The various competitors to the “one true church” crown, Anglo-Catholicism, Roman Catholicism and eastern Orthodoxy, all make quite a fuss about their pedigrees. Each holds to a doctrine called “apostolic succession” which affirms that the current leadership in their respective institutions can trace a direct line of descent directly to the apostles. A physical, literal “this guy laid hands on that guy who laid hands on that guy…ad nauseum… all the way to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Pope Leo XIV or the seven Orthodox Patriarchs.
This claim is the foundation of each institution’s dogmatic assertion that they are the real deal. And each institution has no trouble debunking the other two institutions’ claims because all three claims are bunk. Hornswaggle. Dubious. Not true. I’d rather defend the claims of Landmark Baptists, though, well, I wouldn’t volunteer for that gig either.
The church is in fact apostolic. Not because of an unbroken succession of hand laying, of social distancing protocol violations. No. The true church is apostolic because it is that place where the teaching of the apostles is believed. The church is that which is built upon the foundation of the prophets and the apostles (Eph. 2:20). Reject that foundation and not only do the walls come tumbling down, but the lampstand is removed.
When Rome unambiguously damned the gospel message that we are justified apart from the works of the law, but by faith alone, it ceased to be apostolic. Insofar as Anglo-Catholicism and eastern Orthodoxy do the same, they too are no longer apostolic, and therefore no longer the church.
When Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church (Matt. 16:18) He did not promise that no institutional church would ever cease to be a church. Jesus Himself warned the church at Ephesus that He might come remove its lampstand (Rev. 2:5). Paul warned the Gentiles who were grafted into the people of God to not get arrogant, thinking they couldn’t be cut off (Rome 11:18).
The creedal truth, that the church is apostolic, is just another ancient way the church has always affirmed that the Bible is the alone ultimate authority. The church is that body in submission to the teaching of the apostles, which we find in the Bible. But there is more. Tipping one’s hat at the Bible while building the church on the wisdom of the world is yet another failure to be apostolic. It is not enough to affirm the authority of the Bible. We must act in submission to it. We are called to study it, even as it studies us.
Old institutions often play up their ancient bona fides. True churches, however, rest in the good faith once delivered to the saints.
This is the forty-eighth installment of an ongoing series of pieces here on the nature and calling of the church. Stay tuned for more. Remember also that we at Sovereign Grace Fellowship meet this Sunday June 22 at 10:30 AM at our new location, our beautiful farm at 11281 Garman Road, Spencerville, IN. Please come join us.