Derrick Trent - Does the Roman Catholic Church Bear the Four Marks of Christ’s Church? - The Church Christ Built: Finding the Faith Once Delivered

Text: John 17:20–21; 1 Timothy 3:15; Ephesians 4:4–6; Matthew 16:18

INTRODUCTION

Tonight we continue

a series we started

six weeks ago.

& if you’ve not heard

the first five sermons,

you really need

to go back

& listen to them.

Bcs everything

we've covered

has been building

twd tonight

& nxt Sunday night.

Here's a short summary

of what we’ve covered.

We've talked abt:

Why we cannot live

by Scripture alone.

& why we need

The Church's teaching

to understand

Scripture correctly.

We've talked abt

Apostolic Succession —

The unbroken line of bishops

going all the way back

to the apostles

who have handed dwn

the fulness of

the apostolic faith.

& we've learned

that according to

the Nicene Creed,

the Church Christ founded

has four marks.

Four things

that identify it.

The Church is:

One. Holy.

Catholic.

& Apostolic.

& for a church

to be Christ's Church,

it must bear

all four of those marks.

Last week

we looked at

Protestant churches.

& we found that

for all the genuine

love for Jesus

that exists w/in them,

Protestant churches

do not bear

those marks.

Tonight we turn to Rome.

To the Roman Catholic Church.

When we talk abt Rome

We’re talking abt

the Roman Catholic Church.

& it’s important

we acknowledge that

the Roman Catholic Church

is ancient.

It has bishops.

It has preserved many

ancient rites

& forms of worship.

& Rome has produced

men & women

of deep & sincere devotion

to the Lord Jesus…

across many centuries.

So we're not

dismissing Rome.

We're examining it.

Bcs the question

we're asking tonight

is the same question

we asked last week —

does the Roman Catholic Church

bear the four marks

of Christ's Church?

Has Rome kept the faith

the apostles handed dwn,

w/o changing it?

Let’s find out together.

But first,

Let's pray.

PRAYER

Father, we thank You

for Your Word,

for Your Son

who purchased the Church

with His own blood,

& for Your Spirit

who guides the Church

into all truth.

Tonight,

open our eyes

to see clearly.

Give us the will

& the ability

to follow the truth

wherever it leads.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

[Transition:

Let's start w/ the

first mark of Christ's Church.]

Is the Roman Catholic Church ONE?

We've already spent

time in John 17

Where Jesus

prays for His ppl

to be so unified —

so visibly one —

that the watching world

wld look at them

& believe the Father

sent the Son.

& we've heard Paul

tell us what that

unity looks like

in Ephesians 4,

One body,

One faith,

One baptism.

All united

to the One God

& Father of all

thru the One Lord

Jesus Christ,

by the One Holy Spirit.

Thru the first 1,000 years

of Christian history,

despite false teachers,

local conflicts,

& painful divisions,

Christ’s Church

remained visibly one

in the apostolic faith,

in the communion

of her bishops,

& in the decisions

of the Ecumenical Councils

throughout the know world.

& here’s how the Church

was organized.

The Church

set up its leadership

around major cities.

Cities where the apostles

had planted churches

or that held

special importance

in the life

of the early Church.

The leader

of each city was

a Bishop.

& the most

important cities

had the most

important bishops.

The five

most important cities were

Jerusalem…Antioch…

Alexandria…Constantinople…

& Rome.

These five

centers of leadership

are called

the patriarchates.

Think of them as

the five great

regional centers

of the ancient Church —

spread across the known world.

Each Patriarchate held

the same faith,

& each one was in

full agreement

w/ the others.

& it’s important to understand

how they related

to each other.

The Church

recognized an order of honor

among these

great patriarchates.

& Rome held

the 1st place in honor —

bcs the Apostles Peter

& Paul had both

been there.

But holding

1st place in honor

is not the same as

holding authority

over everyone else.

No bishop possessed

universal authority

over the whole Church.

& three of the great councils

confirmed this teaching:

Nicaea in 325.

Constantinople in 381.

Chalcedon in 451.

But over time,

Rome began

to change.

The bishops of Rome

started claiming something

the other bishops

never agreed to.

Rome began saying

that the pope —

the bishop of Rome —

had supreme authority

over the entire Church.

That every bishop

in the world

shld answer to Rome.

& that the pope's decisions

were binding on

everyone…

everywhere…

w/o needing

agreement form any

of the other patriarchates.

The other patriarchates

were not having it.

They pushed back

against Rome’s power grab

for centuries.

They said —

The ancient Church

never taught this.

No council

ever defined this.

This is something new.

But Rome’s bishops

persisted in their

stubborn insistence

that the pope has

supreme authority

over the whole Church.

& eventually,

Rome did something

that was unthinkable.

Rome added a word

to the Nicene Creed.

The Nicene Creed

is the statement of faith

that all the bishops

of the Church

agreed on together

in council.

& the Council of Ephesus

in 431 AD

had specifically said:

No one is permitted

to alter this Creed.

The original Creed,

following the words

of Jesus in John 15:26,

says that the Holy Spirit…

John 15:26 ESV

...proceeds from the Father…

But Rome

received into the Creed

the addition of a Latin word

that means “and the Son.”

So, in the western Church

the Creed was changed to read:

The Holy Spirit proceeds

frm the Father and the Son.

Rome defended

this addition w/o

calling a council,

w/o the consent

of the other patriarchates,

w/o the agreement

of the whole Church.

& we might think

“What’s the big deal?

“Does one word

really make

that much difference.”

Well the other bishops

objected to this addition

for two main reasons.

First,

the addition changes the truth

abt the inner life

of the Holy Trinity.

Here’s what that means.

The Father

is eternally Father.

& He’s the source

w/in the Trinity.

The Son

is eternally begotten

frm the Father.

& the Holy Spirit

eternally proceeds

frm the Father.

That’s how

Scripture speaks.

That’s how

the Creed speaks.

So when the Creed says

the Spirit proceeds

frm the Father,

it’s protecting

how the Son

& the Spirit

are distinct.

The Son is Son

bcs He is begotten.

The Spirit is Spirit

bcs He proceeds.

That’s holy ground.

& holy ground

must be approached

w/ the faith

the Church received.

The second reason

the other patriarchates

objected to adding

“and the Son,”

to the Creed

is just as important.

No local church

has the authority

to alter the Creed

of the Ecumenical Councils.

The Creed belongs

to the whole Church.

Rome changed it alone.

& when

the other patriarchates

confronted Rome

abt the Creed

Rome did not

back down.

Rome defended

the addition

& insisted on its authority

to make it.

& in 1054 AD,

after long series

of conflicts

& confrontations.

the break became official.

The Eastern

& Western Churches

formally separated.

Now,

Rome will tell you

that the Eastern Church’s

left Rome.

But history does not support

that claim.

What history does support

is the Eastern Church’s judgment

on what happened—

Rome departed frm

the council-governed life

& apostolic confession

of the Church.

& this is

the most important truth

We need

to understand tonight.

This was not

one Church splitting

into two equal pieces.

The Church that had existed

thru the first millennium

was still there.

The bishops of

Jerusalem, Antioch,

Alexandria…

& Constantinople…

were still in communion

w/ one other.

Still holding

the same faith.

Still worshipping

the same way.

Still governed

the same way

the apostles had established.

Rome left that Church.

Rome departed

frm the community

of the apostolic Church

when it claimed an authority

the apostles

never gave it.

& Rome’s addition

to the Creed

is a tragic example

of the consequences

of that claim.

Christ's prayer

for oneness

has not gone

unanswered.

That unity

is still real & visible

in the world today.

But it's not found

in a Church

that walked away frm

Christ’s Church.

[Transition:

Let’s look now

at the second mark

of Christ’s Church.]

Is the Roman Catholic Church HOLY?

In Ephesians 5,

Paul tells us that Christ

gave Himself for the Church

to make her holy.

In 2 Peter 1,

Peter tells us the goal

of the Christian life

is to share in

God's own nature.

& Paul describes

what that looks like

in 2 Corinthians 3:18,

when he says

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

…we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

In Christ’s Church

God transforms us.

And the main way

He does that

is thru the sacraments

of the Church…

Baptism,

the Eucharist,

Confession,

& the others.

The Roman Catholic Church

has preserved many

ancient sacramental forms.

But over time,

the Roman Church

in the West developed

sacramental explanations

& practices that depart

frm the mind

& normal practice

of the ancient Church.

Let's start w/ Baptism.

The normal practice

of the ancient Church

was Baptism by immersion.

This means you’re

plunged dwn into

the water

& you’re raised

to come back up.

That's the picture

Paul paints

for us in Romans 6.

He says we were

buried w/ Christ

thru Baptism

& raised w/ Him

to new life.

The going down

is the burial.

The coming up

is the resurrection.

That action

visibly proclaims

what God is doing.

In the Latin West

under Rome

pouring water

over the head

gradually became

the standard form

of Baptism.

Now,

Christ’s Church has

always taught

that pouring may be used

in exceptional circumstances —

illness…emergency…

& other situations

where immersion

is not possible.

But when pouring became

the normal form

of baptism in the West

the visible confession

of Baptism was lost.

Now let's talk abt

the Eucharist —

the Holy Mysteries,

the Body & Blood

of Christ.

The whole Church

has always confessed

that by the calling dwn

of the Holy Spirit

& the words of Christ,

the consecrated Gifts

of bread & wine

truly become

the Body & Blood

of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

Ignatius of Antioch —

who personally knew

the Apostle John—

Wrote that the Eucharist is

"…the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ."

—Ignatius of Antioch

Justin Martyr,

writing around 150 AD,

says

"[The Eucharist] is not common bread and not common drink." — Justin Martyr

In the 4th century

Cyril of Jerusalem,

tells new Christians —

"Do not think of the bread and wine as bare elements, for they are the Body and Blood of Christ."

—Cyril of Jerusalem

So the true change

of the consecrated Gifts

into the Body

& Blood of Christ

is the faith

of the whole Church

frm the very beginning.

& what the ancient Church

also said is

that this change is

a holy mystery.

The Church has always

been content

to confess the mystery

w/o binding the faithful

to one specific explanation

of how it works.

But in 1215,

Rome took

another step.

Rome said,

“All Christians

were required to accept

Rome’s explanation

of how the bread & wine

become the Body

& Blood of Christ.”

& that explanation is called

transubstantiation.

Rome said that

when the bread & wine

are consecrated,

their inner substance

is completely replaced

by the Body & Blood of Christ —

While the outward appearance

remains bread & wine.

& Rome declared

that every Catholic

in the world

was required

to blv it.

Rome also changed

how the Eucharist

was received

by the ppl.

Frm the beginning,

the pattern of

Holy Communion

was receiving

both the Body & the Blood

of Christ.

The Lord gave both.

He said of the bread

“Take, eat,”

& He said of the cup,

“Drink of it,

all of you.”

& Paul says

when we eat the bread

& drink the cup,

we proclaim

the Lord’s death.

But in the

Roman Church

in the West,

that practice changed

over time.

By the 1100s,

the cup was being withheld

frm the ppl

in many places.

& in 1415,

at the Council of Constance,

Rome officially approved

giving Communion

to the ppl

under the form

of bread alone.

& in 1562,

the Council of Trent

defended that practice.

It was only after

the Second Vatican Council

in 1963,

That Rome allowed the cup

to be gvn to the ppl

more widely again.

The point is simple:

The ancient pattern

was to receive both

the Body

& the Blood.

The Lord gave both.

The apostles taught both.

& Rome’s change

to how the Eucharist

was gvn

was a change in the faith

the Apostle’s handed dwn

to the Church.

Another sacrament

Rome changed

is Confession —

What the ancient Church

also called repentance

& the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus gave His Church

a real ministry

of forgiveness.

After His resurrection,

Jesus breathed on

His apostles & said:

John 20:22–23 ESV

“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Here we see clearly

that Jesus

gave His apostles

the authority

to forgive sin.

& that authority

was handed dwn

frm the apostles

to the bishops & elders

who care for Christ’s flock.

& in the Church

forgiveness was never treated

as a private matter

only btwn me & God.

Sin wounds

our communion w/ God

& w/ the Body of Christ.

In Christ’s Church

Confession is understood

as healing.

Sin is sickness.

Repentance

is medicine.

Christ is the healer.

The Church is the place

where the wounded soul

is restored

thru the ministry

of elders.

The elder who hears

the confession stands

as a witness bfr Christ,

bcs Christ alone

forgives sins.

The elder also serves

as a spiritual father & shepherd,

helping apply the medicine

of repentance

so the sinner

can be restored.

& sometimes

that medicine

includes what the Church

calls penance.

That cld involve

prayer…fasting…

restitution…

time away frm

receiving Communion,

or other acts

of repentance.

But penance

is never a payment

to God.

It’s spiritual medicine

for healing & restoration.

But over time,

Rome began explaining Confession

more & more

thru a legal lens.

Sin became guilt.

Repentance became satisfaction.

Penance became a way

to deal w/ punishment.

And purification after death

became tied to

the teaching of purgatory.

So Confession began to sound

less like healing

for the soul

& more like a system

for managing spiritual debts —

cleansing sins,

reducing punishment,

& avoiding suffering

either in this life

or after death.

& once that system

was in place,

it was eventually abused.

By the late Middle Ages,

the Roman Church

began selling indulgences.

& ordinary ppl

were pressured

& frightened into thinking

they cld pay to reduce

punishment for sin.

That abuse helped ignite

the Protestant Reformation.

But frm the Eastern

Church’s perspective,

the deeper issue

was already there.

Confession had shifted away

frm the ancient

understanding of repentance

as healing

& restoration in Christ,

& twd a legal system

of guilt, debt, satisfaction,

& punishment.

So, when we look at

the Sacraments:

Baptism…

the Eucharist…

& Confession together,

We see the same pattern:

Rome preserved

many ancient forms.

But over time

the Roman Church

changed the way

those mysteries were explained

& practiced.

Those changes moved Rome

away frm the fullness

of the apostolic faith

& the holiness of

Christ’s Church.

[Transition:

Let's talk now

abt the mark

of Catholicity.]

Is the Roman Catholic Church CATHOLIC?

Christ’s Church is catholic.

But that does not mean

it’s Roman Catholic.

The word ‘catholic’ means

according to the whole.

& Christ’s Church is catholic

bcs it holds to

the full apostolic faith

that has been taught

in every place

& every generation.

Vincent of Lerins said

The catholic faith,

is what the Church has received

in continuity —

in the whole body,

across time —

especially as confessed

in Scripture, worship,

the Church Fathers,

& the Ecumenical Councils.

Let’s apply that standard

to Rome’s central claim

abt authority.

In 1870,

at a gathering called

the First Vatican Council,

Rome officially declared

that when the pope speaks

formally or officially

on matters of faith & morals,

he is free from error

& his definitions

are irreformable.

& that means

the Roman Pope’s decisions

cannot be undone —

& they’re binding

on the whole Church.

This teaching is called

papal infallibility.

& we need to be careful

that we don’t go too

far w/ how we define

Rome’s teaching abt

papal infallibility.

Rome does not teach

that the pope’s infallibility

extends to everything

the Pope says.

Rome does say

the pope is infallible

when he gives a final,

binding definition

on matter of faith or morals

for the whole Church.

& Rome also says:

Even when the pope

is not speaking infallibly,

Roman Catholics

are still expected

to give serious

religious submission

to his official teaching.

& according to Vatican I,

the pope's official definitions

on faith & morals

stand on their own.

They don't need

the agreement of

any council

or any other bishop.

They’re permanently binding

on every Catholic

in the world.

But the ancient Church

never taught this.

Not once.

Not anywhere.

Not in

any council.

One man was never meant

to do that alone.

The ancient Church taught

that the whole Church

Represented by

all the bishops

gathered together

frm everywhere —

under the guidance

of the Holy Spirit

is the guardian

of the truth.

But Rome has built

a system of authority

the apostles never established

& the ancient Church

never recognized.

& that system

is what has driven

every other change

Rome has made

to the apostolic faith.

That's not catholicity.

That's giving on man

the power

to keep redefining the faith

permanently,

& w/o the consent

of the Church.

[Transition:

We come now

to the fourth & final mark

of Christ’s Church.]

Is the Roman Catholic Church APOSTOLIC?

To be apostolic

means two things.

First,

it means

the Church

must have a visible

line of bishops

going back to

the apostles.

Second,

the Church must keep

& teach the fullness

of the apostolic faith —

the faith once for all delivered

to the saints.

The Roman Catholic Church

does have

a historical line of bishops.

Rome can

trace its leadership

back to the early Church.

But when we it comes

standing in the faith,

worship,

sacramental life,

& communion the apostles

handed dwn.

That’s where Rome’s claims

break down.

As we have already seen,

Rome added to the Creed.

Rome claimed

universal authority

for one bishop

over the whole Church.

Rome defined

papal infallibility.

Rome changed the way

several sacraments

were explained

& practiced.

Those are not small matters.

Those are changes

to the faith & life

handed dwn

from the apostles.

So, although the

Roman Catholic Church retains

historical succession,

It no longer bears

the apostolic faith

in its fullness.

The line of bishops remains,

but the fullness

of the apostolic faith

has been altered.

And because being apostolic

is both succession & faithfulness,

Rome’s claim

to be apostolic

is wounded at the root.

So, we’ve seen that

Rome is ancient.

Rome has bishops.

Rome has preserved

many ancient forms & rites.

Rome has real

visible unity

within its own communion.

& Rome has gvn the world

men & women of

genuine devotion

to Jesus Christ.

But Rome departed

frm the council-governed life

& apostolic confession

of the Church.

Rome claimed

an authority

no one had

ever given it.

& Rome used

that authority

to add to the Creed,

to define new

required teachings,

& to place

one man's office

abv the councils

of the whole

gathered Church.

All of this

makes it clear that

The Roman Catholic Church

does not meet

the four marks

of Christ’s Church.

Conclusion:

Now, as we close

We've now tested

two major branches

of Western Christianity

against the four marks

of Christ’s Church.

Protestant churches

& the Roman Catholic Church.

And we've found

that neither of them

fully bears those marks.

So the question

every one of us

is still asking tonight is

the same question

this whole series

has been building twd.

If Christ founded a Church —

& if that Church

has kept the apostolic faith,

the same worship,

the same sacramental life,

the same apostolic succession,

frm the first century

all the way to today —

where is it?

You’ll have to come back

nxt week to hear

the answer to that question.

PRAYER

Let's all stand

for prayer.

Father, we thank You

that You have not left us

to figure this out

on our own.

You gave us Your Son.

You gave us Your Spirit.

You gave us Your Church.

Lead us into the fullness

of the faith.

& give us the courage

to follow the truth

wherever it leads.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.