#tim staples

The Truth About Biblical Authority

Even if someone does not accept the inspiration of Scripture, he can know through the use of reason alone that the New Testament contains accurate historical information about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. And one piece of history he will find there is that Jesus established a “Church” that would have the authority to speak for him whenever there was a matter of dispute among the people of God. That Church—also a matter of historical fact—was and is the Catholic Church.

Perhaps the plainest example of Our Lord’s teaching on the establishment of an authoritative and infallible authority on earth, namely, the Church, can be found in Matthew 18:15-18. Here, in part of the Gospel reading we heard this past Sunday, Jesus gives definitive instruction as to how matters of dispute would be settled among the people of God for all time:

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 word may be confirmed 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. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  

Jesus guarantees that the Church’s definitive decisions would be backed up by the authority of heaven itself. So radical is this authority that he would also say of his Church, “If they receive you they receive me; if they reject you, they reject me” (Matt. 10:40; Cf. Luke 10:16; 1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 3:10; 4:11-15, etc.). This does not mean just some kind of authority, but an infallible authority, i.e. the authority of Christ himself.

The blessings of this infallible Church are manifold. But one very important reason for its establishment concerns the nature of faith itself. Without an infallible spokesman for Christ, the follower of Christ cannot have faith in the sense that God wills for him, because without that infallible spokesman he is forced to trust in some man’s private and fallible interpretation of the word of God rather than the word of God itself. Whether he places his faith in his own interpretation or in another fallible person’s really doesn’t matter. He is trusting in a fallible source, rather than in that of God’s spokesman who speaks infallibly.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, St. Paul explains this principle succinctly:

And we thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.

Notice that Paul did not say he was giving the Thessalonians (and us) his fallible opinion of what he thought Jesus said. He gave them the word of God. Paul—and the Catholic Church, I should add—never asks the faithful to place what the Church in its tradition calls “divine faith” in anything other than the infallible teachings of God’s authority on earth, whether that be Paul himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, or the infallible teaching authority of the Magisterium of the Church (cf. CCC 2089). To place “divine faith” in anything else would be to accept “as doctrines the precepts of men.” Jesus did not have nice things to say about that! (See Mark 7:6-8.)

The Protestant idea that Jesus did not give us an infallible Church—that, instead, we are to get our Bibles out and argue verses and then start our own churches if we cannot agree—as has been the practice of Protestantism for 500 years with no end in sign, or indeed possible. It is also completely alien to the New Testament, which condemns the practice of private interpretation of Scripture:

First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (2 Pet. 1:20-21).

Our Protestant friends will claim that this text does not condemn private interpretation at all. It is, they will say, only speaking of the inspiration and authority of Scripture— that the text of Scripture itself is not a matter of “private interpretation.” It has nothing to do with the man interpreting Scripture.

But this is manifestly false. The next verse (2 Peter 2:1) informs us that Peter was concerned with more than just the actual text of Scripture. He warned of “false teachers” who would teach “heresies,” not just false teachers who would write apocryphal works and claim them to be Scripture:

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.

In 2:10 he describes these false teachers as “despising authority,” and then, in 3:16, he tells us they “twist the scriptures to their own destruction.” The context of Peter’s letter leaves no room to doubt that our first pope was condemning the private interpretation of Scripture, the foundation of the Protestant movement.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, in paragraph 89, that the dogmas of the Faith are crucial for our spiritual lives, and our spiritual lives must be upright so that we will be open to receive the dogmas:

There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith.

And the Catechism also tells us—in paragraph 2051—just how far the infallible teaching authority of the Church extends:

The infallibility of the Magisterium … extends to all the elements of doctrine, including moral doctrine, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, expounded, or observed.

Why does this great gift extend to all of these matters absolutely crucial for our salvation? Paul  says it beautifully and succinctly in Ephesians 4:14: “so that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine.”

Next to how we are the saved (usually presented as “faith or works?”), the issue of authority - who has the final say, Scripture or the Church? - is perhaps the most important issue dividing Protestants and Catholics. This is a great analysis of the problems with sola scriptura.

Excerpt:

Just recently, I was speaking with a Protestant inquirer about this issue and he saw my point. He then said words to the effect of, “I believe the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth as Jesus said in Jn. 16:13. The Holy Spirit guided the early Christians and helped them to gather the canon of Scripture and declare it to be the inspired word of God. God would not leave us without his word to guide us.”

That answer is much more Catholic than Protestant! Yes, Jn. 16:13 does say the Spirit will lead the apostles—and by allusion, the Church—into all truth. But this verse has nothing to say about sola scriptura. Nor does it say a word about the nature or number of books in the canon. Catholics certainly agree that the Holy Spirit guided the early Christians to canonize the Scriptures because the Catholic Church teaches that there is an authoritative Church guided by the Holy Spirit. The obvious problem is my Protestant friend did not use sola scriptura as his guiding principle to arrive at his conclusion. How does, for example, Jn. 16:13 tell us that Hebrews was written by an apostolic writer and that it is inspired of God? We would ultimately have to rely on the infallibility of whoever “the Holy Spirit” is guiding to canonize the Bible so that they could not mishear what the Spirit was saying about which books of the Bible are truly inspired.

How to Read the 'Rapture' Verses

My Catholic friends will often ask me where this very recent novelty among Christians—the “Rapture” and its multiple accompanying beliefs—comes from.

The theory is quite elaborate. It espouses a secret snatching-away of all true believers in the very near future, causing chaos throughout the world. (One can only imagine the numbers not just of cars but of planes, cranes, and every other kind of heavy machinery that will crash or careen out of control.) This will be followed by a seven-year tribulation period in which billions will die in a horrible persecution and war spearheaded by the Antichrist. Then there will be a judgment. Then a thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ on earth, followed by yet another and final judgment. Whew!

And all of this from folks who believe in the perspicuity of Scripture, mind you.

So where do these beliefs come from? Due to space limits I won’t be able to deal with all of the accompanying beliefs surrounding the Rapture theory, but let’s focus on the three main prooftexts most popular among Rapture theorists—verses that every Catholic should be familiar with and be able to exegete properly.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Right off the bat, I always ask the question: “Does this really sound like it is going to be a ‘secret’?” In defense of the Rapture theorists, I should note that in one sense they agree that this event won’t be “secret”: because the whole world will have to explain (or explain away) this massive disappearance of millions. But it will be “secret” in the sense that Jesus himself will not reveal it to the world for what it is.

Nevertheless, I still can’t see how you get “secret” out of an event that is described as being accompanied by “a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.” That doesn’t seem “secret” in any sense. The truth is, of course, there will be nothing “secret” about the Second Coming of Christ, and this is precisely what St. Paul describing.  

Notice there is no seven-year tribulation mentioned, no thousand-year millennium. Just as we Catholics would expect, Paul describes this event as the end of all things. “So shall we always be with the Lord.” The end.  

1 Corinthians 15:51-55

Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?”

I can’t tell you, when I was an Evangelical, how many sermons I heard (and preached!) on the Rapture that used this language of “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…”

Notice again the “trumpet of God”? This doesn’t sound like a “secret rapture,” either. And neither does sound it sound like some preliminary coming of the Lord! Just as with the prior passage, in this text Paul is describing the end of the world.

Notice in particular, “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” In other words, at this point death shall be no more—and yet, according to Rapture theorists, death will just be beginning! They believe there will be millions if not billions killed during the tribulation and that death will continue even through the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. This contradicts the text, because the text actually describes the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time.

Matthew 24:40-42

Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

This is the text (along with the parallel texts in the other synoptic Gospels) where the famous Left Behind series of books by Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins got their names. It is taken to mean that one day believers will be secretly “raptured” away and the rest will be “left behind.”

What’s the problem here, you ask?

First, if we read the three verses leading up to this text, we find this:

As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man.

It seems from the text that the folks who are being “taken away” are being “taken away” to judgment rather than to heaven. He says, “as in those days before the flood… they did not know until the flood came and swept them away.”

Secondly, and along these same lines, if we go to a parallel text to this one, Luke 17:34-37, we find this:

I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left. And they said to him, “Where, Lord?”

If you asked any dispensationalist the question, “Where are those who are ‘taken away’ going?” They would respond, immediately with one word: “Heaven!” But what did Jesus say to the apostles when they asked him where these were going to be taken?

Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

The word translated “eagles” is the Greek aetoi, also translated “vultures” and signifying birds who feed on carrion.

How to Defeat the Antichrist

Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers… a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.

The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment (CCC 675-676).

The Church traditionally distinguishes between the Antichrist, understood to be a pseudo-Messiah who will come at the end of time and lead “the world” against the Church in the “final trial,” and Antichrists in the plural who participate, in various ways, in the same spirit of Antichrist who will personify the spirit or mind of the devil.

What do we mean by “the spirit or mind of the devil”? The answer can be found by considering Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve. The devil tempted Adam and Eve to achieve in their own lives God’s promise of sharing in God’s own image and likeness, but by their own power and in their own way. Satan is the ultimate example of Sinatra’s famous—“I did it my way!” The spirit of Antichrist, therefore, is synonymous with the spirit of the devil that opposes the will and the way of God in favor of his own way.

Second Thessalonians 2:3-12 describes the Antichrist as a person who will have all the power and deception of the devil himself. He will attempt to deceive people into believing that he is what he is not. Ultimately, he will claim himself to be God. And it only the coming of the Lord will stop him. Christ himself will finally defeat him and cast him into hell. This is a powerful depiction of the Antichrist:

Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

In St. John’s writings we find revealed what we just read from the Catechism. There will not only be the Antichrist who appears at the end of time, but there are many Antichrists already in the world:

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist. Look to yourselves that you may not lose what you have worked for, but may win a full reward (2 John 1:7-8).  

Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour... Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:18-22).

In John’s day, he was combating the early fathers of Gnosticism. These personified the Antichrist because they denied the Incarnation—the plan of God for the salvation of the world—thus, Antichrist “denies Jesus coming in the flesh.” They were promoting their “own way” of salvation. Moreover, John says anyone who would “deny the Father and the Son” is an Antichrist. But then, in this same context, John teaches us something less known about the spirit of Antichrist:  

[E]very spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of Antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already. Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them. We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1 John 4:3-6).

There seems to be a connection between the spirit of Antichrist and those who reject God’s authority on earth. The “spirit of truth and the spirit of error” can be known quite simply and clearly. The spirit that says, “I know more than God’s apostolic authority on the earth”—those sent by God with his authority—represents that same spirit of Antichrist that says, “I’ll do it my way!” This is what John is warning against, especially in 1 John 4:6: “Whoever knows God listens to us, and he who is not of God does not listen to us.”

As Catholics, we believe with St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 that it will only be after the revealing of the Antichrist that the Lord will come and “slay [the Antichrist]… by his appearing and his coming.” If we want to be certain we will not be deceived either by the Antichrist himself or by the many Antichrists who are in the world, Scripture teaches we must do at least these essential things:

Every Kingdom Has a Hierarchy

A while back I was helping a member of the Church of Christ to clear up misconceptions he had about the Catholic Faith when he invited me to come to dinner at the home of one of his ministers. My wife and I were happy to come and chat.

It was quite an evening!

Among the many topics we covered that night was one particular teaching that seemed to be of particular importance to our potential convert. The Church of Christ minister worded his question something like this: “Matthew 20:20-28 condemns the human tradition of hierarchy. There is no hierarchy in the Church according to Jesus. Jesus is the hierarchy!”

Our Catholic response

As a rule of thumb, I always like to begin by taking a look at the proper context of any biblical text in question. And so we read the text together:

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to [Jesus], with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something . . . “Command that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered . . . “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant . . . even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve.”

Pastor Joseph (we’ll call him) seemed absolutely certain that this text did not promote hierarchy, but in fact condemned any notion of it in the New Testament Church; yet, nothing could be further from the truth. In a nutshell, my response was, “This text doesn’t condemn hierarchy at all. In context, it simply teaches that the hierarchy about whom St. Paul would say “are over [us] in the Lord and admonish [us]” (1 Thess. 5:12, Heb. 13:17). These who would be “over us” ought to govern in the image of Christ, who washed the feet of the apostles.” I proceeded to show Joseph how, in fact, in St. Luke’s version of this some text we discover:

As my Father appointed a kingdom for me, so do I appoint a kingdom for you that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22:29-30).

Jesus is “the King of kings and Lord of lords” in a kingdom (Rev. 19:16). And he clearly established a hierarchy in the kingdom. Ephesians 4:11 is equally clear: “And [Christ’s] gifts were that some should be called apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers . . .”

At this point, I asked the good pastor how the biblical text could be any clearer. The Church is called “the Kingdom of Heaven/God” scores of times in Scripture (Matt. 9:35; 10:7; 12:28; 13:11; 19:24) whose hierarchy is endowed with the authority of Christ to speak for him (Matt. 10:40; 18:15-18). That’s hierarchy!

Every kingdom

It seems Pastor Joe was thinking humble service and binding authority are necessarily mutually exclusive. They are not.

I asked him to consider the fact that Christ “came to serve” and is the paradigm for what true service means; yet, this in no way denies he is also “the king of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16), whose words bind the faithful under the pain of sin. And thus, it follows that Christ’s command to Peter and the apostles to be “servant” as he was (Luke 22:27; Matt. 20:20-28), does not mean that they were not also “elders who rule” (1 Tim. 5:17) in the household of faith as well. “whatever [they] bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever [they] loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”