Josiah Concept Ministries

It amazes me that the Catholic Church defines teachings infallibly, yet fails to leave a convenient list somewhere that tells us what has been infallibly taught. Steve Ray has posted four lists of infallibly defined Bible verses. One list contains 15 verses, while the other lists contain between 5 and 7 verses. This is still not the answer that we were looking for.

I decided to lay the verses out in a matrix and then tackle the verses that appear on all four lists. Amazingly, with fifteen verses to choose from, only five verses appear on all four lists. So I thought I’d take a peek at these five and see how the Catholic Church defines Bible verses.

Matthew 18:18 and John 20:23

These verses speak of the sacrament of penance in Catholic thought. The lists are unanimous in that interpretation. The sacrament of penance confers upon priests the power to forgive sins. Amazingly, only God had been able to forgive sins up to that point. Now, He has delegated this authority to Roman Catholic priests.

But who is a priest? Well, in the mind of the first Pope, all believers were priests. That drastically changes the reading of those verses. So does the context of the verses themselves: Jesus isn’t speaking directly to the apostles, He is speaking to a crowd that had gathered. Jesus follows this up with a parable that indicates if we withhold forgiveness from anyone, God will withhold forgiveness from us. This means that we are all called to forgive others of their sins, as our heavenly Father forgives us (cf. Mt 18:35). Turns out, God hasn’t delegated His power; the Roman Catholic Church would like you to think that He has. I have a longer argument on this verse here.

Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:24

The larger context of these verses should dictate their meaning, not some imagined implication of transubstantiation.  Obviously, as a biography of Jesus, the Gospel of Luke would contain His words.  No big surprise here.

The passage in 1 Corinthians isn’t a theological treatise on Christ’s words; rather, it is part of a set of rules for how church services are conducted and the proper etiquette at each phase of the service.

Taken together, these two verses cannot form the basis for the doctrine of transubstantiation. That isn’t to say that Christ isn’t promising His presence in the Eucharist.  All I’m saying is that that concept is not defined within Scripture at these points.

John 3:5

Jesus commanded baptism not just here, but also in the Great Commission:

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. (Mt 28:18-20, emphasis added)

I have no doubt that baptism is necessary. However, like any “work,” salvation isn’t contingent upon it. Think of it this way: if I desire to follow Jesus and all of His teachings, would I refuse baptism? The Lord clearly commanded it, and great things happen in the Bible to people who are baptized. The Lord wants us to be baptized. The apostle Paul comments:

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Rom 6:4-5)

Why, if we desire to follow Him, would we not be baptized? This is a no-brainer. Of course we’ll get baptized. But out of a desire to serve the Lord as He commands, not out of necessity. Same reason that we do any work of law. As I’ve become so fond of saying in posts lately, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor 3:6) Find a longer argument on the necessity for baptism here.

Romans 5:12

I have no problem with the definition of this verse pertaining to a sinful nature. Adam, through his original sin, imputed a sinful and fallen nature to all men. Christ, through His perfect life, imputes righteousness to all men who call on Him (Joel 2:32; Hab 2:4).

Jms 5:14

I have no problem with the elders praying over the sick and anointing with holy oils. The problem I do have is that the NAB translates the word “elder” in this verse as “presbyter,” clearly an attempt to add the presbyter class into the Bible.

In a future post, I will detail the verses found on two lists. There are two of them, Matthew 16:16-19 and Matthew 26:26-38 (and its counterpart within the other gospels) with 1 Corinthians 11:23-29.