Religion vs Relationship
By Janina Leone
“It’s not about religion, it’s about a relationship.” These words are uttered by so many well-intended people who want to follow Christ, but believe that doctrine and religion are subordinate to their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Many people scorn the Catholic Church and say that it is a house of Pharisees who practice rituals and religion, as opposed to having a direct relationship with Christ. They do not take into account, however, that Christ left us a Church, in which the Bible says that the Holy Spirit will lead into all truth. “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” Christ reigns through the Church and Jesus Christ is Lord. Christ is Lord and head over the Church, which is his Body. If Jesus is our Lord, this means we must adhere to all He taught and handed to His Church.
To this Church, Jesus Christ gave the Sacraments which are a means to salvation and grace. To many, these are mere rituals, but to Catholics, these are the fountain of salvation. The Bible does not ever say that all we need is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to be saved, but it does say in regard to the Church: “Whoever hears you hears me and whoever rejects you rejects me,” (Luke 10:16) and “If he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.” While many ask, “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?” Scripture does not command us explicitly to do this, but it does command us to have sound doctrine and receive the sacraments from the Church in order for Christ to abide in us:
1. John 6:54-58 - Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me
2. John 3:5 Jesus answered: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
3. John 20:21-23 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
Above we see the sacraments given to the Church such as the Eucharist, Baptism, and Confession, all instituted by Jesus himself. We have a relationship with Christ by abiding in His will. He deemed that there should be one body with one faith, and saw fit that we receive these signs of salvation in order to receive Him. While many misunderstand what the sacraments are, they do not realize they are rejecting grace which will sanctify them, and are rejecting Christ’s Church who Christ gave authority to administer these sacraments. The Church is Christ’s Bride, and it is necessary to be in the one body to be saved…the Body is subject to Christ, as are all things.
We also know that doctrine IS important. While many tout that all you need is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and that all you have to do is believe in Him, they ignore the warnings of Scripture itself to be careful with doctrine:
Matthew 7:21-23 - “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."
1 Timothy 4:16 - Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
Galatians 1:8 - But even if we or an angel from Heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
2 Peter 2:1 - But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be among you lying teachers, who shall bring in sects of perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them: bringing upon themselves swift destruction."
This ought to be heeded, because our salvation depends on it. If you do not have sound doctrine or have the Church which Christ gave authority, you cannot know Christ as well as you may suppose you do, because doctrine isn’t relative - it is a matter of life or death. This is exactly why Christ says in John 10 that He had one sheepfold, and calls all others robbers and thieves. Jesus himself says in John 4:16, “I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Ironically, this verse is used by people when they reject the Church, not realizing that they have inverted the words of this passage by rejecting sound doctrine and the Church, and believing that they themselves are their own arbiters of truth, making them the way the truth and the life instead of Christ. If we wish to make Jesus our Lord, we must be subordinate to all His teachings as they were handed to His Church. Those who reject doctrine and emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus fail to understand that doctrine is a relationship with Jesus and how we show our love and obedience to Him. It is not based off of our feelings, it is based off of what He commands of us. If we love Him, we should keep His commandments. As Pope Pius X states, “It is an error to believe that Christ did not teach a determined body of doctrine applicable to all times and to all men, but rather that He inaugurated a religious movement adapted, or to be adapted, to different times and different places.” As Paul says, there is one body, with one faith, and one baptism.
