Immutable Kingdom – Part 13

The Immutable Kingdom – Part 13
By Scott A. Klaft

(Organization of the Roman Church continued)

3. Vicar General

The Vicar General is a personal representative of the Bishop of a diocese (the greater territory made up of a number of Parishes). The Vicar General has authority over the Rural Deans and Parish Priests, and he can hold court and even judge over church officials. He audits accounts and is empowered to remove incompetent personnel. This position is selected or dismissed by the Bishop.

4. Bishop

The highest ranking official in a diocese is the Bishop. He is to visit every Parish once a year and “Confirm” the young people who have been prepared by the local Priest. Only the Bishop can perform the sacraments of Confirmation and Ordination, and he also holds court when a decision of a Vicar General has been appealed. The Bishop is a superintendent of education and maintains an institution for the training of priests.

5. Arch-Bishop

An Arch-Bishop has all the responsibilities of his own diocese with the added responsibility of checking on twelve other Bishops. This requires a large staff of assistants to make it possible. The Pope selects the Arch-Bishops, giving them a special pendant to wear around the neck, symbolizing their authority. An Arch-Bishop may have a territory as large as an entire nation.

6. Papal Legate

Being thorough in seeing that no official was without supervision, the Papal Legate is appointed to check on the Arch-Bishops or any official under them. These are personal representatives of the Pope, having power over all others and even represent the Pope on special occasions.

7. The Pope

In the Roman tradition, the Pope is the elective monarch who rules by “divine right” and is an autocrat (one who rules with unlimited authority and has undisputed power and influence).

In 440 to 461 A.D., Leo I was the first to make papal claims on the basis of scripture. He claimed that the church was based on Peter from Matthew 16:16-19, and claimed that Luke 22:32 proved Peter was given the responsibility to oversee the other disciples. Leo also claimed that John 21:15-19 gave Peter the responsibility to both feed the sheep (which, in his view, was the clergy) and to feed the lambs (which he thought meant the laity). The unsubstantiated tradition that Peter was the bishop of Rome and was martyred there was taught as a fact, and it did much to increase the primacy of the Bishop of Rome.

The Pope relies on the advice and support of other Bishops in the vicinity of Rome. They were looked upon as the “hinge-men” upon which the Pope functioned. The Latin word “cardo” means “hinge”, where they get the title of “Cardinal”. Supposedly, there are now only seventy Cardinals collected on three levels. 1st, there are Fifty Cardinal Priests. 2nd, Fourteen are Cardinal Deacons. 3rd, six are Cardinal Bishops. Each of them is either a Bishop or Arch-Bishop in the Powers of Orders, but in the college of Cardinals, they hold additional ranks and a great deal of influence. Their main duty is the election of the new Pope from among their own number.

(Next Week: The Rise of Mohammedanism)

Immutable Kingdom – Part 12

The Immutable Kingdom – Part 12
By Scott A. Klaft

Organization of the Roman Church

The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church slowly developed alongside the various troubles and heresies that were being taught at the time. Out from the councils sprang leaders of the leaders, and they had their assistants who had their own assistants. Of course, each was given their own sphere of authority and soon a system of priestly rule solidified into a sharp division between “clergy” and “laity”. Each classification has specific standards and divisions from the others.

Regular Priests

There is a slight but distinct difference between the “regular priests” and those called “secular priests”. Those who took up residence in the monasteries were called “regular” (from the Latin word, regula, meaning, “under rule”) because they were under the rule of some Monastic Order. They were not allowed to serve in parishes, but could be sent as missionaries, special teachers, or could be sent to care for the sick and minister to the poor.

Secular Clergy

The secular clergy were the priests who worked with people in everyday religious matters. They could baptize babies, perform the ceremony of “mass,” take confessions, perform marriages, and bury the dead. Within the hierarchy, these priests were limited by two things called “Powers of Orders” and “Powers of Jurisdiction”.

Powers of Orders

There are two divisions in the Powers of Orders: minor clerical orders, and major orders. A young man desiring to become a priest would have to start at the bottom of the minor orders before he could become a priest and work up through the major orders.

The first step is the Janitor. He keeps roll at services while getting to know the members. The next level is the Reader; obviously, one who reads the scripture at services. The third step is that of Exorcist. This gives the prospective priest the right to hold the water while the priest baptized the babies. One more step makes him an Acolyte and brings him closer to sacred things, allowing him to handle vessels and assist in the mass. The last level is that of Sub-Deacon which is just prior to ordination to the priesthood.

Entering the major orders after ordination, he is called a Deacon. He works with a more experienced priest for a time, eventually advancing to the level of Priest himself. As a Priest, he may administer five sacraments. Upon the death of a Bishop, another is selected from among the Priests and empowered to administer all seven sacraments. Archbishops and Cardinals are selected from the number of Bishops, and the Pope is selected from among the Cardinals.

Powers of Jurisdiction

The Powers of Jurisdiction refers to the geographical territory over which a Priest is allowed to rule. A Priest may be fully ordained, but until he is given a territory, he cannot exercise his power.

1. The Parish Priest
The smallest territory given to a Priest is called a Parish. The size, of course depends upon the population and number of church members. Within his territory, he teaches the people, administers five sacraments, mediates grace and meets out punishments upon the disobedient.

2. Rural Dean
The Roman system was such that every Priest would be answerable to another of a higher authority. The Rural Dean is a Parish Priest who had the responsibility of checking on seven to twelve other Parish Priests. He is to see that they conduct their work properly and keep their financial records in decent order.

Immutable Kingdom – Part 11

The Immutable Kingdom – Part 11
By Scott A. Klaft

Doctrines under Romanism

With the increase of heresies and errors among religious practitioners, confusion and strife among the church also intensified. In order to keep some form of unity, the “bishops” of certain areas would hold councils to come to a consensus over conflicts. Out of these councils grew a hierarchy among the most influential at the councils, and soon an iron-fist rule over the interpretation of scripture was seized by what would swiftly become the Roman Catholic Church. The distinction of the New Testament pattern was no longer recognized, and the church of the Bible was barely recognizable.

The word “catholic” began to be applied to the church in the second century, using the primary meaning of “universal.” There is a “universal” sense in which the church exists in the Bible, and in this way, it can be rightly called “catholic” in the Latin tongue, but certainly not as it has come to be known today. The excessive stumbling of the early Catholic Church led to many errors of practice. Some of them are worthy of a brief discussion.

Imposition of Sacraments

The idea of a sacrament is that a person performs a “sign” of the spiritual purpose of God, and this would soon be considered among the highest of sacred rites. Perhaps you have heard the saying, “an outward sign of an inward grace.” It is likely that this saying came from the concept of the sacrament. It is true that God gave certain statutes regulating physical actions that were intended to bring to mind spiritual things. Studying through the New Testament, however, we find only two such ordinances designed for Christianity: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.[1]

With the development of a hierarchy among the leadership, baptism suddenly needed a confirmation of the bishop before it was considered valid. This practice was later modified in the fifth century with the spread of the practice of infant baptism. Seeing the need for a “confirmation ceremony” after the child came to a certain age, the bishop would anoint them with oil and lay his hands on the youths before they were allowed to take the Lord’s Supper. Soon the Confirmation Ceremony itself was given the elevated status of a sacrament and more power shifted to the hierarchy.

The developing priesthood also inserted itself in the restoration of an erring sinner. They decided that the simple confession of wrongdoing, repentance, and prayer was not enough (despite it being the scriptural arrangement). The priest wanted to decide whether the person was sincere enough, and often he would require some kind of proof before admittance would again be allowed to the membership. When some satisfaction for the sin was made, the priest would presume to pronounce the penitent person absolved of their sin. Once again, the power of the priesthood increased as the unscriptural doctrine of “Penance” was entitled a sacrament. It was not long before the priests would confiscate complete control over forgiveness of sins.

Introduction of Instrumental Music

Within the earliest writings of the church, there were abundant admonitions and references of singing in worship to God. The Jews and the Pagans both used the mechanical instruments. We cannot, therefore, rightly assume that the early church was unfamiliar with the use of them; yet, there is no record of mechanical instruments being used in Christian worship. Even among the later writings of those termed “church fathers,” the only one who mentioned mechanical instruments condemned their use in worship. The introduction of instruments in the worship was slow and needed the wearing down in an incremental digression among church members before they would be the accepted as the norm. Certain changes in their attitudes concerning formality in the fourth century brought the use of special singers, and eventually choirs. Some congregations between the fifth and seventh century brought in the mechanical instrument, and with it, a great deal of opposition. It was soon removed and not seen again until the eighth century when the organ was reintroduced, in spite of all opposition.

[1] Just because baptism is intended to be a sign of our participation in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection according to Romans 6:3, 4, does not remove the necessity of subjecting one’s self to the ordinance to receive the forgiveness of sin (Acts 2:38; 22:16) and to be saved (Mrk. 16:16; 1Pet. 3:21). – S.K.

Immutable Kingdom – Part 10

The Immutable Kingdom – Part 10
By Scott A. Klaft

(Further Departures continued)

Due to an expanding conflict over Christ’s relationship to the Father, Constantine saw fit to send letters requiring the two sides of the dissention to come to an understanding. When this effort failed to bring unity, the first General Council was called to Nicaea. Three hundred and eighteen “bishops” attended the assembly with their expenses paid by Constantine who sat as chairman and keynote speaker. What he said is worthy of quoting here:

“…the gospel, the apostolic writings, and the ancient prophesies clearly teach us what we are to believe concerning the divine nature. Let then all contentious disputation be set aside; and let us seek in the divinely inspired word, the solution of all doubtful topics.”[1]

This was a fairly impressive bit of wisdom from someone who had not yet obeyed the gospel and actually held no real position within the church.

Constantine carried the meeting and controlled the discussion through this difficult theological problem. When a conclusion was made, all in attendance were called upon to sign on to a written creed, which Constantine oversaw and edited the final draft. Only six dissented. The creed came to be known as “The Articles of Faith maintained by the Council” which affirmed the triune nature of Deity and that “…the holy catholic and apostolic church condemns…” everyone that denied the statement. It was also decided at this meeting that “Easter” would be observed on the first day of the week. Constantine’s great generosity and interest in the church led Christians to exalt him, relying on his decisions, and few failed to obey the commands and decrees declared by the Emperor. The leaders were too concerned over other problems in the church to see the danger of giving up independence to the Head of State for authority.

After the death of Constantine, his son continued the policies of his father, but in A.D. 359, the “bishop” of Rome began to come into prominence, claiming authority beyond his “diocese” (his realm of supremacy). The “bishops” of many of the major cities also began to be exalted, such as Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, but the prestige of the bishop of Rome was quickly growing past them. It was not long before the church in the west was polarized between the bishop of Constantinople and the bishop of Rome. Despite the “world council” decree that they were equal heads of the church, there were other forces at work which favored Rome.

With the spread of the influence of the church and the presumed preeminence of the bishop of Rome, he literally became equal to, and later, greater than the Emperor of Rome. In A.D. 440, Leo I (or, Leo the Great) began his twenty-year administration as the bishop of Rome, and he taught that the Lord held the Roman bishop responsible for the care of all the churches and that other bishops were but assistants, not sharing his authority. Though his claims did not go unchallenged, Leo became the first unofficial Pope. With the influence of Paganism exalting the Priests, the true New Testament teaching that every individual may approach God directly became veiled from the eyes and hearts of the common man. The New Testament arrangement of a plurality of elders/ bishops in a purely autonomous congregation was forsaken; and, although there may have been some sincere people trying to do what was right, the true and distinctive Kingdom of Christ virtually disappeared from the pages of history. The simple organization called “the church” as it is found on the pages of inspiration no longer held any of the characteristic and unique marks by which it could be identified.

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[1] Theodoret, CHURCH HISTORY 1:5