In the book of Acts the writer Luke tells the story of the origin and spread of the early Christian faith. This includes the expansion of the gospel from Jews to Gentiles (non-Jewish people) and sees the conversion of the apostle Paul and his journey from Jerusalem to Rome.
The early church grew through believers travelling to new towns and countries, sharing the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection and how forgiveness of sins (salvation) was available to all who would believe in Jesus.
The increase in believers coincided with the gradual decline of the Roman Empire who saw taking control of the church as a way of keeping their authority. This merger of Roman institutionalism and Christian faith turned the burgeoning church into what we now know to be the Roman Catholic Church of today: an institutional and hierarchical structure that is clothed in Christian language and symbolism, which combines to be both church (a group of people) and state (a group that governs people).
The early followers of Christ believed in a gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection (Ephesians 2 verse 8 – 9). Whereas the Roman Catholic Church believe in a gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, plus ongoing works which are administered by the Roman Catholic Church. And it is those additional ‘ongoing works’ that is the primary difference between the teaching of Jesus and the Roman Catholic Church. For the Roman Catholic, salvation has become a sacramental journey, rather than a gift received solely by having faith in Jesus.
The early church that we find in the book of Acts was composed simply of groups of believers in Christ, united in their desire to glorify God and share the good news of Jesus. So how did the Roman Catholic Church become a religious system and hierarchical society that has positioned itself to administer God’s grace to its followers?
In essence, the Roman Catholic Church appears to have manipulated the gospel and bypassed the Bible to create a version of salvation that is dependent on the mediation of the church, to distribute God’s grace through the sacraments. And this false gospel has ensured mankind’s need for the Roman Catholic Church, thereby allowing the Roman Catholic Church and The Pope to obtain and retain power and control.
The Bible says that salvation is obtained through faith in Jesus. But what the Roman Catholic Church did was deviate from what the Bible says and instead introduce its own doctrine and teaching which has become the foundation on which it is based.
Over time the Roman Catholic Church has slowly added practices and theological doctrine to the Bible and teachings of Jesus. This has been done through a series of Ecumenical Councils, which are meetings of Bishops, Cardinals and senior church dignitaries, most of which are organised by The Pope, where they set church doctrine and determine theology.
The first of these was in 325AD and the most recent finished in 1965. Below is a brief overview of some of the more important Councils and provides some insight into how, through adding practices and alternative theology, the Roman Catholic Church has deviated so significantly from what the Bible says.
The very first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD was organised by Emperor Constantine who modelled it on the Roman Senate. One of the significant outcomes from the Council was the creation of the Nicaean Creed which was written to define the Roman Catholic Church’s faith clearly. This was used to replace the commonly used Apostles Creed, and whilst they are similar in wording, the Apostles Creed is a personal declaration of beliefs beginning with “I believe in God the Father…” whereas the Nicaean Creed is a corporate statement, which begins with “We believe in one God, the Father almighty…”. Whilst only a minor difference, the intent is to turn a personal relationship with God, into a collective relationship, with the Roman Catholic Church an integral lynch pin between mankind and God.
The first council of Constantinople in 381 AD was convened by Emperor Theodosius. This was strategic in its location in that it cemented Constantinople (also known as New Rome) as a power base in the east. The Council decreed that those who do not believe in the Nicaean Creed were deemed heretics which further increased the power of the Roman Empire to enforce the Roman Catholic Church and its power base as the Roman Empire was losing control.
In 431 AD the Council of Ephesus declared that Mary be given the title ‘mother of God’, a truth about Mary which has been made to imply far more content than originally intended.
At the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD images of Mary and the Saints are encouraged to be put up and honoured alongside images and sculptures of Jesus and the cross. The Council tries to differentiate between worshiping these images and honouring them but it struggles to do so, and we can see in the Roman Catholic Church today how this declaration has led to Mary and the Saints being worshiped alongside God, which has no biblical foundation.
At the First Council of Lateran in 1123 it is decreed that Priests, Deacons and Subdeacons are forbidden to live with women. This is despite 1 Timothy 3 verse 12 saying “Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.” It is also decreed that a ‘layperson’ must not administer anything that belongs to the church.
At the Fourth Council of Lateran in 1215 it was determined that the bread and wine offered in the sacrament of the eucharist becomes the actual blood and body of Christ. It was also decreed that papal primacy (the authority of the Pope) be recognised by all, and confirmed that practicing Christians must confess their sins to a Priest at least once a year. There is no biblical foundation to any of this. It was also decreed that before prescribing medicine, a Priest should be called to provide for the spiritual welfare of the sick.
At the Second Council of Lyon in 1274 basic Roman Catholic teaching on purgatory is defined for the first time. It is determined that those who die immediately after being baptised have no sin so therefore will go straight to heaven. However, those who die truly repentant, but who have been unable to attain forgiveness of their sins through penance, they will receive “purgatorial or purifying punishments” after death, to cleanse their souls. This came about because of the Roman Catholic teaching that each sin needs to be atoned for by the individual, rather than believing in the biblical truth that Jesus’ death atoned for all the sins, past and present, of those who believe in him.
The Council of Trent in 1545 – 1563: It is important to note that this council was called in response to the Protestant Reformation of 1517 and it is perhaps the most comprehensive introduction of Roman Catholic practices in all the ecumenical councils.
Justification (the act of being made right before God) was deemed to be offered “upon the basis of human cooperation with divine grace” -meaning one’s salvation is not free but rather requires something of us, rejecting the biblical truth that justification is achieved by faith in Jesus alone.
The Council also determined that the grace of God can be forfeited or taken away if someone commits a deadly sin, the likes of which there is no coming back from. This is the opposite of the true gospel that Jesus died for the forgiveness of sins (see Ephesians 1 verse 7 and 1 John chapter 1 verse 9)
At Trent, despite there being no biblical reference for it, the seven sacraments were affirmed as acts by which to obtain God’s grace. It was also decided that at the eucharist (the act of breaking bread and drinking wine in remembrance of Christ), the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine the blood, -known as transubstantiation.
It was also decreed that Mass was to be administered by the Priests, placing the Priests as mediators between humankind and God.
Ordination of Priests and Bishops was defined and it was determined that the priesthood of the New Testament took the place of the Levitical priesthood in the Old Testament. This further cements the need for Priests and dependency on them to be right before God.
Finally, at the Council of Trent the idea of purgatory was affirmed, as was praying to the Saints. Both are without biblical foundation.
At the First Council of the Vatican (1869 – 1870) it was decreed that the Pope has “full and supreme power over the whole church” and that he possesses infallibility in defining doctrine on faith and morality. Meaning that the pope can never be wrong on any subject concerning doctrine. This view is not supported by anything in the Bible.
At the Second Council of the Vatican (1962 – 1965) Bishops were given divine authority, devotion to Mary was reaffirmed as was her role in universal mediation and redemption. It was also decreed that “The whole of Roman Catholic doctrine cannot be proved from scripture alone” therefore, on the subject of revelation being from the Bible or through tradition and experience it ruled that “The Church does not draw her certainty for all revealed truths from scripture alone”. This allows the Roman Catholic Church to add to that which God revealed in scripture. This final point is the Roman Catholic Church confirming what they have already demonstrated throughout history, that Roman Catholicism is largely a man-made religion rather than something that is firmly founded on biblical truth.
To conclude; throughout the history of the Roman Catholic Church, we can see that it has deviated from the word of God to create the man-made system we have today which serves to put itself in between God and Man rather than point man to the only mediator between God and Man, which is Jesus.
