Is the head of the Catholic Church, the Pope, the Head of the Church that Jesus built?

-- Kevin Walker (kevinlwalker572@cs.com), September 05, 2003

Answers

The Bible says Jesus is the Head of the Church, NOT the pope.

God says: "And He (Christ) is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He (Christ) might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18).

God says: "And hath put all things under His (Christ's) feet, and gave Him (Christ) to be the head over all things to the church" (Ephesians 1:22).

God says: "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him (Christ) in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:15).

God says: "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church" (Ephesians 5:23).

The Catholic Church, in acknowledging the clear teaching in Scripture that Christ is the head of the church, attempts to justify its position by stating that the Pope is the visible head while Christ is the invisible head of the church.

This, however, appears to contradict the Biblical picture of the church as a body; what body has two heads or a main head and a sub-head?!

Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:14). He further said that there would be "one flock with one shepherd" (John 10:16). NOT two shepherds! The Pope also claims to take the place of God. From Great Encyclical Letters : "But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff as to God Himself" (193). "We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty" (304).

The Prompta Bibliotheca (an official Roman Catholic almanac), in its article under the heading of "Papa" states: "The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but, as it were, God, and the Vicar of Christ. The Pope is of such lofty dignity that, properly speaking, he has not been established in any rank of dignity, but rather has been placed upon the very summit of all ranks of dignities. He is likewise the Divine Monarch and Supreme Emperor, the King of Kings. The Pope is of so great authority that he can modify, explain or interpret even divine law." Pope Gregory said, "The Pope is the representative of God on earth; he should then govern the world. To him alone pertain infallibility and universality; all men are submitted to his laws, and he can only be judged by God; he ought to wear imperial ornaments; people and kings should kiss his feet; Christians are irrevocably submitted to his orders; they should murder their princes, fathers and children, if he command it; no council can be declared universal without the orders of the Pope; no book can be received as canonical without his authority; finally, no good or evil exists but in what he has condemned or approved."

In response, consider these words from 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 (whether a direct or indirect reference, this passage does speak against exalting oneself too highly and is most certainly speaking of the office of Pope): "Let no one in any way deceive you, for it [the day of the Lord] will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God."

The Bible also says: "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven" (Matthew 23:9). "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy" (Revelation 15:4). "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another" (Isaiah 42:8). "Holy and reverend is His name" (Psalm 111:9).

Vicar means deputy; one who takes another's place. The Pope is called the Vicar of Christ as the Head of the Church on earth. However, in John 14:26, 15:26 and 16:7 we read of the true Vicar of Christ, the Holy Spirit. Why does man think it right to ascribe to a man that which is only rightly ascribed to God, His Son, or the Holy Spirit?!

-- Kevin Walker (kevinlwalker572@cs.com), September 05, 2003.

The Catholic Church makes the claim that their Pope is actually successor to the apostle Peter. This claim is based on the wording of Matthew 16:18 & 19, where Peter is given the keys of the kingdom. Their claim is that Peter was the first Pope, and that the church was built on Him, and thus built on the Pope. Each Pope, then, is an unbreakable lineage of successors from Peter to the present time.

The actual lineage of Popes is drawn out by Catholic theologians from Peter to the present, offering dates for each.

But here lies a problem.

Saint Urban (222 - 230) is doubted to have ever existed (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XV, p209).

There is no pope listed from 304 to 308. "A great many of the biographies of the predecessors of Anastasius II are full of errors and historically untenable" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, p224).

Anastasius II was Pope from 496 - 498. So for the previous 430 years, we cannot trust the Catholic's list!

Then the next problem is the activities of these "Vicars of Christ on Earth". The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that Callistus "obtained great influence over the ignorant, illiterate and grasping Zephyrinus by bribes" (V III, p184).

The following Popes were declared to be heretics after their deaths:

Saint Liberius (352 - 366); Honorius (625 - 638); John XXII (1316 - 1334); Gregory XII (1406 - 1416) was guilty of lying and committing perjury (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, p1); Paul V (1605 - 1621) was infamous for his condemnation of Galileo for his Heliocentric theory (which is now accepted as fact, even by Catholics). (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VI, p544).

If Galileo was a heretic then, but is considered right now; then Paul V was "right" then, and a heretic now!

We can clearly see that the unbroken succession of popes was continually broken, if not by blank spaces, then by "heretics" who couldn't have possibly been thirty-second cousins to Christ's representative on earth.!!!

-- Kevin Walker (kevinlwalker572@cs.com), November 05, 2003.

In the East, The Patriarch of the Syrian(or Syriac) Orthodox Church claims the Keys of Peter, Kevin. < a href:"http://sor.cua.edu/Patriarchate/index.html"> The Syriac Orthodox Church.

So does the patriarch of Antioch, one of the 15 Churches in the Orthodox family.

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonval@yahoo.com), November 05, 2003.

"Vicar means deputy; one who takes another's place. The Pope is called the Vicar of Christ as the Head of the Church on earth. However, in John 14:26, 15:26 and 16:7 we read of the true Vicar of Christ, the Holy Spirit. Why does man think it right to ascribe to a man that which is only rightly ascribed to God, His Son, or the Holy Spirit?!"

A: Vicar means a delegated representative, who administrates not by his own authority, but by the authority of the one who delegated him. The Holy Spirit is not a "representative" of Jesus, nor was He "appointed" or "delegated" by Jesus. Neither does he rely on the authority of Jesus, for the Holy Spirit Himself is God Almighty, co-equal with the Father and the Son, and not subservient to any other.

In direct contrast, The Pope is a true Vicar - a delegated representative, appointed by Jesus Himself, to administrate the Church by Christ's own authority. This is clearly illustrated when Jesus gives to the Apostle Simon (after changing his name to Rock) the keys to the kingdom, the universal symbol of authority. This is a plain reference to Old Testament culture. When the Master of the house was going away, he would delegate his authority to a chief steward (essentially a vicar). Duting his absence, the other employees of the house understood that they were to obey the steward as they would obey the Master himself, since it was the Master's authority under which the steward administrated. The Master gave the steward a symbol of his authority - the keys to the household. What a beautiful and precise analogy! Jesus knew He was going away. He knew that His household, His kingdom, would need ongoing guidance and administration until He came again. So He appointed a Chief Steward over His household, empowered to act with His own authority, and sealed the relationship by giving him the leys to the kingdom.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), November 08, 2003.

Paul says, "The Holy Spirit is not a "representative" of Jesus"

God says, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you." (John 16:13-15).

-- Kevin Walker (kevinlwalker572@cs.com), November 09, 2003.

Dear Mr. Walker, Of all the errors you have proclaimed as truth and typically protestant straw men you have built and burned, perhaps no other is as flagrantly offensive as the "Galileo" argument. Galileo IS a heretic. Galileo Galilei was NOT condemned because of heliocentric theories -- this was infact a theory first purported by a Jesuit scholar and astronomer, and in fact Galileo was supported by men of Church in his scientific research. He was accused and rightly convicted of heresy because he claimed that the INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE BELONGED TO NO OTHER THAN THE INDIVIDUAL HIMSELF. THIS is the point of the Galilean controversy. Masons and Protestants have long demagogued the issue to make it seem as though the Church has been this culturally repressive force in history, when in fact, NOTHING can be more alien to the truth. Furthermore, Galilei was not even hung, flogged, or physically chastised as well he should have been. Rather, he was "condemned" to house arrest, which he comfortably lived out from Palazzo to Palazzo of rich benefactors such as the Medici of Florence. The condition was he not speak to any one about his error -- a contract which of course he broke. But at the end of his life, Galilei asked to be reconciled, and made his peace with God. Protestants like to do to history that which they like to do to Holy Writ -- take the pieces they like, and discard, forget the inconvenient.

-- Sixtus (nonestisdignis@verbosuo.com), September 10, 2004.

"Furthermore, [Galileo] was not even hung, flogged, or physically chastised as well he should have been. "

Sixtus, you've got to be kidding us. No man should have been tortured for their beliefs. Corrected or indoctrinated, perhaps, but no man should be tortured into believing an orthodox teaching. The man will not believe of his own free will. If he is tortured into believing, he has become a product of his victimization, not his faith.

............

-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), September 10, 2004.