July 19, 2004
Is a Physical Church necessary?
I think a common protestant objection to Catholicism involves the need for a physical church. Often protestants view the church in merely spiritual terms, e.g. the “body of believers” around the world. This is a correct way to view the church, but it is more than that. God also created the Church in Matthew 16:18 because He needed it.
“Needed” seems to put God into a box. After all, He is God and in all honesty He doesn’t “need” anything. However, despite this God continues to work through the angels, through man (for example in the apostles), and/or through physical objects such as mud. A better term is that God “chooses” to work this way. But in this one instance “needed” is the right word. Why? Because for us to go through life as God decreed in the Bible, He needs the physical Church. I’ll explain.
This need comes from the ongoing work of the Church. What is the point of the Church God created? To administer the Sacraments to the faithful and protect the Truth. The key aspect requiring a physical presence is the need for someone to administer the Sacraments to the believers on earth. In John 6:53 Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” God created the Eucharist to administer grace by allowing us to partake in the body and blood of His Son Jesus Christ. This requires a ministerial priesthood to hand out the Sacrament to the faithful. You can find more information on the Bible and the Eucharist here.
In addition to the Eucharist, we see other examples of Sacraments that require an ongoing priesthood. For example, in Matthew 18, Jesus gives His apostles the power to forgive sins (see verse 18). Again, this requires an ongoing priesthood to offer this Sacrament to believers. This pronouncement is introduced by Christ with the example of His Church sitting in judgment of men (see verse 17), which would also require a visible, physical church to administer. This is the sacrament of Confession. You can find more information on Confession and the Bible here.
But does the Bible prepare for this? Absolutely. For example, look at Titus 1:5-9 where Paul gives guidance on choosing replacement bishops, which takes for granted that future bishops will be selected. It implies on ongoing church, which is in complete accord with Matthew 16:18 where Jesus says that He will build His Church and that Church will not fail.
And why not? After all we know that God does not change. In the Old Testament He choose to communicate with His people through a structured, authoritative Church. In forming a New Covenant, He improved the Old Covenant dramatically, but still chooses to use a physical church to communicate. In the Old Testament it was clear what God wanted and asked of the people, could He improve the covenant and intentionally reduce the clarity of communication? Why would God choose to communicate unclearly under the improved covenant? He wouldn’t. This is the illogic of the protestant argument.
Is a Church “necessary”? Yes, it’s required by God to administer His Sacraments and communicate clearly to His people. It also is necessary to protect the Truth. The Church compiled the Bible and protected it from including books that contained error as well as making sure the books such as Revelation were included. Only the Catholic Church still stands proclaiming that contraception is a sin (all Christian churches agreed until the 1930’s). Martin Luther removed books from the Bible and the Catholic Church stood and condemned him for it. This is a second reason for the existence of a physical Church that is unified under Christ. The Church is necessarily physical.
God bless,
Jay
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