> Date: Tue, 2 Jan 1996
> From: carvdave@ix.netcom.com (Dave Turner )
> To: Father Mateo
> Subject: The Church: Visible or Invisible
>
> Dear Father Mateo:
>
> My question is about the teaching that the Church, the Mystical
> Body of Christ, is a visible entity, with a visible leader. I am
> having a debate with an evangelical Protestant who contends that
> the Body of Christ is an invisible thing, and therefore, it
> doesn't matter what denomination one is in, Catholic or not, as
> long as you are IN Christ.
>
> My rebuttle to her is, while this is true, it is an incomplete
> understanding, it is not the FULL truth. But I come up short
> when asked to show scripture supporting the Visible Church
> assertion.
>
> Can you please give another of your wonderful answers to my
> question?
>
> Thanks in advance, Dave
Dear Dave,
Your friend contends that the Body of Christ, the Church
(Eph 1:22 f.; Col.1:18) is invisible, and that therefore it
doesn't matter what "denomination" one belongs to, as long
as one is "in Christ". Our Catholic doctrine is far
different: we hold, in the faith that comes to us from the
Apostles, that Christ's Church is a concrete historical
reality, which is found in the living, visible Catholic
Church. The early growth of the visible Church appears in
the Book of Acts and the Epistles. Its reality is found in
the writings of the earliest Fathers of the Church, like St.
Ignatius of Antioch (see his Letter to the Philadelphians,
prologue, and his Letter to the Ephesians, sec. 4).
The entire New Testament simply takes for granted the
visibility of the Christian community, the Church. It never
occurs to any New Testament writer even to discuss the
matter. Nor was the Church's visibility an issue for the next
1500 years. A "church" totally invisible was unheard of until
John Calvin invented the idea to promote the goals of the
Protestant Reformation.
All the terms used in the New Testament to describe the Church
are intelligible only on the assumption that the inspired writers
viewed the Church as a visible, concrete reality. If you consult
a Bible concordance under the entries "church" and "churches",
and with Bible in hand read all the verses one after another, the
visibility of Christ's Church will be seen to be beyond question.
All the church -- metaphors in the New Testament clearly depict a
visible organization. (The Church, of course, is more than a
visible organization; she is a grace-filled, supernatural entity
as well. But that is another question. Here we deal only with
her visible reality.) Let us look now at some of the New
Testament church -- metaphors.
1) The Church is a lamp (cf. Mark 4:21).
The Father reveals Himself in Christ; Christ is the light
(John 1:4 f., 9). Christ the light remains in the world, from
the Ascension until the Second Coming, in and through the
Church (Acts 9:4-5, with 1st Cor. 15:9). Now, please reflect:
does the Father want the light of Christ, made present to us
in the Church, to be visible or invisible? Visible, of course.
Then, the Church must herself be visible, discernible,
"find able" by those who look for her so as to find Christ.
2) The Church is a building (and what is more visible and
tangible than a building?) See 1st Cor. 3:9; 2nd Cor. 5:1.
3) The Church is a temple (2nd Cor 6:16; Eph. 2:19-22).
4) The Church is a vine: Christ the main stock and we
Church-members his branches (John 15:4-6).
5) The Church is the household of God (1st Tim. 3:15-16). Study
verse 15 in the light of verse 16. Notice that the
predominant stress of verse 16 is the visibility of Christ
("manifested, seen, proclaimed"). The intimate connection of
these verbs of visibility in 16 with the "household" of verse
15 strongly underscores the visible character of the household,
which is the Church of the living God.
<More in the next message.>
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Mateo
- Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit -
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