Subject: listen to the Church (1 of 2)
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3 > "Listen to the Church."
3
3 can you point out to me where the bible says this?
3 many thanks.
Dear Damon,
Confining our remarks (for the moment) to the New Testament alone,
anyone who appeals to any Bible text to support anything whatever is
actually and implicitly appealing to the Church. The New Testament
did not drop from the skies, "but rather human beings moved by the
Holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God" (2nd Peter 1:21). But
these human beings, the human co-authors with the Holy Spirit of all
the New Testament books, were all members and leaders of the Church.
They wrote from within the community of the Church, and their writings
were recognized and accepted by the Church as the inspired Word of
God. Wrenched away from the teaching authority of the Church, which
is their guarantor and the "pillar and foundation of truth" (1st
Timothy 3:15), the Scriptures easily become the play things of private
interpretation (2nd Peter 1:20) and distortion (3:16). The New
Testament books, read in and within the Church, reveal the saving word
of Christ.
You ask where the Bible says, "Listen to the Church." In the light of
what is said above, the Bible IS a listening to the Church. God has
channeled His Word to us through the Church and so has confided its
preservation and interpretation throughout the centuries to her.
Are there, however, some specific passages to show to inquirers? Begin
with Matthew 18:15-18 (I will give only the references to save space
in this message). Here Jesus stresses the judicial function of the
Church. The preaching/teaching function of the Church is expressed in
Luke 10:16, which teaches that a rejection of Christ's authentic
teachers is rejection both of Christ and of the Father who sent Him.
Such rejection issues in eternal damnation (Mark 16:16).
Preachers are not self-appointed; they must be sent by those who have
Christ's authority to send: Romans 10:14-17. The grand and specific
example of this principle is found in Matthew 28:18-20; this pregnant
passage shows 1) the role of Christ's own power (v.18), 2) exercised
by the Church, here personified in the Apostles, in the work of
teaching and guiding (vv. 19,20), and 3) in works of sanctifying
(here, baptism) (v.19).
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