POST APOSTOLIC INFALLIBILITY Delegated power W hile it is debatable whether the same "John" wrote...
This is a few simple arguments for various aspects of Catholic theology. Will it hold up in a court of law???
I don't know. These are not supposed to be any sort of "conclusive proofs".
Just a few simple, down to earth supports.
The Eucharist
1: the Church is the bride; Christ is her husband.
Eph 5:25-32,
Rev 19:7-9,
Rev 21:2, 9,
2 Cor 11:2,
Isaiah 54:5-6
2: Christ is the perfect bridegroom. Fully obedient to the law.
2 Cor 5:21,
Heb 4:15,
Heb 7:26-28,
1 Peter 2:22,
Rom 5:19,
Gal 4:4-5,
2 Tim 2:13
3: scripture says that brides have the right to demand their husband's bodies for physical union.
1 Corinthians 7:3-4:
"The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.
FOR the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does.
Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does."
4. CONCLUSION:
Christ would be sinning by denying His bride His body.
Though in the 1 Corinthians immediate context is sexual union- v4 explains the underlying principle for WHY
(based on the preceding "for")
This underlying principle would therefore still apply to physical sacramental union- which is not sexual but still refers to His physical body.
The demand obviously must be made in the correct way. That is through the Sacramental elders.
Apostolic succession
John 21:-23: "As the Father sent me, so I send you"
So let's look at some of what Jesus was sent by the Father to do:
-act as God's agent
-forgiving sins
-teaching and ministering
-appoint other agents for God*
Which means the apostles were sent by Jesus to:
-act as God's agent
-forgiving sins
-teaching and ministering
-appoint other agents for God*
Which means the agents (bishops) appointed by apostles were sent:
-act as God's agent
-forgiving sins
-teaching and ministering
-appoint other agents for God*
Which means the normal bishops appointed by "apostolic" bishops were sent:
-act as God's agent
-forgiving sins
-teaching and ministering
-appoint other agents for God*
Which means the "normal" bishops appointed by "normal" bishops were sent:
-act as God's agent
-forgiving sins
-teaching and ministering
-appoint other agents for God*
Which means the "normal" bishops appointed by "normal" bishops were sent:
-act as God's agent
-forgiving sins
-teaching and ministering
-appoint other agents for God*
Rinse and repeat.
*Presumably based on these verses ALL of Jesus's ministry was appointed Him by the Father. Including this duty.
John 17:18: "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world."
John 15:16: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."
John 5:19: "So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.'"
John 6:38: "For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me."
Matthew 28:18-20: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Luke 22:29-30: "And I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
Infallible Church?
(this last one is just for fun- inspired by a James White debate)
1. The word of God is infallible. If I take it and jumble up the words and letters in any order it is no longer inspired. but under the correct organizing principle it is infallible. The word of God is also more than a book. It is a person that took human nature:
John 1:1-2: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.[a] 2 He was in the beginning with God..." 14: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father."
2. Christians are the "words" of God. Since Jesus is the "WORD of God"; and we are Jesus's brothers and mothers... we must have a nature akin to His. Small "w" words of God.
Romans 8:29: "For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers."
Romans 8:16-17: "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him."
2 Peter 1:4: "He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."
1 Corinthians 15:49: "Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven."
In fact; scripture even says:
2 Corinthians 3:2-3: "You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."
John 15:7: "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."
3. Therefore under the correct organizing principle; submission to the apostolic paradigm in the Church built on the rock... the Church is the infallible "word" of God.
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