The Scriptures themselves show that the Apostles handed on their office
through the laying of hands to subsequent generations as their successors
(Acts 13:2; 1 Tim. 4:14; Tit. 5-10). To believe that the written New
Testament replaced the authority of the Apostles after the death of St. John,
is to deny historical reality and believe erroneously that the Church
founded by Christ subsequently changed in her essence.
Those who ignore the legitimate leaders of Christ’s Church through their
own disobedience no longer belong to her unity:
“if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile
and a tax collector” (St. Matt. 18:17).
To ignore the leaders of the Church, one effectively ignores Christ:
“He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me” (St. Luke
10:16).
It is the Church that guarantees that the faithful are taught truth, assisted by
the Holy Spirit:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be
with you forever” (St. John 14:16).
“if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household
of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the
truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).
The Protestant assertion that Christians need only pray and read the Bible
privately in their own homes or in fellowship groups has only resulted in
the birth of over 35,000 different Protestant denominations all claiming to
be “Bible-believing,” yet agreeing on little more than their anti-Catholic
tenets. They fulfil the very words of St. Peter himself who warned of the
“ignorant and unstable” who “twist” the Scriptures “to their own
destruction” (2 Pet. 3:16).
Despite the disobedience and protestations of its enemies and the
rebellious, Christ will protect His Church until the end of time:
“the gates of hades will not prevail against it” (St. Matt. 16:18).
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