The Roman Catholic Church, being the largest source of heresy today, warrants a brief discussion. It bases its authority on the claim that only one man is the head of the church; that the first man was Peter who was the first Pope; and that today's head is the present Pope. In my article on denominations I show that this claim is false, as Paul for example was not under Peter's authority but was independent of him. And on one occasion, Paul says: when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. (Galatians 2:11)
Throughout his ministry Paul often needed to assert his authority as an apostle, to counter the belief of some early disciples, that only the Jerusalem church and its apostles, such as Peter, had authority. He even says: in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. (2 Corinthians 12:11-13) Therefore Paul asks the Corinthians: what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches? referring to the Jerusalem church and other churches established by the Jerusalem apostles. So Paul's apostleship was not inferior to that of Peter and Peter had not the primacy and was not the first Pope. There was not one Pope, but over a dozen apostles who were equal.
Before I examine scripturally the claims of the papacy it is helpful to examine its history. In the first three centuries there was no thought of one city's church and ecclesiastical body being subordinate to any other. But in the fourth century, at the council of Nicaea, it was deemed that the bishops of Rome, Antioch and Alexandria were leaders and they were pronounced patriarchs in the year 325AD. Then about fifty years later a Roman bishop, Damascus claimed primacy, as the successor to Peter.
Roman Catholics claim that Peter was the rock on which the church was built. They also claim that his being given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, means that he, and now the present Pope and his priests, have authority to determine who should be admitted to heaven. These claims are based upon a misinterpretation of Matthew 16:13-20.
First I will explain who Jesus means by the rock in Matthew 16:15-18: He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. The Greek word used here for Peter is "petros" and normally means pebbles. The Greek work translated rock is "petra" and normally means immovable rock. They are not one and the same.
All Christians like Peter are stones: ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house. (1 Peter 2:5) But Christ is the one and only rock: that Rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:4)
So it should be clear that when Christ said: upon this rock I will build my church, He was referring not to Peter but to Peter's answer two verses earlier when he said: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The church is built upon Christ the rock, as it believes that He is not a mere man, but the Son of the living God. And: other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)
The apostle Paul, just previously, claimed to have laid this foundation. The twelve apostles of the Lamb did the same, and for this reason, it says of the New Jerusalem which is to be the eternal home of the faithful: the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelation 21:14) Note that Peter's name is not to be pre-eminent among the twelve names.
Now to the Roman Catholic claim that the keys to the kingdom of heaven were given exclusively to Peter. Jesus did say to Peter in Matthew 16:19: I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. But this power was not given exclusively to Peter, but applies to all disciples, as two chapters later a similar promise was made for any two Christians who agreed: Verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 18:18,19)
But what does it mean to have the keys to the kingdom of heaven? Does it mean to determine who shall enter heaven as the Roman Catholics believe? Their official doctrine is that it is the Pope who determines who goes to purgatory and for how long. (Those who watched a Pope's coronation were, as a reward, released from their penalty of going to purgatory.) Therefore every Roman Catholic, whose relatives are supposedly suffering in purgatory, can blame the Pope for not releasing them. Does this sound like God's doctrine? No it does not because it is not.
It is not the Pope but Christ who has power to release from the grave or Sheol. He says: I . . . have the keys of Sheol and of death. (Revelation 1:18) To enter heaven one's sins must be forgiven. And Luke 5:21 asks: Who can forgive sins, but God alone? So it is not the Pope who has power to cancel the debt of sins, but only Jesus, who said of Himself: the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins. (Mark 2:10) This is why the Protestant puts his faith in a merciful God, and is not: afraid of a man . . . which shall be made as grass. (Isaiah 51:12)
So if men having the keys to the kingdom of heaven does not mean determining who goes to heaven, what does it mean? It means to have the ability to impart the knowledge of the way of salvation to another. This is how the door to salvation is opened. Jesus used keys in this context, saying: Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. (Luke 11:52) Pray God that whereas the lawyers took away the key of knowledge, Christians today might impart that key of knowledge to salvation.
The promise then is to all Christians, but was given first to Peter because he was chosen to be the first man to preach the way of salvation, after the Lord had ascended. We read of this as pertaining to the Jews in Acts 2:14-41, and as pertaining to the Gentiles, Peter recalls, saying: Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. (Acts 15:7)
Now that I have shown that the Roman Catholic Church does not have the authority it claims, I will examine some of its doctrinal errors. The Roman Catholic church has ordained that if money is paid to the priest, he will say prayers and hold masses to reduce one’s relative’s stay in Purgatory. This is contrary to the scriptures which say: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24)
A similarly serious error is that they think that almost anyone, no matter how evil, can eventually get to heaven (after a stay in purgatory) provided they regularly confess all the evils they continue to practice. Thus they diminish the importance of repentance. But the scriptures which cannot be broken until heaven and earth pass away say: He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)
Roman Catholics believe that Mary is a mediator between us and God, but the scriptures clearly state: there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5) Whilst a Protestant prays to his Father in heaven, as Jesus taught by the Lord's Prayer, a Roman Catholic spends more time praying to Mary (as if one woman in heaven could listen to a million people, all praying at the same time in a multitude of different languages). They often believe that God is too wrathful to be approached and so must be approached indirectly through Mary. How grieved God must be that they do not believe that: he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. (Joel 2:13)
The Roman Catholic Church, supposedly, has an infallible head in the Pope. How then can error exist on a widespread scale? Perhaps their most fundamental error was when the Roman Catholic Church under the lead of the infallible Pope, put the bible onto the ‘Index list of forbidden books’ in 1229 by the Council of Valencia. The decree of 1229 read: ‘We prohibit also the permitting of the laity to have the books of the Old and New Testament, unless . . .’ The Council of Trent reaffirmed this decree saying: ‘if the Holy Bible, translated into the vulgar tongue, be indiscriminately allowed to everyone, the temerity of men will cause more evil than good.’ Hundreds of years later Pope Clement XI pronounced: ‘We strictly forbid them to have the books of the Old and New Testament in the vulgar tongue.’
For centuries, possessing or reading the Bible in one's own language without permission in writing from the Roman Catholic Church was a mortal sin. For committing such a ‘sin’, he was doomed to hell forever unless he confessed his sin to a Roman Catholic priest. If he did this, then according to Roman Catholic doctrine, he would not have had to go to hell, but still would have had to spend some time in purgatory after death.
Surely the banning of the bible, which action was taken to assert the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, should show anyone that it has no authority in its own right, except when it's teaching can be justified from the bible, in which case the authority is not its own but the Lord's.
Yet Pope Gregory VII in 1073AD stated, ‘the Roman Catholic Church has never erred and will never err to all eternity’; and in 1870 it was declared that the Pope was infallible when he speaks ‘ex cathedra’. The effect of this false confidence in man is that once error comes into the Roman Catholic Church it tends to stay there; whereas the Protestant churches are ready to dismiss any teaching, even by Martin Luther, if they later think it is unscriptural.
By giving man's decrees equal authority to the bible, the Roman Catholic Church has effectively added to the Scriptures. But the Scriptures are very clear when they state: add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. (Proverbs 30:6)
This adding of man's commandments is no different to the practice of the Pharisees to whom Jesus said: Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. (Mark 7:9) The commandment specifically referred to here is given in the next verse: Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother. In this very example the Roman Catholic Church also fails, for it teaches that if a child has vowed to live a monastic life he is exempted from duty to parents.
I do not have the space in this book to detail all the errors of the Roman Catholic Church. This has already been done in an excellent book entitled ‘Roman Catholicism’ by Lorraine Boettner from which much of the material in this section was taken. My book is more concerned with truth, than with error. But we must all be very careful to seek the truth as 2 Corinthians 11:14 warns us: Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. As an angel of light, Satan is clever enough to make some Roman Catholic doctrines similar enough to the bible to deceive many of those who know the bible. Other doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church have nothing whatsoever to do with the bible.
The Roman Catholic Church has thus put men between us and God: in mediation, (priests, Pope, and Mary); in prayer (Mary); and in hearing God's voice (by taking away the bible and by adding to it additional supposedly infallible doctrines). As the people have been thus separated from God and His word, it is not surprising that error has come into the Roman Catholic Church and stayed there.
Fortunately the Protestant denominations have left the Roman Catholic Church when they found it untrue to the Scriptures. They are now involved in an on-going process of re-discovering the glories of the word of God, which were lost during the years when Roman Catholicism prevailed over all Christendom. But pray that they do not rest content until they are so true to the Scriptures that the glory of God fills the church as the cloud filled the tabernacle.
The Roman Catholic Church included some frightenning books in the bible, to frighten people into the kingdom. These books are not included in the Protestant bible. But I fear that even the Protestant Bible has a small amount of such extraneous material. I believe that threats made against cruel tyranical men, have been generalised by the Roman Catholic influence, to include all sinners, when the worst the average sinner has to fear is simply death. It is not hard to imagine that under hundreds of years of Roman Catholic influence, some of the Scriptures became contaminated.
Although the Roman Catholic system contains much falsity, there are still many devout men and women within it. The attempt by the Roman Catholic church to prevent people from hearing the bible for themselves, has been partially defeated. For these reasons the Roman Catholic church does some good things. However, more frequently, the noble aspirations of devout men and women in the Roman Catholic Church have been wasted, such as when women join a nunnery, and some have even taken vows of silence.
Roman Catholics should examine the claims of Protestantism. They should be like the Bereans who were commended by God for examining new teaching in the light of the Scriptures: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11)
Roman Catholics, and all Christians for that matter, should not take comfort in the fact that they belong to a stable church, and think that that makes them all right in God's sight. Where there is sin or disobedience, God says to us now, just as He did to the church at Pergamos in the first century: Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (Revelation 2:16)
According to Ephesians 6:17: the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. So if the word of God seems contrary to us, this is most probably Jesus speaking to us. This is consistent with how God spoke to His people in the Old Testament. Referring to those who said of God's true prophets: the word is not in them, (Jeremiah 5:13) God said: I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. (Jeremiah 5:14)