Is the Church Jesus authorized an actual human organization, with leaders, offices, & membership requirements?

Question

Or is the Church a loose conglomerate of believers, an intangible aggregate in which anyone who admires Jesus acquires automatic membership? Can any believer claim to be a bishop, priest, deacon, or apostle? Are all believers equal in authority in the Church?

The first answerers did not explain whether the Church is an actual human organization, or simply a abstract aggregate of believers.

Those who are not sure whether Jesus organized a Church might consult Matt 16:17-19 ("On this rock I will build my Church") and Matt18:17, where the Church is recommended for conflict mediation.

David Tee, if you reject the title "Father" for leaders in the Church, the same scripture (Matt 23:8-10) ought to rule out "teacher." As an alternative, perhaps both Father and Teacher are legitimate for genuine leaders (see1 Cor. 4:14–15 where Paul says, "I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel."

Answer 1

The perfect example of the Teaching Church and its binding authority at work is seen in the book of Acts at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:6-30). In the Jerusalem Council, we see Peter and James speaking with authority. This council makes an authoritative pronouncement (citing the Holy Spirit) which was binding on all Christians:

Acts 15:28-29: For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity.

In the next chapter, we read that Paul, Timothy, and Silas were traveling around “through the cities,” and Scripture says that:

… As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions which had been reached by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem. (Acts 16:4)

This is Church authority. They, the Church leaders, simply proclaimed the decree as true and binding – with the sanction of the Holy Spirit Himself! And this is exactly how Jesus taught the disciples in resolving disputes found in Matt 18:15-17 that:

"If your brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault. But do it privately, just between yourselves. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back. But if he will not listen to you, take one or two other persons with you, so that 'every accusation may be upheld by the testimony of two or more witnesses,' as the scripture says. And if he will not listen to them, then tell the whole thing to the church. Finally, if he will not listen to the church, treat him as though he were a pagan or a tax collector.”

Many will tell you that the church being spoken of here is the local church. Yet how can that single church have any binding authority if all one has to do is go to a different denomination or to simply start himself one with his own differing belief? That’s exactly what happening today with our 30,000 plus denominations in existence. This is tantamount to not having any authority at all. We need a church which has a binding authority for all Christians. One where we know will tell THE Truth and not just a truth of their own interpretation. But any way you want to look at it, we need leaders who are guided into all truth as promised by Jesus in John 16:13

John 16:13 “When, however, the Spirit comes, who reveals the truth about God, he will lead you[the apostles] into all the truth…”.

Tell the church, but which church? Since an invisible church of all believers would include people from every denomination, either doctrine does not matter or conflicting doctrine is okay. So does doctrine matter?

- 1 Tim 1:3 “I repeat the request I made of you when I was on my way to Macedonia, that you stay in Ephesus to instruct certain people not to teach false doctrines.”

- 1 Tim 4:1 “Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the last times some will turn away from the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and demonic instructions.”

- Ephesians 4:14 “so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.

We see in Ephesians that we can be as infants, tossed and swept by every wind of teaching.

-Titus 1:9 “holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents.

We can see from these previous verses that doctrines DO matter. Since there exists many doctrines that are contradictory from different churches, can we accept those differences as being non-essential compared to some who would be called essential doctrines? No we can’t, there is no distinction between non-essential and essential doctrines in Scripture. In effect, we find the exact opposite in the book of Matthew.

- Matt 4:4 “He said in reply, "It is written: 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.'"

-Matt 5:18 “Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.”

And

-Matt 5:19 “Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

So we find that doctrine is important, it does matter. And there is no distinction between a doctrine that would be essential and one that isn’t. But is it okay to have conflicting and contradictory doctrine in the one church? No it isn’t. Just look at these verses:

-John 14:26 “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name--he will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you.

- John 16:13 “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.

Or

- Malachi 3:6 “Surely I, the LORD, do not change, nor do you cease to be sons of Jacob.”

So God doesn’t change, His laws will never change and He would not give a group of people one law and another group a contradictory one. The Church is the Body of Christ, therefore He cannot be divided against Himself or She(the Church) shall fall. But we find many church’s teaching contradictory doctrines such as what kind of faith saves? Is baptism necessary? Needed? Is baptism for infants? Must baptism be by immersion only? Can one lose salvation? How? Can it be gotten back? How? Is the Real Presence true? Are spiritual gifts like tongues and healing for today? For everyone? What about predestination? What about free will?

So now we’ve come to the conclusion that Jesus founded one church which is visible AND invisible and has never changed it’s doctrines throughout its 2000 plus year history.
Christ established only one Church with one set of beliefs (Eph 4:4-5 “There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism”). He didn’t establish numerous churches with contradictory beliefs. Why do these churches have contradicting beliefs? Because Jesus Christ gave the promise of the Holy Spirit to only one Church (John 14:25; John 16:13). He also authorized only one Church to teach the world (Matt 28:20; Luke 10:16)

To see which is the true Church, we have to look for the one that has an unbroken historical link to the Church of the New Testament. Catholics are able to show such a link. They trace their leaders, the bishops, back through time, bishop by bishop, all the way to the apostles, and they show that the Pope is the lineal successor to Peter, who was the first bishop of Rome. The same thing is true of Catholic beliefs. Take any one you wish; e.g. confessing to a priest, purgatory, Immaculate Conception of Mary, etc., and you can trace it back to the apostolic period.

God Bless
Robin

Answer 2

Should the Bible be the final authority of Christianity or the Church? Well, Christ stated that the Church, NOT Scripture should be the final authority: "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." (Matthew 18:17) Christ did NOT state to refer to or consult Scripture for disputes and correction. He said to go to the Church as It is the final authority in Christianity. In addition, St. Paul states that the Church, NOT Scripture is "THE pillar and ground of the truth." (1 Timothy 3:15) Since the Church alone is mentioned as THE pillar of truth, then It alone has the right to discern the truth and interpret Scripture. For if individuals could correctly interpret Scripture, then all interpretations would be EXACTLY THE SAME as there can only be ONE spiritual truth for the plural of the word "truth" NEVER appears in Scripture. The Church is Christ's bride (Ephesians 5:29) and has no spot, wrinkle or blemish (Ephesians 5:27). Christ also stated that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18) so how can the Church commit error? Individual clergy may commit sins, even popes commit sins because in the Church there are both weeds and wheat (Matthew 13:30).


Scripture CLEARLY established "offices" and a "hierarchy" among Christians. The offices of "bishop, priest (presbyter) and deacon" are mentioned in Scripture (1 Timothy 3:1,8; Titus 1:7). What else is this but "organization?" Or should we believe that any believer can "claim" to be a bishop, priest, deacon or even "apostle?" The word "office" is specifically used in Scripture (1 Timothy 3:1) to describe these positions. Webster defines "office" as "A special duty, trust, charge, or position, conferred by authority or God and for a public purpose; a position of trust or authority." And the office of "apostle" is to be continued (Acts 1:20-26) to the present day. Not all believers are "equal" nor have the same gifts (1 Corinthians 12:8-10; Ephesians 4:11). Is the Church a "visible, earthly" entity? Yes, for Christ would not direct us to the Church for disputes if it were not here on Earth (Matthew 18:17). Nor would "fear" encompass the whole Church if it were a mystical, invisible and heavenly entity (Acts 5:11). The Church is definitely here on earth for the actions described in Acts definitely take place on earth and the term used is "the whole Church" (Acts 15:22).

Is there to be only one Church or many? According to Scripture, Christ wanted us to be one (John 17:22-23). We are all as a Church to be of one mind and to think the same (Philippians 2:2; Romans 15:5). There is only to be one "faith" (Ephesians 4:3-6), not many. For the Church is Christ's Body and Christ only had one Body, not many.

Answer 3

The Catholic Church is like a person who was present at the side of Our Blessed Lord when He walked and talked in Galilee and Judea.

Our Lord founded a Church (Matthew 16:18-19), which was to be the pillar and ground of Truth (1 Timothy 3:15). We can know what this Church teaches by looking not only at Sacred Scripture, but into History and by reading what the earliest Christians have written, what those who've sat on the Chair of Peter have spoken consistently with Scripture and Tradition, and what they've solemnly defined.

Answer 4

Baptism is the original born again experience. Unless you are baptised and partake of the eucharist you will not have life within you. Yes the church is a corporate organization and jesus made it that way. Giving to Ceasar what is Ceasar's and God's what is God's has alot of political implications that the church cannot ignore. The church is holy because its founder, Jesus, is Holy. It is human because the Mystical Body of Christ -the Catholic Church-is made up of people.

Answer 5

The old testament priesthood and temple worship system prefigured the new testament church, and there's absolutely no doubt of a highly visible and structured system there.

But while the old testament system was merely symbolic and prophetic, being unable to save a soul, the new covenant church is the official conduit of God's grace and salvation, so it is vastly more worthy of the protections and safeguards that might be obtained through appropriate church structure.

And considering the fact that Jesus spent three years personally training the twelve, sending them out on test runs, and giving them power and authority to do things that only God could do before, while finally assigning the Holy spirit to be their infallible guide, there's no doubt that the structure of the authentic church was not only necessary, but beneficial and God ordained ... and it would prove to be especially useful when it came to defending against heretics, pretenders, and deceivers.

The church was founded to conitinue on, leading souls to salvation in Christ until the end of time, so the passing on of legitimate authority only to selected and proven individuals, is also only logical.

Anyone who believes otherwise is either ignorant of the facts, or has already been deceived.

Answer 6

Depends on what you mean by human organization. If you mean specific denominational identities, such as Roman Catholic, Baptist, etc., then there is a problem, because many folks get attached to such organizations without actually becoming born again Christians. Without God Himself placing someone into the spiritual church through the gift of the Holy Spirit, there is no meaning in being a member of yet another religious club. Yet it is not based on "admiring" Jesus, as good as that is. It is based on the new birth, which is characterized by a turning from sin and a faith in the resurrected Jesus. Those who are thus born again are driven to seek each other out and worship in groups according to the instructions God has provided in the Bible. Therefore, substantial similarities arise among born again believers, because they have all been born of the same Spirit. Thus, they will honor Biblical direction concerning the qualifications of church leadership. No, all believers are not of equal authority in the church. The same Holy Spirit that grants the new birth also gives various gifts of ministry. Some teach, some rule, some give help in other ways. In this way, all believers contribute to the life of the spiritual church through involvement with some institutional church. However, in the final revelation of the Bride of Christ (aka the church), all the institutional trappings will be set aside, and the spiritual church will come together as one, fully united in the Spirit that gives it life.

Answer 7

Will you pluck your eye out and cast it from you should it cause you to stumble? Very likely Jesus is not speaking literally in some of what he says. But speaking in a way his listeners at the time understand. Read the part before (Matt 16:13-16) he is talking to Peter(Rock) about church, and how Simon/Peter recognizes him as God on Earth. Peter sees that he is beyond Elijah, John the Baptist and the prophets. This is the figurative rock he is building his church on. Recognition of him as messiah. He goes on to tell them that when they gather together (two or three) in his name, he will be among them. Is that not a church? The other church he is referring to could be a Jewish church, or the wandering followers. They may have set up a place of worship, but I doubt Jesus handed over a mystical set of keys to get into heaven with. He is saying the spirit/knowledge he is transmitting to them is the key to heaven.
But to be a of a member of a church I believe you have to be converted to that sect. To be a leader you have to move up through the ranks. With the exception of the non-affiliated churches. Becoming a legal reverend isn't that hard. Getting people to accept you is the key. Does that make you worthy? When he said you must be converted and be as children, I don't think he meant converted and act like children.

Answer 8

We believe in the same organization as existed in the primative church, namely apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth...
No loose conglomerate of believers -- but a definite order [and there's an organizational chart too].
One becomes a member of the Church through baptism by one who has the proper priesthood authority [aaronic or levitical]. All believers are equal in the church, but only those with the keys to specific offices may conduct the business pertaining to that office.
In order to be a bishop, priest, deacon, or apostle, one must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority [melchizadek priesthood], to preach the Gospel and administer to the ordinances thereof.

Answer 9

Every Christian believes that Jesus Christ established and sustains a community of faith, hope and love for all believers. This community we call His Church. The Church that Christ founded is the Catholic Church which has a formal earthly structure established by Christ and which continues under His authority and protection.

In the Old Testament we see God's continual involvement in the lives of the Israelites through appointed prophets. God delivered, instructed and admonished the Israelites. He made His motions in a visible, specific and formal way. He always did so through human hands, mouths, feet, minds and wills. God established a law and a means for executing it.

In concert with His redemptive act, Jesus did three things that established the framework of His Church. First, He chose humans to carry out His work. He appointed Peter to be the visible head of the Church. Jesus said to Peter, "You are Rock and on this rock I will build my Church." (Matthew 16: 18) Jesus said "build," as in to create a structure. Jesus built His structure on specifically chosen human beings Peter and the apostles.

Second, Jesus gave Peter and the apostles the power and authority to carry out His work. "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven."(Matthew 16:19; 18:18) "Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, whose sins you retain, they are retained."(John 20:23)

Third, Jesus gave Peter and the apostles commands as to what that work should be. At the last supper, He commanded, "Do this in memory of Me." (Luke 22:19) He commanded them to "Make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), and to "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

The early Church was structured in a hierarchical manner as it is today. We see in Acts, chapter 15 how the apostles and the elders came together under the leadership of St. Peter to decide the question of what was required of Gentiles. We also see how St. Peter was regarded as the head of the Church when St. Paul, "Went up to Jerusalem to confer with Kephas [Peter] and remained with him fifteen days." (Galatians 1:18) There is no Scriptural evidence of independent local churches.

The Catholic Church is the only church that can claim to have been founded by Christ personally. Every other church traces its lineage back to a mere human person such as Martin Luther or John Wesley. The Catholic Church can trace its lineage back to Jesus Christ who appointed St. Peter as the first pope. This line of popes has continued unbroken for almost 2,000 years.

God rules, instructs and sanctifies His people through His Church. Under her teaching office, the Catholic Church preserves the Word of God. She is the custodian, keeper, dispenser and interpreter of teachings of Christ. And she accomplishes this under the protection of the Holy Spirit.

Answer 10

history answers this question, the first christian writings attest to the catholicity of the early church established by jesus christ. so in short if you want to believe and be part of the church established by jesus christ you need to be roman catholic. if you are not in his church he run the risk of following a false christ, not the authentic christ that can be found only if one views jesus christ as the catholic church views him.

if you would like evidence for this you need only do the research,you can find the majority if not all in the following links, remember, "to be deep into history is to cease to be protestant"(cardinal newman.)

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/
go to the church fathers along the top.
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/
http://www.catholiceducation.org/
http://www.vatican.va/
http://www.askmeaboutgod.org/
http://www.fisheaters.com/
http://www.salvationhistory.com/
you ofcourse can read the book the catholic church gave us all, the bible. a catechism will also helpe. the history of the early church is available and if you take the time you owe it to yourself and jesus christ to be in his church, the truth demands it of you if you say you are a christian.

god bless, another great question.

Answer 11

Admiration of Jesus equals automatic membership? Satan knew who Jesus was and acknowledged Him as Son of God. He admired Him while tempting him in the wilderness, or at least claimed he did. Demons acknowledged Him and His works. They aren't automatic members but His enemies.

Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world. His church is a spiritual realm with human members who may be "in the flesh" but the prerequisite for membership is repentence, followed by baptism and fellowship with Christ and His church. Bishops, priests, deacons, were appointed by the church hierarchy in union with the Holy Spirit. The original were the twelve chosen by Christ, but we know that one betrayed Him. In this one case, they drew lots to aid in finding an apostolic successor to Judas, which was their way of making sure they were not directly responsible for the choice. They trusted that this way, God would have the final say in the matter.

There is no evidence that the church is loose but rather "bound" to the teachings and the authority of Christ, through his appointed leaders: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19, Matthew 18:18.

The church isn't a democracy. I don't vote on who will be a bishop, priest, or even pastor of my church. There is a line of authority ordained by Christ through the apostles. God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, is the CEO. Christ, in union with the Father, through the work of the Holy Spirit is the ultimate authority. "Apart from me, you can do nothing." John 15:5

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come." John 16:13

It may be composed of human members, but it is an organization begun by God himself, not subject to the laws of men, but rather fully subject to the laws of God.