Are We All the Body?
By Joe Moreaux
Claim: Jesus is the way the truth and the life no man comes to the father but by him. We are the church and don't need an official church. The Church is "whosoever believeth in him". We are all the body. There is no true Church.
To that we say:
Correct, the Church is "whosoever believeth in Him." So then, who believes in Him? The Lutherans, the Calvinists, the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians, the Methodists, Calvary Chapel, Pastor Frank down the road at New Hope Believers Fellowship? Which one believes in Him and which one rejects Him? Because if they all believe in Him, why are they divided? Is Christ not a clear enough Teacher? Don't they all believe the Bible is clear enough to understand? So which one believes in Him? Believing in Christ is not just saying, "I have faith that He rose from the dead." He is not just the Messiah, but He is also the Lord, which means He has rule over our thoughts. He is King, which means He teaches with authority. So to believe in Christ means we must accept everything He came to teach. So which faction does that? Which one do we turn to? Why do they all disagree on what He taught? Either Jesus is a poor communicator, or these factions don't truly believe in Him. They have to take their pick.
Meanwhile, we do know that Christ did in fact start a Church. Does the New Testament present to us the Protestant model or the Christian model?
The Protestant model would mean that we would see the Apostles each starting different denominations, and each would have variations and disagreements on doctrinal teachings. One might find, for example, James teaching his congregation that infant Baptism is good, while John would be teaching his that infant Baptism was false. We would also see new believers, like the converts in Corinth, reading their own Bibles and determining for themselves what they thought the Holy Spirit was revealing to them. We wouldn't see any Councils with oversight from the Apostles, since all the new believers would be successors of the Apostles. Each faction would determine for itself what their thought was on a question of doctrine. Joe from Corinth, who converted yesterday, would have the same authority as Peter and Paul and anyone else who was a believer. And if Joe from Corinth disagree with Jim from Ephesus, they would each just start their own new denominations, provided that both still have faith that Christ rose from the dead.
In the Christian model, we would expect to find the Apostles appointing successors to follow them in their office. There would be new believers who would need to be instructed by appointed teachers in the one doctrine of the faith. There would be one body of teaching that all believers adhered to. If there was a doctrinal dispute, then the Apostles and their appointed successors would meet in a Council to determine the truth of the matter. We would also see a clear preeminence given to Peter compared to the Apostles.
Consequently, it is the Christian model, not the Protestant one, that we find throughout Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
In the Protestant model, the definition of "Church" is an invisible entity of believers who all profess that Jesus rose from the dead. As far as doctrine goes, it's anyone's guess based on whatever they think the Holy Spirit tells them through their own private study of the Bible alone. Or whatever Pastor Frank tells them to believe.
In the Christian model, "Church" is both visible and invisible. It is invisible insofar as there are true believers across the world. And these believers don't just profess that Jesus rose from the dead, but they also actually believe that Jesus only taught one body of doctrine and that we must adhere to it. They believe He entrusted this doctrine to the Apostles, and they in turn to their appointment successors in the Bishops. It is visible insofar as that hierarchical structure is found through Apostolic succession, which traces back unbroken to Jesus Himself.
