ordained elders plural in every church, of course, that's talking about local congregations, so each local congregation they ordained elders, of course, we're told in First Timothy, chapter three, the qualifications in order to be an elder, but the point is that there was always a plurality, and then if. Philippians chapter one verse one. There Paul is writing to the Philippians, and notice what he says. He says, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi. Again, this is a local congregation. Notice it's to the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and the deacons, so again, this is a plurality of bishops or elders, and also when it talks about deacons, they are plural in each local congregation.

Arnie: 30:34

Well, I see that we're just about out of time, and we appreciate you listening. We hope that you'll consider these things, and we'll, we'll probably begin next week to speak about this same subject a little bit more. So, if you have some questions about that, by all means send those questions to us. We'll be glad to to answer them and share Bible Bible answers with you on on that subject. We hope you have a good week, and we'll look forward to being with you again next Lord's Day.