The Arbiter

Matthew 16:18

"18 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."

Matthew 18:15-20

"15 But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. 16 And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. 17 And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. 18 Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven. 20 For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Matthew 28:17-20

"17 And seeing them they adored: but some doubted. 18 And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. 19 Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."

In Matthew 16:18 Christ clearly demonstrates that the Church is to be built on Peter. In fact, even if you don't agree that this verse establishes Peter as the Head of the Church, it doesn't matter for my purposes. What matters is that Christ is clearly establishing a Church, and granting to at least Peter certain authority, designated by the Keys (a tie in to Isaiah 22) and the authority to bind and loose. Christ also says that this Church He is establishing will not be defeated by the Gates of Hell. Thus even the power of Satan and Sin and Death cannot triumph over it, for Hell is all of these things.

In Matthew 18:15-20, Christ again mentions the Church. He gives a three fold means of true rebuking when a brother in belief falls astray. First offer a private rebuke. Then offer a rebuke with the aid of witnesses. Then take the matter to the Church. What Church could this be? The Church Christ referred to that He would build of course. And Christ not only established that Church on Peter, but also promised it would not fail. Christ now goes on in this passage to give the same authority of binding and loosing to ALL of the Apostles. So now, as Christ speaks to us about the authority of the Church to hear and settle disputes, Christ gives to all the Apostles the authority necessary to settle those disputes, that of binding and loosing. Christ even goes so far as to say that when two Apostles consent to something, it shall be given, and that if even just two or three of the Apostles meet in His name, Christ will be there among them, thus guaranteeing that He will be the one guiding their decisions.

Finally Matthew 28:17-20 demonstrates that Christ, given all power and authority, commissions His Apostles to go out to the world, to Baptize, and to teach in His name. Coupled with the authority Christ already gave them, He now commands them to go to the world and teach, the Commission of the Church. And not only that, but Christ explicitly promises that He will be with them to the end of the world.

Thus we have an arbiter of truth for us, established by Christ, which is an Institution, and not an individual human.

That Church, we see, is founded on Peter, or at the very least on the Apostles as a whole. The Apostles are given authority, AND a specific commission to teach what Christ taught. Christ promises that the Church will never be triumphed over, nor that Christ will ever leave it, even until the end of the world. Which means that the Church must to still be here. And thus that the Church must still have that same authority. So where is it?

Peter and Paul both make it quite clear in their epistles that those called the "episkopos" and to a lesser degree the "presbuteros" are the authorities that guide the Church. Episkopos is the word in the New Testament for bishop/elder/overseer/ancient in the Church. And Presbuteros is the word for a priest/elder in the Church.

If you doubt that I speak the truth concerning these positions and their authority in the Church, please consult I Peter, most especially chapter 5, verses 1-5; consult I Timothy, especially chapters 1 and 3, with special emphasis given to the first parts of each chapter; consult Titus, most especially chapter 1; and finally consult Acts of the Apostles chapter 15 especially, though other chapters are also useful.

Peter in his epistle notes that the episkopos are authoritative in the Church alongside the Apostles, and that those who are not episkopos are to obey.

In I Timothy, Paul directs Timothy, who is an episkopos, in Timothy's charge, that is teaching and guiding his flock in Ephesus. He also instructs Timothy in what kind of men to appoint to various positions, including those of the episkopos and deacons.

Likewise in Titus, Paul instructs Titus in what men to ordain to the presbuteros and episkopos, and likewise, he tells Titus that he left him in Crete "that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and shouldest ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee:" clearly demonstrating that the Apostles passed authority to the episkopos, and that authority was authoritative that they could bring order, and also that they could ordain others to authority to aid in the task.

And finally in Acts, chapter 15 shows us two very important things. We are shown the Council in Jerusalem, in which the Church decides that Gentile converts do not have to abide by Jewish dietary law. But by the Church, who is meant? Who is referred to? Verse 6 says "And the Apostles and episkopos assembled to consider of this matter." Then Peter, Paul, Barnabas and finally James the Lesser speak on the subject, and draft a letter to be sent, a formal teaching that says the Gentiles do not have to abide by the whole of Jewish law.

And then at the end of Acts 15, verse 41 tells us that Paul departs, and travels through the various regions and visits the churches in each and "commanding them to keep the precepts of the apostles and the episkopos."

Thus we have it that the episkopos are equal in authority to the Apostles as the heirs to the Apostles, and thus are the logical ones to turn to settle all disputes within the Church, just as Christ commanded us to, as those with authority like to and stemming from the Apostles.

Now, there only remains the matter of finding those episkopos and their Church, and this is easily accomplished.

There are only a couple Churches in the whole of the Christian world, the Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church, that can show you every single person in the line of their episcopal descent all the way from the Apostles, with valid ordinations at the hands of an episkopos (just as Paul instructs Timothy and Titus).

I will now give you just such a list, the list of Popes of the Catholic Church, all the way from Peter. It also provides the starting and ending dates of their terms as Popes, and for most gives a link to an article about that Pope and his life.

http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/articles/popelist.htm

BTW, while members of the clergy of the Church now are referred to as bishops and priests in common speech, the actual names of their positions as that of the Episcopate and the Presbyterate, a fact little known outside the Church. The word "pope" as well, is an ancient Greek term used to refer to the episkopos. It comes from papas and means father, and the Pope merely referred to the papas/bishop/episkopos of Rome as the successor of Peter.

So. The Church exists. It has the authority to solve disputes. Christ guides it's decisions. And it is located in the Catholic Church.

Oh, and some final things for you to consider concerning the Church, other than what we just went over.

Paul says to the Ephesians, "Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things." If the Church is subject to Christ, and the Church is the source of the teachings you mentioned, then the true source of those teachings is Christ. So says Scripture.

Paul says to Timothy, "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." The Church is the pillar and ground(foundation) of the truth. If this is so, and Scripture says it so I will trust it to be so, then the Church as pillar of truth cannot teach a false doctrine. So if you believe otherwise, the Bible clearly demonstrates that you're incorrect.

Paul says to the Colossians, "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church:" Christ's body is the Church. Persecute the Church and you are persecuting Christ. Is THAT something you truly wish to do?