This Thread topic is an offshoot of the
Peter - Rock Thread.
Protestants reject the Authority of Rome. They believe that, even if Peter is accepted as the Rock, it doesn’t necessarily follow that this creates a papcy with universal authority.
The Orthodox Church, with a long history and verifiable Apostolic roots also believes that Peter is Rock, without recognizing the universal authority of Rome.
If one accepts that Jesus Founded a Church, and that Church has been in existance since Pentecost, why are you looking only back as far as the Protestant reformation? Isn’t there already a Church in existance that fits the bill of rejecting Rome while still maintaining the legitimate Apostolic succession?
So why do you remain in “Protest” when you could belong to the ancient Apostolic Church through the Orthodox Church?
Peace
James
Not all Protestants have the same ecclesiology, so some repsonses may be different.
Jesus did establish his church…not an organization, but a redeemed people. The Church is not a monolithic organization like the Catholic Church or the LDS Church…it is made up of believers who have been redeemed in Christ. It is visibile in that it meets together in the name of Christ…it is invisible in that it’s Head is Christ himself but has no central organization. Many Protestants would echo the Orthodox understanding that the church exists whole in each Meeting. There is no “Nazarene Church” or “Baptist Church” or “Catholic Church” that one can point to and say “This is the orgainizational Church established by Christ”. There is One Church made up of those who have been justified by faith in Christ. It is “a glorious church without spot or wrinkle, washed in the blood of the Lamb” to use the line of a Protestant hymn.
Christ came to establish a New People joined to him not through ritual but through “re-creation” by the regeneration of his Holy Spirit. He alone is Priest, no one can perform an act on our behalf which contributes to our salvation, it is his work and his alone…no ritural performed at the hand of another in or for our behalf is necessary…we are joined in him through faith in his work alone.
Orthodoxy also has a “priesthood” which offers ritual and rites on the behalf of the laity…Protestants believe in the “priesthood of all believers”, there is no one who “stands in Christ’s stead” on our behalf, it is Christ and Christ alone who works on our behalf.
Most Protestants view the ordinances/sacraments as “outward forms of inward grace”, they are not necessary to one’s salvation, but point the believer to the One represented in those rites and ordinances.
Friends believe the “Reformation” did not go far enough in bringing us back to the simple faith those first Christians experienced…we understand those first Christians performed rites, but they were carry over from it’s Jewish roots…the Apostles continured worshiping in the Temple and even Paul made sacrifice in the Temple, but Christ fulfilled all ritualistic requirements. The One Baptism necessary is that of the Spirit, not of water of washing the body, but of putting away filth through the regeneration of his Holy Spirit…true communion is not in the breaking of the bread, but of sharing the common experience of receiving the Bread of Life…“behold I stand at the door and knock…I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me…”…the Real Presence is not found in bread and wine, but in the Living Presence of Christ himself in the presence of his people…“where two or three are gathered together in my name, THERE AM I in their midst.”…we take that very literally…He is in our midst when we gather in his name together…
Any faith tradition which requires someone to perform an act or rite on our behalf is foreign to our understanding of what it is that Christ did for us…He and he alone acts on our behalf as Priest…no other priest is needed, we share in his Priesthood to approach God directly without any human mediator acting in our behalf…we are Sons and Daughters of God, and approach our Father in boldness because of what Christ has done on our behalf…what God has done for us which we could not do for ourselves…our “authority” to come before God in boldness rests in Christ and Christ alone…no one else is needed.
While the reader may disagree with what I have written theologically, I was not presenting a rebuttal to Orthodox or Catholic belief, I was offering an explanation as to why Orthodoxy isn’t always an option…it still utilizes a “sacrifical priesthood”.
They are not a middle ground, and they are anything but protestan, they are right next to the Catholic church and there views are often more conservative since the catholic doctrines have developed and changed since the seventh council while there belief system is still centered on what was revealed in those councils.
