Numbers 12 and Catholic Authority

In Numbers 12, we read an account in which Moses faces opposition from Aaron and Miriam on account of his wife. Their complaint is simple: “Is it through Moses alone that the Lord has spoken? Has he not spoken through us also?”(v2) The Lord was displeased with this. He summoned the three of them, and “the Lord said: Now listen to my words: If there are prophets among you, in visions I reveal myself to them, in dreams I speak to them; Not so with my servant Moses! Throughout my house he is worthy of trust: face to face I speak to him, plainly and not in riddles. The likeness of the Lord he beholds. Why, then, do you not fear to speak against my servant Moses?”(v6-8). The result was Miriam becoming white with leprosy.

The general takeaway from this is clear: Know your place. Contrary to popular caricatures, Sola Scriptura does not posit that there is no form of authority beyond Scripture. One might compare it to the 10th amendment of the United States Constitution: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” That is, the Constitution is the supreme written authority in the U.S. The federal government possesses only the powers granted to it by the Constitution. If the Constitution does not grant authority to the federal government, the federal government doesn’t have that authority.

In the Christian faith, first and foremost, we believe "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17). This, by definition, makes it the highest authority in the Christian faith, by virtue of its divine origins. To have more authority than the Scriptures, one must possess more authority than God. This, of course, is utter blasphemy. Thus, the absolute most you can have is equality. However, to obtain this authority, one must obtain it from God.

However, God is not in the business of granting this equality. Throughout Scripture, we find several times over that adding to His word is, at best, foolish. At worst, outright disobedient. One of the easiest examples is Proverbs 3:5-6, which says "Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar." Obviously, God Himself, and those directed by God to do so, may add to it. That is why God was able to continue breathing out Scriptures long after Proverbs was written. But for man to add to Scripture without being told to is always a recipe for disaster.

On top of these things, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:6 "And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another." You may have noticed I switched to the KJV for this particular verse. The reasoning is simple: It is by far the weakest translation of the verse, at least for those who seek to use it in the manner I currently am. In most translations (including the notably Roman Catholic NABRE), the verse is rendered closer to "...you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written...". That alone would make the point significantly stronger. However, in the interest of steelmanning, the KJV's rendering helps the Catholic by reducing the scope to only human authority. That is, Paul is telling us very clearly that if something is not "written" of someone (that is, if Scripture does not prescribe it), we ought not think it of them.

All of this (and more) makes the Bible our "10th amendment". As Christians, we recognise the Scriptures as the supreme written authority in the Christian faith. They also prohibit adding to them, and in particular, prohibit thinking of men beyond what is written of them. In other words, while there are authorities outside of Scripture, it is Scripture that grants that authority. Where that authority is not granted, it is explicitly prohibited.

Already, this poses a major threat to the Papacy. The Papacy is not laid out either explicitly, nor even implicitly, in the Scriptures. In fact, without intending to deviate from the topic at hand, the Papacy is all but explicitly denied. Of course, an actual explicit denial would require the concept to exist, which at this point in history, it did not. But the fullness of the Biblical data militates against a Papacy. That includes the Scripture we have just looked at. It's a simple syllogism:

P1. We are not supposed to think of men beyond what is written of them.

P2: There is nothing written about the Papacy.

C: We are to think nothing about the unwritten Papacy.

But for sake of argument, we’re going to completely ignore that. We’re going to pretend that all of the Apostles may have been proto-Catholics. Then we’re going to ask what they thought about their own authority.

There are a myriad of places we can go for this, but probably the best is the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians was written primarily to counter a rising heresy that claimed Christians must be brought under The Law. The entire book is a scathing rebuke of this, which Paul directly identifies as a Gospel-altering heresy. Unlike his usual epistles, Paul does not begin with his usual praises or affirmations, but gets straight to the point with blame. Throughout the epistle, he calls the Galatians foolish, asking who bewitched them (v3:1). He tells them they have fallen from grace, and become estranged from Christ (v5:4). He even tells them that he wishes those who had confused them with this false doctrine would castrate themselves (v5:12). This error is no mere secondary issue. This comes at the cost of salvation itself!

And so Paul dives straight into the problem, stating “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬-‭9‬).

There’s a subtle detail in there that many miss. We often focus on the “angel from Heaven”, especially when thinking about religions that literally claim an angel as their foundation (such as Islam, or Mormonism). But we don’t often focus on the other category here. “But even if we or an angel from Heaven…” Typically, "we" refers to a group of which one's self is a part. So, who is Paul saying must be considered accursed if they preach any other gospel? Himself. Peter. James, John, Matthew, and so on and so forth. Not only is Paul saying here that he has no right to preach another gospel, but he is actually placing the Galatians - at this point a heretical sect who have departed from the Gospel - in a place of judgement over him and his fellow Apostles.

Now, I can (and do) deny the authority of the Pope. In fact, it is precisely this verse (among others) that compel me to do so. But I can never deny that the Apostles had authority. Just as I cannot deny that Aaron and Miriam were legitimate authorities. God did speak through them, and not only Moses, even calling Miriam a prophetess (Exodus 15:20). But Moses had a higher authority. By striking out at him, even when abusing their otherwise legitimate authority to do so, they had committed the grave sin of striking out against God Himself.

In the same manner, when anyone strikes out against Scripture, they may well have some kind of authority. But that authority is limited by Scripture. Again, Scripture is God-breathed. That makes it maximally authoritative. You cannot be more authoritative than God. Thus, if anyone claims to be more authoritative, whether actually, or functionally, they are no better off than the leprous prophetess of Numbers 12.

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