Corpus Christi Blog

An Excerpt from Devin Rose's The Protestant's Dilemma

10-22-2017Weekly ReflectionSelected by Bulletin Editor, Christi Deg

Over the summer, our bulletin ran a series of articles by Ken Hensley about the Protestant Reformation (What was the Reformation and Why Did it Happen). The feedback from parishioners has indicated that the series was very helpful and informative. As thismonth marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, it is our responsibility as Catholics to continue our understanding of our Faith in comparison to Protestant claims. There are numerous apologetics articles and books that one could read. One such book is The Protestant's Dilemma by Devin Rose, a Catholic convert, in which he examines over thirty Protestant claims and what they would signify if thought through logically. The following excerpt is from Chapter 2:The Papacy.

The Papacy

If Protestantism is True,

After centuries of its existence, God decided to eradicate the office of the papacy.

The Church had a pope, a visible head, from the beginning. In fact, we know the names and approximate dates of all the popes, all the way back to the first century: Peter first, then Linus, Anacletus, and Clement I. But sometime between the first centuries of the Church and the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, the papacy as an office must have become corrupted, and God revoked his authority from it.

No Pope Needed, Thank You Very Much

Protestants diverge on myriad doctrines, but on one issue they stand fully unified: They reject the notion that the pope has any authority from God. They don't need a pope; they don't want a pope, and, they say neither does God. The pope is not needed because Protestants have the Bible. They would rather trust in an unchanging written document than the vicissitudes and caprice of human personalities. For them it seems more plausible that God would ordain such a standard. As one commenter put it to me:

Man cannot be trusted; man will corrupt what he touches. The survival of the scriptures is the survival of a touchstone to the apostles that serve[s] as an unchanging standard, this is a necessity, this is preservation; this is God's will.

The pope is a mere man and thus fallible. God wouldn't have relied on a string of such men to lead his Church. Instead, he providentially had the apostles record divine truth in the Bible, where all Christians could find it and know that it is a "touchstone" to the apostles themselves (and therefore to Christ). A touchstone is something used to test the veracity or purity of a substance. Protestants believe that this is exactly what God gave us as our sole infallible rule of faith. No pope necessary.

Because Catholicsm is True,

The papacy was established by Christ, has endured, and retains the authority entrusted to it by Christ, even to this day.

The historical fact of the papacy throughout every Christian century makes a compelling case that it was intended to be a perpetual office within the institution that Christ built. The pope presided over or sent his legates to ecumenical councils and confirmed (or refused confirmation) of their decisions, and members of the Church accepted these decrees as binding.

But what is the evidence that Peter was in Rome and established a church there? First, while the Bible does not explicitly say "Peter was the bishop of Rome," in Peter's first epistle he ends by saying, "She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark" (1 Peter 5:13). We know from its usage in the book of Revelation that Babylon was a code word for Rome. Peter chose to be subtle here, since the Christians were being persecuted in Rome, and he, its leader, had to be careful. While this does not prove Peter was in Rome, its biblical evidence for the claim.

Several early Christians testify to the existence of the bishop of Rome, from Peter onward. In the 100s, Irenaeus spoke of the church in Rome founded by the apostles Peter and Paul and went on to describe the succession of bishops from there:

The blessed apostles, then having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles Clement was allotted the bishopric.

The Clement mentioned at the end of this passage is the author of the first-century letter to the church in Corinth. Clement begins the letter by stating that he writes from the church in Rome, strengthening the claim that this line of bishops dwelled in Rome and was begun by Peter. Ignatius of Antioch, Tertullian, Eusebius, Jerome, and John Chrysostom, among others, testify to the historical reality of Peter's sojourn and martyrdom in Rome. An unbiased examination of the historical evidence, coupled with Peter's words in his first epistle, make an overwhelming case for the first bishop of Rome being Peter and the line continuing in unbroken succession.

But what about Scripture being a touchstone to the apostles. A Catholic can happily agree that it is indeed that. But that does not mean that Scripture is the sole touchstone to the apostles. St. Paul tells us in his letter to the church in Ephesus that God built his Church on human beings:

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

Christ is the ultimate foundation, and he chose the apostles as the foundational layer for the Church. These are men and therefore, it is true, open to corruption. But God, by his power protected these men from error in their teachings, which even Protestants believe — for they accept the scriptures written by these men.

God provided multiple touchstones to Christ: the apostles and their successors (the magisterium), the Apostolic Tradition, and Sacred Scripture.

The Protestant's Dilemma

If Protestantism is true, then after 1,500 years of having a bishop of Rome called the prince of the apostles, the successor of Peter to whom Christ gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven (cf. Matt 16:19), God eradicated the office of the papacy. No longer would his Church have a leader, a "servant of the servants of God." Instead, God left his Church to follow whatever leaders declared themselves to be so in whatever churches they founded on the basis of their own authority or personal revelation.

If you enjoyed this excerpt and would like to read the rest of The Protestant's Dilemma, it is available to be checked out from our Parish Library.

As we grow in our Faith, let us also continue to pray for unity amongst all Christians:

  • Lord Jesus Christ,
  • at your Last Supper you prayed
  • to the Father that all should be one.
  • Send your Holy Spirit upon all
  • who bear your name
  • and seek to serve you.
  • Strengthen our faith in you,
  • and lead us to love one another in humility.
  • May we who have been reborn in one baptism
  • be united in one faith under one Shepherd.
  • Amen.
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