I write in response to the Thursday, July 11, Forum article: “Vatican decree gets F-M response” and in particular the statement: “Protestant faiths ... have not preserved apostolic succession in priesthood and sacraments.”When it comes to determining the criteria for the identity of Christ’s church and what person or what church body can claim to be part of Christ’s church, it is not apostolic succession but adherence to Christ’s teaching, as contained in apostolic teaching, that is essential.
Apostolic teaching includes all that is recorded in the writings of the first apostles, who were called and appointed by Jesus during his earthly ministry, including the Apostle Paul who was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles on the Damascus Road as recorded in Acts, chapter 9.
In the Gospel of the Apostle John, 8: 31-32, Jesus affirmed that the basic requirement to become a disciple or a member of the Christian Church is that we believe in him or receive him as our Lord and Savior.
Jesus also affirmed this basic requirement to become a disciple in the Gospel of the Apostle John chapter 14:1 when he said: “You believe in God, believe also in me” and again in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me.”
This truth that we receive salvation and become disciples and members of the Christian Church and God’s kingdom by faith in Jesus is proclaimed by the Apostle John many times in his Gospel, including John 1:12, 3:16-18, 6:40, 10:9, 11:25-26, 20:31.
The Roman Catholic Church, despite its claim to apostolic succession, has departed from this apostolic teaching that Jesus is the only mediator or Savior, especially in the unbiblical teaching that Mary is an intercessor or mediator between us and God.
An example of this can be found in a prayer often used by Roman Catholics: “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”
The teaching of the Apostle Peter certainly gives no basis for such a prayer to Mary, for the Apostle Peter declared in the book of Acts, chapter 4, verse 12 in reference to Jesus, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Whatever church body we may be affiliated with, we do well to examine what is being taught or proclaimed as the basis of salvation in our church, to be sure it is based on the teachings of Jesus as recorded in the Bible, by those appointed by Jesus to be his apostles or official messengers of the Gospel or the good news of salvation.
If we are pastors or teachers in the Christian church, we also do well to heed the admonition of the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
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Sotto Voce