Where is God's tangible Church?

The internet has given a very loud voice to some very strange people. Social Media is flooded with odd conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, historical revisionism, and other forms of "what is falsely called knowledge" (1 Timothy 6:20). There are people who believe the Earth is flat and the moon landing is fake, there are claims that vaccines cause autism, there are deep analyses of photos which "clearly" depict the loch ness monster. The internet is filled with crazy things.

As I browsed a Catholic debate group one morning, I came across a particularly interesting example. Apparently, St. Peter's Basilica is the actual burial site of the Apostle whose name it bears. This is supposed to prove that the Catholic Church is, was, and will always be, the one true historical Church of Christ.

I responded, I think, quite reasonably. Without flat out denying that Peter is buried there (none of my points are affected either way), I pointed out that St. Peter's Basilica did not exist during Peter's lifetime. During his lifetime, Christianity was illegal, and that is, in fact, the entire reason Peter was murdered in the first place. This means Christians did not have the legal right to construct dedicated places of worship. It was not until the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. that the Christian faith became legal. In fact, it became the official state religion of Rome, and so it is no surprise that the denomination that sprang from this - empowered by the state itself - would begin claiming Christian sites within its sphere of influence, and even building things on top of them.

So, we can afford to grant, and even assume, that Peter's body may legitimately reside under St. Peter's Basilica. But the emphasis must be placed on the word "body". The moment Peter died is the moment he ceased to have any influence on this Earth, for better or for worse. He had no control over where he was buried, or what people built over his grave. If the devil himself sought to build a grand temple over an Apostles' corpse, we need not expect their bones to leap from the ground and object.

But regardless of whether or not we have Peter's bones, what we do have, beyond all reasonable dispute, are Peter's words. Not only his words, but also the words of his fellow Apostles. Not only the words of his fellow Apostles, but actually, these words are the very words of God Himself (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21). With all of this laid out plainly, I made a very simple conclusion: Base your faith on the word of the Living God, rather than on dead men's bones.

This offended one Roman Catholic woman so much, she proceeded to chastise me for "disrespecting" the bones of such a holy man, and call me a number of unkind names for daring to "admonish a 2,000 year old Church". But after a rebuke, she calmed down, apologised for her outburst, and engaged in respectful discussion. This is when she asked me a very interesting question: If the Catholic Church is not Jesus' Church, where is His tangible Church?

This was an interesting question to me because of the assumption behind it: That the Church Christ established is tangible. In reality, this is not how the Scriptures describe the Church at all.

To start things off, we might use the old saying: "The Church is an organism, not an organisation." This much is stated almost explicitly by Ephesians 1:22-23, which says "And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." (Emphasis mine).

At this point, it is already worth noting that this presents Christ as the head of the Church. This title is uniquely His, never once being ascribed to another. No man, no angel, no saint, can ever claim to be the "head of the Church". This is never written about them, and Paul tells us very plainly not to think of anyone beyond what is written (1 Corinthians 4:6). Because Christ is the only one to whom God's word attributes the title "head of the Church", anyone else who claims that title is inherently an anti-Christ. The Papacy, therefore, is inherently blasphemous, because it takes that which uniquely belongs to God, and ascribes it to someone who is not God.

But beyond this, note how the Father gives the Son to be the head over the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. This means the Church is an organism, as much as our own bodies are organisms. If you are in Christ, and Christ is in you, you are the Church. Or at least, "Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually." (1 Corinthians 12:27).

This is why the Bible never once addresses the Church as some kind of superpower. Rather, when the epistles were written, they were written “to the church of God which is at Corinth…”, or “…to the churches (yes, plural) of Galatia…”, and so on and so forth. The early Church did not have the luxury of gathering in ornate chapels, they met in each others' homes. They didn't have one bishop with authority over the entire world, they had local overseers, whose task was "...to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." (Acts 20:28).

Being members of the body of Christ individually does mean we do not all play the same role. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul dedicates 31 verses to explaining how we, as one body with many parts, interact with each other. This chapter closes out with "Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way." (v27-31).

Now, notice how within this list, he includes teachers after Apostles and prophets. But after this, he lists a variety of roles both great and small, of course intending for us to keep in mind how he has already utterly excluded the idea that any member of the Church may be separate, by their own consideration or by others. A foot cannot say "I'm not a hand, so I'm not of the body", nor can the eye say to the hand "I have no need of you". In the Church, no one is excluded, no one is considered worthless, no one is even expendable.

It's interesting to note Paul's rhetorical questions, "are all..." and "do all...". It is indisputable from this chapter that he does intend us to conclude that we are all the Church, but he does not expect us to conclude we are all therefore teachers. The logical extension of this is that the Church is not comprised only of its teachers. It is impossible to divorce those who are of the body, but not among its teachers.

This causes quite a problem when Catholics misquote 1 Timothy 3:15, "...if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth." In their anachronistic understanding, this verse proves that the Catholic Church, specifically, has the unique authority to tell us what we must believe. Yet, according to Peter himself,

"you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:5-9, emphasis mine).

What's that? This honor - the honor of being a royal priesthood, among other things - is for we who believe? Well then who are these audacious people running around calling themselves "priests", and requiring us to address them as "Father", in spite of Christ Himself warning us "...call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven" (Matthew 23:9)? Just as the so-called "Holy Father" steals from the true Holy Father, his ministers steal from you! There is no specialised priesthood anymore, we are the priesthood.

So, where is Christ's tangible Church? If you believe, to the saving of the soul, you can rightly say "right here". You are the Church, individually a member of the body of Christ, a living stone in the household of the Living God, and the pillar and buttress of truth, so long as you keep His word.

And of course, that is where we need to place the emphasis. As Irenaeus of Lyons put it, as a supposed "Doctor of the Church", "We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith." Or, to put it as Paul did by divine inspiration, "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 same Paul warned us "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them." (Acts 20:28-30). How do we detect these wolves? How do we know who arises "from among your own selves" (i.e. from among the very overseers of the Church)? Certainly not by their own word, for if a wolf will wear the clothes of a sheep, will he not also conceal his fearsome snarl?

But by the word of God, we can indeed distinguish between a servant of the Good Shepherd, and the demonic servants who masquerade as ministers of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). This is a test to which Paul himself gladly submitted (Acts 17:10-12), though he was behind "Pope" Peter in nothing (2 Corinthians 11:5; 12:11)! Furthermore, this same Paul rebuked Peter to his face (Galatians 2:11-14), because sometimes even a true servant of the Lord needs to be struck with the rod of correction. "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." (Proverbs 27:17).

When we put all of this together, we not only find that the Catholic Church is not the true Church of Christ, but that the true Church of Christ has both the right, and the responsibility, to prove it. As Christians, we must stand opposed to these fierce wolves who speak twisted things and draw away the disciples after them. They may masquerade as ministers of righteousness, as their father transforms himself into an angel of light, but as Paul warns, if anyone, be they Apostle, or even an actual angel from Heaven, preaches any other gospel, let them be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9). The true Church of Christ is we who believe, and we know this by His word. To resist the test of Scripture is to fail it immediately. But we all know that Rome would fail even if it did not resist. Therefore, it can never claim to be the tangible Church of Christ, because it does not conform to the tangible word of Christ.

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