Therefore, a clear and precise scriptural teaching on this subject is not necessary: It has been preserved by the “living teaching authority” of the Catholic Church. But the direct question as to who actually established the Church underscores anew the importance of the Church itself. The apostle Paul clearly recognized the continuity between Israel and the church. The “yoke” Peter spoke of was the inability to remove the burden of past sins. “Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews…” (verse 22). The Jews who had come with Peter were astonished when they witnessed these uncircumcised Gentiles receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (verse 45). Or would they side with the Protestant claim that the Reformers restored the true apostolic faith to its pristine purity? In fact, it was Peter himself who spoke against "being lords over God's heritage" in I Peter 5:3. Jesus Christ promised that He would build His church, and that His church would never be destroyed. Hearing and believing in this Word, then, meant being transformed into it. A comparison of 1 Thessalonians 1:1 with 2:6 seems to indicate that Timothy and Silvanus were apostles, hut the wording of the text does not demand this conclusion, Paul could have been using the word (apostolos) in the general sense of “messengers” or “representatives.”. In fact, Christ said, “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (verse 34). Now when Calvin speaks of preaching of the gospel, he means the written gospel. To answer these questions, let’s go to the foundation of the New Testament church and seek to understand the historical and cultural setting wherein it was established. He is a former news editor at GoLocalProv.com and was a correspondent for the New Hampshire Union Leader, where he covered the 2008 presidential primary. Some believe the historical continuity of the Roman Catholic Church, with her line of bishops extending in unbroken succession from the early centuries of Christian history to the present, is “proof’ that the Roman Church is the one universal church, the church that Jesus built. But God had no intentions of excluding the Gentiles from His church, so Jewish attitudes about Gentiles would have to change. Simply stated, the Greek word means “assembly.” When referring to the people of God, it is used both of the universal assembly, or entire Body of Christ, and each local assembly of believers. But it is clear that the original twelve, Paul, and perhaps Barnabas and a few others, were apostles in a special sense. "Jesus did not mean to found a new religion. Converted Israelites are not pictured as being grafted into a brand new olive tree (representing the church); rather, unbelieving Israelites are depicted as being broken off the tree representing Israel! Obviously, they did not believe the Law had been “done away.” Rather, they believed that “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12); that “the law is spiritual…” (verse 14). God did not leave us here without hope or a plan. And tradition is not something that one individual hands off to individual to another but rather is something passed on within a community. They were simply replacing Judas. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/StephenBeale1. James was not saying that these four laws were the only laws the Gentile converts were to observe. Over the course of generations, word of mouth becomes oral tradition. They saw the New Covenant significance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, recognizing the necessity of putting sin (typified by leaven) out of their lives. Amazingly, tens of thousands of Christians have never heard of God’s holy days, have never been taught of the tremendously deep, spiritual, Christian significance of these festivals. “Never, then, will the office of the bed-rock, Peter, cease to exist. The answer that a well-known ad campaign—Catholics Comes Home—gives is that Jesus founded the Church. The Samaritan woman who met Jesus at “Jacob’s well” (John 4) said, “I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things” (verse 25). He has appeared on Fox News, C-SPAN and the Today Show and his writing has been published in the Washington Times, Providence Journal, the National Catholic Register and on MSNBC.com and ABCNews.com. Paul, speaking of a visit to Jerusalem, said that he saw Peter, “But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19). First, the apostles were not appointing new apostles to continue their ministry after them. During his address, Paul again identifies the two groups: “Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham [i.e., the Jews], and whosoever among you feareth God [i.e., the God-fearing Gentiles], to you is the word of this salvation sent” (verse 26). When the New Testament speaks of those who “fear God,” it is usually speaking of those Gentiles who worshiped the true God and were frequently seen in the synagogues on the Sabbath day. Had Christianity been illegal in Roman occupied territory, no apology would have been made. Before we examine the circumstances that led to the planting of churches in regions outside Judaea, let’s look more closely at the mother church in its earliest days. And even then, it wasn’t a single book. This is question 22: "Did Jesus really mean to found a Church?" In Thessalonica, Paul, “as his manner was, went in unto them [in the synagogue], and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures…. For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 23 Questions & answers about Jesus Christ, prepared by a team of catholic theologians of the University of Navarre. For whatever reason, James thought it necessary to mention only the four laws. Paul was an apostle in the same sense. Jesus intentionally founded the Church on his own authority. Apparently, rumor was circulating among the Galatians that Paul was not an authentic apostle; that he had received the truth of the gospel from Peter or from the twelve, and had failed to preach it accurately. Doubtless, this attempt to discredit Paul, whose preaching brought about the conversion of the Galatians, was really an attempt to discredit his message—a message his Judaizing opponents (the circumcision party) took to task. He advised the Colossians, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16,17). The Day of Pentecost obviously took on new meaning to the thousands of Jews who were converted on that day. The New Testament records Jesus' activities and teaching, his appointment of the twelve Apostles, and his instructions to them to continue his work. Fare ye well” (verses 28,29). In any case, he played an important role in laying the foundation of the church. In the days that followed, “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (verse 47). However, the prophecy is yet to be fulfilled in the final sense. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming” (verses 42-45). Louvain Studies, 1996. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. “The Synaxis of … He was therefore an inferior apostle with an inferior message. In fact, history tells us that the descendants of the Jerusalem church were still keeping the Sabbath and holy days as late as the fourth century, A.D. Gerizim [ancient location of the Samaritans’ temple] referred to in John 4” (Everett F. Harrison, Introduction to the New Testament, Wm. James, the Lord’s brother, appears to have been considered an apostle, but this is not entirely certain. Apparently, the belief has found its way into several non-traditional sects. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:15-19). Notice that the olive tree represents Israel! And, as we have noted, Luke pointed out that the New Testament church began on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). In Acts 1, the disciples asked the risen Christ, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (verse 6). When Peter and John arrived, they prayed for them, laid their hands on them, and the believing Samaritans received the Holy Spirit (verses 15-17). (2 Kings 17:24). They were witnesses of Christ’s resurrection, and were handpicked by Christ Himself as the key instruments through which He would establish His church. He said: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, To reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. The Eastern Orthodox Church makes the same claim, and, interestingly, each of the two churches accepts the claim of the other, while each claims to be “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.”. Here’s how it often goes. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. True to His prophecy, Jerusalem was the “birthplace” of the New Testament church. By simply reading the many New Testament references to the final tribulation period, the Day of the Lord, the Second Coming, the resurrection of the saints, and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on this earth, one can see clearly that James, Peter, John, Jude, and Paul lived and labored in expectation of the imminence of Christ’s coming. Yes, it is obvious; and, in the next section, we’ll see more proof that the apostolic church was quite different from the church that emerged in the centuries that followed. He told them what they were to aim at and how they were to do it, … Nowhere in Scripture does it say that Jesus Christ wrote a book or commanded anyone else to write a Gospel. Under Roman law, certain religions were identified as licita (legal), while others were considered illicita (illegal). Did they envision a generation in the distant future? They simply obeyed the instruction of their Lord: They continued, throughout their lives, to watch, to wait, and to hope. His areas of interest include Eastern Christianity, Marian and Eucharistic theology, medieval history, and the saints. These men were not secretive in their desire to learn more about the true Faith, and there is no evidence of charges of treason or of loss of official status for becoming Christians. Did He envision a continuous line of “successors of the apostles” who would govern the institution and issue infallible decrees on matters of faith and morals for all the faithful? When the disciples asked Jesus to reveal to them the time of His coming and the end of the age (Matthew 24:3), His reply gave them every reason to believe that they would live to see the end of the age and dawning of the new, Messianic age. They understood the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost to be the fulfillment of certain Old Testament prophecies (Acts 2:16-21), and could not have imagined that the law God had revealed to their fathers had become archaic or obsolete. But what did He mean when He said “church”? It is a mistake to limit Christ’s word to the written word only or to suggest that all his teachings were reduced to writing” (Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on “Romanism” by “Bible Christians,” Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1988, p. 136). But do the various references to “apostles” other than the twelve offer any evidence that Christ intended to perpetuate the apostolic office through an endless succession of popes and bishops? Notice what happened after Paul finished his speech: “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. To many, the word connotes a place of worship, a building, perhaps with stained-glass windows and a steeple. To answer, let’s see how the New Testament church expanded beyond Jerusalem, and who its first members were. Is this truly an example of “apostolic succession”? New churches would be planted, all sharing the common Faith, believing the message proclaimed first in Jerusalem. On the contrary, Paul went to great lengths to defend his independent apostleship. But when he called Epaphroditus “my brother, and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger [apostolos], and he that ministered to my wants” (Philippians 2:24), he was using the word in its general sense. Of course, this does not mean that the written word, the Old Testament, was unimportant. It was a foundational office, and was restricted to a limited number of men living within a specific period of history. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few” (Acts 17:2,4). Further, Christ’s prophecies about the “end of the age” left the disciples with the impression that the Second Advent would take place in their lifetimes. These God-fearers were in the synagogue on the Sabbath. If the apostles were here today, what would they think as they examined modern Christianity? He carefully selected out 12 "apostles" from among his many followers, and gave them special training as well as explaining many things to them in private that he didn't announce to more general gatherings. Notice an analogy Paul used: “For if the casting away of them [the majority of Israelites] be the reconciling of the world [the non-Israelite peoples, or Gentiles], what shall the receiving [conversion] of them be, but life from the dead? So who’s church is it? Hardly! Notice that he addressed the Jews (“men of Israel”) and “ye that fear God,” meaning the God-fearing Gentiles. First, as we have noted, the church began on the Day of Pentecost, one of the annual holy days God had given to Israel centuries earlier (Leviticus 23:15-20). Judaism enjoyed the status of religio licita. Download Full PDF Package. Once established in the land, the “new Samaritans” continued their idolatrous practice, resulting in God punishing them by sending lions in their midst (verses 25). Its unique requirements rule out any claim to the apostolic office in our time. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, Revised Edition, 1971, p. 4). They took it to mean their own generation! As He had promised, Heavenly Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth over 2,000 years ago. Indeed, Christ’s resurrection appearances did take place on a Sunday, but that Sunday was the day of the “wave sheaf’ offering (Leviticus 23:10,11), which took place on the “morrow after the Sabbath” during the Days of Unleavened Bread. When used in this sense, “apostle” does not necessarily denote a special office, and may be used of persons who had not personally witnessed the resurrection. The gospel he preached was taught to him by Christ, not Peter or anyone else. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? With such a premise, Catholics need not find scriptural support for apostolic succession; the church’s tradition is all the “proof’ they need. His teaching persuaded them that “this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (verse 42). Even the conversion of the Gentiles was not seen as a radical departure from legitimate religious practice, probably because informed Roman officials were aware of Jewish proselytization and were willing to give proselytes the same privileges they gave the Jews. Could the earliest Christians have believed that the spiritual law that had been given to carnal Israel did not apply to spiritual Israel? This is all important, for the resurrection of Christ was, and is, central to the gospel. Did the apostles see no continuity between Israel and the church? This is what the writer of the book of Hebrews had in view when he said: “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22,23). Obviously, the earliest Christians, being Jewish, associated the important events of Christ’s resurrection appearances and the arrival of the Holy Spirit with the festivals they were familiar with, not with the first day of the week. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. This is based on Matthew’s gospel (16:18) where Jesus says, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” He not only establishes his church but gives primacy to Peter among all the apostles. The direct encounter with God was, as Paul so beautifully and richly puts it in the above verses from 2 Corinthians. Peter’s approach here conforms to the Great Commission of Matthew 28:20. To the Romans, the Christian church was so closely aligned with Jewish religion that it appeared to be just another sect of Judaism. But did he? Once converted, they continued to obey God, continued to keep the Sabbath, and, as long as Christians and unbelieving Jews were able to coexist on friendly terms, continued to meet in the synagogues. The apostolic church—the church that Jesus built—was a Sabbathkeeping church! Would you look for a church whose governing body claims to be the “successors of the apostles” and offers historical “proof’ that its head “apostle” traces the origin of his office all the way back to St. Peter? It should be pointed out that the Olivet prophecy (Matthew 24-25), like many Bible prophecies, is a generic prophecy—that is, it pertains to events that are not necessarily confined to a single time-frame. He ordained a disciple there named Evodius to the episcopacy and appointed him the bishop of Antioch. It should be noted that the word “apostle,” as it is used in the New Testament, is used in two senses: First, it is used of the twelve disciples (with Matthias replacing Judas) specifically selected as witnesses of the resurrection. For this reason, witness of the resurrection was one of the qualifications of the apostolic office. Yet, the people of Antioch (in Pisidia) and of Iconium were Galatians. Does this account in any way suggest that the apostolic office was to continue beyond the first century? “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (verse 9). The necessity of this change of attitude was shown to Peter in a vision. Jesus Christ lived a perfect, sinless life. Many see the church and Israel as two entirely separate and completely unrelated entities. In Corinth, Paul “reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks” (Acts 18:4). What religious practices were they accustomed to? Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to those who were his own (the church) to preserve us in fidelity until he comes again. He knew it didn’t mean that “unclean” meats (Leviticus 11) were now fit for human consumption, but wasn’t sure what it did mean. But Paul and Barnabas, having witnessed the conversion of uncircumcised Gentiles, vigorously disputed the claim of the circumcision party, and agreed to meet with the apostles and elders at Jerusalem to settle the matter once and for all (Acts 15:2). Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Raised as an evangelical Protestant, he is a convert to Catholicism. But it did have—and still has today—the promise of its Founder: “And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the [age]” (Matthew 28:20). And there is no reason to believe that they deserted the Sabbath after becoming members of the New Testament church. At first, Peter didn’t understand the meaning of this vision (verses 17,19). Catholic Exchange is a project of Sophia Institute Press. We read of it in Acts 10. How appropriate that the “harvest” of lives for the Kingdom of God should begin on this day. Jesus, as pictured in the New Testament, appointed twelve apostles to help establish his Church. The church, they say, is man’s invention. Clearly, the Christian movement was not considered an illegal religion during the first decades of the apostolic period. Nor was there a solid consensus on what belonged in it. Peter argued that since the Gentiles had received the grace of God through faith, there was no need to burden them with additional requirements—for salvation had already been accomplished! For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick [office, or charge] let another take. Of course, Scripture—then just the Old Testament—does play a role in Peter’s sermon in Acts 2. One of the things Peter did before he went to Rome was to found the church in Antioch, the third largest city in the Roman Empire at the time. During one of Paul’s Jerusalem visits, James said to him, “Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law” (Acts 21:20). Some have cited the example of Matthias’ replacement of Judas as evidence of apostolic succession. See also Chapter 25 of the Westminster Confession and the fourth book of The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin.). He began his ministry in the synagogues, preaching Christ to the Jews (Acts 9:20,21). 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