Excellent observaton!
Let’s see now, could it have been the Jewish faith? No!
And, this is because Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant and gave us the New Covenant.
Could it have been the man-made churches founded by Luther, or Calvin or King Henry VIII and so many others…? No! And, this is because these guys did not come on the scene for 1,600 years after Christ had founded His Church on Peter (Matt 16:18).
I would say it was the Catholic Church! You see, unlike Starbucks or GM or IBM - the Apostles did not sit down and decide that, “Hey! We need a name for our orgaization!” While Acts records a name of the followers of “The Way” - this was more like following Christ as the Way. The Apostles were not concerned with articles of legal incorporation that had to be filed at the court house. Things were much simpler back in 33AD. We have the words of Ignatus of Antioch in 110AD calling the group ‘catholic’ and from there on the name became Catholic. This really isn’t written down - and, it is really the best I can do on that side. I can tell you, however, the group was certainly NOT CALLED: Lutherans, Presybeterians, Baptists, Anglicans, etc.
Who said ‘everyone’ could tell guenuine from fraud?
If you didn’t, than I apologize.
I jumped to conclusions here!
What I jumped at was your statement about people being able to tell what was inspired and what wasn’t. I guess that if ONLY certain people could tell the difference, then you know who they were and when this took place. Please, tell me: If not ‘everyone’ then which ones?
The issue for me isn’t what group of people were used but that God did the using. If God used a donkey, then He may even be able to use the likes of me, you or any church group of true believers – I, being less than a donkey and all the rest of you far greater than a donkey. How was God able to move people and speak to people until 400AD?
It must be very hard to type with hooves!
God is recorded as having used a donkey to accomplish His Will. There is, however, of Him using men - frail, sinful and even evil men to do the same! God chose weak, sinful and the one who would deny Him to lead the Church of Christ (and, that would be the Catholic Church).
No one is questioning the authentic nature of Inspiration in the Gospel of Matthew. Well, not only was the Inspired Gospel read, it was followed, too. The Early Church Fathers refer to the Successor of Peter - to the leader of the Church - to the Vicar of Christ on earth. Today, we call him Pope Benedict XVI - but, his line of succession goes all the way back to Peter - and that reference is in Scripture.
I honestly can not explain HOW God does anything. The real issue as creatures is to note that He did do Something and that Something was to send His Son down, found His Church, and then to die on the Cross and be our Savior. That is the sequence of events that is in Scripture. Even if Sola Scriptura had any merit - you would still have to explain why books of the Canon were removed by the so-called reformers, and why actual verses were simply denied outright with craft explanaiton that negate the plainly spoken message of Christ (e.g., John 6)
Early Christians were not because they could not be believers in Sola Scriptura - it is strictly a reformation idea that is a tradition of men and can be historicially dated as such.
God bless
