The Bible and
Roman Catholicism

"For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5)


























The Bible and the Vicar of Christ

Is the Pope the Supreme Vicar over the Church of Christ?

There is an article in the Catholic Encyclopedia entitled, "Vicar of Christ." In Latin the term reads Vicarius Christi. Here is the article in its entirety:

Vicar of Christ

(Latin Vicarius Christi).

A title of the pope implying his supreme and universal primacy, both of honour and of jurisdiction, over the Church of Christ. It is founded on the words of the Divine Shepherd to St. Peter: "Feed my lambs. . . . Feed my sheep" (John 21:16-17), by which He constituted the Prince of the Apostles guardian of His entire flock in His own place, thus making him His Vicar and fulfilling the promise made in Matthew 16:18-19.

In the course of the ages other vicarial designations have been used for the pope, as Vicar of St. Peter and even Vicar of the Apostolic See (Pope Gelasius, I, Ep. vi), but the title Vicar of Christ is more expressive of his supreme headship of the Church on earth, which he bears in virtue of the commission of Christ and with vicarial power derived from Him. Thus, Innocent III appeals for his power to remove bishops to the fact that he is Vicar of Christ (cap. "Inter corporalia", 2, "De trans. ep."). He also declares that Christ has given such power only to His Vicar Peter and his successors (cap. "Quanto", 3, ibid.), and states that it is the Roman Pontiff who is "the successor of Peter and the Vicar of Jesus Christ" (cap. "Licet", 4, ibid.). The title Vicar of God used for the pope by Nicholas III (c. "Fundamenta ejus", 17, "De elect.", in 6) is employed as an equivalent for Vicar of Christ.

While I acknowledge that those who adhere to the doctrines of the segment of Christianity headquartered in the Vatican believe these paragraphs to be true, I nevertheless affirm that their faith is fundamentally fraught with error, and thus, unfounded. First of all, nowhere in Scripture is Peter ever stated to be the "Head" of the Church. The Scriptures declare that there is only one head of the Church, and that Head is none other than Christ Himself!  The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Colossians wrote, speaking of Christ, "He is also the head of  the body, the church ..." (Col. 1:18). Again, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul, speaking of God about Christ, said this, "And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church" (Eph. 1:22). So to claim, as this article does, that "the title Vicar of Christ is more expressive of his [i.e., the Pope's] supreme headship of the Church on earth" is blatantly untrue, and in fact, constitutes blasphemy against the Real Head, that is, Christ Himself.

And if Peter cannot be said to be the head of the Church, even the church here upon earth, by what stretch of the imagination can his successors be said to be the head of the Church, even the Church here upon earth? To be sure, Christ gave to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven. But by what stretch of the imagination or of exegesis does that make Peter in any sense the head of the church? Keys are made for unlocking and for locking. And Peter most certainly used those keys before he virtually passed into oblivion from the historical narrative after Acts 12. (See the Biblical narrative of the early church from Acts 13:1-28:31.)

There is another fundamental error here. The definition above assumes that the Church of Jesus Christ on earth is contiguous with the church headquartered in the Vatican. That assumption cannot be proven from Scripture, and in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. The true Catholic Church consists of all those everywhere who have placed their trust in Jesus as the Messiah. It is these who have eternal life (John 3:16, 36; 20:30-31; 1 John 5:1, 10-13).

So the proper answer to the question, "Is the Pope the Supreme Vicar over the Church of Christ?" is a resounding, "NO."




(Scripture quotation taken from the NASB except where indicated.)

November 29, 2017

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