Does Protestantism ignore the biblical teaching that the Church is the "pillar and foundation" of the truth?

Question

Found in 1 Timothy 3:15

Thanks in advance. God bless.

Answer 1

Yes they do, because it doesn't fit in with their agenda.

Believing themselves in the right, and in order to convince people to accept their ideas, the Reformers needed to find a Higher Authority than the Magisterium of the Bishops, the Councils and the received Tradition of the Universal Church. They found it in the idea of the primacy of Scripture and in the supposed religious practices of the early Christians.

The Reformers argued that this was their intention, but unfortunately, it is not what they did. In fact the early Church does not resemble Protestantism much at all. When the beliefs and practices of the early church are examined through the writings of the first centuries, it looks a great deal more Catholic than it does Protestant. The early Christians were led by bishops, they believed in the Real Presence of Jesus's body and blood in communion, in baptismal regeneration, apostolic succession, penance, confession, prayers for the dead, the role of Mary as the New Eve and as perpetual Virgin. And they did not believe in the sole authority of scripture.

What the Reformers did was to come up with a novel doctrine, entirely new to Christianity, which declared that ONLY the Bible could be used to determine doctrine and practice. Therefore everything else handed down by the Apostles and the Church from the earliest days must be thrown out. Unfortunately, once the authority of the Ancient Church, and Apostolic Tradition have been cast aside as worthless, Scripture becomes capable of many opposing interpretations. Scripture can also be misused, either by selective quotation, or by trying to "prove" or disprove doctrines by their absence.

Relying on the Bible is not wrong.The Bible is inspired scripture. It's the subtle addition of the word "alone" to this doctrine that is wrong. The implication is that everything else that came down to us from the Apostles, the early Church and its Councils is false and must be ignored.

Actually, despite teaching Scripture Alone, most Protestant churches accept teachings (or traditions) that are not in the Bible. The most important of these is the doctrine of the Trinity. Others include the Creed, the Canon of the New Testament, and festivals like Christmas and Easter.

The Reformers said that the Bible had one clear meaning. They also argued that it taught one clear doctrine - Protestantism. But as new Reformers emerged in the wake of Luther, it soon became evident that each Reformer had his own interpretation of what the Bible meant. For Luther, the Bible told him that the body and blood of Jesus were truly present in the Communion. For Zwingli the Bible said the exact opposite. For Bucer, the Bible approved infant Baptism, Menno Simons disagreed. Calvin believed the Bible taught we had no Free Will and we were predestined either to Heaven or Hell, others bitterly disagreed. Some Reformers believed all property should be held in common, others persecuted them for that belief.

The truth is that the Bible is an immense and complex book. There is an infinite number of doctrines that could be constructed based on its various verses. This has been the revelation of Protestantism. 25,000 different Protestant denominations have been recorded in the United States alone. Each one believes that their specific doctrines are based on the correct interpretation of the Bible.

The Bible as we know it did not exist for hundreds of years after his death. Jesus left his teaching authority to the Church.

Acts 1.8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Similarly in Mark 3:14, and 16:15 - Jesus commands the apostles to preach (not write) the gospel to the world. There is no commandment to write, and no indication that the oral apostolic word died in the fourth century. It was the Apostles who carried Jesus message and passed it down to succeeding generations. The New Testament proceeded from the traditions of the Apostles and the Church.

The problem of understanding Scripture, and its correct interpretation, existed then as well as now. How was it dealt with?

Acts 8.30: Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. 31: "How can I" he said "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

From this we can see that the Church carried authority for the explanation and interpretation of Scripture. Why was this? To ensure that the Apostolic teaching remained true, and that the Church - the Body of Christ - remained One. Without this Apostolic unity of teaching, the Church would inevitably splinter into thousands of contending fragments.

(Matthew 16:18)

He also promised that He would be with the Church always till the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)

He promised that the Spirit would lead the Apostles and their successors in truth for ever. (John 14:16-17)

Paul calls the church the pillar and foundation of the truth,
2 Timothy 3.15. "...you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the Truth."

The Catholic Church decided the contents of the New Testament, and preserved the Christian Bible for over a thousand years to the time of the Reformation. If the Church had at any time at all in that period become corrupt, why did it not just destroy or re-write the scriptures?

In fact Church Theologians through the centuries knew what the Bible contained and were not alarmed by it. They knew that the whole Bible, taken in context backed up what the Church taught.

Only if certain verses were taken out of their biblical context and given undue prominence would trouble arise.

Sola Scriptura, the Protestant belief that the Bible Alone and by itself is sufficient to determine all Christian doctrine, is clearly disproved by experience.

Without the Authority of the Historic Church and Apostolic Tradition, doctrinal anarchy quickly develops. Protestant Churches, ALL claiming to be guided by the same bible and the same Holy Spirit, have come up with almost as many different doctrines as there are churches.

The Churches guided by Apostolic Tradition, on the other hand, (including the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches), have, in contrast, maintained a remarkable unity and stability of doctrine and belief over a period of two thousand years.

Answer 2

The Catholic church is the true church like it or not.A lot of the inquisition stuff was protestant read the history a lot of it was the Heads of state like the kings and queens.All religions have scandals. Remember Satan is everywhere even in church.Pillar of truth pillar of faith is indeed the church founded by Jesus Christ.

Answer 3

Jesus promised, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). This means that his Church will never be destroyed and will never fall away from him. His Church will survive until his return.

Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.) Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing.

Jesus’ Church is called catholic ("universal" in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of "all nations" (Matt. 28:19–20). For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that he wants all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal. 3:28). Nowadays the Catholic Church is found in every country of the world and is still sending out missionaries to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19). The Church Jesus established was known by its most common title, "the Catholic Church," at least as early as the year 107, when Ignatius of Antioch used that title to describe the one Church Jesus founded. The title apparently was old in Ignatius’s time, which means it went all the way back to the time of the apostles.

http://www.catholic.com/library/Pillar.asp

Answer 4

If they make the written word divorced from Apostolic Tradition and the Original Church,which no Protestant Church can make anyclaim to being,then they are ignoring it as the ones who accuse us Catholics of ignoring varied Bible passages when in fact they do so with greater abandon and inconsistency.

Answer 5

For them, the Church is God's people, so as not to recognize any central authority. They won't recognize a church leadership, but they'll recognize a book, then conveniently miss the fact that none of them can agree on what the book means.

Answer 6

but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

The pillar and ground of the truth. The church is the pillar and support of the truth because it preaches it to the world, preserves it, and transmits it from generation to generation.

The word, not the church.

Answer 7

How can it given all the corruption and perversity over the ages? Protestantism came into being as a proper response to the failure and evil of the church leaders. I have a feeling that the time is coming real soon when everyone will see who the real people of God's church are.

Answer 8

guess it depends on how you define 'the church". Some think its an organization. Others say its God's people.

Answer 9

Raven, either they ignore it, or they found a way to twist it like they normally do.

Answer 10

Not at all. The bible says we are the Church, meaning the body of believers.