With a Subtitle: A Biblical Christian call to humility across Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant lines
A brief Excerpt: Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism all raise hard questions. This post explores those tensions from a Biblical Christian worldview while calling believers back to humility, unity, and Christ above denominational pride.
We know Jesus prayed for it in His High Priestly prayer. We know believers in Christ are the temple. And we know unity among believers brings glory to God, and bringing glory to God is our chief end in life.
In the regula fidei, we saw an ancient foundation connected to pre-baptismal vows that bound ancient believers together as a functional loyalty oath.
A willingness to hold to these simple standards of the faith in the face of persecution was the proof of Christian faith.
It didn’t nail down all doctrinal points. Yet it was sufficient to hold the church together during times of strain like conflicts regarding Quartodecimanism and Gnosticism.
- Quartodecimanism: A gracious flexibility regarding when Christians can celebrate Easter.
- Gnosticism: A strict inflexibility with anything that suggests Jesus might not have come in the flesh or that Yahweh is an inferior god.
We’ve seen some of the things that are worth celebrating in Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism.
And we saw how even the most theologically contentious disputes (the Protestant debate of Calvinism vs. Arminianism) can be a chance to humble ourselves and honor those with divergent theological views.
If we’re bound by loyalty to Christ and know we’re truly loved by God, we can have grace for others. Perhaps even enough grace to consider that we can have true brothers and sisters in Christ across traditions that practice the Christian faith in different ways.
This is incredibly hard. Yet I believe it’s worth pondering.
A Simple Logic Exercise
Here are three truth claims:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says it is the one true church with the Pope as its head.¹
The Orthodox Church says it is the “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church” that is the living body of Christ which preserves the Seven Ecumenical Councils and the full tradition of the apostles.²
The traditional Protestant claim is that the “true church” is doctrinal and that a church is only true to the extent that it aligns with the Bible alone. This is immediately at odds with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox beliefs that hold that Church tradition is also central (even though they would mean different things by Church tradition).³
It is impossible for more than one of these three claims to be true. This means that we have the following options:
- One of the three is true and the other two are in gross error
- Zero out the three, as currently stated, have perfect possession of the full truth.
Which is more likely?
If we see that all of these traditions struggle answering certain questions, it may lead us to consider the second view.
None of this is meant to criticize. Rather, it’s a question that if we become more comfortable with the idea that we might not score a perfect 100% on a heavenly theology exam, it might help us to better follow Christ’s teaching to wash each other’s feet and to cling to Him alone.
I’m a Jesus follower in a Protestant church. So let’s start with some tough questions for Protestantism.
Hard Questions for Protestant Christians
I’m a big fan of the Protestant tradition.
The Reformation not only stood as a prophetic voice against abuses in the Catholic Church, but it directly contributed to the rise of mass literacy and education as the eventual articulation of democracy and the separation of Church and state.
Thanks Martin Luther!
Even more importantly, it emphasized the supreme role of grace and faith in the Christian life.
Christians are not saved by our own merits but by a God who first moves out towards us prodigal children. This keeps us humble as believers, the only posture we should be in before a holy God who loves us enough to come to Earth to live and die and defeat sin, death, and Satan on our behalf.
Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants would all affirm this as true. Yet Protestant denominations make the most concerted effort to highlight the centrality of unmerited grace in doctrine.
But just because I fully affirm that salvation comes by grace through faith, that doesn’t mean I believe Protestantism has an unassailable claim as the sole holder of rock-solid doctrine. Here are some hard questions for Protestants like me to consider.
(1) How do we get Sola Scriptura?
According to Martin Luther’s Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), the Bible is the only true and final authority for Christian faith and practice.
I agree with him! Yet there is no particular passage in the Bible that definitively claims this. So I have to ask myself: who had the authority to decide which books belong in the Bible?
The answer is a somewhat uncomfortable one for Protestants: Church councils.
The same type of Ecumenical Councils that made certain determinations that Catholics and Orthodox accept while Protestants reject.
The Holy Spirit was at work through Church Councils to create an infallible list of books. These same councils produced doctrinal bulwarks like the Nicene Creed. And the New Testament shows that the early Church was hashing out issues through Church Councils.
Is there a logically consistent basis for Protestants to accept the results of some councils while excluding others?
(2) What Happened to the Church for 1,500 Years?
Jesus promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church in Matthew 16:18.
Did Christ’s promise fail for the 1,500 years between Acts and the Reformation?
If it did indeed fail, what does that imply about Protestants accepting the decisions of various church councils (such as those that defined Scriptural canon) during the time of such a prolonged period of falling away?
But what if it didn’t fail? Where exactly was the “true” Church during this time?
(3) The Practices of the Early Church
Some of the earliest Christian thinkers and writers like Polycarp of Smyrna, Justin Martyr, and Ignatius of Antioch describe a church led by bishops and believers who believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.⁴
These were some of the very first Christians who were following the footsteps of the apostles.
Polycarp and Ignatius were direct disciples of the Apostle John. They heavily emphasized a faith connected to the direct apostolic teachings.⁵
If it’s really true that that Communion is only a memorial and that nothing mysterious is taking place, how and why did these first students of the apostles get things so “wrong” immediately?
Is it more likely that the very first followers of the Apostles misunderstood this core ritual of the faith? Or is it more likely that Protestant traditions may be losing a sense of the original mystery in an effort to protect against superstition?
Related question: Martin Luther also believed in the Real Presence of Christ.⁶ On what basis do we confidently accept many of his doctrinal conclusions while rejecting this one?
Hard Questions for Orthodox Christians
The Orthodox Church has a history and tradition rooted in the Seven Ecumenical Councils.
It is an ancient faith that focuses on the lifelong journey of following Jesus.
And while I haven’t been in person (yet!), I’ve heard the hours-long Orthodox Easter Vigil is an amazing service to attend.
Yet this ancient and beautiful tradition also has hard questions to face.
(1) The “Missing” Authority?
Roman Catholics have the papacy and Protestants hold to Sola Scriptura to help determine truth in matters of practice and doctrine.
Orthodox believers rely on tradition and Ecumenical Councils. Yet there has not been such a council with universal recognition since the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.
And following 843 (the year of the “Triumph of Orthodoxy”⁷ with the end of the iconoclasm controversy), there has often been more regional squabbling than Orthodox unity.
If this is truly the one true church with an exclusive claim on truth, we see that a primary mechanism for articulating truth claims has been silent for 1200 years.
The Problem of National Tribalism (2)
The New Testament ideal is a Church that transcends labels of “Jew or Greek”.⁸
Yet the Orthodox Church continues to deal with issues where national and ethnic concerns spill over in a way that the apostles clearly opposed.
The Russia-Ukraine war and the idea of the “Russian World” is one example.
The Moscow Patriarchate has advocated for the “Russian World” (Russkiy Mir) doctrine following the collapse of the Soviet Union.⁹
It’s a worldview that emphasizes both Orthodox ideology and Russian nationalism and promotes a Russian civilization that goes beyond national borders.
It asserts that regions like Belarus and Ukraine belong to the same spiritual and cultural Russia, with its center in Russia.
As you can imagine, the Orthodox in Ukraine are not so fond of the idea. The war has led to national tensions playing out in the realm of faith with one of the two Ukrainian Orthodox bodies (the Ukrainian Orthodox Church) breaking communion with the Russian Orthodox Church in 2022.
The Council of Constantinople in 1872 is not considered ecumenical, yet it was nonetheless attended by multiple Orthodox patriarchates. The decisions were intended to be binding on all of Eastern Orthodoxy.
It condemned ethnic nationalism (what it called ethno-phyletism) in the Church as a heresy.
How can the one true church allow something to continue that it has already defined as heretical? And how universal can the Church be when it is so closely tied to national and ethnic identities?
The Development of Doctrine (3)
The Orthodox say they hold to the ancient faith of the early Church and the Ecumenical Councils.
But it’s not true to say that nothing has been added since then. Early Christian leaders, including bishops, often married. Celibacy for bishops was not formalized for the Orthodox until the Council of Trullo (Quinisext Council) in 692. This was not considered to be an ecumenical council of the unbroken church but was a regional council.
Vestments, the clothing worn by priests and bishops, also developed over time. The development process began in the time of the ecumenical councils but continued through the fall of Constantinople in 1453 when Orthodox bishops adopted elements like the mitre (imperial crown) and sakkos (episcopal vestment).
The development of iconography is also worth considering.
Orthodoxy holds that icons of Christ, Mary, and the saints should be venerated. This was the position articulated in the 7th ecumenical council, and it’s consistent with a conciliar approach.
Yet it’s also true that icon veneration does not seem to have been a part of the the early Apostolic tradition. So even if it’s an ecumenical decision, it’s hard to claim its fully consistent with the original practices of the ancient Church.
Hard Questions for Roman Catholic Christians
The Roman Catholic Church has a rich sacramental tradition and is home to the largest body of Christians in the world. It is also the largest NGO in the world.
It has been so effective throughout the world in part because of its strong institutional cohesion. The Catholic Church has the papacy and the magisterium, the teaching authority of the Church.¹⁰
They are strong bulwarks that help to prevent the theological fragmentation that has continued to exist in other Christian traditions.
Yet, strong institutional control also comes with challenging questions.
Papal Infallibility as Papal “Innovation”? (1)
The Catholic Church teaches that when the pope is speaking ex cathedra (“from the chair” of the papacy), he is preserved from the possibility of doctrinal error.
The pope may not be impeccable (sinless), but the chair of the papacy is infallible. And so, the pope has had, and continues to have, “supreme power” and jurisdiction over the whole Church.
But if that’s true, why was Pope Victor’s attempt to excommunicate Eastern bishops over Quartodecimanism rebuffed by a bishop in Lyon?
After all, St. Irenaeus never claimed that Victor wasn’t the bishop of Rome. Nor did he argue against the idea that Victor held a primary position amongst bishops. He simply didn’t accept that the chair of the bishop of Rome had supreme and universal jurisdiction over the full Church.
And Victor, after backing down about the attempted excommunication, showed he agreed.
There’s a related question: why did the early Church address problems through Ecumenical Councils rather than just appealing to the bishop of Rome for a final ruling?
Papal infallibility was not declared as Catholic Church dogma until the First Vatican Council in 1868–1870 under Pope Pius IX.¹¹
The Catholic Church teaches that the seed of the truth of papal supremacy and infallibility has always been present in the Church, even if it wasn’t formally articulated as dogma until later.
Is this really consistent what the historical evidence shows?
The Trouble with Doctrinal Development (2)
The Catholic Church has added new dogmas that were not taught for the majority of the time since the Bible was written.
In addition to papal infallibility, the doctrine of the Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Conception was not dogma until 1854. Purgatory, indulgences, and the Assumption of Mary are other examples that were defined later.
For this to be internally consistent, all of these must have been present since the beginning of the Church in germinating form, even if not revealed.
Does that appear to be the case?
Further, we should consider that this ability to develop and define doctrine relies on the acceptance of papal infallibility, which, as we’ve seen, can itself be critiqued as a new development.
“Bad” Popes and the Split Papacy
The Catholic Church holds that the papacy is the “Vicar of Christ” on Earth. According to this view, he has supreme and universal primacy over the entire Church of Christ.
There have been many good popes throughout history. As tradition holds, nearly all of the first 30+ bishops of Rome were martyred for their faith before Christianity was legalized. What an example of faithfulness under fire.
When it comes to the “bad” popes, the Catholic Church mostly sticks to an argument that there is a difference between infallibility (not teaching error) and impeccability (not being guilty of sin).
Things get even stickier when it comes to the Avignon papacy in the 14th century.
It was a nearly 70-year period of time that spanned seven consecutive popes. All were French and all lived in Avignon.
The primary catalyst was the degree of influence of the French monarchy. The papacy suffered a significant loss in prestige as it was taken into its “Babylonian captivity.”
Critics like Petrarch saw the popes functioning as French puppets at this time.
Things were still messy after the Avignon papacy ended in 1377 with the beginning of the Western Schism and competing claims to the papacy in different cities. But that’s another story.
Does this all seem consistent with an office that truly has supreme and universal primacy over the entire Church of Christ?
And a more important question: how does this look in light of how Jesus defined leadership among His disciples?
After all, Jesus demonstrated what authority looks like when he horrified his disciples by washing their feet. True servant leadership was His standard for those with power. How does that standard square with Pope Gregory VII’s actions in 1077 when he forced Emperor Henry IV to wait outside a castle on his knees for three days (in a blizzard, apparently) in order to see him and beg for forgiveness?¹²
Wrapping Up
I see all of this as a reminder that Christ is perfect and Christians are imperfect.
It’s why we need Jesus.
He’s the one who loves us in our lack of perfection and changes us to look more like Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. And that means removing our own eye planks before helping others with their specks.
There are not easy answers to these questions, but I think we can grow in charity as we see that none of our Christian traditions are spotless. Whatever our denominational leanings, we all have hard questions to answer.
So rather than letting any denominational particulars maintain an outsized role in the center of our imaginations and conversations, let’s grow in our knowledge and love of Jesus as the author, perfecter, and champion of our faith.
11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? [1 Corinthians 1: 11–13]
And let’s remember who our enemy truly is.
Paul tells us the enemy is never another human being. Certainly not another follower of Christ.
Nope. It’s Satan, our adversary and the great deceiver of humanity.
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Sources and Works Cited
1: Catechism of the Catholic Church: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM
2: One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church: https://orthodoxwiki.org/One_Holy_Catholic_and_Apostolic_Church
3: Comparison between Orthodoxy, Protestantism & Roman Catholicism:: http://christianityinview.com/comparison.html
4: The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0109.htm
5: Four Apostolic Fathers: https://www.davidpcassidy.com/blog/four-apostolic-fathers
6: Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_presence_of_Christ_in_the_Eucharist
7: The “Triumph of Orthodoxy” https://thepocketscroll.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/the-triumph-of-orthodoxy/
8: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [Galatians 3:28]
9: A Declaration on the “Russian World” (Russkii mir) Teaching: https://publicorthodoxy.org/2022/03/13/a-declaration-on-the-russian-world-russkii-mir-teaching/
10: Magisterium: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/magisterium
11: Papal infallibility: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_infallibility
12: Road to Conossa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_to_Canossa
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