Does the Bible Really Say That?: Discovering Catholic Teaching in Scripture (13 page)

CHAPTER 32

The Catholic Priesthood

Everyone knows that the Catholic Church has priests. But quite a few people (including some Catholics) don’t know why. After all, some might argue, the book of Hebrews is clear that Jesus Christ is our “high priest,” who offered “once for all” his perfect sacrifice on the cross for our redemption and salvation (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12, 26; 10:10). Since Christ’s sacrifice was offered once for all, what need could there be for priests?

Before we consider some of the biblical evidence for the Catholic priesthood, let’s first look at how the Catholic Church explains the priesthood. This special ministry of the priest is carried out in a particular way within the Church, the Body of Christ, and on its behalf.

While the common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace—a life of faith, hope, and charity, a life according to the Spirit—the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood.... The ministerial priesthood is a
means
by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church. For this reason it is transmitted by its own sacrament, the sacrament of Holy Orders. (
CCC,
1547)

The Catholic priesthood does not in any way attempt to compete with or take the place of the unique and eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ. Rather, the Catholic priesthood
shares
in the Lord’s priestly ministry.

Scripture tells us that Christ shares his sacred ministries with others. For example, Christ is the King of the universe (Mark 15:32; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:15; Revelation 15:3; 17:14; 19:16), but his royalty is conferred on Christians, who will share in his kingship. They will wear crowns in heaven, sit on thrones, and reign as kings alongside him (Revelation 4:4, 10).

Christ is the shepherd of his flock, the Church (John 10:16), but he conferred that role, in a subordinate way, on his Apostles and on others (John 21:15–17; Ephesians 4:11). In 1 Peter 5:4, Peter calls Christ the “chief shepherd,” which implies that there are lesser, subordinate shepherds.

Christ is the supreme Judge over all things (John 5:27; 9:39; Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 4:1), but he himself has said that Christians will also share in that judgeship, even judging the angels in heaven (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30; 1 Corinthians 6:2–3; Revelation 20:4).

Christ is the Creator of all that exists (John 1:1–3; Colossians 1:16–17; Hebrews 1:1–2), and he shares an aspect of his role as creator with men and women through their gift of sexual procreation.

Similarly, Jesus Christ is our “one mediator” with God, our sole “high priest” of the New Covenant,” (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 2:17, 3:1, 9:11) who eternally presents to the Father his redemptive sacrifice (Hebrews 3:1; 4:14–15; 5:5–10; 7:15–26; 8:1; 9:11), and he shares this priesthood.

All Christians share in the priesthood of Christ. Christians are “built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5–6). (See 1 Peter 2:4–9; Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:6.) This being the case, one might reasonably ask, “If we are all priests, why do we need priests?”

In Exodus 19:6 God told the Israelites that they were
all
priests: “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (see Isaiah 61:6). But he also made a special provision for his kingdom of priests by establishing a special
sacrificial
priesthood in their midst, as we read in Deuteronomy 33 (see Numbers 18:1–7; Malachi 1:11). Their priestly ministry prefigured the liturgical ministry of the new covenant priesthood (Matthew 28:19; John 20:23; 1 Corinthians 11:24; James 5:14).

Romans 12:4 reminds us that not every member of the body of Christ has the same function. The Catholic priesthood is a sacrificial priesthood instituted by Christ at the Last Supper, a priesthood that ministers to the “kingdom of priests” to which all baptized Christians belong. Christ perfected the imperfect ministry of the old covenant priesthood by establishing a special priestly office
within
the “kingdom of priests.” To these priests he granted a special authority to offer sacrifice in his name, the sacrifice of his own Body and Blood: “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).

Christ’s new priesthood—which is “according to the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:6; 10:6–20)—is superior to the Aaronic priesthood in the old covenant (Hebrews 3:1–4; 7:27; 8:4–6; 9:12–14, 25; 10:5) because his once-for-all sacrifice on the cross is perfect and complete. And at every Mass, the Catholic priest follows Christ’s command to “do this in memory of me.” He re-presents in time and space at every Mass that once for all sacrifice of Christ.

Further Reading:
Matthew 10:1, 16:16–19; 28:19; Mark 16:15; Luke 2:32; 6:13; 10:16; 24:47; John 20:22; 21:15–17; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:12; 1 Timothy 4:14; 5:22; 2 Timothy 1:6; Titus 1:5; James 3:1

CCC,
941, 1142

CHAPTER 33

The Divinity of Christ

Of all the doctrines of the Catholic faith, the divinity of Jesus Christ is at the very heart of everything. Our belief that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became a man, Jesus Christ of Galilee, some two thousand years ago, lived among us, died on the cross for our salvation and rose from the dead three days later, is known as the Incarnation.

That God himself would condescend to “take flesh” and live among us as a man is a mystery beyond our ability to fathom. But Scripture helps us penetrate at least to some depth into this august mystery, allowing us to see that Christ is true God and true man. Keeping in mind that some aggressive proselytizing groups, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, vehemently deny the divinity of Christ and attack the faith of Catholics and other Christians who believe in this great truth, let’s concentrate on several passages that reveal Christ’s divinity, in order to deepen our own understanding of this doctrine and become better prepared to respond to arguments against it.

Christ’s divinity was foretold in the Old Testament in passages such as Isaiah 9:6: “For to us a child is born, / to us a son is given; / and the government will be upon his shoulder, / and his name will be called / “Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God
, / Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (emphasis added).

John 1:1–2, 14 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God
. He was in the beginning with God.... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (emphasis added). The statement, “the Word
was
God,” makes it clear that Jesus Christ was not a mere creature, neither an angel nor a super-man, but God himself. He is one divine Person who, at the Incarnation, fully possessed two natures, divine and human.

In John 1:18 we read: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.”

When the Apostle Thomas doubted that Christ had risen from the dead, the resurrected Christ appeared to him and invited him to probe the wounds in his hands and feet. At that, Doubting Thomas exclaimed in wonder, “My Lord and my God!” identifying Jesus as divine (John 20:28).
¹

1 Timothy 1:15–17
  “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners; but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.”

Titus 2:11–14
  “[We are] awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.”

Hebrews 1:5–9
  “For to what angel did God ever say, / ‘Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee’? / Or again, ‘I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son’? / And again, when he brings the first-born into the world, he says, / ‘Let all God’s angels
worship
him.’ / Of the angels he says, ‘Who makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire.’ / But of the Son he says, / ‘Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever
, / the righteous scepter is the scepter of thy kingdom. / Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; / therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee / with the oil of gladness beyond thy comrades’” (emphasis added).

2 Peter 1:1
  Saint Peter begins his first epistle with these words of salutation: “Simon Peter, a servant and Apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

1 John 5:20
  “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, to know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in
his Son Jesus Christ
.
This is the true God and eternal life
” (emphasis added). Notice that this reference to Jesus Christ as “the true God and eternal life” is a perfect fit with Christ’s own teaching, ”I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

And finally, recall that when Moses encountered God in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1–22) he asked God his name. “God said to Moses, ‘
I am who I am
.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel, ‘
I am
has sent me to you’” (emphasis in original).

Now compare this with John 8:56–59: “‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ The Jews then said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was,
I
am
.’ So they took up stones to throw at him” (emphasis added). By saying “
I am
,” Jesus was declaring himself to be God. And the Jews understood this very clearly, as they sought to kill him for what they regarded as blasphemy.

In John 10:30–33 Jesus declared, “‘
I and the Father are one
.’ The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘
We stone you for no good work but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God
’” (emphasis added).

Jesus not only claimed to be God—his audience clearly understood his meaning.

Further Reading:
Compare Isaiah 43:10–12; 44:6–7 with Revelation 1:17; 2:8; 22:13. See also Romans 9:4–5; Colossians 2:9.

CHAPTER 34

The Origin of Original Sin

Poor Saint Augustine. For quite a long time now, people have been blaming him for “inventing” the Catholic doctrine of original sin. He once wrote that the deliberate sin of Adam was the cause of original sin.
¹
The fact is, however, that although Saint Augustine was the earliest Catholic writer to use the term “original sin,” he was hardly the first theologian to teach that doctrine. In fact, the Bible clearly refers to original sin in several places.

To better understand the biblical evidence for original sin, let’s first make sure we understand what the Catholic Church means by the term. The
Catechism
explains:

Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God’s command. This is what man’s first sin consisted of [cf.
Gen
3:1-11;
Rom
5:19].... Adam and Eve immediately lose the grace of original holiness [cf.
Rom
3:23]....

The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered.... Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will “return to the ground” [
Gen
3:19; cf. 2:17], for out of it he was taken.
Death makes its entrance into human history
[cf.
Rom
5:12].
(
CCC,
397, 399–400)

Adam and Eve’s original sin wrought catastrophic consequences for all of us (cf. Genesis 2 and 3). Their original sin set the stage for our own sin, losing for themselves and for all of us those things that God had originally intended all human beings should have as safeguards against sin: control over one’s passions, an enlightened intellect and grace. Scripture speaks often of this great loss to the human family:

Psalm 51:5
  “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, / and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

Wisdom of Solomon 2:23–24
  “God created man for incorruption, / and made him in the image of his own eternity, / but through the devil’s envy death entered the world, / and those who belong to his party experience it.”

Romans 5:12
  “Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned.”

1 Corinthians 15:21–22
  “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

Saint Paul’s statements about Adam’s role in bringing “death through sin” into the world are echoes of what we read God saying to his people in Isaiah 43:27: “Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me.”

Far from “inventing” original sin, the great bishop Augustine reminded us of the biblical fact that “sin came into the world through one man.” And that man was Adam. However unpleasant, original sin is a reality we can face, strengthened as we are by the saving gospel of Jesus Christ through the sacrament of baptism (Acts 2:37–41; 1 Peter 3:21).

Further Reading:
Wisdom of Solomon 10:1–2; Job 14:1–6; Tobit 4:14; Sirach 10:15; John 8:44; Ephesians 2:1–4; 1 Timothy 2:13–14

CCC,
385–421