Introduction
This quote by J. C. Ryle explains the religion of Roman Catholicism pretty well. Looking at Roman Catholic doctrine and practice shows this to be the case. Such doctrine comes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and The Counsel of Trent that took place in the year 1545. These doctrines and practices make Roman Catholicism false, and a religion of Idolatry. I will explain this more fully below.
False Teaching and Practice #1
The Veneration of Saints and Relics
To begin, Roman Catholicism teaches its members to give worship and prayers to saints and other non-animate things, this they call "veneration". As stated in the Counsel of Trent Session 25 in the second decree:
"The holy Synod enjoins on all bishops, and others who sustain the office and charge of teaching, that, agreeably to the usage of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, received from the primitive times of the Christian religion, and agreeably to the consent of the holy Fathers, and to the decrees of sacred Councils, they especially instruct the faithful diligently concerning the intercession and invocation of saints; the honour (paid) to relics; and the legitimate use of images: teaching them, that the saints, who reign together with Christ, offer up their own prayers to God for men; that it is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid, (and) help for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our alone Redeemer and Saviour."
As you can see, this counsel has ordered all the bishops and teachers to teach the members of Roman Catholic Churches to invoke the saints and the relics of the saints. This invoking of the saints is praying to them, and also this invocation of the saints is done through the "veneration" of the relics that belonged to the saints.
Biblical Refutation
Now, the question must be asked, does God allow the use of relics and veneration be given to men in His Word? The answer to this question is staunchly NO! God forbids any kind veneration given to anyone but Him alone. This is most clearly seen in the 1st and 2nd Commandments of the 10 Commandments, which says in Deuteronomy 5:6-10:
6 ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of [a]slavery.
7 ‘You shall have no other gods [b]before Me.
8 ‘You shall not make for yourself [c]an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above [d]or on the earth beneath [e]or in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
In verse 7, God says that there are no other gods, but Him alone. The sins forbidden in the 1st Commandment are, atheism, in denying or not having a God (Psalm 14:1, Ephesians 2:12); idolatry, in having or worshiping more gods than one, or any with or instead of the true God (Jeremiah 2:27-28, 1 Thessalonians 1:9); the not having and avouching him for God, and our God (Psalm 81:11); the omission or neglect of anything due to Him, required in this commandment (Isaiah 43:22-24); ignorance (Jeremiah 4:22, Hosea 4:1,6), forgetfulness (Jeremiah 2:32), misapprehensions (Acts 17:23,29), false opinions (Isiah 40:18), unworthy and wicked thoughts of Him (Psalm 50:21); bold and curious searching into his secrets (Deuteronomy 29:29); all profaneness (Titus 1:16, Hebrews 12:16), hatred of God (Romans 1:30); self-love (2 Timothy 3:2), self-seeking (Philippians 2:21), and all other inordinate and immoderate setting of our mind, will, or affections upon other things, and taking them off from him in whole or in part (1 John 2:15-16, 1 Samual 2:29, Colossians 3:2,5); vain credulity (1 John 4:1), unbelief (Hebrews 3:2), heresy (Galatians 5:20, Titus 3:10), misbelief (Acts 26:9), distrust (Psalm 78:22), despair (Genesis 4:13), incorrigibleness (Jeremiah 5:3), and insensibleness under judgments (Isiah 42:25), hardness of heart (Romans 2:5), pride (Jeremiah 13:15), presumption (Psalm 19:13), carnal security (Zephaniah 1:12), tempting of God (Matthew 4:7); using unlawful means (Romans 3:8), and trusting in lawful means (Jeremiah 17:5); carnal delights and joys (2 Timothy 3:4); corrupt, blind, and indiscreet zeal (Galatians 4:17, John 16:2, Romans 10:2, Luke 9:54-55); lukewarmness (Revelation 3:16), and deadness in the things of God (Revelation 3:1); estranging ourselves, and apostatizing from God (Ezekiel 14:5, Isiah 1:4-5); praying, or giving any religious worship, to saints, angels, or any other creatures (Romans 1:25, 10:13-14, Hosea 4:12, Acts 10:25-26, Revelation 19:10, Matthew 4:10, Colossians 2:18); all compacts and consulting with the devil (Leviticus 20:6, 1 Samual 28:7,11, 1 Chronicles 10:13-14), and hearkening to his suggestions (Acts 5:3); making men the lords of our faith and conscience (2 Corinthians 1:24, Matthew 23:9); slighting and despising God and His commands (Deuteronomy 32:15, 2 Samual 12:9, Proverbs 13:13); resisting and grieving of His Spirit (Acts 7:51, Ephesians 4:30), discontent and impatience at His dispensations, charging Him foolishly for the evils He inflicts on us (Psalm 73:2-3, 13-15,Job 1:22); and ascribing the praise of any good we either are, have, or can do, to fortune (1 Samual 6:7-9), idols (Daniel 5:23), ourselves (Deuteronomy 8:17,Daniel 4:30), or any other creature (Habakuk 1:16).
Roman Catholics will say that they are not worshipping these saints, but in praying to them, holding, kissing, bowing, and other such actions are forms of worship. Praying and honor are seen in Psalm 72:15- "So may he live, and may the gold of Sheba be given to him; and let them pray for him continually; let them bless him all day long." Then in Revelation 4:8-11, bowing, singing, and the declaration of holiness are given unto the Lord. By praying unto the saints, either with or without relics, is treating them as mediators between God and man, and giving them Godlike attributes. Kissing is seen as conquered submission to God, as seen in Psalm 2:10-12- 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. God forbids the ascribing of anything to anyone else other than Him, since He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Supplier of all things (Deuteronomy 8:11-20).
God declares that the ascribing of anything to anyone other than Him is idolatry.
Secondly, the Roman Catholic argument for veneration is not based in God's Word, but on tradition of the church fathers and church counsels. This argument has no ground because it is not founded in the Word of God. Only God has the authority to declare who and how is to be worshipped. Therefore, anything that is not prescribed in God's Word is forbidden in the Worship of God. This is seen in Deuteronomy 12:32 "Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it. It is clear, God bluntly declares that no one is to add anything to His Commands or take anything away, because that is idolatry. (See the proceeding verses in Deuteronomy 12 for verification). The Word of God is the only authority regarding the worship of Him in all jurisdictions in life: personal, familial, ecclesiastical, and civil (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
False Teaching and Practice #2
Transubstantiation
The Roman Catholic Mass goes against God's Word because the liturgy of the Mass contains many elements that are not contained in God's Word. This is especially so with the Eucharist/Communion/Lord's Supper. The Lord Jesus does Command the church to partake of the Eucharist very often, as seen by His Words in 1 Corinthians 11:26- τοῦτο ποιεῖτε ὁσάκις ἐὰν πίνητε- This you all must do as often as you drink (my translation). The "as often as" implies that the Lord's Supper is to be taken on a short term periodicity. With the imperative to take Communion often, the false teaching of Transubstantiation must be addressed, along with the false teaching of the propitiatory resacrifice of Christ at Mass.
First, Transubstantiation is unbiblical and must be rejected; it was invented by man in the Fourth Lateran Council, in the year 1215 AD. Transubstantiation is the doctrine of Roman Catholicism that the bread and wine change in their essence unto the body of Christ. The primary text used by Roman Catholics to defend this is John 6:48-58. In the using of this text of Scripture, Roman Catholics make a categorical error in their logic, but chiefly they put their own meanings into the text, because this text does not have anything to do with the Lord's Supper. This text is about justification/ salvation, not about the Eucharist. Here are the verses:
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."
When Roman Catholics quote these verses they use improper hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the art and science of Biblical Interpretation. Proper hermeneutics is necessary because the Bible is the Word of God, and God has specific meaning for each verse of His Word so that He will be worshipped as He has prescribed in His Word, not as man desires to worship God. Roman Catholics in their interpretation of Scripture reject that God's Word alone is the only Regulative Authority, and thus they as Pope Benedict XVI says : "In short, by the work of the Holy Spirit and under the guidance of the magisterium, the Church hands on to every generation all that has been revealed in Christ. The Church lives in the certainty that her Lord, who spoke in the past, continues today to communicate his word in her living Tradition and in sacred Scripture. Indeed, the word of God is given to us in sacred Scripture as an inspired testimony to revelation; together with the Church's living Tradition, it constitutes the supreme rule of faith" (Verbum Domini, Articles 17-18). The "living Tradition" , so called by Roman Catholics, is by them said to be the oral teachings of Christ passed down by the Apostles to the church that were not revealed in Scripture. This extra-Biblical hermeneutic and authority of Roman Catholics leads to the act of creating teachings and practices that God forbids.
For if the church is not regulated by Scripture alone, what stops it from teaching heresies, committing damnable acts of worship, and syncrytysing with the culture and Pagan religions?
This is exactly what Roman Catholics have done with the Mass. In the Roman Catholics use of the verses above they forget or do not acknowledge the verse right before their usual quotation. That is: John 6:47- Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. This means that by faith alone in Christ does anyone have eternal life, not through the partaking of the Eucharist, being baptized, or doing any of the other Sacraments that the Papacy demands. For this reason, when Christ says "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood" it cannot be meant in a literal sense of really eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Christ has to be speaking metaphorically about His propitiatory death on the cross, that fulfills the wrath of God for His people's sins, and expiates their sins in a legal matter for the complete justification declared by God. This is exactly what Pastor John Gill states in his commentary on this verse:
The "flesh" and "blood" of Christ do not design those distinct parts of his body; much less as separate from each other; nor the whole body of Christ, but his whole human nature; or Christ, as having united a perfect human nature to him, in order to shed his blood for the remission of sin, and to offer up his soul and body a sacrifice for it: and the eating of these is not to be understood of a corporeal eating of them, as the Capernaites understood them; and since them the Papists (Roman Catholics), who affirm, that the bread and wine in the Lord's supper are transubstantiated into the very body and blood of Christ, and so eaten: but this is not to be understood of eating and drinking in the Lord's supper, which, as yet, was not instituted; and some, without participating of this, have spiritual life in them now, and will enjoy eternal life hereafter; and all that partake of that ordinance have not the one, nor shall have the other: and besides, having a principle of spiritual life in the soul, is previously necessary to a right eating of the supper of the Lord. These words, understood in this sense, once introduced infants to the Lord's supper; as misinterpretation of John 3:5 brought in the baptism of them. But the words design a spiritual eating of Christ by faith. To eat the flesh, and drink the blood of Christ, is to believe that Christ is come in the flesh, and is truly and really man; that his flesh is given for the life of his people, and his blood is shed for their sins, and this with some view and application to themselves: it is to partake of, and enjoy the several blessings of grace procured by him, such as redemption, pardon, peace, justification, &c. and such a feeding upon him as is attended with growth in grace, and in the knowledge of him, and is daily to be repeated, as our corporeal food is, otherwise persons have no life in them: without this there, is no evidence of life in them; not such live as feed on sinful pleasures, or on their own righteousness; only such that believe in Christ are living souls; and without this there is nothing to support life; everything else that a man eats tends to death; but this is what will maintain and preserve a spiritual life; and without this there is no just expectation of eternal life; but where there is this, there is good reason to expect it, and such shall enjoy it: some copies and versions read, "ye shall not have life in you"; eternal life. Now, though the acts of eating and drinking do not give the right to eternal life, but the flesh, blood, and righteousness of Christ, which faith lays hold, and feeds upon; yet it is by faith the right is claimed; and between these acts of faith, and eternal life, there is an inseparable connection.
Works Cited
CO Now LLC. “~The Council of Trent~.” ~The Council of Trent~, www.thecounciloftrent.com/.
“DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON DIVINE REVELATION DEI VERBUM SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI ON NOVEMBER 18, 1965.” Dei Verbum, www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html.
Gill, John. "Commentary on John 6:53". "The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/john-6.html. 1999.
NASB Compact Reference Bible: New American Standard Bible. Zondervan Pub. House, 2000.
“Verbum Domini: Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church (30 September 2010): BENEDICT XVI.” Verbum Domini: Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church (30 September 2010) | BENEDICT XVI, www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20100930_verbum-domini.html#_ftn100.
Comments