Counterfeit WK 8 - Wednesday Night
- Pastor Brian Loudermilk
- 5 days ago
- 11 min read
Rome’s Claim vs the True Church
Roman Catholicism claims that the Roman Catholic Church is the one true Church.
Second Vatican Council: Lumen Gentium 8:
“This church (founded by Christ) constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him.”
CCC 811 This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic."256 These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other,257 indicate essential features of the Church and her mission. The Church does not possess them of herself; it is Christ who, through the Holy Spirit, makes his Church one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and it is he who calls her to realize each of these qualities.
CCC 834 Particular Churches are fully catholic through their communion with one of them, the Church of Rome "which presides in charity."315 "For with this church, by reason of its pre-eminence, the whole Church, that is the faithful everywhere, must necessarily be in accord."316 Indeed, "from the incarnate Word's descent to us, all Christian churches everywhere have held and hold the great Church that is here [at Rome] to be their only basis and foundation since, according to the Savior's promise, the gates of hell have never prevailed against her."317
Biblical Perspective:
I. The biblical perspective on what the True church is:
A. The church is the community of all true believers for all time
1. The church is made up of those who are truly saved.
Ephesians 5:25 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Ephesians 1:22-23 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
2. It is Christ who builds the church (Matthew 16:18)
The Lord added to their number daily (Acts 2:47)
3. The church consists of believers both past, present, and future.
Ekklesia is the Greek word for church found in the New Testament:
- New Testament Authors reference to Old Testament believers with that term:
Acts 7:38 Stephen referring to the people of Israel in the wilderness
Hebrews 12:1-2 quotes Christ saying that he would give praise in the host of the great assembly (church) in heaven.
Hebrews 11:4-32 We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses
Ephesians 2:14,15, 19
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,[a] but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
B. The church visible and the church invisible
1. Visible - The church on earth as Christians see it
Visible church includes all who profess the faith in Christ and give evidence of that faith in their lives
We see it as people who gather together and profess Christ in a local body of believers.
In the same way we see this as Paul writes to the visible churches:
To the church of God who is at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:2)
To the church of the Thessalonians(1 Thessalonians 1:1)
To the church of aphis and archippus and the church in your house Philemon 1-2
We can not see the spiritual conditions of people's heart
Matthew 7:15-16 – beware of those who come in sheep’s clothing but are ravenous wolves.
2. Invisible Church – The Church as God Sees it
2 Timothy 2:19 19 But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
C. The church is both local and universal
House church to the universal church
Aquila and Priscilla in the church in their house (1 Corinthians 16:19)
Church in the gathering of a city (1 Corinthians (1:2)
Church in a region (Acts 9:31) So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up
Church through out the entire world (Ephesians 5:25)
D. Marks of the true church
Augsburg confession (1530) defined a true church as a congregation of saints in which the gospel is rightly taught and the sacraments rightly administered.
Jacob Arminius “Wherever the Word of God is purely preached and heard, and the sacraments are administered according to the institution of Christ, there is a true Church.”
(Works, Disputation XLIX
Galations 1:8-9 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. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
II. Rejection of Papal authority and Apostolic Succession
A. No biblical evidence
B. Peter had no supreme authority over the other apostles
C. Papal infallibility contradicts scripture
D. Christ is true head of Church
E. Church History shows papacy was developed later and had disputes
F. Church leadership is local and congregational not centralized under a single global figure.
III. Biblical response to not having the authority of Rome’s one true church.
The question that Catholics like to ask regarding this theological position is the following question: If two Protestants disagree on interpretation of a scripture how you decide who is right without a predetermined authority.
A. The fallacy of the question coming from the Roman Catholic Church
B. The Clarity of Scripture
Definition – The Bible is written in such a way that all things necessary for our salvation and for our Christian life and growth are very clearly set forth in scripture.
The Holy Sprit enables any sincere reader to understand the Bible’s core truths
2 Peter 3:15-16 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
1. The Bible frequently affirms its own clarity:
Deut 6:6-7 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Psalm 1:2 but his delight is in the law[a] of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 119
130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
NT epistles written to church congregations not just to church leaders
Jesus always assumed it was not the scriptures fault for misunderstanding but answered questions with have you not read (Matthew 12:3,5)
2. The Holy Spirit revelation
1 Corinthians 2: 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
John 16:13 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
C. How we can handle disagreements over interpretation
Hermeneutics: time-tested, historically rooted principles to interpret Scripture faithfully.
For example:
Interpret Scripture with Scripture
Give weight to the original context, grammar, audience, and genre.
Interpret the unclear by the clear.
Use the consensus of the early church and historic creeds as a check.
Return to Scripture
Use historic confessions
Local church authority
Voluntary association
Trust the Spirit’s work
Questions for Discussion:
What is something that you learned or took away from this counterfeit series?
How can I take what I have learned in the counterfeit series and use it in real life?
What has been discussed that has inspired you to be a student of God’s Word?
“This church (founded by Christ) constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him.”
CCC 811 This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic."256 These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other,257 indicate essential features of the Church and her mission. The Church does not possess them of herself; it is Christ who, through the Holy Spirit, makes his Church one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and it is he who calls her to realize each of these qualities.
CCC 834 Particular Churches are fully catholic through their communion with one of them, the Church of Rome "which presides in charity."315 "For with this church, by reason of its pre-eminence, the whole Church, that is the faithful everywhere, must necessarily be in accord."316 Indeed, "from the incarnate Word's descent to us, all Christian churches everywhere have held and hold the great Church that is here [at Rome] to be their only basis and foundation since, according to the Savior's promise, the gates of hell have never prevailed against her."317
Biblical Perspective:
I. The biblical perspective on what the True church is:
****Please find and insert a picture of Noahs Ark
A. The church is the community of all true believers for all time
1. The church is made up of those who are truly saved.
Ephesians 5:25 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Ephesians 1:22-23 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
2. It is Christ who builds the church (Matthew 16:18)
The Lord added to their number daily (Acts 2:47)
3. The church consists of believers both past, present, and future.
Ekklesia is the Greek word for church found in the New Testament:
- New Testament Authors reference to Old Testament believers with that term:
Acts 7:8 Stephen referring to the people of Israel in the wilderness
Hebrews 12:2 quotes Christ saying that he would give praise in the host of the great assembly (church) in heaven.
Hebrews 11:4-32 We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses
Ephesians 2:14,15, 19
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,[a] but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
B. The church visible and the church invisible
1. Visible - The church on earth as Christians see it
Visible church includes all who profess the faith in Christ and give evidence of that faith in their lives
We see it as people who gather together and profess Christ in a local body of believers.
In the same way we see this as Paul writes to the visible churches:
To the church of God who is at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:2)
To the church of the Thessalonians(1 Thessalonians 1:1)
To the church of aphis and archippus and the church in your house Philemon 1-2
We can not see the spiritual conditions of people's heart
Matthew 7:15-16 – beware of those who come in sheep’s clothing but are ravenous wolves.
2. Invisible Church – The Church as God Sees it
2 Timothy 2:19 19 But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
C. The church is both local and universal
House church to the universal church
Aquila and Priscilla in the church in their house (1 Corinthians 16:19)
Church in the gathering of a city (1 Corinthians (1:2)
Church in a region (Acts 9:31) So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up
Church through out the entire world (Ephesians 5:25)
D. Marks of the true church
Augsburg confession (1530) defined a true church as a congregation of saints in which the gospel is rightly taught and the sacraments rightly administered.
Jacob Arminius “Wherever the Word of God is purely preached and heard, and the sacraments are administered according to the institution of Christ, there is a true Church.”
(Works, Disputation XLIX
Galations 1:8-9 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. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
II. Rejection of Papal authority and Apostolic Succession
A. No biblical evidence
B. Peter had no supreme authority over the other apostles
C. Papal infallibility contradicts scripture
D. Christ is true head of Church
E. Church History shows papacy was developed later and had disputes
F. Church leadership is local and congregational not centralized under a single global figure.
III. Biblical response to not having the authority of Rome’s one true church.
The question that Catholics like to ask regarding this theological position is the following question: If two Protestants disagree on interpretation of a scripture how you decide who is right without a predetermined authority.
A. The fallacy of the question coming from the Roman Catholic Church
B. The Clarity of Scripture
Definition – The Bible is written in such a way that all things necessary for our salvation and for our Christian life and growth are very clearly set forth in scripture.
The Holy Sprit enables any sincere reader to understand the Bible’s core truths
2 Peter 3:15-16 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
1. The Bible frequently affirms its own clarity:
Deut 6:6-7 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Psalm 1:2 but his delight is in the law[a] of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 119
130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
NT epistles written to church congregations not just to church leaders
Jesus always assumed it was not the scriptures fault for misunderstanding but answered questions with have you not read (Matthew 12:3,5)
2. The Holy Spirit revelation
1 Corinthians 2: 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
John 16:13 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
C. How we can handle disagreements over interpretation
Hermeneutics: time-tested, historically rooted principles to interpret Scripture faithfully.
For example:
Interpret Scripture with Scripture
Give weight to the original context, grammar, audience, and genre.
Interpret the unclear by the clear.
Use the consensus of the early church and historic creeds as a check.
Return to Scripture
Use historic confessions
Local church authority
Voluntary association
Trust the Spirit’s work
Questions for Discussion:
What is something that you learned or took away from this counterfeit series?
How can I take what I have learned in the counterfeit series and use it in real life?
What has been discussed that has inspired you to be a student of God’s Word?
Comments