1. Doctrine Apologetics – Unit 3

2. Prayer Direct, we beseech you, O Lord, all our actions by your holy inspirations, and carry them on by your gracious assistance, that every work of ours may begin with you, and through you be brought to completion. Amen.

3. Blessed John Henry Newman’s Prayer Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly, That my life may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through me, and be so in me That every soul I come in contact with May feel Your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

4. Overview Revelation ◦Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition Development of Doctrine The Church Magisterium Peter & Apostolic Succession

5. Divine Revelation “God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will...” – Dei Verbum #2 The fullness of this revelation comes in His Son Jesus Christ

6. 3 Sources of Divine Revelation Sacred Scripture – the collection of all the canonical books (written form) Sacred Tradition – the living transmission of the message of the Gospel of the Church (oral form) Magisterium – the teaching authority of the Church which, guided by the Holy Spirit, interprets Scripture and Tradition

7. We need all three parts of Divine Revelation. If one is missing the stool will fall down, our faith will be lacking. Sacred Scripture Magisterium Sacred Tradition OUR CATHOLIC FAITH

8. Divine Revelation In the last unit we looked at how we can come to know God with certainty through the use of reason However, God also chose to reveal himself even more fully through Divine Revelation This was a slow process over thousands of years, starting with Creation and moving through the history of the Israelites Divine Revelation comes to fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ, God become man

9. Divine Revelation Jesus is the Word of God – he IS Divine Revelation God said everything in his Word ◦“In time past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe.” (Heb 1:1-2) In him Revelation is complete and there can be no further Revelation However, it is not completely explicit ◦The Church has continued to grasp the significance of everything in Revelation for 2000 years and will continue to do so

10. Handing on Revelation God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4) ◦The truth is Christ Jesus himself In order for this to happen, the Revelation of Christ must be passed on from one generation to the next This is done through two separate yet united vehicles: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition

11. Sacred Scripture Sacred Scripture is handed on through the words of the Bible Both the Old Testament and the New Testament are part of Sacred Scripture ◦There are 46 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament Books Canon = the authoritative collection of Sacred Scriptures in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible We cannot remove parts of the Bible as we consider the entire Bible to be Divinely Inspired

12. Catholic vs. Protestant Bibles One question that frequently comes up is why the Catholic Bible and the Protestant Bibles have different numbers of books ◦The difference comes in the Old Testament (46 in Catholic, 39 in Protestant) Until the time of Luther, all Christians used the same Bible Luther, and the other Protestants, decided to remove a number of books from the OT and change various passages in the NT

13. Luther’s Change The first thing Luther did was remove seven books from the OT ◦Wisdom, Sirach, Judith, Baruch, Tobit, 1 st & 2 nd Maccabees  (Why Should Jesus Buy a Taco and 2 Mushrooms) ◦These are called the Apocrypha (rejected books) in Protestant Bibles and the Deutero-Canonical books in Catholic Bibles His argument was basically that these books are found in the Greek version of the OT (called the Septuagint or LXX) and not in the original Hebrew ◦One of the teachings Luther disagreed with was Purgatory which, oddly enough, is supported in Maccabees…coincidence???

14. Does that argument hold up? Luther argued that the LXX wasn’t the inspired word of God However, when the NT authors quote from Scripture, they are using the LXX Therefore, the human authors of the NT believed that the LXX was the Word of God

15. When the Canon was set The argument adds that the Canon of the Bible wasn’t actually set until the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and so Luther was in his right to change the Canon It is true that Trent solemnly defined the Canon. However, Trent referred back to the Canon listed at the Council of Florence (1434-1445) which in turn referred back to the Canon from the Council of Hippo (393) which referred back to the Canon used by the Church in the late 3 rd century. In other words, the Canon has been the same since before 300 AD!

16. Changing text Luther changed some texts in the NT in order to support his various teachings ◦Rom 3:28 – “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”  Luther added the word “alone” after faith  He actually admitted this one but claimed it was okay because “Dr. Martin Luther will have it so” ◦Acts 19:18 – “And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds”  Luther translated this as “they acknowledge the miracles of the Apostles” He also wanted to ignore some of the NT books, especially James ◦“St. James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw…for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it.” (Luther, Preface to the New Testament, 1546)

17. What the Bible says about that “I warn everyone who hears the prophetic words in this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words in this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city described in this book.” (Rev 22:18-19) ◦This is actually speaking directly about the book of Revelations, but is quite strong language that can be applied to the rest of the Canon It is really the fact that the Bible is Divinely Inspired that makes us not change it!

18. Divine Inspiration When we say the Bible is Divinely Inspired, we are saying that we see it not as human words, but as the Word of God God is the author of Sacred Scripture ◦The Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Because they are inspired by God, we hold the Scriptures to teach the truth ◦The Bible teaches “that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures” (DV 11)

19. God as Author of Scripture “But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” (Jn 20:31) ◦Scripture is written for our salvation “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Tim 3:16) ◦The purpose of Scripture

20. God as Author of Scripture “Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.” (2 Pet 1:20-21) ◦Prophecy is not so much seeing the future but speaking the Word of God

21. God as Author of Scripture “And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures” (2 Pet 3:15-16) ◦We have to be careful when we try to interpret Scripture

22. Divine Inspiration To say that God inspired the Scriptures does NOT mean that humans weren’t involved The human author are also true authors ◦God chose certain men who made full use of their own faculties and powers ◦They wrote only what God wanted written, and nothing more

23. Senses of Scripture There are two main senses of Scripture – Literal and Spiritual – with the later being divided into three different types for a total of four senses ◦Literal ◦Spiritual  Allegorical  Moral  Anagogical

24. Literal Sense Literal Sense = the meaning which the human author intended This is the sense that is conveyed by the words of Scripture ◦This is not the same as saying the words are “literally” true ◦Reading the Bible literally can lead to some unpleasant circumstances  “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away” (Mt 5:30) The actual event, person, thing described in the biblical text. All the other senses of Scripture are based on the literal sense

25. Spiritual Sense Spiritual Sense = the meaning intended by the Holy Spirit This sense is broken into the three senses of allegorical, moral, and anagogical A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses: ◦“The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith; The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny”

26. Allegorical Sense In the allegorical sense we read Scripture to “acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ” (CCC 117) How those things, events, or persons in the literal sense point to Christ and the Paschal Mystery. For example, the crossing of the Red Sea is seen as a sign of Christ’s victory and Christian Baptism

27. Moral Sense The moral sense helps us to read Scripture in a way to live the moral life As St. Paul says they were written "for our instruction".

28. Anagogical Sense The anagogical sense (from the Greek word for “leading”) helps us to read the Scripture with a view to our end goal of Heaven. We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.

29. How to read Scripture We read Scripture using all four senses We have to be careful in the interpretation of Scripture Requires solid exegesis and sound interpretation to determine the literal sense ◦Context and Genre are critical to this! ◦If we don’t understand these two things it is extremely easy to misread the Bible ◦The first rule is to know the context

30. Sacred Tradition The other method used to pass on Divine Revelation is that of Sacred Tradition Tradition was handed on by the apostles by “the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received – whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit” (DV 7)

31. Challenges against Tradition Sacred Tradition is another area that Luther said was an invention of man that should be thrown out This is seen in his philosophy “sola scriptura” (Scripture alone) In fact, Luther tried to use Scripture to support the idea of sola scriptura

32. Luther’s Scriptural argument Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash (their) hands when they eat a meal." He said to them in reply, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Whoever curses father or mother shall die.' But you say, 'Whoever says to father or mother, "Any support you might have had from me is dedicated to God," need not honor his father.' You have nullified the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.‘” (Mt 15:1-9)

33. The basic response It could seem that Jesus does condemn traditions in that text, but you have to understand the context of the verse Jesus is not condemning tradition flat out. ◦He does not come out and say something like “you shouldn’t wash your hands” Instead, he is condemning their following human traditions over following God’s law Scripture and the Fathers both hold to the importance of Tradition

34. Human traditions We do need to distinguish between Tradition and traditions Tradition comes from the apostles and hands on what they received from Jesus ◦These cannot be done away with “t”raditions are various theological, disciplinary, liturgical, or devotional traditions born in the local churches over time ◦These can be kept, changed, or even abandoned under the guidance of the Magisterium

35. Scriptural support for Tradition Which came first – Scripture or Tradition? ◦Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received. (Lk 1:1-4) Luke explicitly says that he heard this material (Tradition) and then wrote it down (Scripture)

36. Other Scriptural support Mk 16:15 – “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” ◦Wait, there wasn’t any Bible to read to the others…what did they proclaim? Jn 21:25 – “There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written ◦So the disciples just decided not to talk about anything that wasn’t written down? Does that really make any sense?

37. Other Scriptural support 1 Cor 11:2 – “I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them onto you.” ◦Paul is praising them for holding onto traditions 1 Pet 1:25 = “but the word of the Lord remains forever. This is the word that has been proclaimed to you.” ◦Not read to you…proclaimed to you! 2 Thes 2:15 – “Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.” ◦Both written and oral held to be important

38. The Fathers on Tradition “Then the reverence of the law is chanted, and the grace of the prophets is known, and the faith of the Gospels is established, and the Tradition of the Apostles is preserved, and the grace of the Church exults.” ◦Pope St. Clement I, c. 80 A.D. ◦The last Apostle (John) was still alive when Clement said this!

39. The Fathers on Tradition “While the languages of the world are diverse, nevertheless, the authority of the Tradition is one and the same…What if the Apostles had not in fact left writings to us? Would it not be necessary to follow the order of Tradition, which was handed down to those to whom they entrusted the Churches?” ◦St. Irenaeus of Lyons, 189 AD

40. The Fathers on Tradition “Well, they preserving the Tradition of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy Apostles, Peter, James, John, and Paul…came by God’s will to us also.” ◦St. Clement of Alexandria, 208 AD

41. The Fathers on Tradition “Of the dogmas and messages preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching and others we receive from the Tradition of the Apostles, handed on to us in mystery. In respect to piety both are of the same force…Were we to try to reject unwritten customs as having no great authority, we would unwittingly injure the gospel in its vitals; or rather, we would reduce the message [of the gospel] to a mere term.” ◦St. Basil the Great, 375 AD

42. The Fathers on Tradition “But in regard to those observances… which derive not from Scripture but from Tradition, we are given to understand that they are recommended and ordained to be kept, either by the Apostles themselves or by plenary councils, the authority of which is quite vital in the Church.” ◦St. Augustine, 400 AD

43. The Fathers on Tradition An incomplete list of other Fathers who spoke favorably about Tradition: ◦Origen, 225 ◦St. Cyprian of Carthage, 253 ◦Eusebius of Caesarae, 312 ◦St. Athanasius of Alexandria, 330 ◦St. John Chrysostom, 402 ◦St. Vincent of Lerins, 434 ◦Pope St. Agatho, 680

44. What about Sola Scriptura? “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19-20) “Whoever listens to you listens to me.” (Lk 10:16) “You should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.”(1 Tim 3:15) ◦Scripture itself says that something other than Scripture (i.e. the Church) is the foundation of truth!

45. Relationship of Scripture and Tradition The Church holds that both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are necessary They are bound closely together and communicate one with the other They flow out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing and move towards the same goal (DV 9) “Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own ‘always, to the close of the age.’” (CCC 80)

46. Relationship of Scripture and Tradition “The Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.” (CCC 83)

47. Change or development? We hold that Divine Revelation passes down to this day through the vehicles of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition We also hold that the teachings of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are the same today as they were 2000 years ago However, that does not mean that the understanding of the various doctrines does not change Rather, the Church is constantly coming to a deeper understanding of what Christ taught

48. Galatians 1:6-9 I am amazed that you are so quickly forsaking the one who called you by (the) grace (of Christ) for a different gospel (not that there is another). But there are some who are disturbing you and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach (to you) a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you received, let that one be accursed. We do not want to preach a new Gospel but must always keep to the teachings of Christ

49. Matthew 16:18-19 I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. At the same time we see here the right for the Church to set doctrine (bind & loose)

50. Development of Doctrine How do we maintain this balance between keeping the truth that Christ taught and still being able to allow for the Church’s authority to bind and loose Heaven? The answer, as put forth by St. John Henry Cardinal Newman is found in the idea of the development of Doctrine

51. St. John Henry Cardinal Newman Lived 1801-1890 Extremely respected and important priest in the Church of England Started to investigate the Faith and found the fullness of truth in Catholicism Became a Catholic (at great personal loss of power in England) and ultimate becomes a Cardinal Wrote the important work called “An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine”

52. Development of Christian Doctrine Newman’s basic question was the same question we posed: how can the truth stay the same and yet continue to grow He wrote his essay to investigate that question, trying to figure out whether present day doctrine was new or if it was maturation In this process, he came to realize that the only Church which could show maturation and not new doctrine was the Catholic Church (which is why he converted)

53. Development of Christian Doctrine Newman said there were 7 conditions that must be met by a present day doctrine to show growth rather than change The 7 conditions are: ◦Preservation of Type ◦Continuity of its Principles ◦Assimilative Power ◦Logical Sequence ◦Anticipation of its Future ◦Conservative Action on its Past ◦Chronic Vigor

54. Preservation of Type Universal & Religious Basically, preservation of type says ignore the external form and look at the substance ◦E.g. Look at a human. When first born, a person looks very different from what he will when old. It’s still the same person. E.g. Reception of the Eucharist ◦In Middle Ages, once a year out of reverence ◦In current days, frequently but with reverence ◦The doctrine isn’t about how often but whether or not we have great reverence for the Eucharist

55. Continuity of its Principles No contradictions; differing only in maturity Every doctrine has an underlying principle If the principle itself has changed, then the doctrine is new E.g. Math ◦There are axioms in math (principles) ◦We use those axioms to develop a deeper understanding of things like right angles ◦The axioms themselves don’t change

56. Assimilative Power Unitive; draws into itself through Truth and Grace Example from life ◦Whatever has life is characterized by growth ◦Things grow by taking into their substance ◦They become one by assimilating Doctrine grows as well ◦Brings into itself other things without changing from what it was

57. Logical Sequence One leads to the Other Can we look at the various “changes” in doctrines and see a logical progression or does it seem like a huge jump into something new “A doctrine, then, professed in its mature years by a philosophy or religion, is likely to be a true development, not a corruption, in proportion as it seems to be the logical issue of its original teaching.”

58. Anticipation of its Future Leads to the Resurrection; Heaven An idea that is living will develop according to its own nature Does it lead to death or to life? Much like logical sequence, can we look a doctrine years later and see that what was in place in the beginning pointed to the later

59. Conservative Action on its Past Doesn’t lose what was before it If a doctrine contradicts or reverses what came before it, then it is not a true development but a corruption E.g. Mormonism ◦Joseph Smith gets a “revelation” of his new religion ◦Years later, he gets a new revelation which changes some of the earlier teachings ◦Newman would see this as a corruption, not development

60. Chronic Vigor Staying power; not brief duration Does the doctrine take off like a huge success only to die a few years later Many of the early Gnostic groups fell into this problem

61. Who develops The basic idea to keep in mind is that true doctrine does not change, it merely develops The underlying deposit of Faith (Divine Revelation) must always stay the same, but the doctrine itself can grow We will now move into looking at the Church, specifically the Magisterium as she is the one who can develop doctrine

62. The Magisterium We hold that “the task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living, teaching office of the Church alone. It’s authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.” (DV 10) Magisterium – the teaching office of the Church made up of the Pope as its head and the Bishops in union with the Pope

63. Authority We hold to the authority through the notion of Apostolic succession ◦The Bishops are the successors of the Apostles ◦The Pope is the successor of Peter This is one area that Protestants have particular disdain for Luther was adamant that there was no hierarchy, no authority, and no Apostolic succession ◦Even today, a major attack against Catholics is that we follow the Pope

64. Hierarchy & Authority To look at the notion of Hierarchy and Authority, we first look at what Christ himself did A simple look through Scripture shows that Christ immediately began to gather disciples to himself once his ministry started Christ has many disciples, some of whom would leave him after the Bread of Life discourse (John 6)

65. Hierarchy & Authority However, within the group of disciples, Christ also pulled out an “inner group” of 12 that he called Apostles ◦Lk 5, Mt 10:1-4, Mk 3:13-19 The Apostles were Jesus’ closest collaborators and witnesses to whom he gave a mission: preach the kingdom of God and heal (Lk 9:2) These were the 12 men who would form the foundation of Christ’s Church and were called to be the first priests at the Last Supper ◦Unfortunately only 11 would remain true since Judas betrayed Christ

66. Hierarchy among the Apostles Although all 12 men were called by Christ, they did not all have the same level of leadership Instead, there was a definite hierarchy that is readily seen in the New Testament Of the 12, when Jesus performed some major act there were 3 who were singled out to be with him: Peter, James, and John ◦Some examples are the Transfiguration, the raising of Jairus’ daughter, and the Agony in the Garden So, we see that there is a differing level of closeness to Christ even among the 12

67. Peter is first Among those three – Peter, James, and John – Peter stands out throughout the entire New Testament as the head of the Apostles This is most readily seen by a simple count of name usage ◦Simon Peter is mentioned by name 195 times ◦St. John is named the second most at 29 Whenever the 12 Apostles are listed, Peter is always at the front of the list ◦He wasn’t actually called first, but is listed first ◦Judas is always listed last

68. Peter and the rest Frequently, the NT doesn’t even mention the other Apostles other than as an addendum to Peter ◦i.e. “Peter and the rest of the Apostles” or “Peter and his companions” (Lk 9:32; Mk 16:7; Acts 2:37) This is even done when it’s just the three main Apostles. It would have been just as easy to write Peter, James, and John.

69. Peter as spokesman Peter is shown to be the spokesman for the Apostles Examples ◦Right before raising Jairus’ daughter, Jesus asks his disciples who touched him. It is Peter who answers him. (Lk 8:43) ◦At the Transfiguration, it is Peter who speaks and offers to set up the tents (Lk 9:33) Generally speaking, when the disciples say something the Gospels either say “they asked” or “Peter asked”

70. Raphael’s Transfiguration – painted 1518-1520

71. Peter is prominent Peter also plays a prominent role in the various stories involving the Apostles Examples ◦Peter tries to walk on water to Jesus. (Mt 14:22-31) ◦Peter makes the great confession saying that Jesus is the Messiah (Mk 8:29)

72. Peter as rock One of the most important Biblical passages showing the importance of Peter is when Christ names him Peter right after Peter says Jesus is the Messiah ◦“Jesus said to him in reply, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’” (Mt 16:17-19)

73. Important elements Jesus gives the name to Peter ◦In Jewish world, giving a new name changes the status of the person who receives the name ◦Jesus is changing the status of Peter The name he gives is “Kephas” or “rock” ◦In the Old Testament, God is seen as the rock ◦This is a powerful name for Christ to choose

74. Important elements Peter is given the Keys to Heaven ◦Points to Isaiah 22:22 (God gives key of David to Eliakim) which references dominion over the descendants of David Peter is given the power to bind and loose ◦This comes directly from Rabbinical language where it primarily means having the authority to make doctrinal decisions and also to impose or lift a penalty ◦Unlike the Rabbis, Peter is given this authority over both Earth and Heaven

75. Common arguments There are some common attacks against this verse by Protestants that are good to know about, although Luther himself had no problem with calling Peter the Rock The first argument is that the rock that is Peter is not the same rock that Christ will build his Church on ◦This is ultimately a translation argument ◦In the Greek, “petra” is the rock but Peter is named “Petros”  “Petra” is feminine. Jesus just turns it masculine ◦In Aramaic, which Jesus would have spoken, they are both the same word: “Kephas”

76. More about the rock Jesus is not above making a play on words. Why would he name Simon “rock” and then say he was going to build his Church on “this rock” if it weren’t Peter Another argument: “This rock” is actually the physical rock that Jesus is sitting on when he makes this statement ◦Yes, some Protestants do make this argument although not as many any more ◦Jesus never built a physical Church anywhere, much less on a particular rock so does that mean he’s a liar??

77. Graphical explanation

78. Common arguments Another argument deals with who is given the keys and the power to bind and loose ◦In a later Gospel passage (Mt 18:18), all of the Apostles are given the power to bind and loose ◦People argue that this just shows that Peter is just another one of the Apostles This is yet another English translation problem ◦In English, the word “you” can be singular or plural ◦In Greek, the plurality is more obvious ◦In the Greek text, it is specifically to the singular “you” (i.e. Peter) that the keys and the power to bind and loose are given

79. What the Fathers say There is basically unanimous consent among the Fathers about Peter being the rock that Jesus built on. For example: ◦Tertullian – “Was anything hid from Peter, who was called the Rock, whereon the Church was built?” ◦St. Hippolytus – “Peter, the Rock of the Church” ◦Origen – “Peter, that great foundation of the Church” ◦St. Gregory Nazianzen – “[Peter] is called a Rock and entrusted with the foundations of the Church” ◦St. Chrysostom – “and when I name Peter, I name that unbroken Rock, that firm foundation, the Great Apostle, the First of the disciples…”

80. Peter in early Church This high role of Peter among the Apostles doesn’t end with the Gospels but continues on through the NT Some areas we see this ◦He takes the lead in the selection of Matthias (Acts 1:15-26) ◦He is the first to address the crowd at Pentecost (Acts 2:14) ◦He performs the first public miracle (Acts 3:1-10) ◦He exercises Church discipline on Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-5) ◦He makes the decision to allow Gentiles into the Church and not have to follow dietary laws (Acts 10:1-48)

81. Summary of Peter Summary of ideas on why we see Peter having primacy among the Apostles: ◦1. Mentioned the most ◦2. Always mentioned first ◦3. Always at the important events with Christ ◦4. Speaks for the Apostles ◦5. Called the Rock on which the Church will be built ◦6. Given the Keys of Heaven ◦7. Given the power to bind and loose ◦8. Takes charge at the events of the early Church

82. But does it continue? Using these arguments, it should be obvious that Peter is the first among the Apostles However, the next argument that will be brought up by Protestants is that even if Peter does have a certain level of primacy, that primacy stops with him and does not continue on through the years

83. Apostolic Succession Apostolic Succession = the unbroken series of bishops since the apostles, their successors in the episcopal ministry ◦Every Bishop can trace his “lineage” back to Peter  Here’s Bishop Bruskewitz’s succession The primary place we look to see the idea of Apostolic succession is the selection of Mathias at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles

84. During those days Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place). He said, “My brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled which the holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was numbered among us and was allotted a share in this ministry. He bought a parcel of land with the wages of his iniquity, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle, and all his insides spilled out. This became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem, so that the parcel of land was called in their language ‘Akeldama,’ that is, Field of Blood. For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his encampment become desolate, and may no one dwell in it.’ And: ‘May another take his office.’ Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.” Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles. Acts 1:15-26

85. Important Points It is Peter who says that there needs to be a new Apostles to succeed Judas and who lays out the conditions They allowed the Holy Spirit to do the selection (casting lots) When the lots selected Mathias he was “counted among the Apostles” This is a major event in the life of the early Church and its an event of succession!

86. Who is a successor? But, say the Protestants, in just a few verses we see all of the disciples receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4) First, we don’t know exactly who received the gifts from those verses. ◦It’s given to those in the house ◦In the next verse, Peter and the others stand up ◦Maybe it’s just the Apostles Additionally, Eph 4:11 tells us that some are chosen to be Apostles, others pastors, teachers, etc. ◦Not everybody gets the same gifts

87. Continuation Additionally, Christ himself promises that he will be with the disciples/Church until the end of time ◦“And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28:20) Did Christ mean this? Yes. But if he truly meant it, then he is either saying that the disciples will live until the second coming (obviously not true) or that he will be with the Church and the successors of the Apostles which will live until the second coming ◦This view is also supported by the verse “and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:20)

88. Apostolic Succession But does that mean that the primacy of Peter continues on with the Popes throughout the ages? The Fathers of the Church seem to think so, with there being unanimous support of the Pope’s authority ◦Some who said this were Popes, some weren’t ◦No matter who said it, there is no evidence of anybody arguing against it

89. The Fathers on Apostolic Succession Hegesippus (180) – “In each succession and in each city there is a continuance of that which is proclaimed by the Law, the Prophets, and the Lord” St. Irenaeus (189) – “…pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul”

90. The Fathers on Apostolic Succession Origen (225) – “The teaching of the Church has indeed been handed down through an order of succession from the Apostles and remains in the churches even to the present time.” St. Ambrose of Milan (388) – “They have not the succession of Peter.” St. Augustine (412) – “If the very order of episcopal succession is to be considered, how much more surely, truly, and safely do we number them from Peter himself.”

91. But what do we have to believe We’ve covered a lot of material on Divine Revelation Remember, Divine Revelation is found in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition with the Magisterium having the authority to develop it But, there are different levels of teaching that requires different levels of belief Those levels are called the 4 Levels of Magisterial Teaching

92. Class work on the 4 levels Spend 15 minutes reading the hand out silently to yourself I will then divide you into groups Each group will put all the student names on a piece of paper and answer the 6 Group Questions on page two of the handout Keep the handout as a study guide for the four levels

93. Four Levels of Magisterial Teaching Definitive Declarations of Revealed Truth (Dogma) ◦Requires Divine Faith ◦Not following is formal heresy & excommunication ◦These teachings are infallible and cannot change Definitive Declarations of non-Revealed Truth (Doctrine) ◦Requires to be firmly accepted and held ◦Not following is to be out of full communion with the Catholic Church ◦The teachings are infallible and cannot change

94. Four Levels of Magisterial Teaching Ordinary Teaching on Faith and Morals ◦Requires religious assent of intellect & will ◦Not following would be erroneous judgment  Does allow for questioning but not for public dissent – we should assume these are right ◦These teachings can change as they are not considered infallible Prudential Judgments ◦Requires external obedience ◦Not following is rash or dangerous  Does allow for questioning but be very careful about public dissent – that only hurts the Church and doesn’t help ◦These teachings can change

95. Summary of what to believe The first two levels must be held by Catholics if they want to be Catholic ◦Regardless of what a person says, if they don’t hold to the teachings of the first two levels then they are not fully Catholic and should not seek to fully enter the Church The second two levels should be held by all Catholics, but do allow for debates ◦Remember a lack of assent is not the same as dissent ◦Also, unless you’ve been deeply studying the Faith for many years at a highly advanced level, it is best to assume that the Church is right and you are wrong. A few classes don’t make us experts!