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-23-
God Hath Spoken
The Place of Scripture In Roman Catholicism
The Bible is our canon, or measuring rod, as to our creed, and to our practice. It is the Scriptures by which we stand. During the Middle Ages, believers were known as "people of the Book." It is our authority. This is not true of the Church of Rome.
The Church of Rome maintains first, that it precedes the Bible, and therefore it does not owe its existence to the Bible. This amounts to a denial of the authority of the Bible.
Second, Rome then draws the conclusion that the Church of Rome takes precedence over the Scriptures.
Third, therefore, the Scriptures are not absolutely necessary. This is the reason the Roman Catholic Church has such an anemic view of the Bible. Since, in their view, the Scriptures are not necessary, various popes throughout history have forbidden people to read the Bible.
Fourth, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Scriptures are obscure and need to be interpreted. It teaches the infallible interpretation of Scripture is supplied by the Church of Rome. Thus the sufficiency of Scripture was re-placed with a priesthood that told the people what they should believe and what they should do. Thus the necessity and perspicuity of Scripture is denied.
A few years ago I was in London for a Bible conference in Spurgeon's Tabernacle. A friend and I were sight-seeing when we ventured into a Roman Catholic cathedral. A friar was there who was taking care of the vestments. We began to share the Gospel with him; but when we asked him if he was truly a born again Christian, he responded that we would have to ask his priest. Scripture tells us, however, that every one of us shall give account of himself to God (Rom. 14:12).
Fifth, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that oral tradition is necessary as a complement to Scripture, i.e. that oral tradition helps us to decipher what the Scriptures teach. This position in essence declares the Scriptures are not sufficient, and must be added to.
The seriousness of this error was grasped in the 1300's by Dante Alighieri, commonly known as Dante. He wrote The Divine Comedy in three works: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. With this magnum opus he is credited as being the father of the modern Italian language.
Dante said, "Before the church are the Old and New Testaments. After the church is tradition. It follows, then, that the authority of the church depends not on tradition, but tradition on the church."
Canonicity
Before we leave the subject of inspiration, we should consider the means used to determine which books should be in the Bible, for, contrary to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, it was not the church councils that made the decisions.
Various Christian leaders were invited to attend the council held at Carthage in A.D. 397, and that held in Hippo in A.D. 419 to discuss among other things which books belonged in the canon of Scripture. They discussed among themselves and resolved that the books that Christians had long maintained to be inspired belonged in the canon. The councils only validated what Christians had already acknowledged.
Four things were used to determine canonicity. First, apostolicity—Was the book written by an apostle? Nearly all the books of the New Testament were written by an apostle, but neither Mark, Luke, James nor Jude were apostles.
Second, content—is the book filled with fanciful things, foolish tales such as those found in the Apocrypha?
Third, acceptance—Was the book universally accept-ed by the churches as the Word of God? Note Colossians chapter 4. Having said, "salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house" (vs. 15), the apostle writes, "And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea" (vs. 16).
The epistle was written to the believers of the church at Colosse, yet it is commended to other believers. It was to be spread abroad. Does this book belong in the canon of Scripture? Is it truly inspired by God? One of the means used to determine these answers was universality.
The fourth means used to determine whether a book was truly canonical was inspiration, i.e. did the book claim to be inspired by God? What other evidence was there that it was divinely inspired?
Canonicity is a very critical and a very serious issue, because the attack upon Christianity has in recent years centered around the integrity and the credibility of Scripture.
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Hebrews 11:6"
Unless you believe, you will not come to know." —Augustine, A.D. 354-430