No, I’m not affirming the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), but the Vatican did so this week. And in so doing it also stated that other churches of Protestant affiliation are defective or not true churches. (Here’s the FoxNews report and you can find the official document published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from the Vatican here.)

What was affirmed in the document? In short, through a series of five Q&As the document, which was ratified by the pope, reaffirmed what the Vatican II Council had previously stated regarding the doctrine of the church - The true “Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church.” (”Subsists” is the key word.) Here’s the Congregation quoting the Vatican II Council:

Christ “established here on earth” only one Church and instituted it as a “visible and spiritual community”, that from its beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and will always exist, and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. “This one Church of Christ, which we confess in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic […]. This Church, constituted and organised in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him.”

Regarding other churches and ecclesiastical communities, the Congregation didn’t say they were of no value. They actually are “instruments of salvation.”

“It follows that these separated churches and Communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church” (my emphasis added).

There’s much that could be said about this reaffirmation. But as an evangelical Christian I have to say that I appreciate it. I think this is a positive move, not because I believe in the primacy of the RCC or papal authority. Nor do I agree with Rome that Protestant churches aren’t “churches in the proper sense” because they “don’t enjoy apostolic succession in the sacramental Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church.” This is another one of the Reformational distinctions: a true church is constituted by a body of believers where there is the right preaching of the word of God and the right administration of the sacraments. Thus, there’s not much I agree with in this document.

My appreciation, however, derives from the fact that this reaffirmation highlights Protestant and Catholic distinctions that I think have been lost in the fog of ecumenical movements. Only this time they are being made from a Catholic vantage point, a view we’re not used to seeing. (You can find these essential distinctions from a Protestant standpoint over at Reformation21 in Carl Trueman’s latest article.)

Part of the Vatican’s motivation for the document was to remove some of the ecumenical fog. Therefore, it’s not surprising that most criticism has come from proponents of ecumenical outreach; criticisms such as “We pray for the day that the Roman Catholic Church moves beyond exclusivist claims so that we can further the cause of Christian unity for which our Lord Jesus Christ prayed – so that the world may believe (John 17: 21)” (The World Alliance of Reformed Churches). It’s those types of statement that give me appreciation for the RCC’s reaffirmaion.

(You guys may disagree, and John 17 is to be dealt with. What do ya think? Keith, be nice. Oh yeah, I know I have two big conversations going at once.)

Posted in Church Life, Theology & Doctrine |