Why We Resist The Doctrines Of The Church of Rome

  

TRADITION

All Churches have traditions; even in some Nonconformist bodies they have become very important, Some follow a certain line of doctrine, a way and form of worship or a form of church government that has been found suitable. If this does not violate any part of Scripture it is acceptable. What is not to be followed is any tradition that does violence to the doctrine and teaching of the Bible.
While the Apostles and their immediate successors were alive, their traditions were followed. When the New Testament was written and accepted, it embodied those traditions. No Church that has departed from the Bible has a valid claim to be “Apostolic” (a pretended Apostolic Succession, an unbroken line of Bishops by the laying on of hands in ordination, from the Apostles to the present day). The Roman Catholic Church makes this claim. It is however quite false, as is the claim of the Pope to be the successor of the Apostle Peter.
The assertion is made that the New Testament is inadequate, that there was a body of tradition in the Early Church that was passed on by word of mouth which was never included in the New Testament, that the Roman Church has access to it and bases her teaching upon it as well as on the Bible and that it is equal in authority with the Scriptures. It cannot be checked because it is unwritten, and it is used to support doctrines and practices that were not followed by the Early Church. They were introduced much later, were clearly innovations and no part of the original faith of the Church of God.

OUR LORD AND JEWISH TRADITIONS

Our Lord opposed this use of traditions. He said that the Rabbis had made the Law of God of none effect by their tradition. The disobedient son could evade the penalty laid down in the Law by making a gift, by buying his freedom (Matthew 15:1-6) They were keen to keep the Sabbath, to tithe their garden herbs, but the weighty matters of mercy and judgment were neglected. This was the result of the placing of the Law and tradition on an equal footing.
The whole system of Jewish worship was corrupt. It was divided into parties, the Pharisees, the Saduccees and the Essenes. This was to some extent the result of acceptance of tradition and our Lord spoke against it. The state of the Jewish religion in the time of Christ was in some ways like the professing Christian Church of today. Large parts of it had departed into apostasy and error, yet God preserved in it a Godly remnant.

TRADITION IN THE ROMAN CHURCH

We have seen that the Roman Church claims falsely that she has the right to define new doctrines, claiming that they have the support of this body of oral tradition. There is no means of checking the validity of these traditions. The writings of Early Church Fathers have no evidence to give us. Some of the teaching has reference to both the Old Testament and New Testament Apocrypha. The Great Synagogue rejected the Old Testament Apocrypha, as did Jerome, as quoted in the Book of Common Prayer in Article VI of the XXXIX Articles. The New Testament Apocrypha did not appear until the second century and none of its writings were accepted as inspired in the Early Church. At first the great Councils of the Church were engaged in defining what was taught in Holy Scripture, then as the Papacy arose new doctrines were decreed on the ground that they were supported by the traditions of the Church that had not been included in the New Testament. However, as the authority of the Papacy grew so Councils ratified new doctrines that had no place in Scripture and could never be regarded as having any base in any earlier body of tradition. The more recent of the adopted doctrines of the Church of Rome and good examples - the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (1854), Papal Infallibility (1870) and the Assumption of the body of the Virgin Mary into Heaven (1950). This is the result of placing tradition on an equal footing with the inspired word of God. This was further seen in the only doctrinal statement of the second Vatican Council (1965), that the Virgin Mary is the Mother of the Church. This is clearly contrary to the Bible which teaches that the Church is the Bride of Christ (Revelation 21:9).

TRADITION CONTRARY TO SCRIPTURE

Much of the official belief of the Roman Catholic Church rests entirely on tradition. Certain passages of Scripture are brought forward to support Roman doctrine but they are taken completely out of their context to support what is in the final analysis only tradition. It is clear from the New Testament that our Lord did not appoint a Pope. The Creed of Pope Pius IV, which is a digest of the decrees of the Council of Trent, states that Scripture must be interpreted with the entire consent of the Early Church Fathers. The official interpretation of the passage in Matthew’s Gospel on which Roman theologians base the claim that the Church is founded on Peter and that he was the first Pope has varying interpretations by Early Church Fathers. The truth is that the whole fabric of the Papacy rests on tradition and is in clear contradiction of the words of Christ, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). When the disciples of Christ argued about who should be the greatest Christ told them plainly, “it shall not be so among you” (Mark 10:43). He took the place of a slave and to teach that lesson He washed the disciples’ feet, the work of the humblest slave. The whole conception of the Papacy is at variance with Scripture because it is based on tradition alone. They have made of none effect the Word of God by their tradition (Mark 7:13).

Much of this traditional teaching is in direct contradiction to great Biblical truths. For instance, the only purgatory the Bible speaks of is the precious blood of Christ. Roman Catholic theologians admit that there is no place in the canonical Scriptures upon which their doctrine of Purgatory can be based. The Bible declares that the departed believer is “with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23). The doctrine of Purgatory is based entirely on tradition and does despite to the finished work of Christ and the Biblical doctrine of the life hereafter. This is a case of “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). Many other doctrines of the Roman Church could be cited that are based on tradition that do injury to the Gospel and are clearly in error.

TRADITIONAL DOCTRINES LEAD TO TRADITIONAL ERROR IN PRACTICE

Such practices as prayers for the dead,  the worship of the Virgin Mary, the saints, images, relics, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of Mary are all the result of this attitude to tradition, as  are such practices as monasticism, pilgrimages and, in former times, crusades. The word of God is clear that the false acceptance of the authority of tradition brings about departure from God. Let us heed the warning of Christ Himself, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8-9).

This article is reproduced from the September-October 2008 issue of the Reformer Magazine by kind permission of the Protestant Alliance.

 

Click to go back to part 12

Click to go forward to part 14