The Papacy

Besides all else that could be said about the Papacy consider the problem there would be if everyone were to decide what we are to believe based upon “The Bible” alone.

Imagine you are in a room.  There is you, and eleven other people who believe in the “Bible Alone” concept, and you are sitting at a round table.  The twelve of you represent the “Bible Alone” believers of the world.

I walk in with a Bible and put it at the center of the table and say:

“Here is a Bible.  As you see,  there is no “Easy Bible Button” on the cover that I can push to activate the voice of The Holy Spirit in order that we may all know what the text means without any subjective interpretation.”

I then say to you:

“Please read any verse from Scripture and tell me what it means.”

You tell me what it means.  I then say:

“I would like the remaining eleven of you to read the same text and then tell me what it means.”

When each has taken their turn they are all divided about what the text means, just exactly as it is in the real world.  There is no resolution to the problem inherent in Protestantism, for each time you try and tell me it is not YOU who is correct, but the Holy Spirit, the eleven others claim the same reasons as you as to why they are correct, and they disagree with you.  It is NOT the Holy Spirit guiding you, but it is a “spirit,” be it pride, or something far more nefarious.

You doubt this?  You are not at the table to say you have an “opinion.”  You are in fact saying that the Holy Spirit speaks through YOU.  You are claiming that the Holy Spirit guides you in “all truth.”  In fact, you claim to be infallible, the very thing you reject in the Papacy.  In fact, all of you claim the same thing, yet, each one of you disagrees with the other.  You have no problem with the Holy Spirit speaking infallibly through a “single” individual, as long as it is you.

As a matter of fact, you “recognize” that ONLY ONE MAN can speak infallibly in order for anyone to believe correctly in order to be saved, and that is what condemns your position.  It CANNOT be everyone deciding for themselves.  You have no excuse.  You cannot say:

“But I rightly divided the Word of God.  Or, I put on the mind of Christ, or Scripture supports Scripture, etc.”

What you allow for yourself you MUST ALLOW for the eleven others who represent the myriad of Protestant denominations.

In fact, you MUST acknowledge the Papacy to speak for us all.

Consider there are 3 requirements for the Pope to speak infallible.

The First Requirement.

The 1st requirement is that a Pope must be speaking about something that is a matter of faith, and is essential for us to believe.  The question that Christ posed to the Apostles in Matthew 16: 15:”Who do you say that I am” specifically has to do with “faith.”  What are we to “believe” about Christ.  This means the things we are to believe in matters of faith MUST COME from a source that is commissioned and authoritative if we are to trust the objects of faith as infallible with absolute certainty.

Christ shows us the 1st condition has been met when Peter steps forward, not as “First among equals,” but one who is given something that is not given to the others.  He said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Now remember, Our Lord did not need Peter to tell Him who He was.  He know who He was, but Christ’s question allows for the action of the Holy Spirit to vividly demonstrate for us the evidence of the capacity of infallibility in Peter.  The Father sends the Holy Spirit into Peter to give him a “Direct Revelation” about Christ.  Peter said:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Do we fully realize what this means?

Once Peter responds, Christ, the Son of God, ratifies Peter’s response, and He goes on to say in Matthew 16:17:

“For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven.”
Incredible!  God the Father spoke “infallible truth” through the very mouth of Peter, a sinner, who gushes forth with commissioned, infallible, objective, religious truth. It did NOT come from “Flesh and Blood.”  We are witnessing the capacity of infallibility at work in St. Peter who was about to receive an exclusive commission for his Bishopric.  We are witnessing the fact that all interpretation of Scripture, no matter what verse we chose, must be in union with this event.  It is the measure of what determines if a person is of good faith or not.

Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God, verified that Peter’s response was not only infallible, but that is was a “Divine Revelation” given directly to St. Peter by God the Father Himself.  Christ said it.  Are you going to say He didn’t say it?  He said it in no uncertain terms!  His Father “REVEALED” it to Peter.  There is ZERO possibility for ANY error.  It is BLACK and WHITE. It was an infallible, divine revelation.  In this moment we are cemented in the words of Christ when He said, “He who hears YOU, hears ME.” (Luke 10:16)

The Second Requirement.

In Matthew 16:19 Christ said:

“I will give YOU the Keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever YOU bind of earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever YOU loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”

Jesus did not give the Keys to Himself.  He gave them to St. Peter.  In doing so He shows us where the “Second Condition” required for Papal Infallibility originates.  Jesus unites the capacity of infallibility to the authority of Peter’s Bishopric.  This is how GOD chooses to speak HIS Church.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, while He was personally present here on earth lays down the gauntlet against relativism in all of its forms.

So, let us be clear.  There is NOTHING in heaven with defect.  Everything in heaven is perfect and absolutely true.  When Jesus DECLARED to Peter, “Whatever you declare bound on earth is bound in heaven” He DECLARED it to be the same reality on earth as it is in Heaven.  It is without defect in Heaven and therefore it is without defect on earth. It comes from the same man who said “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Jesus is the Son of God in Heaven and on earth.  The Most Holy Trinity chose Peter to infallibly proclaim that fact to the world.  The power of binding and loosing that is given to Peter must be free from error because it is immutably tied to what is bound in heaven in all matters of faith, and by extension, religious morals.

The Third Requirement.

The third requirement for Papal Infallibility is when Jesus said:

“… Whatever YOU bind of EARTH shall be bound in Heaven.”

Jesus did not say, “Whatever you declare bound in East Oshkosh is bound there and nowhere else.”  Nor did He say the Apostle James gets to decide in Jerusalem with his own infallibility, or to any other apostle.  Christ’s words to Peter trump James, the Orthodox Church, Sola Scriptura, and every other Bishop, or group of Bishops.

Jesus used the word “EARTH” thereby designating “universal authority.”  The Greek roots of the word “Catholic” means “according to (Kata-) the whole (holos), or colloquially, “universal.”  This is the same as designating Peter’s authority as “Catholic” authority because His Church is Universal/Catholic.  It can only be that His Church is the “Catholic Church” (singular).

Christ Himself vested this Universal/Catholic authority in the Bishopric of Peter and his successors when He gave the Keys to Kingdom of His Church to Peter.

Those are the 3 conditions necessary for Papal infallibility.  Whenever they come together in any order when a Pope teaches, Papal infallibility has taken place in exactly the same manner as when Peter said to Christ, “You are the Son of the Living God.”

Roger L.

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