Question about the Authority of the Pope and Bishops

[Traci]

Ok bare with me…I have lots of questions…yikes.

First of all just to make sure I understand this correctly…the Apostles are the equivalent of current day Bishops?

The Bishops and the Pope are the only ones that can interpret Scripture right?

I know all of the scripture verses that give the Authority of the Church to Peter (the first Pope) and I think I understand how the Pope has the Authority.

My question is when/how were the Apostles given that same authority to interpret scripture.

I know in the Acts of the Apostles the Apostles were given the Holy Spirit but everyone is give the Holy Spirit during baptism right? So what was it about the Holy Spirit given to the Apostles that gave them the authority to interpret scripture, but all baptized don’t have that same authority even though we receive the Holy Spirit through baptism too.

Please let me know if anything I say isn’t quite right…but be gentle…I am still learning.

Thank you for your comments!
God Bless,
Traci

 

[MilesJesu]

Traci,

I commend you for taking the time to study and learn about your faith. In an attempt to answer some of your questions, here goes:

First of all just to make sure I understand this correctly…the Apostles are the equivalent of current day Bishops?

You have the right idea, but to be a little more accurate, it is perhaps bettter to say that the Bishops are successors to the Apostles. If you read Acts 1:15-26, you will read the account of where Judas is replaced by Mathias, who is tasked to fulfill his office. This is a very important part of understanding the structure of the Church.

Also, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), you will find:

"938 The Bishops, established by the Holy Spirit, succeed the apostles. They are “the visible source and foundation of unity in their own particular Churches” (*LG *23)."

The Bishops and the Pope are the only ones that can interpret Scripture right?

We should all study the scriptures as much as possible and listen attentively during mass. We can all interpret scripture up to a point. Scripture is a gift to be enjoyed by all the faithful. However, it has to be read in the light of the Church, via the teachings of the Pope and the Bishops who have a special duty to guide the faithful (us). In the (CCC), we find:

**

[85](javascriptpenWindow(‘cr/85.htm’) "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."47 This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome. [86](javascriptpenWindow(‘cr/86.htm’) "Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith."48

This is what safe guards authentic interpretation of the bible. We as lay people are not called to pronounce dogmatically our interpretations of scripture, otherwise we would break off and start our own religon like Luther, Calvin and Zwingli.

I hope this helps.

Peace,

MilesJesu
**

 

[Liberian]

Traci:

First of all just to make sure I understand this correctly…the Apostles are the equivalent of current day Bishops?

Traci,

First, Miles Jesu is right: the Bishops are the successors to the Apostles, not really the equivalents of the Apostles. Obviously there aren’t any of the original Twelve around any more.

The Bishops and the Pope are the only ones that can interpret Scripture right?

I would not say that. Each of us is free to interpret Scripture. The difference is that our private interpretations are not guaranteed to be correct (and where they conflict with Church teaching they are guaranteed to be wrong, in fact). Actually, I don’t think the private interpretation of any individual Bishop is guaranteed to be correct. Only the voice of the Church speaking through her teaching authority is guaranteed not to make mistakes when saying that some Bible passage applies to some situation and means a certain thing.

I would add, by the way, that there really isn’t a single “correct” interpretation of Scripture in the sense of “this is the correct meaning and everything else is wrong.” Now there are certainly interpretations of Scripture that are wrong, like the commentator who tried to interpret Adam’s name as “a dam,” saying from this that Adam was holding back a flood.

I know all of the scripture verses that give the Authority of the Church to Peter (the first Pope) and I think I understand how the Pope has the Authority.

My question is when/how were the Apostles given that same authority to interpret scripture.

Again, I don’t think this was given to the Apostles individually. It flows out of Matthew 16:18 (“the gates of Hell will not prevail against it”) and John 15:25 ("[the Holy Spirit] will teach you everything"). It’s not really a question of authority to interpret Scripture, it’s more a question of being sure that the interpretation is correct.

• Liberian

 

[NotWorthy]

The position of Pope was given the authority when Jesus said to Peter, “Whatever you bind on earth, is bound in Heaven. Whatever you loose on earth is loosed in Heaven”. Jesus then repeated this instructions to the Apostles as a group (although he omitted the keys of the kingdom that he gave only to Peter). When you combine this with, “I shall send you a Paraclete, the Holy Spirit to guide you”, you have the infallible teaching of the Church Magesterium.

God Bless.

NotWorthy

 

[Fidelis]

Liberian:

Again, I don’t think this was given to the Apostles individually. It flows out of Matthew 16:18 (“the gates of Hell will not prevail against it”) and John 15:25 ("[the Holy Spirit] will teach you everything"). It’s not really a question of authority to interpret Scripture, it’s more a question of being sure that the interpretation is correct.

As well as Matthew 18:18. Here we see that the Apostles were given an authority similar to Peter’s in Matthew 16:18, with the important difference that only he was given the keys.