Photo credit: self-designed cover of my self-published book (2012)
Henry R. Percival, D.D. (1854-1903) was a prominent American Episcopal priest and author of many books. This is a reply to a few portions of his book, The Invocation of Saints Treated Theologically and Historically (London and New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896). As a High Church Anglican, he substantially agrees with us on this general topic. So I am only quibbling with him over a few things. His words will be in blue. I use RSV for Scripture citations.
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In the year 1549 it was evidently the mind of those who were responsible for the compiling and translating of the Prayer-book, that the only way to be sure of avoiding corruption, and the superstition consequent thereupon, was by omitting all invocations whatever. (pp. 18-19)
This is far too often the “solution” of Protestantism: if anything is at all corrupted, get rid of the whole thing; in other words, “throw the baby out with the bathwater.” That’s no solution at all; it’s not even the vaunted “reform.” It has led to the truncated, bare minimum, hollowed-out Christianity Lite that is many Protestant denominations today: which is the flip side difficulty at the other extreme on the spectrum of corruption in practice of good things.
First, let me clearly state that the Roman Church has shown herself most anxious to remove this ” Romish doctrine,” and to restore the practice to its first purity. In the Twenty-fifth Session of the Council of Trent, holden in 1563 — that is, eleven years after the setting forth of this Article in its first form, and one year after its adoption in its present form (a fact which shows that the article cannot possibly be looked upon as drawn up to condemn the decree of Trent, since at that time it as yet had no existence), the Fathers decreed as follows : —
Moreover, let every superstition in connection with invoking the saints be done away. Let all base questionings be cut off. Finally, let all lasciviousness be avoided (Dec De Purgatorio).
It is, then, not denied by the Church of Rome that, at the time of the Reformation, there were abuses with regard to the invocation of saints which needed reformation, and we have the contemporaneous record of some of these. (pp. 36-37)
There are always abuses and lack of understanding among the more ignorant portions of any religious group whatever. All groups — including Catholicism — reform themselves constantly — in terms of practice ‘on the ground” — or should, if they don’t. The problem we usually encounter in Protestant polemics against Catholicism, however, is that corruptions in Catholic practice are compared to the most sophisticated teachings of Protestants, such as Calvin or Chemnitz: which is a glaring double standard. If we’re going to talk about corruptions, then it should be applied across the board; not only to Catholics.
But by and large, to have a substantive discussion, we can only objectively analyze official proclamations of doctrine. The proper comparison is between Catholic and Protestant official doctrines and confessions. Percival himself cites Trent and other magisterial sources, as well as Doctors of the Church like Aquinas and Bellarmine. So he doesn’t fall into this silly practice.
A prevalent ” Romish doctrine ” seems to have been that the saints were given by God particular departments to have under their special care. To this we find allusion in the “Articles about Religion, set out by the Convocation” in the year 1 536, where we read that —
it is very laudable to pray to saints in heaven everlastingly-living, whose charity is ever permanent, to be intercessors and to pray for us and with us unto Almighty God. … So that it be done without any vain superstition as to think that any saint is more merciful or will hear us sooner than Christ, or that any saint doth serve for one thing more than other, or is patron of the same. (pp. 37-38)
First of all, the Catholic Church never taught that “any saint is more merciful or will hear us sooner than Christ”. That’s simply an insulting, groundless, gratuitous caricature. But as for patron saints, I fail to see the slightest objection to it, let alone harm. It’s simply common sense and “division of labor”: so to speak. St. Paul discusses these sorts of differential tasks when describing the function of the Body of Christ:
1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 17-18 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5] and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; [6] and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. [7] To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. [8] To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, [9] to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, [10] to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. [11] All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. . . . [17] If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? [18] But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. (cf. 12: 12-16, 19-30)
But is it true that supposedly no one can “specialize” in heaven, with regard to intercession? I don’t see any biblical case against it, but I can think of biblical analogies to it. I wrote in an article about the intercession of saints:
The Bible clearly teaches that different people have different levels of grace (Acts 4:33; 2 Cor 8:7; Eph 4:7; 1 Pet 1:2; 2 Pet 3:18). From this it follows, it seems to me, that some might specialize in certain areas more so than others, according to different parts of the Body of Christ (there is much Pauline teaching on that). . . . an ironclad argument against it from Scripture is rarely made.
The fact remains that “The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects” (James 5:16). In the larger context of that passage, James states:
James 5:17-18 Eli’jah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. [18] Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.
Would it not follow, then, that Elijah seemed to have a particular influence over weather? Therefore, why couldn’t someone ask him to pray to God about the weather, rather than someone else, since he had this record of asking for rain to cease, and it did for three and-a-half years? So he became, in effect, the “patron saint of meteorological petitions.”
We do roughly the same in this life with friends, on the level of empathy. So, for example, if a woman has difficulty with miscarriage or difficult pregnancies or deliveries, she might go to a woman who has experienced the same thing and ask her to pray to God for her.
I don’t see any intrinsic difficulty here.
Percival cites “Benedictine editors” who sum up a homily of St. John Chrysostom as, “We reap more profit from our own prayers than from those which are offered by others for us.” Percival then opines, “This is a fair summing up of the whole discussion of the saint upon the subject . . .” (p. 46)
The Catholic Church never forbade anyone to pray directly to God. That’s a non-issue. But is there a sense in which asking others to pray for us to God (to intercede) is a better, more efficient way of praying to God? According to the Bible, this is absolutely possible and in many cases preferred. The Catholic position is that it’s best, and always possible, to “go straight to God” in prayer, unless there happens to be a person more righteous than we are in the immediate vicinity, who is willing to make the same prayer request. Then the Bible — not merely the Catholic Church — recommends that we ask them to intercede, rather than asking God directly. If someone wants to be biblical and to follow the biblical model of prayer and intercession, it would include this practice.
The Bible states that “the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer” (1 Pet 3:12), and “When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears” (Ps 34:17), and “the prayer of the upright is his delight” (Prov 15:8), and “he hears the prayer of the righteous” (Prov 15:29), and “we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him” (1 Jn 3:22), and “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Ps 66:18; cf. 66:19-20).
Having established this principle of scriptural prayer, we see how it is carried out in the case of very holy people. God told Abimelech that Abraham would pray for him, so he could live, “for” Abraham was “a prophet” (Gen 20:6-7). “All Israel” (1 Sam 12:1) “said to Samuel [the prophet], ‘Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die’. . .” (1 Sam 12:19). God told Job’s “friends”: “my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly” (Job 42:8).
Why did God listen to Job’s prayers? It’s because God Himself stated that “there is none like” Job “on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). King Zedekiah asked the holy prophet Jeremiah to pray for him and the country (Jer 37:3; cf. 42:2: “[they] said to Jeremiah the prophet, ‘Let our supplication come before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us’ “).
If we go to a more righteous or holy person and ask them to pray for x, then x is far more likely to happen than if we go to God directly (because we are less righteous). Therefore, it’s more “efficient” and “better” to do this in these instances rather than go directly to God. Righteous people know God’s will better than those who are not following God with a whole heart, with all their might. Therefore, their prayers are more effective. And it’s all based on explicit biblical teaching and examples. The Bible refers to preeminent, effective prayer warriors and valiant intercessors like Moses (Ex 32:30; Num 11:1-2; 14:11-13, 19-20; 21:6-8; Dt 9:18-19; 10:10), Samuel (1 Sam 7:8; 12:18-19), Elisha (2 Ki 6:18), Elijah (James 5:17-18), and King Hezekiah ( 2 Chr 30:18-20).
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Summary: I reply to a few points of a book by Anglican Henry R. Percival (1854-1903) regarding the notion of patron saints and asking saints’ intercession rather than praying directly to God.
Featuring an Emphasis on the Scriptural Data Regarding the Strong Influence of Jewish Tradition in Early Christianity
Photo credit: self-designed cover of my discontinued, self-published book (2009).
The material below was partially derived from a withdrawn book of mine, entitled 501 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura: Is the Bible the Only Infallible Authority? (2009). I wrote it as a direct result of a Protestant claiming that there were no arguments against sola Scriptura in the Bible (!). It was condensed and modified into my book, 100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura (Catholic Answers: May 2012).
The present goal is to utilize biblical passages only as arguments against sola Scriptura. I’ve added a great number of new additional passages. The only non-Bible portions of this article below will be the topical categories, explanatory “footnotes” (in blue font) and the following introduction for the purpose of carefully defining sola Scriptura (drawing from solid Protestant sources). All passages are from RSV.
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Table of Contents
1) Introduction / Definition
2) Oral Apostolic Proclamation and Tradition / Jesus’ Oral Preaching
3) Prophetic Oral Proclamation
4) Direct Supernatural Guidance from the Holy Spirit
5) Direct Supernatural Guidance from Dreams or Visions
6) Mosaic Law / Jewish Pharisaical & Apocalyptic Tradition
7) Jesus and Christians Attended Temple Worship and Sacrificial Rites
8) Jesus and Christians Attended Synagogues on the Sabbath
9) Jesus & Christians Observed Jewish Feasts
10) Oral Torah
11) Binding Authority in the One Church / Impermissibility of Competing Denominations
12) Definitive Interpretation of Scripture from Ecclesiastical Leaders
13) Apostolic Succession
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1) Introduction / Definition
The late Dr. Norman L. Geisler was a very prominent evangelical Protestant apologist, who published many books. His definition is as follows:
By sola Scriptura orthodox Protestants mean that Scripture alone is the primary and absolute source of authority, the final court of appeal, for all doctrine and practice (faith and morals). . . . What Protestants mean by sola Scriptura is that the Bible alone is the infallible written authority for faith and morals. . . . Scripture is the sufficient and final written authority of God. As to sufficiency, the Bible — nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else — is all that is necessary for faith and practice . . . This is not to say that Protestants obtain no help from the Fathers and early councils . . . this is not to say that there is no usefulness to Christian tradition, but only that it is of secondary importance. (Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences, co-author Ralph E. Mackenzie, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1995, 178)
Reformed Protestant writer Keith A. Mathison concurs, while emphasizing the role of the Church a little more strongly:
Scripture alone is inspired and inherently infallible. Scripture alone is the supreme normative standard. But Scripture does not exist in a vacuum. It was and is given to the Church within the doctrinal context of the apostolic gospel. Scripture alone is the only final standard, but it is a final standard that must be utilized, interpreted, and preached by the Church within its Christian context. . . .
It is important to notice that sola scriptura, properly understood, is not a claim that Scripture is the only authority altogether. . . . There are other real authorities which are subordinate and derivative in nature. Scripture, however, is the only inspired and inherently infallible norm, and therefore Scripture is the only final authoritative norm. (The Shape of Sola Scriptura, Moscow, Idaho: Canon Press, 2001, 259-260)
It must be emphasized that the fallibility of the Church does not render her authority invalid. (Ibid., 269)
But does the Bible itself teach that it’s the only infallible authority? Does it ever present the Church or tradition or oral apostolic or prophetic teaching or a “pope” as “infallible” or as a binding authority? I shall argue that the following biblical passages provide proof of all of those things, and more, and that therefore, sola Scriptura is a falsehood and not the biblical rule of faith. Catholics need to establish, based on unassailable biblical evidence, examples of tradition or Church proclamations that were binding and obligatory upon all who heard and received them. Whether these were infallible is another more complex question, but a binding decree is already either expressly contrary to sola Scriptura, or, at the very least, a thing that casts considerable doubt on the formal principle.
2) Oral Apostolic Proclamation and Tradition / Jesus’ Oral Preaching
Matthew 2:23 And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” [“He shall be called a Nazarene ” cannot be found in the Old Testament, yet it was passed down “by the prophets” orally, rather than through Scripture]
Matthew 13:3 And he told them many things in parables, . . . (cf. Mk 4:2, 33) [i.e., not all were recorded]
Matthew 13:20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hearsthe wordand immediately receives it with joy; (other instances of “the word”: Matt 13:21-23; Mk 2:2; 4:14-20,33; Lk 1:2; 8:12-13,15; Jn 1:1,14 [of Jesus]; Jn 14:24; Acts 6:4; 8:4; 11:19; 14:25; 16:6; Gal 6:6; Eph 5:26; Col 4:3; 1 Pet 3:1)
Matthew 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. [all of this was oral teaching, and almost certainly far more than we know about in the Gospels]
Mark 6:34 . . . he began to teach them many things. (cf. Lk 11:53) [not all were recorded]
Luke 3:2-3 in the high-priesthood of Annas and Ca’iaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechari’ah in the wilderness; and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Luke 5:1 While the people pressed upon him to hear theword of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennes’aret. (other instances of “word of God”: Lk 8:11, 21; Acts 6:2; 13:5, 7, 44, 48; 17:13; 18:11; Rom 9:6; 1 Cor 14:36; Eph 6:17; Phil 1:14; Col 1:25; 1 Tim 4:5; 2 Tim 2:9; Titus 2:5; Heb 6:5; 13:7; 1 Jn 2:14; Rev 1:9; 20:4)
Luke 11:28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
John 16:12 I have yetmany things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
John 20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
John 21:25 But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
Acts 1:2-3 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. [3] To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God.
Acts 4:4 But many of those who heardthe wordbelieved; . . .
Acts 8:25 Now when they had testified and spoken theword of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. (other instances of “word of the Lord”: Acts 15:36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8; 4:15)
Acts 10:36-37 You know the word which he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), [37] the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:
Acts 11:1 Now the apostles and the brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received theword of God.
Acts 12:24 But theword of God grew and multiplied.
Acts 13:46, 49 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that theword of God should be spoken first to you. . . . [49] And theword of the Lord spread throughout all the region.
Acts 14:3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to theword of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (cf. 20:32)
Acts 15:7 And after there had been much debate, Peter rose and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear theword of the gospel and believe.”
Acts 15:27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things byword of mouth.
Acts 15:35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching theword of the Lord, with many others also.
Romans 10:8 But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, theword of faith which we preach);
Romans 16:25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to therevelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages
1 Corinthians 2:1, 4, 13 When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. . . . [4] and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, . . . [13] And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 10:4 and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. [The OT says nothing about such miraculous movement, in the related passages about Moses striking the rock to produce water (Ex 17:1-7; Num 20:2-13). But rabbinic tradition does]
1 Corinthians 11:2 I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you.
2 Corinthians 10:11 Let such people understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.
Ephesians 1:13 . . . you also, who have heard theword of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, . . . (cf. 2 Tim 2:15)
Ephesians 3:2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
Ephesians 4:21 assuming that you have heard about him [Christ] and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus.
Philippians 4:9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you. [The Philippians and the other churches Paul wrote to were bound to “do” not only what they learned from Paul’s letters, but also what they heard him orally teach]
Colossians 1:5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in theword of the truth, the gospel
Colossians 1:23 . . . not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, . . .
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. [there are false “human” traditions which oppose the true tradition “according to Christ”]
1 Thessalonians 1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit;
1 Thessalonians 2:13 . . . when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. [in 1 Thessalonians “Scripture” or “Scriptures” never appear. “Word,” “word of the Lord,” or “word of God” appear five times (1:6, 8, 2:13 [twice], 4:15), but in each instance it is clearly in the sense of oral proclamation, not Scripture]
1 Thessalonians 3:2-4 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s servant in the gospel of Christ, to establish you in your faith and to exhort you, [3] that no one be moved by these afflictions. You yourselves know that this is to be our lot. [4] For when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction; just as it has come to pass, and as you know.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-2, 5 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, [2] not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. . . . [5] Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this?
2 Thessalonians 2:15 . . . stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth, or by letter.
2 Thessalonians 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.
2 Timothy 1:13-14 Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me . . . [14] guard the truth which has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
2 Timothy 3:8: “As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses . . . ” [These two men cannot be found in the related Old Testament passage (Exodus 7:8 ff.), or anywhere else in the Old Testament.]
2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching.
Hebrews 1:7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you theword of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith.
Hebrews 2:1-3 Therefore we must pay the closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. [2] For if the message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, [3] how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him,
James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
1 Peter 1:25 “but theword of the Lord abides for ever.” That word is the good news which was preached to you.
1 John 2:7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning; the old commandment isthe wordwhich you have heard.
1 John 2:24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.
1 John 3:11 For this is the message which you haveheard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
2 John 1:6 And this is love, that we follow his commandments; this is the commandment, as you haveheard from the beginning, that you follow love.
3) Prophetic Oral Proclamation
Deuteronomy 8:20-22 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ [21] And if you say in your heart, `How may we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ — [22] when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him.
1 Samuel 9:27 . . . “that I [Samuel] may make known to you the word of God.”
1 Kings 12:22 But the word of God came to Shemai’ah the man of God:
1 Chronicles 29:29 Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles of Samuel the seer, and in the Chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of Gad the seer,
2 Chronicles 9:29 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahi’jah the Shi’lonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jerobo’am the son of Nebat?
2 Chronicles 12:15 Now the acts of Rehobo’am, from first to last, are they not written in the chronicles of Shemai’ah the prophet and of Iddo the seer? . . .
2 Chronicles 13:22 The rest of the acts of Abi’jah, his ways and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo. [Wikipedia presents many more similar fascinating examples in its article,“Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible.”]
[“The Word of the LORD”appears 243 timesin the Protestant Old Testament (RSV); mostly coming through men. For example]:
Genesis 15:1 . . . the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision . . .
Numbers 3:16 So Moses numbered them according to the word of the LORD, as he was commanded.
1 Samuel 3:21 . . . the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
2 Samuel 7:4 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan,
2 Samuel 24:11 . . . the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer . . .
1 Kings 6:11 Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon,
1 Kings 14:18 . . . the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.
1 Kings 18:1 . . . the word of the LORD came to Elijah, . . .
2 Kings 20:19 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.” . . .
2 Chronicles 36:21 to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah . . .
[The prophet Ezekiel wrote down the phrase, “the word of the LORD came to me”49 times.]
Luke 1:67 And his [John the Baptist’s] father Zechari’ah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, . . .
Luke 2:36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, . . .
Acts 2:17-18 ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; [18] yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
Acts 6:2 And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.”
Acts 8:25 Now when they had testified and spoken theword of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
Acts 11:27-28 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world; and this took place in the days of Claudius
Acts 13:1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyre’ne, Man’a-en a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Acts 15:32 And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, exhorted the brethren with many words and strengthened them.
Acts 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
Acts 21:9 And he [Philip] had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.
Acts 21:10-11 While we were staying for some days, a prophet named Ag’abus came down from Judea. [11] And coming to us he took Paul’s girdle and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, `So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this girdle and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”
1 Corinthians 11:4-5 Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, [5] but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head — it is the same as if her head were shaven.
Ephesians 3:2-5 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, [3] how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. [4] When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, [5] which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
1 Thessalonians 5:19-20 Do not quench the Spirit, [20] do not despise prophesying,
1 Peter 4:10-11 As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: [11] whoever speaks, as one who utters oracles of God; . . .
2 Peter 3:2 . . . you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets . . .
[Jesus called John the Baptist “more than a prophet” (Lk 7:26) and stated, “among those born of women none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Lk 7:28). St. Paul includes “prophets” — whom “God has appointed in the church” — as one of the Church offices (1 Cor 12:28-29; 14:29, 32, 37-38; Eph 4:11), and refers to “prophesy[ing]” (1 Cor 14:1, 3-5, 24, 31, 39) and “prophecy” (1 Cor 14:6, 22) and prophetic “revelation” (1 Cor 14:30) and noted the “prophetic utterances” that accompanied the ordination of Timothy (1 Tim 1:18; 4:14).]
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4) Direct Supernatural Guidance from the Holy Spirit
Numbers 11:29 But Moses said to him, “. . . Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!”
2 Chronicles 24:20 Then the Spirit of God took possession of Zechari’ah the son of Jehoi’ada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, . . .”
Nehemiah 9:30 Many years thou didst bear with them, and didst warn them by thy Spirit through thy prophets . . .
Ezekiel 3:24 But the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet; and he spoke with me . . .
Ezekiel 11:5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, . . .
Zechariah 7:12 . . . the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. . . .
Mark 12:36 David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared, . . .
Mark 13:11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say; but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. (cf. Mt 10:19-20; Lk 12:11-12)
Luke 2:25-27 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. [26] And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. [27] And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple . . .
John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, [17] even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.
John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
John 15:26 But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me;
John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Acts 1:16 Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, . . .
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke theword of God with boldness.
Acts 8:29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.”
Acts 10:19-20 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. [20] Rise and go down, and accompany them without hesitation; for I have sent them.”
Acts 11:12 And the Spirit told me to go with them . . .
Acts 13:2, 4 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” . . . [4] . . . sent out by the Holy Spirit . . .
Acts 16:6-7 And they went through the region of Phry’gia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. [7] And when they had come opposite My’sia, they attempted to go into Bithyn’ia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;
Acts 28:25 Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: (see 28:26-27)
Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
1 Corinthians 2:10, 12-13 God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. . . . [12] Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. [13] And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit. (cf. 2:14)
1 Corinthians 12:3-11 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. [4] Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5] and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; [6] and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. [7] To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. [8] To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, [9] to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, [10] to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. [11] All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
2 Timothy 1:14 guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
1 Peter 1:12 . . . those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit . . .
2 Peter 1:21 . . . no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (cf. 1:19: ” the prophetic word”)
5) Direct Supernatural Guidance from Dreams or Visions
Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
Genesis 20:3 But God came to Abim’elech in a dream by night, and said to him, . . . (cf. 20:6)
Genesis 28:12-16 And he [Jacob] dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! [13] And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; [14] and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. [15] Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you.” [16] Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place; and I did not know it.”
Genesis 31:11-13 Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘ere I am!’ [12] And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that leap upon the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. [13] I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go forth from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'”
Genesis 31:24 . . . God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, . . .
Genesis 41:25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.”
Genesis 46:2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here am I.”
Numbers 12:6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream.
1 Samuel 3:1, 4 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. . . . [4] Then the LORD called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!”
1 Samuel 28:6 And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets.
2 Samuel 7:17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. (see 7:4; 1 Chr 17:15)
1 Kings 3:5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”
2 Chronicles 9:29 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahi’jah the Shi’lonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jerobo’am the son of Nebat?
2 Chronicles 32:32 Now the rest of the acts of Hezeki’ah, and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
Psalm 89:19 Of old thou didst speak in a vision to thy faithful one, and say: “I have set the crown upon one who is mighty, I have exalted one chosen from the people.”
Isaiah 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzzi’ah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezeki’ah, kings of Judah.
Isaiah 29:10-11 For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers.
[11] And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. . . .
Jeremiah 23:28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. . . .
Jeremiah 24:1 . . . the LORD showed me this vision . . .
Jeremiah 38:21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is the vision which the LORD has shown to me:
Ezekiel 1:1 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
Ezekiel 8:3-4 . . . the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, . . . [4] And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain.
Ezekiel 11:24 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chalde’a, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me.
Ezekiel 12:23 Tell them therefore, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel.’ But say to them, ‘The days are at hand, and the fulfilment of every vision.’ [the prophets also often describe false visions from false prophets — e.g., Ezek 13:7, 9, 16, 23 –, but the counterfeit is no disproof of the genuine . . .]
Ezekiel 40:1-2 . . . the hand of the LORD was upon me, [2] and brought me in the visions of God into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city opposite me.
Ezekiel 43:3 And the vision I saw was like the vision which I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and like the vision which I had seen by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.
Daniel 1:17 . . . Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
Daniel 2:19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
Daniel 2:28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnez’zar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these:
Daniel 2:45 [Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar] “just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
Daniel 7:1 In the first year of Belshaz’zar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, and told the sum of the matter. [what follows is one of the most well-known messianic prophecies]
Daniel 8:1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshaz’zar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, . . . [many more mentions of visions occur in Daniel, chapters 4, 7-10]
Hosea 12:10 I spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables.
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. [cited in Acts 2:17; Peter applied it to the events on the Day of Pentecost, including miraculous speaking in other languages]
Habakkuk 2:2 And the LORD answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets, . . .”
Matthew 1:20 But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit;
Matthew 2:12-13 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. [13] Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
Matthew 2:19-20 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, [20] “Rise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
Matthew 27:19 Besides, while he [Pontius Pilate] was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much over him today in a dream.”
Luke 1:21-22 And the people were waiting for Zechari’ah, and they wondered at his delay in the temple. [22] And when he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he made signs to them and remained dumb.
Acts 9:10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Anani’as. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Anani’as.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
Acts 10:3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.”
Acts 10:17, 19 . . . Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision which he had seen might mean, . . . [19] . . . while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.”
Acts 11:5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, something descending, like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came down to me.” (cf. 12:9)
Acts 16:9-10 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedo’nia was standing beseeching him and saying, “Come over to Macedo’nia and help us.” [10] And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedo’nia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Acts 18:9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in avision, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent;”
Acts 26:19 “Wherefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,”
2 Corinthians 12:1-4 . . . I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. [2] I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. [3] And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows — [4] and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.
Revelation 4:1 After this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up hither, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
Revelation 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, . . . [the phrase “I saw” occurs 39 times in the book of Revelation, and “I heard” 25 times; also 14 timesin Ezekiel]
Revelation 9:17 And this was how I saw the horses in my vision: . . .
Revelation 10:1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, . . .
Revelation 12:1 And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
Revelation 13:1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, . . .
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
[also, the many biblically sanctioned communications from angels or from God Himself to man (such as the burning bush or various theophanies and encounters with the Angel of the Lord, and in, particularly, Isaiah, Daniel, Revelation, and the appearance of Jesus to the unconverted Paul) fall under this general category, too. I won’t even bother listing them. They could well be an additional hundred or more passages. They all convey absolute, undoubted, inspired truth, and so they constitute yet more contra-sola Scriptura scriptural data]
6) Mosaic Law / Jewish Pharisaical & Apocalyptic Tradition
Matthew 5:17-20 “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. [18] For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. [19] Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [20] For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” [Jesus’ condemnations, many believe, were broadly directed towards the Pharisees of the school ofShammai, whereas Jesus was closer to the school ofHillel. This seems to reflect Leviticus Rabbah 19:2: Should all the nations of the world unite to uproot one word of the Torah, they would be unable to do it.”]
Matthew 15:3-9 He answered them, “And why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? [4] For God commanded, `Honor your father and your mother,’ and, `He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die.’ [5] But you say, ‘If any one tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God, he need not honor his father.’ [6] So, for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God. [7] You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: [8] ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; [9] in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'” (cf. Mk 7:8-9, 13) [Jesus was rebuking this particular Pharisaical tradition as a corruption of the ten commandments. His point isn’t “anti-tradition” per se; rather, it’s “pro-God’s tradition” over against false “precepts of men”]
Matthew 19:17-19 . . . “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” [18] He said to him, “Which?” And Jesus said, “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, [19] Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (cf. Mk 10:17-19; Lk 18:18-20)
Matthew 23:2-3 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; [3] so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.” [here is legitimate, binding authority, but the phrase (and idea) of Moses’ seat cannot be found anywhere in the OT. It is found in the (originally oral) Mishna, where a sort of “teaching succession” from Moses on down is taught. Jesus referenced the Pharisees’ oral traditions and interpretations of the written Torah]
Mark 6:56 . . . the fringe of his garment . . . [cf. Mt 14:36 and Num 15:38: “tassels on the corners of their garments”]
Luke 1:5-6 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechari’ah, of the division of Abi’jah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. [6] And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. [Protestants claim that no one can perfectly keep the Law, but they did; so did Paul: Phil 3:6 below]
John 11:49-52 But one of them, Ca’iaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all; [50] you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” [51] He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, [52] and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
Acts 15:5 . . . some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees . . . [Christians, following Paul’s self-description, are described as Pharisees]
Acts 23:1-5 And Paul, looking intently at the council, said, “Brethren, I have lived before God in all good conscience up to this day.” [2] And the high priest Anani’as commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. [3] Then Paul said to him, “God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” [4] Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” [5] And Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, `You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'” [Paul believes he is still under the authority of the Jewish high priest: who was even a Sadducee. According to The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Ananias was “lawless and violent . . . haughty, unscrupulous, filling his sacred office for purely selfish and political ends” (vol. 1, p. 129). But Paul nonetheless showed him respect; even regarding him as his own “ruler”.]
Acts 23:6 . . . “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees . . .” [Paul twice describes himself as a Pharisee at his trial. The Pharisees accepted oral tradition, given to Moses on Mt. Sinai]
Acts 26:4-5 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and at Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. [5] They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee.” [St. Paul didn’t think that Christianity and Judaism were two separate religions]
Philippians 3:5-6 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee, [6] as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless. [note that St. Paul kept the law in a “blameless” fashion]
1 Peter 3:19 in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, [at least two ancient Jewish texts refer to fallen angels in a similar way; e.g.,1 Enoch18:13-16: “. . . the spot was desolate. And there I beheld seven stars, like great blazing mountains, and like spirits entreating me. Then the angel said, This place, until the consummation of heaven and earth, will be the prison of the stars, and the host of heaven. The stars which roll over fire are those which transgressed the commandment of God before their time arrived; for they came not in their proper season. Therefore was He offended with them, and bound them, until the period of the consummation of their crimes . . .”; or2 Enoch7:1-2: “And those men took me and led me up on to the second heaven, and showed me darkness, greater than earthly darkness, and there I saw prisoners hanging, watched, awaiting the great and boundless judgment, and these angels were dark-looking, more than earthly darkness, and incessantly making weeping through all hours. And I said to the men who were with me: Wherefore are these incessantly tortured? They answered me: These are God’s apostates, who obeyed not God’s commands, but took counsel with their own will, and turned away with their prince, who also is fastened on the fifth heaven.” 1 Enoch dates from c. 300-100 BC;2 Enoch probably from the first century]
Jude 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” [not found in the OT, but Origen (De Principiis, Bk III, ch. 2, sec, 1) traced it to the presently incomplete 1st century work, The Assumption of Moses]
Jude 14-15 It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, [15] to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. [direct citation of1 Enoch2:1: “Behold, he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done, and committed against him.” Note how Jude — writing inspired, God-breathed Scripture (2 Tim 3:16) — assumes that this is legitimate prophecy]
7) Jesus and Christians Attended Temple Worship and Sacrificial Rites
Matthew 5:23-24 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, [24] leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. [Mishnah: Yoma 8:9: “If a man said, “I will sin and repent, and sin again and repent”, he will be given no chance to repent. [If he said,] “I will sin and the Day of Atonement will effect atonement”, then the Day of Atonement effects no atonement. For transgressions that are between man and God the Day of Atonement effects atonement, but for transgressions that are between a man and his fellow the Day of Atonement effects atonement only if he has appeased his fellow.”]
Mark 14:12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the passover?”
Luke 2:22-24 And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord
[23] (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) [24] and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”
Luke 2:41-43 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. [42] And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; [43] and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.
Luke 5:14 And he charged him to tell no one; but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.” (cf. Mt 8:4; Mk 1:44)
Luke 22:7-8 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the passover lamb had to be sacrificed. [8] So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the passover for us, that we may eat it.” [the Last Supper included a lamb sacrificed at the temple]
Acts 2:46 And day by day, attending the temple together . . . [this would have certainly included St. Paul, too, when he was in Jerusalem, and he himself alludes to his presence in the Temple (Acts 24:12) ]
Acts 3:1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. [The notes in my RSV explain that the ninth hour was 3 PM “when sacrifice was offered with prayer (Ex 29.39; Lev 6.20; Josephus, Ant. xiv.4.3).”]
Acts 21:26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself with them and went into the temple, to give notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for every one of them.
Acts 24:11-12 As you may ascertain, it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship at Jerusalem; [12] and they did not find me disputing with any one or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues, . . . (cf. 22:17)
Acts 24:17-18 Now after some years I came to bring to my nation alms and offerings. [18] As I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple, . . .
8) Jesus and Christians Attended Synagogues on the Sabbath
Mark 1:21 And they went into Caper’na-um; and immediately on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. (cf. 1:39; Mt 4:23; 9:35; 13:54)
Mark 6:2 And on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue . . .
Luke 4:15-16 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. [16] And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; (cf. 4:44)
Luke 6:6 On another sabbath, when he entered the synagogue and taught . . .
Luke 13:10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. (cf. Jn 6:59; 18:20)
Acts 9:20 And in the synagogues immediately he [Paul] proclaimed Jesus, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
Acts 13:5 When they arrived at Sal’amis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. . . .
Acts 13:13-16 Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphyl’ia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem; [14] but they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisid’ia. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. [15] After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” [16] So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: (cf. 14:1)
Acts 17:1-2 Now when they had passed through Amphip’olis and Apollo’nia, they came to Thessaloni’ca, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. [2] And Paul went in, as was his custom, and for three weeks he argued with them from the scriptures, (cf. 17:10, 17; 18:7-8)
Acts 18:4 And he argued in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks. (cf. 18:19, 26; 19:8)
9) Jesus & Christians Observed Jewish Feasts
John 2:13, 23 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. . . . [23] Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did;
John 4:45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast.
John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [either the feast of unleavened bread or the feast of tabernacles or booths: Lev 23:34]
John 10:22-23 It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem; [23] it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. [this is another name for the feast of Hanukkah, which falls in December, near Christmas]
Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. [feast of Pentecost or weeks: Lev 23:15-22]
Acts 20:6 but we sailed away from Philip’pi after the days of Unleavened Bread, . . .
1 Corinthians 5:8 Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. [feast of unleavened bread: Lev 23:6]
1 Corinthians 16:8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,
10) Oral Torah
Exodus 23:19 . . . “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (cf. 34:26; Dt 14:21) [this is all we have in the OT regarding the common traditional Jewish prohibition of mixing meat and dairy products (which I first heard of when I visited Israel in 2014). MishnahChullinis the written version of the oral Torah that expands this far more broadly than the original very specific application]
Jeremiah 17:21-22, 27 Thus says the LORD: Take heed for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. [22] And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the sabbath or do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. . . . [27] But if you do not listen to me, to keep the sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched. [nothing in the Pentateuch prohibits carrying things out of one’s house on the Sabbath, yet Jeremiah informs us that Jerusalem was destroyed in part due to this violation. If it’s not part of written Mosaic Law, then it must be attributed to the oral Torah that the mainstream pharisaical tradition believed was also given to Moses on Mt. Sinai]
Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, `You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ [22] But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, `You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. [Talmud: Bava Mezia 58b: “He who publicly shames his neighbour is as though he shed blood”]
Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ [28] But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” [Jesus drew from the oral Torah, specifically fromLeviticus Rabba: “Adultery can be committed with the eyes.” The Sermon on the Mount was primarily a condemnation of the heretical doctrines of the Saduccees, and an endorsement of the doctrines of the Pharisees]
Matthew 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. [30] And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. [Jesus drew from the oral Torah later written inNiddah 13b: “R. Eleazar stated: Who are referred to in the Scriptural text, Your hands are full of blood? Those that commit masturbation with their hands. It was taught at the school of R. Ishmael, Thou shalt not commit adultery implies, Thou shalt not practise masturbation either with hand or with foot.”]
Matthew 5:39 . . . I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also [in the Talmud, a person struck in this way is urged to forgive even if the offender doesn’t ask forgiveness (Tosefta Baba Kanima 9:29). People are commanded to cheerfully submit to suffering (Yoma 23a)]
Matthew 5:44 . . . I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, [this idea is found in the Talmud: Yoma 23a, Gitin 36b, and Shabat 88b]
Matthew 6:7 And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. [Talmud: Berachot 55a: “If one draws out his prayer and expects therefore its fulfilment, he will in the end suffer vexation of heart, . . .”]
Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [Talmud: Sotah 48b: “Rabbi Eliezer the Great declares: Whoever has a piece of bread in his basket and says, ‘What shall I eat tomorrow?’ belongs only to them who are little in faith.“]
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes;” [Talmud: Bava Batra 12b: “Rabbi Johanan said: Since the Temple was destroyed, prophecy has been taken from prophets and given to fools and children.”]
Matthew 12:10-12 And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?” so that they might accuse him. [11] He said to them, “What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? [12] Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.” [The rabbis in the Talmud (oral Torah) cited Hosea 6:6, that helping people was of greater importance than observing the rituals and customs (Sukkah 49b, Deuteronomy Rabbah on 16:18, etc.), just as Jesus did]
Matthew 25:45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ [Tosefta Sh’vuot, ch. 3: “One who betrays his fellow, it is as if he has betrayed God”]
Mark 2:27 And he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath;” [this phrase appears in the Talmud (Mekilta 103b, and Yoma 85b: “Rabbi Jonathan ben Joseph said: For it is holy unto you; I.e., it [the Sabbath] is committed to your hands, not you to its hands”), and was believed by many rabbis in Jesus’s day: particularly in the School of Hillel]
Acts 7:38 This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living oracles to give to us.
Romans 3:2 . . . the Jews are entrusted with the oracles of God. [possibly refers to the oral Torah along with the written]
11) Binding Authority in the One Church / Impermissibility of Competing Denominations
Matthew 16:18-19 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. [19] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon [Peter], behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, [32] but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.”
John 17:19-23 [Jesus praying for His disciples] And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth. [20] “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, [21] that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. [22] The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, [23] I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me.
John 21:15-17 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” [16] A second time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” [17] He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
Acts 4:32 Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, . . .
Acts 14:22-23 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. [23] And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed.
Acts 15:28-29 “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: [29] that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”[This infallible and arguably inspired binding declaration (see Acts 16:4) — confirmed by the Holy Spirit — in the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:7-11) was essentially based on a “vision” (10:17) that God gave St. Peter (10:11-16), and helped him understand by sending to him the Gentile centurion, Cornelius (10:25 ff.), to whom He had communicated by an angel (10:22, 30-32). Virtually none of this process was directly related to Scripture or the written Mosaic Law at all. Three of the four had to do with food. (Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25). Two of these derived from the oral Torah: abstaining from food sacrificed to idols (Mishnah Avodah Zarah 23a) and foods that were strangled (Mishnah Chullin, which addresses matters of “non-sacred consumption of meat, such as ritual slaughter of non-consecrated animals”).]
Acts 16:4 . . . they delivered to them for observance the decisions which had been reached by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.[Paul was proclaiming the conciliar decision in Jerusalem as binding upon Christians hundreds of miles away in Asia Minor (Turkey)]
Acts 20:28 Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son.
1 Corinthians 1:10, 13 I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. . . . [13] Is Christ divided? . . .
1 Corinthians 10:17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 20 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13] For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit. [14] For the body does not consist of one member but of many.. . . [20] As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
Ephesians 4:4-5, 13-16 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, . . . [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; [14] so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. [15] Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.
Colossians 2:6-7 As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in him, [7] rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, . . .
1 Timothy 2:4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 3:15 . . . the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. [seemy analysis of this passage, showing how it proves the infallibility of the Church]
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
1 Timothy 4:3 . . . those who believe and know the truth.
2 Timothy 2:25 God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know thetruth,
2 Timothy 3:7-8 who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of thetruth. [8] As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith;
Titus 1:5 . . . appoint elders in every town as I directed you,
1 Peter 5:1-5 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. [2] Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, [3] not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock. [4] And when the chief Shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory. [5] Likewise you that are younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
1 John 2:21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and know that no lie is of the truth.
12) Definitive Interpretation of Scripture from Ecclesiastical Leaders
Exodus 18:19-20 Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You [Moses] shall represent the people before God, and bring their cases to God; [20] and you shall teach them the statutes and the decisions, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.
Exodus 32:26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
Leviticus 10:8, 11 And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying, “. . . [11] and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them by Moses.”
Deuteronomy 24:8 “Take heed, in an attack of leprosy, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you; as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do.”
Deuteronomy 27:14 And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel with a loud voice: [followed by twelve curses for various sins. [the Levites were teaching priests (2 Chr 15:3) in the old covenant and also in charge of the tabernacle and the temple and sacred items like the ark of the covenant]
Deuteronomy 33:8, 10 And of Levi he said, . . . [10] They shall teach Jacob thy ordinances, and Israel thy law; . . .
2 Chronicles 17:8-9 and with them the Levites, Shemai’ah, Nethani’ah, Zebadi’ah, As’ahel, Shemi’ramoth, Jehon’athan, Adoni’jah, Tobi’jah, and Tobadoni’jah; and with these Levites, the priests Eli’shama and Jeho’ram. [9] And they taught in Judah, having the book of the law of the LORD with them; they went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.
2 Chronicles 35:3 . . . the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, . . .
Ezra 7:6, 10, 25-26 this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses which the LORD the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was upon him. . . . [10] For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel. . . . [25] “And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God; and those who do not know them, you shall teach. [26] Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed upon him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.”
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 7-9, 12 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel. [2] And Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, . . . [3] And he read from it . . . [7] Also Jesh’ua, Bani, Sherebi’ah, Jamin, Akkub, Shab’bethai, Hodi’ah, Ma-asei’ah, Keli’ta, Azari’ah, Jo’zabad, Hanan, Pelai’ah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, . . . [8] And they read from the book, from the law of God, clearly; and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. [9] . . . and the Levites who taught the people . . . [12] . . . they had understood the words that were declared to them.
Malachi 2:4-7 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may hold, says the LORD of hosts. [5] My covenant with him was a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him, that he might fear; and he feared me, he stood in awe of my name. [6] True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. [7] For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
Mark 4:33-34 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; [34] he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
Luke 24:25-27, 32 And he said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! [26] Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” [27] And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. . . . [32] They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?”
Luke 24:44-45 Then he said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” [45] Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,
Acts 8:26-27, 30-35 But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert road. [27] And he rose and went. And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister of the Can’dace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship . . . [30] So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” [31] And he said, “How can I, unless some one guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. [32] Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this: “As a sheep led to the slaughter or a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. [33] In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken up from the earth.” [34] And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, pray, does the prophet say this, about himself or about some one else?” [35] Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news of Jesus.
2 Peter 1:20 First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
2 Peter 3:15-17 . . . So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, [16] speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. [17] You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability.
13) Apostolic Succession
Acts 1:20-26 For it is written in the book of Psalms, `Let his habitation become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and `His office let another take.’
[21] So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, [22] beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us — one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” [23] And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsab’bas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthi’as. [24] And they prayed and said, “Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two thou hast chosen [25] to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place.” [26] And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthi’as; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.
Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, . . .
Ephesians 2:19-21 . . . you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, [20] built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, [21] in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
1 Timothy 1:2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith . . .
1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you.
2 Timothy 1:14 guard thetruth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
2 Timothy 2:2 And what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
Titus 1:4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith . . .
Jude 3 . . . contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Revelation 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
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Summary: Collection of 601+ Bible passages proving that sola Scriptura (Scripture as the only infallible rule of faith) is a false, relentlessly self-defeating, and utterly unbiblical novelty.
Nehemiah 9:20 Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them, . . . [teaches us]
Job 32:8 But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. [gives us understanding]
Job 33:4 The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. [is the Creator]
Psalm 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? [omnipresent like God the Father]
Isaiah 40:13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as his counselor has instructed him? [possesses extraordinary knowledge]
Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit . . . [grieves]
Isaiah 48:16 . . . And now the Lord GOD has sent me and his Spirit. [sends]
Isaiah 63:14 . . . the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. . . . [provides rest]
Ezekiel 37:14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, . . . [gives life]
Joel 2:28 . . . I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. [gives the ability to prophesy and to have visions]
Micah 3:8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. [provides power, might, and zeal for publicly condemning sin]
Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first-born. [brings about a spirit of compassion, prayer, and mourning]
Matthew 1:18 . . . she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; (cf. Lk 1:35) [helped make Jesus’ incarnation possible]
Matthew 3:11 . . . he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. [empowers for discipleship]
Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. [leads]
Matthew 12:28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. [casts out demons]
Matthew 12:31-32 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. [32] And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (cf. Mk 3:28-29; Lk 12:10) [can be blasphemed]
Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [we baptize in His name, along with the Father and the Son]
Mark 1:12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. [impels actions]
Mark 12:36 David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared, . . . [inspires the writers of Holy Scripture]
Mark 13:11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say; but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. (cf. Mt 10:19-20; Lk 12:11-12) [gives us words to speak under persecution]
Luke 2:26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. [reveals the future]
Luke 2:27 And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple . . . [inspires or influences]
Luke 24:49 . . . stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high. (cf. Acts 2:2-4, 33) [provides spiritual power]
John 3:5-6 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [causes one to be born again and regenerated and fit for the kingdom of God]
John 6:63 It is the spirit that gives life, . . . [gives life]
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, [helps or counsels]
John 14:17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. [“him” and “he” applied to Him; can be known]
John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. [counsels, teaches us all things, helps us to remember Jesus’ teachings]
John 15:26 But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; [counsels, bears witness to Jesus]
John 16:7 . . . if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. [counsels, “him” applied to Him, comforts]
John 16:8-11 And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:[9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; [10] concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; [11] concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. [called “he”, convicts of sin, involved with judgment]
John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. [guides, proclaims truth, speaks, “he” and “his” applied to Him, has authority, hears, declares, knows and declares the future, has impulses]
John 16:14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. [glorifies Jesus, called “he”, declares]
Acts 1:5, 8 for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. . . . [8] . . . you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . . (cf. 11:16) [empowers believers]
Acts 1:16 Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, . . . [inspires the writers of Scripture]
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. [gives ability to speak in tongues]
Acts 4:31 . . . they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. [causes believers to proclaim God’s word with boldness]
Acts 5:3-4 But Peter said, “Anani’as, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? [4] While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” [is God, can be lied to]
Acts 5:9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? . . .” [men futilely try to tempt Him]
Acts 5:32 . . . we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit . . . [bears witness to Jesus]
Acts 7:51 . . . you always resist the Holy Spirit. . . . [His will can be resisted]
Acts 8:29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” [speaks, commands]
Acts 8:39 . . . the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more . . . [can ‘”catch up” human beings and take them away]
Acts 9:31 . . . in the comfort of the Holy Spirit . . . [comforts]
Acts 10:19-20 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. [20] Rise and go down, and accompany them without hesitation; for I have sent them.” [speaks, sends, commands]
Acts 10:44-46 While Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. [45] And the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. [46] For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. . . . [enables one to speak in other tongues]
Acts 11:12 And the Spirit told me to go with them . . . [speaks, commands]
Acts 13:2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” [speaks, commands, calls men to ministry]
Acts 13:4 . . . sent out by the Holy Spirit . . . [sends or dispatches]
Acts 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. [gives joy]
Acts 15:28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: [judges whether things are good, thinks, yearns]
Acts 16:6-7 And they went through the region of Phry’gia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. [7] And when they had come opposite My’sia, they attempted to go into Bithyn’ia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; [forbids]
Acts 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. [causes believers to speak in tongues and prophesy]
Acts 20:28 Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers . . . [appoints priests and bishops]
Acts 21:11 And coming to us he took Paul’s girdle and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, `So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this girdle and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'” [prophesies]
Acts 28:25 Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: (see 28:26-27) [prophesies; inspires the words of Scripture]
***
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***
Romans 5:5 . . . God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. [expresses God’s love for us]
Romans 8:2, 4-6 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. . . . [4] in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. [5] For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. [6] To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. [sets us free from sin and death, sanctifies us, gives us life and peace]
Romans 8:11 . . . the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead . . . [resurrected Jesus]
Romans 8:13 for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. [enables us to overcome sinful impulses, sanctifies us]
Romans 8:14-15 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15] . . . you have received the spirit of sonship. . . . [leads us, enables us to be sons of God]
Romans 8:16 it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [confirms and bears witness that we are God’s children, “himself” applied to Him]
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. [helps, intercedes, sighs, “himself” applied to Him]
Romans 8:27 And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. [has the omniscient mind of God, intercedes]
Romans 9:1 I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, [forms a conscience in us]
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; [gives us joy]
Romans 15:13 . . . by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. [gives us hope]
Romans 15:16 . . . sanctified by the Holy Spirit. [sanctifies]
Romans 15:19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit, . . . [gives us power to do signs and wonders]
Romans 15:30 . . . by the love of the Spirit . . . [loves or enables us to love]
1 Corinthians 2:4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, [inspires spiritual words of divine power and Scripture]
1 Corinthians 2:10-11 God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. [11] . . . no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (cf. Rom 11:33-34) [reveals truths as God, searches “everything” and has the mind of God]
1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. [helps us to understand spiritual gifts]
1 Corinthians 2:13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit. [teaches us spiritual truths and how to interpret them for others]
1 Corinthians 2:14 The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. [gives us the spiritual gifts and the discernment and understanding of them]
1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. [regenerates, sanctifies, and justifies us]
1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. [gives us the ability to speak spiritual truths]
1 Corinthians 12:7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. [manifests Himself to and gives gifts to every believer]
1 Corinthians 12:8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, [gives us the spiritual gifts of wisdom and knowledge]
1 Corinthians 12:9-10 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, [10] to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. [gives us the gifts of faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, distinguishing of good and evil spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues]
1 Corinthians 12:11 All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. [inspires spiritual gifts, apportions spiritual gifts variously to individuals, wills, called “he”]
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit. [causes baptism to take place, incorporating us into the Body of Christ]
2 Corinthians 3:3 and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. [sanctifies us]
2 Corinthians 3:6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life. [guides Christians and gives life]
2 Corinthians 3:8 will not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendor? [ushers in the new covenant and Church age]
2 Corinthians 13:14 . . . the fellowship of the Holy Spirit . . . [creates fellowship and bond among Christians]
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. [sanctifies, gives freedom, is God, helps us be unified with God]
Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” [causes us to act as God’s children, and to cry, “Abba! Father!”]
Galatians 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness. [gives us the faith to wait in hope]
Galatians 5:16-17 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17] For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would. [sanctifies us; enables us to be holy]
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; . . . (cf. 5:25) [sanctifies us and gives us all of these wonderful traits]
Galatians 6:8 For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [helps us achieve eternal life]
Ephesians 1:13-14 In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, [14] which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. [seals our salvation]
Ephesians 2:18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. [gives us, with Jesus, access to the Father]
Ephesians 2:22 in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. [enables us to be indwelt by God]
Ephesians 3:5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; [inspires sacred Scripture and sacred apostolic tradition]
Ephesians 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, [strengthens and sanctifies us]
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. [grieves, seals us for redemption]
Ephesians 6:17 . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [inspires God’s written and oral word]
Ephesians 6:18 Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, [enables powerful, effective prayer]
1 Thessalonians 1:5 for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit . . . [inspires sacred Scripture and sacred apostolic tradition and enables it to be powerfully proclaimed]
1 Thessalonians 1:6 . . . with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit; [gives us joy]
1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit, [can be quenched or resisted]
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. [sanctifies and helps save us]
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, [speaks, prophesies]
2 Timothy 1:14 guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. [entrusts us to keep the truth]
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, [regenerates and renews and sanctifies us, thus helps save us]
Hebrews 2:4 . . . gifts of the Holy Spirit . . . [gives us gifts]
Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, . . . (3:7-11 cite the Old Testament) [inspires the words of Scripture]
Hebrews 9:14 . . . Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, . . . [helped Jesus to offer Himself as our redeemer]
Hebrews 10:15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; . . . [bears witness of the gospel]
Hebrews 10:29 . . . outraged the Spirit of grace . . . [can be outraged, gives grace]
1 Peter 1:2 . . . sanctified by the Spirit . . . [sanctifies us]
1 Peter 1:12 . . . those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit . . . [enables powerful preaching of the gospel]
2 Peter 1:21 because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. [inspires prophecy and Scripture]
1 John 3:24 . . . by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us. [proves that God dwells in us]
1 John 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God . . . [can be known]
1 John 4:13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. [proves that God abides in us, and we in Him]
1 John 5:7-8 And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. [8] There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree. [bears witness to Jesus]
Jude 1:19 It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. [sanctifies us]
Jude 1:20 . . . pray in the Holy Spirit; [enables prayer]
Revelation 2:7 . . . what the Spirit says to the churches . . . (cf. 2:11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22) [speaks to churches]
Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” [speaks]
Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let him who hears say, “Come.” And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price. [speaks, offers or beckons men unto salvation]
***
* Practical Matters: I run the most comprehensive “one-stop” Catholic apologetics site: rated #1 for Christian sites by leading AI tool, ChatGPT — endorsed by popular Protestant blogger Adrian Warnock. Perhaps some of my 5,000+ free online articles or fifty-six books have helped you (by God’s grace) to decide to become Catholic or to return to the Church, or better understand some doctrines and why we believe them.
*
Or you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. I’m always in need of more funds: especially monthly support. “The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a full-time Catholic apologist, and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog.
Summary: Compilation of 125 biblical passages from the Old and New Testaments, indicating in many ways that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person: the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.
Photo credit: Christ, by Rembrandt (1606-1669) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
[all biblical citations from RSV]
[initial research from 1982 (using KJV); slightly revised in 1997; revised and reformatted for RSV edition in 2012; separated from the larger article, Jesus is God: Hundreds of Biblical Proofs (RSV edition) on 26 November 2024]
*****
Every time the New Testament refers to Jesus as Christ, it is declaring that He is the Messiah, since Christ is the Greek for the Hebrew Messiah. The latter word appears twice in the New Testament in the RSV, and in both cases, it is shown that Christ is the equivalent term:
John 1:41 He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).
John 4:25-26The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things.” [26] Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
Other verses provide further evidence:
Matthew 16:16-17, 20 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” [17] And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”… [20] Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (cf. Mk 8:27-30; 9:41; Lk 4:41; 9:18-21)
Mark 14:61-62 But he was silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” [62] And Jesus said, “I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (cf. Mt 26:63-65; Lk 22:67-71; 24:25-27)
Son of Man When Jesus calls Himself “the Son of Man” (e.g., Mt 10:23, 32-33; 19:28; 23:37 ff.; 24:47; Mk 2:19-20; 3:28-29; 8:31, 38; 9:9, 31; 10:33, 38; 14:21, 41; Lk 11:30; 12:8, 49-50; 17:24; 18:6, 8; 21:36; 22:27, 48), He is claiming to be the Messiah, since He is referring (especially in Mk 13:26; 14:62; Jn 5:27; cf. Rev 1:13; 14:14) to a well-known messianic passage:
Daniel 7:13-14 I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. [14] And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
In Mark 14:61-62, Jesus assumes that the Christ (Messiah) and the Son of Man are one and the same (Himself). Matthew 16:16-17 establishes the fact that the Messiah and “the Son of God” are identical as well. The latter term is used of Jesus 43 times in the New Testament, in RSV.
***
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***
The apostles often appeal to messianic promises and fulfilled prophecies as evidence of the Messiahship and Divinity of Jesus Christ (e.g., Mt 2:4-6; Rom 1:2-4; Acts 3:18; 10:43; 13:29; 17:2-3; 1 Cor 15:3-4; 1 Pet 2:5-6). Here is a summary of such messianic prophecies:
1) Born of a Virgin: Is 7:14 and Mt 1:18, 24-25; Lk 1:26-35.
2) From the Tribe of Judah: Gen 49:10; Mic 5:2 and Mt 1:2; Lk 3:23, 33.
3) From the Family Line of Jesse: Is 11:1, 10 and Mt 1:6; Lk 3:23, 32.
4) From the House of David: Ps 132:11; Jer 23:5 and Mt 1:1; Lk 3:23, 31.
5) Born in Bethlehem: Mic 5:2 and Mt 2:1, 4-8; Lk 2:4-7.
6) Called Son of God: Ps 2:7 and Mt 3:17.
7) Called Lord: Ps 110:1; Jer 23:6 and Mt 22:43-45; Lk 2:11.
8) Called Immanuel (God With Us): Is 7:14 and Mt 1:23.
9) A Prophet: Deut 18:18 and Mt 21:11; Lk 7:16; Jn 7:40.
10) Judge: Is 33:22 and Jn 5:30.
11) King: Ps 2:6 and Mt 21:5; Jn 18:36-37.
12) Special Anointing of the Spirit: Is 11:2 and Mt 3:16-17.
13) Preceded by a Messenger: Is 40:3; Mal 3:1 and Mt 3:1-3; 11:10; Lk 1:17; Jn 1:23.
14) Galilee Ministry: Is 9:1 and Mt 4:12-13, 17.
15) Ministry of Miracles: Is 32:3-4; 35:5-6 and Mt 9:32-35.
16) Teacher of Parables: Ps 78:2 and Mt 13:34.
17) Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem: Zech 9:9 and Mt 21:5-10, 15-16.
18) Messiah to Come Before Jerusalem’s Destruction (70 A.D.): Gen 49:10 and Mt 24:1-2.
19) Messiah Will Come to the Temple (Had to be Before 70): Ps 118:26; Dan 9:26; Hag 2:7-9; Zech 11:13; Mal 3:1 and Mt 21:12; Jn 2:13-17.
20) Entered Jerusalem on a Donkey: Zech 9:9 and Lk 19:35-37.
21) “Stone of Stumbling”: Ps 118:22; Is 8:13-14; 28:16 and Acts 4:10-11; Rom 9:32-33; 1 Pet 2:7-8.
22) Rejected by His Own People: Is 53:3 and Jn 1:11; 7:5, 48.
23) Hated Without a Cause: Ps 69:4; Is 49:7 and Jn 15:25.
24) Resurrection: Ps 16:10; 30:3; 41:10; 118:17; Hos 6:2 and Acts 2:31; 13:33; Mt 28:6; Mk 16:6; Lk 24:46.
25) Ascension: Ps 68:18 and Acts 1:9.
26) Right Hand of God: Ps 110:1 and Heb 1:3; Acts 2:34-35.
The following 24 prophecies were literally fulfilled by Jesus in one 24-hour period of time:
27) Betrayed by a Friend: Ps 41:9; 55:12-14 and Mt 10:4.
28) Betrayed For 30 Pieces of Silver: Zec 11:12 and Mt 26:15.
29) Silver Thrown in God’s House: Zech 11:13 and Mt 27:5.
30) The Potter’s Field: Zech 11:13 and Mt 27:7.
31) Forsaken by Disciples: Zech 13:7 and Mt 26:31; Mk 14:50.
32) Silent Before Accusers: Is 53:7 and Mt 27:12.
33) Wounded and Bruised: Is 53:5; Zech 13:6 and Mt 27:26.
34) Beaten: Is 50:6; Mic 5:1 and Mt 26:67; Lk 22:63.
35) Spit Upon: Is 50:6 and Mt 26:67.
36) Mocked: Ps 22:7-8 and Mt 27:31.
37) Hands and Feet Pierced: Ps 22:16; Zec 12:10 and Lk 23:33.
38) Messiah Was to Die: Is 53:8; Dan 9:26 and Lk 23:46; 24:7; Jn 19:30.
39) Executed With Criminals: Is 53:12 and Mt 27:38.
40) Prayed For His Persecutors: Is 53:12 and Lk 23:34.
41) People Wagging Their Heads: Ps 22:7 and Mt 27:39.
42) Stared Upon: Ps 22:17 and Lk 23:35.
43) Garments Parted: Ps 22:18 and Jn 19:23.
44) Garments Gambled For: Ps 22:18 and Jn 19:24.
45) Offered Vinegar and Gall: Ps 69:21 and Mt 27:34; Jn 19:29.
46) Forsaken Cry: Ps 22:1 and Mt 27:46.
47) Bones Not Broken: Ps 34:20 and Jn 19:33.
48) Side Pierced: Zech 12:10 and Jn 19:34.
49) Darkness at Noon: Amos 8:9 and Mt 27:45.
50) Buried in Rich Man’s Tomb: Is 53:9 and Mt 27:57-60.
*
***
* Practical Matters: I run the most comprehensive “one-stop” Catholic apologetics site: rated #1 for Christian sites by leading AI tool, ChatGPT — endorsed by popular Protestant blogger Adrian Warnock. Perhaps some of my 5,000+ free online articles or fifty-six books have helped you (by God’s grace) to decide to become Catholic or to return to the Church, or better understand some doctrines and why we believe them.
*
Or you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. I’m always in need of more funds: especially monthly support. “The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a full-time Catholic apologist, and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog.
Photo credit: Christ, by Rembrandt (1606-1669) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
Summary: I collect 50 of the most well-known Old Testament messianic prophecies, all fulfilled by Jesus, Who was both the Messiah, and God incarnate: the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity.
+ Catalogue of Sixty Traits That Apostates Formerly Possessed When They Were in God’s Good Graces
Photo credit: cover of my book. published by Logos / Faithlife / Verbum in March 2012.
[all passages from RSV. Many “thanks” to the good old reference work, Nave’s Topical Bible (1897). Nave (1841-1917) was a Methodist, so he agreed — as an Arminian / Wesleyan — that one could fall away from faith; hence, he didn’t overlook that teaching in his Bible references]
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Leviticus 26:15 . . . you spurn my statutes, . . . you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant,
Numbers 14:22-23 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the proof these ten times and have not hearkened to my voice, [23] shall see the land which I swore to give to their fathers; and none of those who despised me shall see it.
Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart . . .”
Deuteronomy 8:11 “Take heed lest you forget the LORD your God, by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, . . .”
Deuteronomy 8:19 And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you this day that you shall surely perish.
Deuteronomy 29:18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations; lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit,
Deuteronomy 29:25-26 . . . they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, [26] and went and served other gods and worshiped them . . .
Deuteronomy 31:16 . . . this people will rise and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.
Deuteronomy 31:29 For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.
Deuteronomy 32:15 . . . he forsook God who made him, and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
1 Samuel 15:11 . . . Saul . . . has turned back from following me . . .
1 Samuel 15:23 “. . . Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.”
1 Samuel 15:26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.” (cf. 16:1)
1 Samuel 16:14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.
1 Samuel 18:12 Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul.
1 Kings 11:4-6, 9-10 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. [5] For Solomon went after Ash’toreth the goddess of the Sido’nians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. [6] So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. . . . [9] And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, [10] and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD commanded.
1 Kings 11:33 . . . he has forsaken me, and worshiped Ash’toreth the goddess of the Sido’nians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and has not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.
2 Kings 18:12 . . . they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed.
2 Kings 21:22 he forsook the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.
1 Chronicles 28:9 . . . if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever.
2 Chronicles 12:1-2 When the rule of Rehobo’am was established and was strong, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.[2] In the fifth year of King Rehobo’am, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem
2 Chronicles 13:11 . . . we keep the charge of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken him.
2 Chronicles 15:1-2 The Spirit of God came upon Azari’ah the son of Oded, [2] and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
2 Chronicles 24:24 . . . they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. . . . (cf. 24:20)
2 Chronicles 25:1-2, 14, 27 Amazi’ah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, . . . [2] And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not with a blameless heart. [14] After Amazi’ah came from the slaughter of the E’domites, he brought the gods of the men of Se’ir, and set them up as his gods, and worshiped them, making offerings to them. . . . [27] . . . he turned away from the LORD . . .
2 Chronicles 26:4-5, 16, 20-21 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amazi’ah had done. [5] He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechari’ah, who instructed him in the fear of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper. . . . [16] But when he was strong he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was false to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. . . . [20] And Azari’ah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they thrust him out quickly, and he himself hastened to go out, because the LORD had smitten him. [21] And King Uzzi’ah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper dwelt in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD. And Jotham his son was over the king’s household, governing the people of the land.
2 Chronicles 29:6, 8 For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God; they have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs. . . . [8] Therefore the wrath of the LORD came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
Ezra 8:22 . . . “The hand of our God is for good upon all that seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all that forsake him.”
Nehemiah 9:26-27 “Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy law behind their back and killed thy prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to thee, and they committed great blasphemies. [27] Therefore thou didst give them into the hand of their enemies, . . .
Job 34:26-27 He strikes them for their wickedness in the sight of men, [27] because they turned aside from following him, and had no regard for any of his ways,
Psalm 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
Psalm 78:10-11 They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law. [11] They forgot what he had done, and the miracles that he had shown them.
Psalm 78:40-42 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! [41] They tested him again and again, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. [42] They did not keep in mind his power, or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;
Psalm 78:56-57 Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not observe his testimonies, [57] but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.
Proverbs 2:17, 19 who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; . . . [19] none who go to her come back nor do they regain the paths of life.
Isaiah 1:4 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.
Isaiah 1:28 But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
Isaiah 5:24-25 they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. [25] Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, . . .
Isaiah 17:10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; . . .
Isaiah 24:5 . . . they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.
Isaiah 31:6 Turn to him from whom you have deeply revolted, O people of Israel.
Isaiah 65:11 . . . you who forsake the LORD, . . .
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Jeremiah 2:11, 13 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. [13] . . . they have forsaken me, . . . (cf. 2:17, 19)
Jeremiah 2:27 . . . they have turned their back to me, . . . (cf. 2:32)
Jeremiah 3:6 The LORD said to me in the days of King Josi’ah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the harlot?” (cf. 3:20, 22)
Jeremiah 3:13 . . . you rebelled against the LORD your God . . .
Jeremiah 3:21 . . . they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jeremiah 5:19 . . . you have forsaken me and served foreign gods . . .
Jeremiah 5:23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.
Jeremiah 8:5-6 Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return. [6] I have given heed and listened, but they have not spoken aright; no man repents of his wickedness, . . .
Jeremiah 11:9-11 Again the LORD said to me, “There is revolt among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. [10] They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. [11] Therefore, thus says the LORD, Behold, I am bringing evil upon them which they cannot escape; though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.
Jeremiah 11:16-17 The LORD once called you, ‘A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit’; but with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. [17] The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil which the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by burning incense to Ba’al.”
Jeremiah 13:25 . . . you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.
Jeremiah 17:5 Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man . . . whose heart turns away from the LORD.”
Jeremiah 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake thee shall be put to shame; those who turn away from thee shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.
Jeremiah 18:15 . . . my people have forgotten me, they burn incense to false gods . . .
Jeremiah 19:4 . . . the people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by burning incense in it to other gods . . .
Jeremiah 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains; from mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their fold.”
Ezekiel 2:3-4 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels, who have rebelled against me; they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. [4] The people also are impudent and stubborn: . . . (cf. 2:5-8)
Ezekiel 3:20 Again, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered . . .
Ezekiel 18:24 But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does the same abominable things that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds which he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, he shall die.
Ezekiel 23:35 . . . thus says the Lord GOD: . . . you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back . . .
Ezekiel 33:12 And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins.
Ezekiel 33:18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall die for it.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Hosea 6:7 . . . they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.
Hosea 8:14 . . . Israel has forgotten his Maker . . .
Hosea 9:1 . . . you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. . . .
Hosea 11:7 My people are bent on turning away from me; . . .
Hosea 13:16 Sama’ria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God . . .
Hosea 14:1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Amos 2:4 . . . they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, . . .
Zephaniah 1:4, 6 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Ba’al . . . [6] those who have turned back from following the LORD, . . .
Malachi 3:7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
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Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.
Matthew 24:10-13 And then many will fall away, . . . [11] And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. [12] And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold. [13] But he who endures to the end will be saved. (cf. 10:22)
Luke 8:13-14 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. [14] And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
Luke 9:62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, [32] but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.”
John 6:66 After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.
John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. [2] Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
John 16:1 I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away.
Acts 7:39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, . . .
Acts 11:23 . . . he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose;
Romans 11:20-22 . . . They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. [21] For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. [22] Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off.
Romans 14:4 . . . It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Master is able to make him stand.
1 Corinthians 9:27 but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 10:5-6 Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. [6] Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did.
1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.
2 Corinthians 1:24 . . . you stand firm in your faith.
2 Corinthians 12:20 For I fear that perhaps I may come and find you not what I wish . . .
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
Galatians 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel
Galatians 3:1-4 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? [4] Did you experience so many things in vain? — if it really is in vain.
Galatians 4:9 but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Galatians 5:1 . . . stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery . . .
Galatians 5:4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
Galatians 5:7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, [20] idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, [21] envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 5:5-6 Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. [6] Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. [11] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. [12] For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. [13] Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Ephesians 6:18 Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
Philippians 3:11-13 that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. [12] Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. [13] Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; . . .
Colossians 1:22-23 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him, [23] provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, . . .
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion [KJV: “a falling away”] comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition,
1 Timothy 1:19 . . . By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith,
1 Timothy 2:15 Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.
1 Timothy 5:8 If any one does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Timothy 5:15 For some have already strayed after Satan.
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs.
2 Timothy 1:14 guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
2 Timothy 1:15 You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, and among them Phy’gelus and Hermog’enes.
2 Timothy 2:12 . . . if we deny him, he also will deny us;
2 Timothy 2:16-18 Avoid such godless chatter, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, [17] and their talk will eat its way like gangrene. Among them are Hymenae’us and Phile’tus, [18] who have swerved from the truth by holding that the resurrection is past already. They are upsetting the faith of some.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, [4] and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.
2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [8] Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must pay the closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
Hebrews 3:6 And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope.
Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 3:14 For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end,
Hebrews 3:15 . . . it is said, “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Hebrews 3:18-19 And to whom did he swear that they should never enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? [19] So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it.
Hebrews 4:5-6 And again in this place he said, “They shall never enter my rest.” [6] Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,
Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt.
Hebrews 6:11-12 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end, [12] so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6:15 And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise.
Hebrews 10:26-29 For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, [27] but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries. [28] A man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses. [29] How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?
Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised.
Hebrews 10:38-39 “but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” [39] But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and keep their souls.
Hebrews 12:15-16 See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled; [16] that no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
Hebrews 13:9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings; for it is well that the heart be strengthened by grace, . . .
James 1:14-15 but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. [15] Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death.
1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
1 Peter 1:17 And if you invoke as Father him who judges each one impartially according to his deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.
1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, . . .
2 Peter 2:15 Forsaking the right way they have gone astray; they have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Be’or, who loved gain from wrongdoing,
2 Peter 2:17-22 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved. [18] For, uttering loud boasts of folly, they entice with licentious passions of the flesh men who have barely escaped from those who live in error. [19] They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved. [20] For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. [21] For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. [22] It has happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog turns back to his own vomit, and the sow is washed only to wallow in the mire.
1 John 5:16 If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that.
2 John 7-9 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. [8] Look to yourselves, that you may not lose what you have worked for, but may win a full reward. [9] Any one who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son.
Revelation 2:4-5 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. [5] Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Revelation 2:10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Revelation 3:3 Remember then what you received and heard; keep that, and repent. If you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.
Revelation 3:5 He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
Revelation 3:11-12 I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. [12] He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God . . .
Revelation 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
***
Calvinists and folks who believe in eternal security will argue that the people described above were never Christians. But the language used rules that out. Now that we have compiled 150 passages that reference actual apostasy or warn against it, we can see the strong cumulative force of this sub-argument. Here is a complete catalogue of sixty descriptions of the former state of apostates, that they rejected; what they possessed when they were in the good graces of God and fit for ultimate salvation and eternal life in heaven if they were to die:
keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes (Dt 8:11; 1 Sam 11:33)
heart turned [to] the LORD (Dt 29:18; 1 Kgs 11:9; Jer 17:5)
[kept/ followed] the covenant of the LORD (Dt 29:25; 31:16; Ps 78:10; Prov 2:17; Is 24:5; Hos 6:7)
[kept] the way which [God] commanded (Dt 31:29, 1 Kgs 11:10)
following [God] (1 Sam 15:11; Job 34:27)
[possessing the] Spirit of the LORD / Holy Spirit (1 Sam 16:14; Ps 51:11; Gal 3:2-3; Heb 6:4)
[accepted / listened to] the word of the LORD (1 Sam 15:23, 26; Is 5:24)
with the LORD (1 Sam 18:12)
heart wholly true to the LORD (1 Kgs 11:4)
wholly follow[ed] the LORD (1 Kgs 11:6)
walked in [God’s] ways (1 Kgs 11:33; 2 Kgs 21:22)
[did] what is right in [God’s] sight (1 Kgs 11:33)
obey[ed] the voice of the LORD their God [and kept] his covenant (2 Kgs 18:12)
listened [and] obeyed [God] (2 Kgs 18:12)
[followed] the law[s] of the LORD (2 Chr 12:1; Neh 9:26; Is 5:24; 24:5; Hos 4:6; Amos 2:4)
faithful to the LORD (2 Chr 12:2; 29:6; Jer 3:6; Hos 6:7; 2 Cor 13:5; Gal 3:2; Heb 10:39; Rev 2:10)
[kept] the charge of the LORD (2 Chr 13:11)
he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD (2 Chr 25:2; 26:4)
set himself to seek God (2 Chr 26:5)
sought the LORD (2 Chr 26:5; Ezra 8:22)
turned their faces [to] the habitation of the LORD (2 Chr 29:6)
obeyed / obedient (Neh 9:26; Acts 7:39; Heb 3:18; 4:6, 11; 1 Pet 1:14)
had regard for [God’s] ways (Job 34:27)
[in God’s] presence (Ps 51:11)
walk[ed] according to his law (Ps 78:10)
[remembered] what [God] had done (Ps 78:11)
observe[d] [God’s] testimonies (Ps 78:56)
[remembered] the God of [their] salvation (Is 17:10)
remembered the Rock of [their] refuge (Is 17:10)
[obeyed / kept] the statutes (Is 24:5; Amos 2:4; Mal 3:7)
a righteous man turns away from his righteousness (Ezek 18:24; 33:12, 18)
[performed] righteous deeds (Ezek 18:24)
turn[ed] [to God] (Hos 11:7)
the salt of the earth (Mt 5:13)
when they hear the word, receive it with joy (Lk 8:13)
disciples . . . went about with [Jesus] (Jn 6:66)
belief [and] faith (Rom 11:20; Heb 3:12, 19)
continue in his kindness (Rom 11:22)
[accepted / followed the] gospel (Gal 1:6)
c[a]me to know God (Gal 4:9)
known by God (Gal 4:9)
[in] Christ (Gal 5:4)
[in a state of] grace (Gal 5:4; Heb 12:15; 13:9)
running well (Gal 5:7)
obeying the truth (Gal 5:7; 2 Tim 4:4)
[following] conscience (1 Tim 1:19)
enlightened (Heb 6:4)
who have tasted the heavenly gift (Heb 6:4)
tasted the goodness of the word of God (Heb 6:5)
tasted the powers of the age to come (Heb 6:5)
keep their souls (Heb 10:39)
[following] the right way (2 Pet 2:15)
hav[ing] escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 2:20)
known the way of righteousness (2 Pet 2:21)
[following] the holy commandment (2 Pet 2:21)
love [of God] (Rev 2:4)
do[ing] [of good] works (Rev 2:5)
Remember then what you received and heard; keep that, and repent (Rev 3:3)
hold fast what you have (Rev 3:11)
hot [rather than] lukewarm (Rev 3:16)
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Photo credit: cover of my book. published by Logos / Faithlife / Verbum in March 2012 [see book and purchase information].
Summary: Compilation of 150 Bible passages (Protestant Old Testament: 74 / New Testament: 76) that warn about the possibility of falling away from salvation and God’s grace (apostasy).
I shall now proceed to offer a critique of common Protestant attempts to ignore, explain away, rationalize, wish away, overpolemicize, minimize, de-emphasize, evade clear consequences of, or special plead with regard to “the Catholic Verses”: ninety-five biblical passages that provide the foundation for Catholicism’s most distinctive doctrines. . . .
I will assert – with all due respect and, I hope, with a minimum of “triumphalism” — the ultimate incoherence, inadequacy, inconsistency, or exegetical and theological implausibility of the Protestant interpretations, and will submit the Catholic views as exegetically and logically superior alternatives.
The dates of Calvin’s various Commentaries are as follows:
1540 Romans
1548 All the Epistles of Paul
1551 Hebrews, and the Epistles of Peter, John, Jude, and James
1551 Isaiah
1552 Acts of the Apostles
1554 Genesis
1557 Psalms
1557 Hosea
1559 Twelve Minor Prophets
1561 Daniel
1562 Joshua
1563 Harmony of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
1563 Jeremiah
1563 Harmony of Three Gospels and Commentary on St John
I use RSV for biblical citations. Calvin’s words will be in blue.
A complete listing of this series will be on my web page, John Calvin: Catholic Appraisal, under the subtitle: “Bible vs. ‘Faith Alone’ vs. John Calvin”.
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Matthew 7:16, 18-21 You will know them by their fruits . . . [18] A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] Thus you will know them by their fruits. [21] Not every one who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. . . .
Calvin pretty much misses the entire point of the passage, refuses to make specific comment on verses 18-21 (passes right over them) and instead decides to make his commentary an anti-Catholic rant:
If, for example, we place before our minds what Paul requires in bishops, (1 Timothy 3:1; Titus 1:6-9,) that description will be sufficient of itself to condemn the whole mass of Popery: for the Popish priests seem as if they purposely intended to present an opposite picture.
If one can’t provide a rational, sensible counter-reply, then one can always ignore! It’s the standard practice of Protestant apologists online, who only rarely engage in point-by-point dialogue with Catholic apologists. They are especially reluctant to do so in direct proportion to how much Scripture the Catholic offers in favor of their views and against the Protestant ones. Oh, the ironies . . .
Meanwhile, Jesus clearly, undeniably teaches here that works are one of the things that are absolutely essential to salvation, since the ones who don’t do them end up in hell (“fire”: following the agricultural analogies) and can’t go to heaven. I think this ought to have been directly addressed by Calvin, who was duty-bound to explain — to exhibit the courage of his convictions — how this can possible be squared with “faith alone.”
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Matthew 10:22 (cf. Mt 24:13; Mk 13:13) . . . But he who endures to the end will be saved.
Here, Calvin is brief. I cite his entire commentary:
This single promise ought sufficiently to support the minds of the godly, though the whole world should rise against them: for they are assured that the result will be prosperous and happy. If those who fight under earthly commanders, and are uncertain as to the issue of the battle, are carried forward even to death by steadiness of purpose, shall those who are certain of victory hesitate to abide by the cause of Christ to the very last?
It’s simply wrongheaded. This is not primarily a promise. Rather, it’s an exhortation to be vigilant. Nor is it an instance of assurance, for no one knows the future; hence, we don’t know with absolute certainly if we will endure to the end. St. Paul certainly exhibited no such faux-certainty, even about his own final state in the afterlife:
Philippians 3:10-14, 16 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. [12] Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, . . . [13] Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; . . . [14] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. . . . [16] Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Elsewhere, St. Paul is very clear and direct:
1 Corinthians 9:25-27 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. [26] Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; [27] but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
St. Peter casually assumes the possibility of falling away from grace and salvation. We don’t allow that to happen by engaging in numerous good works:
2 Peter 1:5-7, 10-11 For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, [7] and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. . . . [10] Therefore, brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fall; [11] so there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Likewise, St. John:
2 John 1:8 Look to yourselves, that you may not lose what you have worked for, but may win a full reward.
In the context of the parallel verse in Matthew 24:13, Jesus taught:
Matthew 24:4-5 . . . “Take heed that no one leads you astray. [5] For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.”
Why is He warning His disciples about a thing that supposedly can’t happen? Who knows? Calvin’s theology requires him to believe in the unbiblical notion of believers being eternally secure (irresistible grace). Similarly, Jesus stated:
Luke 21:8, 34-36 “Take heed that you are not led astray; . . . [34] But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare; [35] for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. [36] But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man.”
Again, Jesus says:
Revelation 2:5 Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
In Revelation 2:10, Jesus says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” It seems to me that if Calvin’s doctrine were true, He would have said something like, “you will be faithful unto death, at which time I will give you the crown of life.” But instead, the reward comes as a result of our faithful works and endurance. As always, it’s “both/and”: God’s grace enabling us to do good works, which He in turn rewards. But our works can’t be left out of it, as of no relevance whatsoever, and that’s what Calvin futilely attempts to do, because he is beholden to a false tradition of men, rather than to the Bible in this instance.
Matthew 16:27 For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done.
The reward of works has been treated by me as fully as was necessary under another passage.
The editor thinks that Calvin refers to his commentary on John 4:36. It’s a good verse that I could and should have included among my one hundred Bible proofs against “faith alone“. So let’s take a look at that:
John 4:36-38 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. [37] For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ [38] I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
How diligently we ought to devote ourselves to the work of God, he proves by another argument; namely, because a large and most excellent reward is reserved for our labor; for he promises that there will be fruit, and fruit not corruptible or fading.
Yes, and it is rewards for our work, including “for eternal life.” This is the whole point, and key to Protestant-Catholic soteriological disagreements.
And certainly both considerations ought greatly to encourage the ministers of the word, that they may never sink under the toil, when they hear that a crown of glory is prepared for them in heaven, and know that the fruit of their harvest will not only be precious in the sight of God, but will also be eternal.
This is better. Calvin virtually stumbles upon the Catholic view, almost despite himself. The fruit and the reward are “eternal.” I don’t see how that is essentially different from saying that “good works help bring about eternal life, along with grace and faith.” If B is a reward for A, then by the same token, we can also say that A (partially or wholly) causedB.
It is for this purpose that Scripture everywhere mentions reward, and not for the purpose of leading us to judge from it as to the merits of works; for which of us, if we come to a reckoning, will not be found more worthy of being punished for slothfulness than of being rewarded for diligence?
Note how Calvin takes a swipe at merit (and the God-enabled good works that bring it about), but that’s abundantly proven in Scripture as well. He offers no immediate Scriptures to justify his hostility to merit. I provide fifty that establish it beyond any doubt.
To the best laborers nothing else will be left than to approach to God in all humility to implore forgiveness.
That’s easy to say, but it’s not what the Bible teaches. It regularly asserts that works are one of the three things (along with grace and faith) directly involved in the causation of salvation.
But the Lord, who acts towards us with the kindness of a father, in order to correct our sloth, and to encourage us who would otherwise be dismayed, deigns to bestow upon us an undeserved reward.
But again, it’s deserved in terms of our having truly earned the reward by our works. That’s not just me making a bald claim (as Calvin often does); it’s at least a hundred Bible passages saying so. I didn’t write the Bible or determine my theology; I simply follow it wherever it leads me. It’s why there are many passages in the Bible in which a person (prominently, St. Paul) is “proud” about his work for God, and boasts about it. This sense of deserving reward would make no sense whatever if merit weren’t true, and if Calvin’s “faith alone” was true doctrine.
This is so far from overturning justification by faith that it rather confirms it. For, in the first place, how comes it that God finds in us any thing to reward, but because He has bestowed it upon us by his Spirit?
Yes, He rewards His own gifts, as St. Augustine noted. It doesn’t follow, however, that we did nothing, or that we get no credit. “Both/and.” God makes our works His. Both things are true. I provided seven Bible passages proving that in my previous installment (see especially 1 Cor 15:10, 58 and Phil 2:12-13).
Secondly, how comes it that God confers so great honor on imperfect and sinful works but because, after having by free grace reconciled us to himself, He accepts our works without any regard to merit, by not imputing the sins which cleave to them?
This is not an argument; it’s a false assumption. The Bible never teaches that every single work is imperfect and sinful, nor that God supposedly doesn’t impute these “sins” that “cleave” to them: as Calvin mistakenly believes. God thinks they are altogether good enough to not only receive merit but also to help bring about salvation. I have brought forth 150 Bible passages to prove it. I need not keep citing them. Readers may follow the links. And we are going through many of those now, in the effort to reveal how pitifully Calvin tries to systematically — and unsuccessfully — skirt around them. Sadly, it’s what almost all Protestant apologists have done for over 500 years, when it comes to actually grappling with Catholic biblical arguments (which they avoid like the plague but occasionally descend to trying to refute).
But, in order that this passage may be properly understood, we must comprehend the contrast between sowing and reaping The sowing was the doctrine of the Law and the Prophets; for at that time the seed thrown into the soil remained, as it were, in the blade; but the doctrine of the Gospel, which brings men to proper maturity, is on that account justly compared to the harvest. For the Law was very far from that perfection which has at length been exhibited to us in Christ.
This lame defense of faith alone might have worked (at least prima facie), except that the Bible contradicts it, by placing sowing and reaping together:
1 Corinthians 9:9-11 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? [10] Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of a share in the crop. [11] If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits?
2 Corinthians 9:6, 10 The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. . . . [10] He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. [8] For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
God doesn’t denigrate sowing, by equating it with antiquated law, as Calvin does; especially in these words:
as that seed was degenerated from the very root, and as the corn which could spring from it, though not good or natural, was choked by a huge mass of errors, it is unreasonable to suppose that such destructive corruption is compared to sowing
Now I return to Calvin’s commentary on Matthew 16:27:
When a reward is promised to good works, their merit is not contrasted with the justification which is freely bestowed on us through faith; nor is it pointed out as the cause of our salvation, but is only held out to excite believers to aim at doing what is right, by assuring them that their labor will not be lost.
If that were indeed true, then Calvin would and should have refuted all of these “Catholic verses” that I produce: showing exactly why and how they don’t refute faith alone (and provide us with many other verses that uphold that novel doctrine). But as we see, he doesn’t come within a million miles of doing so.
God, of his own good pleasure, bestows on our works a reward which we did not deserve.
The Bible says that they are worthy. That’s why Paul stated that he was “proud” of his own works, and boasted about them, and boasted about works of his followers, too. If we want to find the notion of works “deserving” reward, we can find that, too:
Matthew 10:10 . . . the laborer deserves his food.
Luke 10:7 . . . the laborer deserves his wages . . .
These two passages refer to the disciples going out and evangelizing and performing miracles.
1 Timothy 5:18 for the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
Revelation 2:23 . . . I will give to each of you as your works deserve.
Scripture knows nothing of the false doctrine of every good work inevitably being tainted by sin and corruption. God gives rewards that we have merited and deserve. Calvin gets it exactly backwards.
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Practical Matters: I run the most comprehensive “one-stop” Catholic apologetics site: rated #1 for Christian sites by leading AI tool, ChatGPT — endorsed by popular Protestant blogger Adrian Warnock. Perhaps some of my 4,800+ free online articles or fifty-five books have helped you (by God’s grace) to decide to become Catholic or to return to the Church, or better understand some doctrines and why we believe them.
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Or you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. I’m always in need of more funds: especially monthly support. “The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a full-time Catholic apologist, and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog.
Photo credit: John Calvin: unknown 16th century portrait [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
Summary: One of a series examining how John Calvin (1509-1564) exegeted biblical passages in his Commentaries that (in my opinion) refute the novel Protestant doctrine of “faith alone”.
I didn’t find Christ in Catholicism . . . I lost the forest (the big picture of Christ) for a lot of unnecessary trees that were not scripturally grounded. Part of this . . . was due to some non-scriptural and even (in some cases) anti-scriptural doctrines that undermine the role and significance of Christ. I would love to come back to a purified Catholicism more in keeping with a biblical witness. The excessive adulation of Mary, which at times seems to me to come close to elevating her to the godhead (like a replacement consort for Yahweh in lieu of Asherah), is one such obstacle.
After I had made five in-depth responses to him, Dr. Gagnon replied (just for the record) in a thread on another Facebook page, on 9-17-24, underneath my links to all five: “like your other one, it is an amateurish piece.” This is his silly and arrogant way (one of many such potshots) of dismissing my critiques in one fell swoop. I had informed him that I had over twenty “officially published books” [22, to be exact] and yet he replied that he didn’t know “whether” they were “self-published or with a vanity press or a reputable press.”
This is my eighth reply to Dr. Gagnon (see them listed under his name on my Anti-Catholicism page): seven of them having to do with the Blessed Virgin Mary. He has responded oncethus far.
His words will be in blue. I use RSV for biblical citations.
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Dr. Gagnon’s blasphemous rant in this public Facebook post dated 9-19-24, (in Scripture, one can blaspheme persons and holy things beyond only God) proves, almost better than anything I have ever seen, that the anti-Marianism of those who vigorously contend against the Catholic Church — with abundant insults, is too often notjust a matter of an emotionless, objective opposing of what they perceive as “excesses” beyond the explicit biblical account.
To the contrary; here and in the treatments of many other Protestants, we sadly observe a truly irrational — almost merely carnal or “unspiritual” (see 1 Cor 2:10-16) — hostility and prejudice towards the Blessed Virgin Mary. No doubt is is to a large extent, in pitiful overreaction to our great devotion to and love for her, and it blatantly contradicts what we absolutely do know from Holy Scripture. Here is what he wrote (I have highlighted in green and italics and bolding the words “believe” and “faith”):
There is no clear indication of Mary coming to faith in Christ. It is not said that she “believed in Jesus,” nor that she gave any testimony that caused others to believein him. Yes, Mary has faith to believe that Jesus can turn water into wine (2:3, 5), but that is no more than shallow sign faithfrom the perspective of the Fourth Evangelist. Remember that there is no virgin birth story in John’s Gospel. In the Prologue’s treatment of the incarnation of the Logos, Mary is left completely out of the picture. So there is no story preceding 2:1-12 that would give the reader any expectation of Mary’s positive significance. The story presumes only that “the mother of Jesus” (note that the Fourth Evangelist never even uses her proper name)[he never refers to his own name, either; using, rather, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” (13:23; 20:2; 21:7, 20). This is his style. Gagnon himself refers several times to “the beloved disciple” in this same piece] believes that Jesus can do miracles. She persists in that beliefafter Jesus’ rebuke in 2:4 when she says to the waiters “whatever he says to you, do” (2:5). But that command by Mary, even if more open-ended, does not indicate deep sign faith, but continues only with a faith that believes Jesus can accomplish the mundane task of changing water to wine. Mary thereafter is no longer mentioned in the story. . . .
One could contend, I suppose, that there was no reason to report that Mary also “believed in him” because she already did. The problem with that view is that Jesus’ statement in 2:4 indicates that whatever kind of faith she had prior to his statement was shallow sign faith, faith to believethat Jesus could provide for earthly needs but nothing more. Mary’s response in 2:5 also seems to persist with the same kind of faith that she had before the rebuke. And, again, there is no statement of greater transformation at the end of the story, unlike the stories of the Samaritan woman and the royal official in ch. 4. She is not even mentioned in the story after 2:5.
She appears to be more like Nicodemus in ch. 3 than the Samaritan woman and the royal official in ch. 4. Nicodemus remains inshallow sign faithfrom start to finish of the Gospel. . . .
Jesus’ mother is mute in 19:25-27[while she is watching her Son being horribly tortured to death]. There is no expression of faith coming from her. . . .
At the cross and up till the revelation of the risen Christ, all she believes is that Jesus’ crucifixion is a terrible tragedy. There is no reason to think that Jesus’ mother believed anything different than Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross. Neither John 2:5 nor John 19:25-27 provides any evidence that Mary has moved beyond shallow sign-faith and understood the cross to be Jesus’ “hour of glorification.” She is there at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (but goes unmentioned as regards a virgin birth), where she shows shallow sign faith, and she is there at the cross (with others), where again there is no indication of movement beyond a shallow sign faith, filled with grief and incomprehension.
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Imagine thinking that the Blessed Virgin Mary: whom the angel Gabriel called “full of grace” (yes he did; there are failed arguments about that bandied about as well, that I have addressed), and who was “blessed among women”; whom all generations would call “blessed”; the Mother of God, who spent some thirty years with Jesus before anyone else knew about Him; i.e., ten times longer than anyone else, is not even a believer in Jesus??!! Gagnon would have us believe that God (Who knows everything, including the future) would choose a woman to be the Mother of God who wouldn’t even understand, let alone believe, what the angel Gabriel told her at the Annunciation, and who wouldn’t comprehend or believe Who Jesus was over His entire life?!
We’re to think that is supposedly a plausible conclusion that makes any sense at all? In fact, the biblical account in this regard that I will present below (all of which Gagnon totally ignores in his pathetic litany of “disproofs”) is very clear: so much so that I submit it could hardly be any more so. The angel Gabriel told Mary at the Annunciation:
Luke 1:30-33 . . . “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. [31] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. [32] He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.” [34] And Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” [35] And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
Any Jew who knew anything at all would know that this was clearly the Messiah Whom she was to bear, and the “Son of God” language, which the Pharisees took to be blasphemy because they understood that it meant being equal to God the Father (Jn 5 and 10), also indicates His divinity and Godhood.
Her cousin Elizabeth proclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:42-43). Mary (as far as we know from the text) doesn’t rebuke this, or ask, “what are you talking about?!” She accepts it as truth. She believes in the “Lord” Who is her Son. Mary’s “Magnificat” (Lk 1:46-55) shows that Mary is well-acquainted with Old Testament theology and expression. In fact, it is “based largely on Hannah’s prayer in 1 Sam. 2.1-10”: as the notes in my RSV observe. She knew enough to have certainly understood the messianic allusions in Gabriel’s and Elizabeth’s words to her.
Mary may have been present at John the Baptist’s circumcision (Lk 1:59 ff.) since Elizabeth was her cousin and she knew her well (e.g., she stayed with her for three months: Lk 1:56). If so, on that occasion, John’s father Zechariah “was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied” (Lk 1:67), saying,
Luke 1:76-79 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, [77] to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, [78] through the tender mercy of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high [79] to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
This is referring to the same “Lord” (Jesus) Whom his wife Elizabeth told Mary she was the mother of (1:43). Then when they presented Jesus in Jerusalem in the purification rite, Mary and Joseph encountered Simeon:
Luke 2:25-35 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. [26] And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. [27] And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, [28] he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, [29] “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; [30] for mine eyes have seen thy salvation [31] which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, [32] a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.” [33] And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; [34] and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against [35] (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”
This is pure messianic language as well. Mary and Joseph “marveled” at it. I suppose Dr. Gagnon in his anti-Mary zeal, would immediately think this was oppositional astonishment and disbelief, but that doesn’t follow. They were, I think, simply amazed that the man knew these things that they already knew about Jesus.
Furthermore, Mary might have been present at Jesus’ baptism (or heard about it), in which God the Father spoke from heaven: “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.” (Lk 3:22). An “angel of the Lord” told Joseph in a dream Who Jesus was (“. . . that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”: Mt 1:20-21). Would Joseph not have shared the content of that dream with Mary? Then they either believed it or not. Angels told both Mary and Joseph Who Jesus was. Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Simeon all confirmed it while Jesus was still very young.
We have one more piece of strong evidence: the three wise men visited Jesus, with Mary present (thought to be when He was about two years old). The text says, “going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him” (Mt 2:11). Again, we see no protest from Mary along the lines of, “what are you doing?! You can’t worship a mere man!”
We have all of this explicit data, yet we are to believe Dr. Gagnon’s blasphemous view that Mary believed none of it, and wasn’t a “believer” in Jesus? (“There is no clear indication of Mary coming to faith in Christ.”). If you believe that, come see me. I have some oceanfront property in Kansas to sell you.
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Photo credit:Simeon the Righteous (1830s-1840s), by Alexey Yegorov (c. 1776-1851) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
Summary: NT scholar Robert Gagnon remarkably thinks that Mary wasn’t a believer in Jesus, through His entire life. I detail lots of Scripture that proves otherwise (all ignored by him).
I didn’t find Christ in Catholicism . . . I lost the forest (the big picture of Christ) for a lot of unnecessary trees that were not scripturally grounded. Part of this . . . was due to some non-scriptural and even (in some cases) anti-scriptural doctrines that undermine the role and significance of Christ. I would love to come back to a purified Catholicism more in keeping with a biblical witness. The excessive adulation of Mary, which at times seems to me to come close to elevating her to the godhead (like a replacement consort for Yahweh in lieu of Asherah), is one such obstacle.
After I had made five in-depth responses to him, Dr. Gagnon replied (just for the record) in a thread on another Facebook page, on 9-17-24, underneath my links to all five: “like your other one, it is an amateurish piece.” This is his silly and arrogant way of dismissing my critiques in one fell swoop. I had informed him that I had over twenty “officially published books” [22, to be exact] and yet he replied that he didn’t know “whether” they were “self-published or with a vanity press or a reputable press.”
His words will be in blue. His article is cited in its entirety. I use RSV for biblical citations.
Another text that Catholics and Orthodox persons cite to elevate Mary in Scripture is the wedding in Cana in John 2:1-11. Yet they don’t realize that in this passage Jesus rebukes his mother. *
The argument is that Mary “becomes the only person ever to tell Jesus what to do and he (somewhat grudgingly) does it” (as a respected Catholic FB friend put it). Actually, many people requested healings from Jesus with polite imperatives. Mary merely hinted to Jesus that something should be done about the depletion of wine: “They do not have wine” (v. 3).
* Jesus then responds with a curt “What to me and to you, woman? My hour has not yet come” (v. 4). There are 3 parts to this response, the question (“What to me and to you?”), the address of his mother (“woman”), and the disclaiming assertion. We will now look at each element in turn.
* First, the question “What to me and to you?” (Gk. ti emoi kai soi) is a Semitic idiom (Heb. mah-lî ve-lak) found in the OT in Judg 11:12; 2 Sam 16:10; 19:22; 1 Kgs 17:18; 2 Kgs 3:13; 2 Chron 35:21. In the NT the phrase appears elsewhere as a word by demoniacs to Jesus (Mark 1:24; 5:7). Minimally the phrase refers to a complete disjunction of interests. Mostly the phrase is used in situations of opposition and hostility as an adversarial formula. One can paraphrase as: “What have I done to you that you should do this to me?”
* The phrase functions in John 2:4 as the Johannine equivalent of the rebuke uttered by Jesus in Mark’s Gospel to Simon (Peter) for expressing opposition to his divine fate to suffer and die for the sins of the world: “Get behind me, Satan (adversary)!”
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Second, Jesus follows this adversarial formula with the distancing address of “woman” rather than “mother.” This address is reminiscent of the Jesus saying in Mark 3:33-35, where Jesus responds to his mother and brothers coming to “restrain him” as a result of hearing that Jesus was out of his mind (3:21 31): “Who is my mother…? … Whoever does the will of God, this is … my mother.” In that saying Jesus discounts any privileged place to Mary, who appears to be doing the bidding of the scribes and Pharisees.
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This is an inaccurate (and I dare say, even cynical) exegesis, as I have written about many times:
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Here in John 2:4, the address “woman” rejects any special position of his mother because at this moment her mind is set on earthly things rather than heavenly things, thinking in the realm of flesh rather than Spirit, and operating “from below” rather than “from above” (see John 3:31). She is at this moment to Jesus no more than any other “woman.” *
Third, Jesus adds a disclaiming assertion: “My hour has not yet come,” meaning that Jesus did not come into the world for the trivial task of resupplying a wedding with wine, but rather (given the larger context of the Fourth Gospel) to make amends for the sins of the world at the cross. Jesus’ word to Mary is a rebuke.
* Many (including yours truly) think that this response by Jesus to his mother represents redaction (editing) by the Fourth Evangelist into a preexisting “signs source” story. The abrupt redaction (remove the saying and the preceding and following texts flow more smoothly) underscores the deficiency of sign faith that does not tie Jesus’ activity to his being “lifted up” or “exalted” on the cross, and that does not arrive at a larger identity of Jesus as the Life and Light of the world.
* Mary does not interact with Jesus’ sharp rebuke (again, suggesting that it was added by the Fourth Evangelist into a pre-existing story). Instead, “his mother says to the servants (attending table), ‘Whatever he says to you, do'” (v. 5). In a sense, it is to her credit that she instructs others to obey her son. But she is still thinking in earthly, fleshly terms “from below,” still more concerned with the literal wine shortage at the wedding in Cana.
* In the end Jesus does turn the water into wine, but for a deeper purpose, to “reveal his glory” (v. 10, much as Yahweh “revealed his glory” to Israel in the Mount Sinai light show). Jesus perhaps does this particular “sign” to illustrate that he is the Best Wine at the wedding banquet of the Lamb and his church.
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In this story, Mary doesn’t come out looking so good. Her remark to Jesus, “They do not have wine,” remains on a literal level, whereas Jesus is thinking of the symbolic absence of messianic wine in an Israel that is hostile to the sending of God’s Son into the world. Her remark, far from being praised, is rebuked.
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* Those who read Jesus’ address to his mother “woman” as a mark of treating Mary as a New Eve are reading out of context.
“What to me and to you” preceding “woman” is clearly a rebuke, not a praise. It is similar to Jesus’ rebuke of Peter, calling him “adversary” (Satan). “Woman” designates that by virtue of her worldly misunderstanding of his mission she has become for him like any other woman who is not his mother.
* The interpretation that I offer of “woman” also fits Jesus’ disregard of Mary’s special status as mother of the Messiah when she gives into worldly thinking and behavior in Mark 3:31-35. When she with her other sons goes to “restrain” Jesus because of reports that he is out of his mind, Jesus gives his famous “Who is my mother?” Biological family kinship is meaningless when one deviates from the will of God, especially as regards Jesus’ mission.
* The most natural reading is the one that I put forward. When a son addresses his mother as “woman,” one doesn’t think: Oh, he is thinking of her as a new Eve! One thinks rather: My goodness, he is treating his own mother as if she were not his mother, as if she were a woman like any other woman to him.
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Here again we observe the old, tired, fundamentally silly argument that Jesus was supposedly disrespectful of His mother. This silly trifle was disposed of by Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin, citing three Protestant commentators:
The Protestant commentator William Barclay writes:
“The word Woman (gynai) is also misleading. It sounds to us very rough and abrupt. But it is the same word as Jesus used on the Cross to address Mary as he left her to the care of John (John 19:26). In Homer it is the title by which Odysseus addresses Penelope, his well-loved wife. It is the title by which Augustus, the Roman Emperor, addressed Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian queen. So far from being a rough and discourteous way of address, it was a title of respect. We have no way of speaking in English which exactly renders it; but it is better to translate it Lady which gives at least the courtesy in it” (The Gospel of John, revised edition, vol. 1, p. 98).
Similarly, the Protestant Expositor’s Bible Commentary, published by Zondervan, states:
Jesus’ reply to Mary was not so abrupt as it seems. ‘Woman’ (gynai) was a polite form of address. Jesus used it when he spoke to his mother from the cross (19:26) and also when he spoke to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection (20:15)” (vol. 9, p. 42).
Even the Fundamentalist Wycliff Bible Commentary put out by Moody Press acknowledges in its comment on this verse, “In his reply, the use of ‘Woman’ does not involve disrespect (cf. 19:26)” (p. 1076).
Akin concludes:
The fact it is not a title of disrespect should be obvious from the fact that Jesus, as an obedient Son who fulfilled the Torah perfectly, would never have spoken irreverently to his mother. His perfect fulfillment of the Torah includes a perfect fulfillment of the command, “Honor your father and mother,” which in the literal Hebrew is “Glorify your father and mother.” . . . To publicly speak irreverently of his mother is something that Jesus would never have been able to countenance. Actually, the way Jesus is using the term — at the two key junctures in John’s Gospel where Mary appears — is symbolic and emblematic of her role in redemptive history. Whereas Eve was the First Woman, Mary is the Second Woman, just as Adam was the First Man and Jesus was the Second Man (1 Cor. 15:47).
Did Jesus “rebuke” His mother at this wedding? No: . . . The Navarre Bible explains the passage:
The sentence rendered “What have you to do with me?” (RSV) is the subject of a note in RSVCE which says “while this expression always implies a divergence of view, the precise meaning is to be determined by the context, which here shows that it is not an unqualified rebuttal, still less a rebuke.” The Navarre Spanish is the equivalent of “What has it to do with you and me?”] The sentence “What has it to do with you and me?” is an oriental way of speaking which can have different nuances. Jesus’ reply seems to indicate that although in principle it was not part of God’s plan for him to use his power to solve the problem the wedding-feast had run into, our Lady’s request moves him to do precisely that. Also, one could surmise that God’s plan envisaged that Jesus should work the miracle at his Mother’s request. In any event, God willed that the Revelation of the New Testament should include this important teaching: so influential is our Lady’s intercession that God will listen to all petitions made through her; which is why Christian piety, with theological accuracy, has called our Lady “supplicant omnipotence.”
Dom Bernard Orchard’s 1953 Catholic Commentary adds more insightful interpretation:
Concerning the second: the Master’s question which literally reads: ‘What to me and to thee?’ has to be understood from biblical and not modern usage. Therefore it does not mean: ‘What concern is it of ours?’ or ‘There is no need for you to tell me’. In all the biblical passages where it occurs, Jg 11:12; 2 Kg 16:10, 19:22; 4 Kg 3:13; 2 Par 35:21; Mt 8:29; Mk 1:24, the phrase signifies, according to circumstances, a great or lesser divergence of viewpoint between the two parties concerned. In 2 Kg 16:10 it means total dissent; in Jg 11:12 it voices a complaint against an invader. In our passage, also, divergence must be admitted. In a sense our Lord’s answer is a refusal, but not an absolute refusal, rather, a refusal ad mentem, as a Roman Congregation would say, and the Blessed Virgin understood her Son’s mind from the tone of his voice. His first public miracle belonged to the divine programme of his Messianic mission into which flesh and blood could not enter. His answer is therefore an assertion of independence of his Mother, similar to the word he spoke in the temple about his Father’s business. The Blessed Virgin’s subsequent action shows that the tone of our Lord’s protest on this occasion was neither a curt nor an unqualified refusal.
Barnes’ Notes on the Bible also dissents from Dr. Gagnon’s harsh take (though suggesting a “mild reproof”):
What have I to do with thee? – See the notes at Matthew 8:29. This expression is sometimes used to denote indignation or contempt. See Judges 11:12; 2 Samuel 16:10; 1 Kings 17:18. But it is not probable that it denoted either in this place; if it did, it was a mild reproof of Mary for attempting to control or direct him in his power of working miracles. Most of the ancients supposed this to be the intention of Jesus. The words sound to us harsh, but they might have been spoken in a tender manner, and not have been intended as a reproof. It is clear that he did not intend to refuse to provide wine, but only to delay it a little; and the design was, therefore, to compose the anxiety of Mary, and to prevent her being solicitous about it. It may, then, be thus expressed: “My mother, be not anxious. To you and to me this should not be a matter of solicitude. The proper time of my interfering has not yet come. When that is come I will furnish a supply, and in the meantime neither you nor I should be solicitous.” Thus understood, it is so far from being a “harsh reproof,” that it was a mild exhortation for her to dismiss her fears and to put proper trust in him.
It all comes down to language, culture, idiom, context. But doesn’t Jesus’ fulfillment of His mother’s request for more wine (by performing a miracle — His first recorded one — to provide more) suggest that He didn’t intend to rebuke her in the first place? He did what she requested. One would think so, it seems to me. Much ado about nothing . . .
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Summary: Protestant NT scholar Robert Gagnon insists that Jesus rebuked His mother Mary several times in Scripture. I reply regarding the wedding at Cana incident & His use of “Woman.”
Its “Late” Development / Two 4th Century Witnesses / Protestant Commentators on Revelation 12 / Biblical Arguments
Photo credit: Madonna in Glory (c. 1670), by Carlo Dolci (1616-1686) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
Dr. Gavin Ortlund is a Reformed Baptist author, speaker, pastor, scholar, and apologist for the Christian faith. He has a Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary in historical theology, and an M.Div from Covenant Theological Seminary. Gavin is the author of seven books as well as numerous academic and popular articles. For a list of publications, see his CV. He runs the very popular YouTube channel Truth Unites, which seeks to provide an “irenic” voice on theology, apologetics, and the Christian life. See also his website, Truth Unites and his blog.
In my opinion, he is currently the best and most influential popular-level Protestant apologist (see my high praise), who (especially) interacts with and offers thoughtful critiques of Catholic positions, from a refreshing ecumenical (not anti-Catholic), but nevertheless solidly Protestant perspective. That’s what I want to interact with, so I have issued many replies to Gavin and will continue to do so. I use RSV for all Bible passages unless otherwise specified.
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This is my 31st reply to his material. He has made just one lengthy and substantial reply to my critiques thus far. Why is that? His own explanation is simply lack of time. He wrote on my Facebook page on 17 April 2024: “Dave, thanks for engaging my stuff. People often ask to dialogue or engage and then are disappointed when I decline. Unfortunately I have to say no to most things. . . . if you are expecting regular responses, I’m afraid that is not realistic right now.” Again, on 23 August 2024 he commented on my Facebook page: “thanks for your engagement here. [I’m] grateful you give my work so much attention, and I only apologize [that] I’m not able to respond more. I think in the past I’ve explained a little bit about why.”
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All of my replies to Gavin are collected on the top of my Calvinism & General Protestantism web page in the section, “Replies to Reformed Baptist Gavin Ortlund.” Gavin’s words will be in blue.
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This is my response to Gavin’s video, “Why Mary’s Assumption Is Indefensible” (8-17-23), which at the time of this writing has garnered 59,182 views and 3,069 comments. I think it deserves a solid reply from a Catholic apologist. Glad to do it!
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1:12 I think Trent [Horn] is a good apologist and I enjoy engaging his work. . . . I’m happy to dialogue with him on this too if he wants
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He is a good apologist. I hope that one day Gavin will “enjoy engaging”my work as well. I don’t think it’s that bad, if I do say so myself. At the very least, I think I offer significant food for thought, if nothing else, and agree or disagree. As the old saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”
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1:18 now I’ve done other videos on this topic, but this one will be the most updated the most thorough. I put a lot of work into it. Some of this information I’m not aware is out there available elsewhere so I hope this will really be helpful . . . I think this will be one of my more important videos
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That’s what I like to interact with: his best shot at this topic.
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1:54 I know that hearing your beliefs criticized can be uncomfortable and even painful I know what that’s like
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Indeed. Maybe I’m weird, but I find it fun because it’s challenging, thought-provoking, and keeps us honest. As an apologist, it almost always stimulates new arguments in me, if I don’t concede the point (as I have many times). Dialogue helps us respect and understand each other a lot better, even if no one is dissuaded from their position, and that’s a good thing.
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2:19 this is not a game; this is not just an intellectual exercise, and when we treat it like that it becomes ugly and cruel and it can destroy people. We’ve all seen people destroyed by the ugliness of apologetics and how that can go
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Very true. I agree 100%. But I am quick to add that we also see millions of souls destroyed because they didn’t care about apologetics at all, or about how to integrate faith and reason, or about knowing why they believe what they say they already believe or want to believe or better understand, as the case may be. We must do apologetics with gentleness and love (1 Pet 3:15) or it’s worthless. Gavin is an excellent role model in that respect, and I always strive to do the same. I’m sure I don’t always succeed, but it’s my constant goal and vision, and has been since I began serious apologetics in 1981.
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2:37 you should never cause any more pain than is necessary. Some pain and discomfort is inevitable when two different ideologies clash. It’s uncomfortable, it’s awkward, it’s hard, it’s frustrating at times, it’s jarring. So that’s just inevitable to some extent.
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Indeed it is. It can also be fun and stimulating if we maintain an open mind and the proper humility. But in my experience, unfortunately most people don’t like to be disagreed with or challenged in any way, and very few have any interest in true dialogue.
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4:04 I do I feel that love for these other traditions — for the people in them — but we should not hold back from contending for truth and seeking the truth with all of our heart
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Amen; I do, too, and I agree. Seek the truth. My old Protestant campus ministry was called True Truth Ministries: from a phrase in Francis Schaeffer, whom Gavin mentioned and cited. I have immense respect for Protestants (many dear friends) and Protestantism, as I have stated and written about many times. And I have honest disagreements with them. The two are not mutually exclusive at all. In this seeking of truth, folks will continue to honestly disagree in good faith, and we mustn’t demonize them when they do.
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4:17 I think the evidence against the Assumption of Mary is overwhelming. It gives every indication of being a post-apostolic accretion that seems to originate in heterodox groups and only slowly worms its way into the doctrine and piety and liturgy of the church over the course of many centuries, as we shall see. And yet it has been made by several churches into an obligatory irreformable part of the Christian faith
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We say in reply that it can be grounded in the Bible — not explicitly proven, but shown to be harmonious with it, and even indicated in some ways. Protestants always seem to demand explicit proof of any doctrine, yet there is none at all for the canon of New Testament Scripture, and even historically it was only known in its complete form no earlier than 367 (in St. Athanasius). There is no explicit proof for sola Scriptura, as some Protestants are willing to admit (notably, recently, Gavin’s friend, the Lutheran apologist Jordan Cooper). It must be deduced from Scripture, just as the Assumption is. Lastly, Scripture never states that all doctrines must be explicitly proven from the Bible, and it does indicate an authoritative, doctrine-affirming Church and tradition.
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I went through this business of doctrines being “an obligatory irreformable part of the Christian faith” in my last article: a reply to Gavin’s video on Mary’s Immaculate Conception, and noted several instances of Protestants making these demands, just as Catholics do (reading people out of Christianity if they disagree). So let’s have no more double standards. It gets very wearisome. I will point them out as I run across them, every time. That doesn’t help me be more popular or loved by one and all (Jesus said we inevitably wouldn’t be, anyway, if we truly follow Him), but it does keep me honest and truthful.
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6:27 I’ve said this several times: it represents an area where our traditions (Protestant and Roman Catholic) are drifting further apart, and the same is true for the Immaculate Conception.
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That’s largely true, but I would note in an ecumenical way that even Martin Luther accepted the truthfulness of the Immaculate Conception earlier in his life (up till at least 1527) — many Lutheran and other non-Catholic scholars verify this — and accepted an only slightly modified view of it for the rest of his life. I recently also wrote about Luther’s seeming lifelong personal acceptance of Mary’s Assumption. If he could do those things as the founder of Protestantism, perhaps there is more common ground, even with regard to these vexed issues, than either side usually realizes.
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7:54 if something is declared as an infallible dogma, then that sets the stakes pretty high and it’s totally appropriate to give it some critical reflection
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Absolutely, Bring it on. And we will defend Catholic dogmas (and return the favor and criticize what we believe to be false and unbiblical Protestant doctrines). Unfortunately, after we apologists and theologians do that, the dialogue usually ends and our critics disappear or discover that they have many more important things to do instead. To me, that’s when serious, constructive should begin: after both sides go “one round.” The second round and further rounds are what are most interesting and fun. But sadly, very very few are ever willing to pursue anything that far.
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8:18 anathemas are not wrong in principle; anathemas are biblical (Galatians 1 or 1 Corinthians 16:22).
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I made this point in my last article, too. Glad to see that Gavin agrees and notes this. I don’t see how he or any Christians who believes in biblical inspiration could disagree. Paul is very clear about it.
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9:54 it appears to be something close to a scholarly consensus that the Assumption of Mary only comes into the church in the late 5th Century between 450 and 500.
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In terms of being widespread or mentioned very much, I agree. And why was that? I would say that the slow development of Mariology was no different than many other doctrines where both sides agree (such as the creed and the canon and trinitarianism), per St. John Henry Newman’s historical analysis:
It is a less difficulty that the Papal supremacy was not formally acknowledged in the second century, than that there was no formal acknowledgment on the part of the Church of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity till the fourth. No doctrine is defined till it is violated. . . . If the Imperial Power checked the development of Councils, it availed also for keeping back the power of the Papacy. The Creed, the Canon, in like manner, both remained undefined. The Creed, the Canon, the Papacy, Ecumenical Councils, all began to form, as soon as the Empire relaxed its tyrannous oppression of the Church. (Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, 1845; revised 1878; Part I: ch. 4, sec. 3)
Newman in this same classic work gave the analogous example of original sin (accepted by Protestants and Catholics alike) as another slow-developing doctrine:
(2.) Original Sin
I have already remarked upon the historical fact, that the recognition of Original Sin, considered as the consequence of Adam’s fall, was, both as regards general acceptance and accurate understanding, a gradual process, not completed till the time of Augustine and Pelagius. St. Chrysostom lived close up to that date, but there are passages in his works, often quoted, which we should not expect to find worded as they stand, if they had been written fifty years later. It is commonly, and reasonably, said in explanation, that the fatalism, so prevalent in various shapes pagan and heretical, in the first centuries, was an obstacle to an accurate apprehension of the consequences of the fall, as the presence of the existing {127} idolatry was to the use of images. If this be so, we have here an instance of a doctrine held back for a time by circumstances, yet in the event forcing its way into its normal shape, and at length authoritatively fixed in it, that is, of a doctrine held implicitly, then asserting itself, and at length fully developed. (Ibid., Part I: ch. 4, sec. 1, 2)
Then he gave his opinion as to why Marian doctrines developed relatively late:
I have said that there was in the first ages no public and ecclesiastical recognition of the place which St. Mary holds in the Economy of grace; this was reserved for the fifth century, as the definition of our Lord’s proper Divinity had been the work of the fourth. There was a controversy contemporary with those already mentioned, I mean the Nestorian, which brought out the complement of the development, to which they had been subservient; and which, if I may so speak, supplied the subject of that august proposition of which Arianism had provided the predicate. In order to do honour to Christ, in order to defend the true doctrine of the Incarnation, in order to secure a right faith in the manhood of the Eternal Son, the Council of Ephesus determined the Blessed Virgin to be the Mother of God. Thus all heresies of that day, though opposite to each other, tended in a most wonderful way to her exaltation; and the School of Antioch, the fountain of primitive rationalism, led the Church to determine first the conceivable greatness of a creature, and then the incommunicable dignity of the Blessed Virgin. (Ibid., Part I: ch. 4, sec. 2, 10)
The title of theotokos, or “Mother of God,” — which Gavin agrees with and doesn’t make an issue of — was declared in 431 at the Council of Ephesus. So that was only 19 years before he says the doctrine of the Assumption started coming more into focus. The Two Natures of Christ, of course, were formulated also at this time, at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
11:37 I reference scholars who say that, to invite people to see, because I don’t think people understand how big of a problem this dogma is. I don’t think they get how serious the problems are so I’m quoting these scholars to try to encourage people to look at what they’re willing to concede
It’s no more of a “problem” than are all the other doctrines (where we agree) — like the canon, the creed, original sin, trinitarianism, Two Natures of Christ, the personhood and Deity of the Holy Spirit, the dogma of theotokos –, that started rapidly developing in roughly the same time frame. It’s a non-issue, as Newman amply and ably explained.
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13:34 Epiphanius [c. 310–320 – 403] says nothing about a bodily assumption to heaven. That has to be read into the text.
Not at all. I just wrote about this topic about five weeks ago on my Facebook page. He wrote:
And if I should say anything more in her praise, [she is] like Elijah, who was virgin from his mother’s womb, always remained so, and was taken up and has not seen death.” (Panarion, c. 378; “Against Collyridians”: from section 79 of The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis Books II and III. De Fide, second revised version, translated by Frank Williams, Boston: Brill, 2013, p. 641; my italics)
“Taken up” pretty obviously refers to her Assumption. And this was written about 72 years before Gavin claimed “the Assumption of Mary. . . comes into the church” (i.e., after 450). Even the canon of the New Testament had not yet been defined at that time. St. Athanasius was the first to name all 27 books in one place only about eleven years earlier. So, the Assumption is a “late doctrine”? Yes, provided we also say the same about many other far less controversial doctrines. But here, Gavin was unaware that Epiphanius expressly asserted Mary’s Assumption. Tim Staples (whose book on Mary Gavin mentioned), observed:
St. Epiphanius clearly indicates his personal agreement with the idea that Mary was assumed into heaven without ever having died. He will elsewhere clarify the fact that he is not certain, and no one is, at least not definitively so, about whether or not she died. But he never says the same about the Assumption itself. That did not seem to be in doubt. By comparing her to Elijah he indicates that she was taken up bodily just as the Church continues to teach 1,600 years later.
Looks pretty straightforward to me. I don’t know why Gavin has such a hard time seeing that he affirmed the Assumption of Mary. “Taken up” can only mean so many things, and if it is directly compared to Elijah, it’s definitely an Assumption up into heaven. Elijah did so in his body as well. He comes back to the topic later in his video, so we’ll see what he says (I am answering as I read the transcript, per my usual custom).
* Tim Staples brings up another fourth-century reference:
According to Fr. [Michael] O’Carroll (in his [2000] book, Theotokos: A Theological Encyclopedia of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 388), we now have what some believe to be a fourth-century homily on the prophet Simeon and the Blessed Virgin Mary by Timothy, a priest of Jerusalem, which asserts Mary is “immortal to the present time through him who had his abode in her and who assumed and raised her above the higher regions.”
Gavin then claims (15:39) that Isidore of Seville (c. 560 –636) is the next patristic witness to the Assumption. He overlooked Gregory of Tours, who wrote a little earlier:
The Apostles took up her body on a bier and placed it in a tomb; and they guarded it, expecting the Lord to come. And behold, again the Lord stood by them; and the holy body having been received, He commanded that it be taken in a cloud into paradise: where now, rejoined to the soul, [Mary] rejoices with the Lord’s chosen ones . . . (Eight Books of Miracles, 1:4; between 575-593; see others from after that time)
21:06 the Assumption gets traction within the church in the late 5th century. The book of Mary’s Repose is a Gnostic legend. This is the first text where you ever have a bodily assumption[of] Mary.
I have shown that this occurred about a hundred years earlier with Epiphanius and Timothy, a priest of Jerusalem (orthodox sources: not heretics).
Gavin gets back to Epiphanius (41:13) and attempts to make contextual arguments against his assertion that she was bodily assumed. I just don’t see it. Maybe I’m dense (who knows?). Readers may consult the text, that I link to (go to p. 641 and read all the context you like). I don’t see how the portion I cited doesn’t mean her Assumption.
44:35 the woman in Revelation 12 is not Mary
I have contended that the text has a dual application: to Mary and to the Church; most obviously referring to Mary in verse 5: “she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne”. It’s pretty difficult not to apply that to Mary, since her Son is so obviously the Messiah, Jesus. See, for example:
Revelation 19:11-16 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. [12] His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. [13] He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. [14] And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. [15] From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. [16] On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords. (cf. Ps 2:7-9)
So who is Jesus’ mother? Obviously, Mary of Nazareth. It can’t be, figuratively the Church, because Jesus established the Church (Matthew 16). It didn’t give birth to Him. The Bible never uses a terminology of Jesus being a “child” (Rev 12:5) of the Church. He is the child of God the Father (His Divine Nature) and of Mary (as a person with both a Divine and human nature). The Church is “of Christ”; Christ is not “of the Church”; let alone its “child.” Those categories are biblically ludicrous and indeed almost blasphemous. Only Jesus is connected directly with that, because He is God. Revelation 7:17 refers to “the Lamb in the midst of the throne.” Revelation 21: 1 and 3 reference “the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Compare Matthew 19:28; 25:31; Hebrews 1:8.
But Gavin says no; so how would he overcome this evidence? St. Cardinal Newman wrote:
What I would maintain is this, that the Holy Apostle would not have spoken of the Church under this particular image, unless there had existed a blessed Virgin Mary, who was exalted on high and the object of veneration to all the faithful. No one doubts that the “man-child” spoken of is an allusion to our Lord; why then is not “the Woman” an allusion to his mother? (“Letter to Pusey,” in Difficulties of Anglicans, Vol. 2, 1875)
And if it is Mary in this passage (as well as the Church), then we have an indication of both her veneration and glorification in heaven, akin to the Assumption. Many classic Protestant commentators agree regarding Revelation 12:5, too. Baptist A. T. Robertson (Word Pictures in the New Testament – six volumes), says of Rev. 12:5: “There is here, of course, direct reference to the birth of Jesus from Mary”. Eerdmans Bible Commentary likewise states: “the ‘catching up’ is sufficiently similar to the victorious ascension of Jesus to make plain its real meaning in this context.” Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary states: “rod of iron . . . ch. 2:27; Psalm 2:9, which passages prove the Lord Jesus to be meant. Any interpretation which ignores this must be wrong.” It also notes the reference to the ascension.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers states: “There can be no doubt that this man child is Christ. The combination of features is too distinct to admit of doubt, it is the one who will feed His flock like a shepherd (Isaiah 40:12), who is to have, not His own people, but all nations as His inheritance (Psalm 2:7-9), and whose rule over them is to be supreme and irresistible.”
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Meyer’s NT Commentary: “These words taken from Psalm 2:9 (LXX.), which are referred also to Christ in Revelation 19:15, make it indubitable that the child born of the woman is the Messiah; but the designation of Christ by these words of the Messianic Psalm is in this passage the most appropriate and significant, since the fact is made prominent that this child just born is the one who with irresistible power will visit in judgment the antichristian heathen.”
Pulpit Commentary: “This reference and Psalm 2:9 leave no doubt as to the identification of the man child. It is Christ who is intended. The same expression is used of him in Revelation 19, where he is definitely called the “Word of God.” And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. The sentence seems plainly to refer to the ascension of Christ and his subsequent abiding in heaven, from whence he rules all nations.”
Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible: “These two clauses open and close this verse; and the whole biography of the earthy life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of the Son of God is here compressed into nineteen words! The critics have really had a fit about this. Some have even denied that the birth of Christ is mentioned here. . . . Despite such views, the pregnant woman, the travailing in birth, and the delivery of a man child in this passage can mean nothing else except the birth of Christ; and the compression of Jesus’ whole biography into such a short space is perfectly in harmony with what the author did by presenting the entire Old Testament history in a single verse (Revelation 12:4). To suppose that the birth is not included here would make the passage mean that the woman brought forth his death and resurrection; because the emphatic statements of her pregnancy and her being delivered clearly makes her the achiever of whatever happened in Revelation 12:5. This therefore has to be a reference to Jesus’ physical birth in Bethlehem.”
47:21 even if Revelation 12 was about Mary it simply says nothing about a bodily assumption
We’re not claiming that it is an explicit description of the Assumption; only that it is consistent with an assumed Mary exalted in terms of veneration, in heaven. Gavin flat-out denied that Mary was referred to, and I submit that that is impossible to do in light of verse 5.
47:28 the woman is seen in heaven in verse 1 prior to all of the events of the chapter; prior to the birth of the Messiah in verse 5 prior to her flight . . .
Verse 2 states: “she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth.” This is referring back to the woman in verse 1: “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Then verse 5 clearly is talking about the same person: “she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne.” Therefore, Mary is the woman of Revelation 12, at least in these passages (most relevant to our topic). Other parts apply to the Church.
47:45 all of that is subsequent to the initial vision of her in heaven, so the idea that Mary was bodily assumed to Heaven at the end of her life after these events happened is completely foreign to the passage
As I just showed, the person in verses 1, 2, and 5 must be the same person, if words and grammar and logic mean anything at all.
As Gavin mostly did in his video on the Immaculate Conception (which I also critiqued), he completely ignored Catholic biblical argumentation regarding the Assumption. Now, maybe he intended for this to simply address historical questions. That’s fine. But his title was, “Why Mary’s Assumption Is Indefensible,” and it’s certainly defensible from the Bible. I will present the main lines of that argument now, in conclusion, since Gavin ignored it.
Christians already believed in extraordinary non-death departures from this life in the case of Enoch (Heb 11:5; cf. Gen 5:24), Elijah (2 Ki 2:1,11), and many during the Second Coming (1 Thess 4:15-17), and also similar dramatic “going-up-to-heaven” events after having died, in the case of the two witnesses of Revelation (11:7-12) and our Lord Jesus Himself. And we have St. Paul reporting that he went up to heaven before he died (2 Cor 12:1-4): possibly in his body; possibly not (12:3), and St. John also seems to be in heaven witnessing many things (the entire book of Revelation). That’s seven biblical analogies to Mary’s Assumption, to one degree or another!
The Church hasn’t declared whether Mary died or not. All of these events occur by virtue of the power of God, not the intrinsic ability of the persons. Jesus ascended by His own power, but the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed by the power of her Son Jesus’ victory over death. Hers was an “immediate resurrection.” One day all who are saved will be bodily resurrected. Mary was the first after the Resurrection: quite appropriately (and even, I submit, “expected”), since she was Jesus’ own Mother.
Catholics believe that all Catholic and Christian doctrines must be in harmony with Scripture; must not contradict it; also, that some doctrines are able to be supported only indirectly, implicitly, or by deduction from other related Bible passages. All Catholic doctrines have scriptural support in some sense (this is my main specialty as an apologist). We also believe in Sacred Tradition: itself always in harmony with Scripture. Sometimes (as in the present case), a doctrine is “stronger” in Tradition.
I agree that there is no direct “proof” of Mary’s Assumption in Scripture. But there is strong deductive and analogical evidence (the analogous examples of “going directly up to heaven” events, shown above). The deductive argument has to do with the “consequences” of Mary’s Immaculate Conception: a doctrine more directly indicated in Scripture (e.g., Lk 1:28). Bodily death and decay are the result of sin and the fall of man (Gen 3:16-19; Ps 16:10). An absence of actual and original sin would allow for instant bodily resurrection.
It’s as if Mary goes back to before the fall (for this reason the Church fathers call her the “New Eve”). Scripture tells us the consequences of original sin; these would then be reversed by Mary not being subject to either original sin or the results. If one is completely without sin, this arguably includes original sin, and without original sin, there is no decay; ergo, the Assumption follows as a matter of course.
Biblically speaking (if not according to strict logic), I don’t think there is anything that could cause death + bodily corruption other than original sin. In other words, we are in a supernatural / spiritual realm in the Bible that is only taught to us through revelation. In that “world” of thinking, it seems to me that there is a one-to-one relation:
1) Original sin ——> bodily corruption + spiritual death.
2) Removal of original sin, or a case where original sin never occurred —–> no spiritual death and no bodily corruption.
Jesus’ Resurrection makes possible universal resurrection (1 Cor 15:13, 16), and redemption of our bodies as well as souls (1 Cor 15:20-23). Mary’s Assumption is the “first fruits,” sign, and type of the general resurrection of all (created) mankind; she exemplifies the age in which death and sin are conquered once and for all (1 Cor 15:26).
1 Corinthians 15:17-26 (RSV) If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
What better person to follow Jesus in resurrection than His own mother, who made the way of salvation possible at the Annunciation? Though this is no ironclad proof, on the other hand, it is a very plausible scenario, and contradicts nothing in the Bible.
Protestant apologist Norman Geisler admits:
[T]he Bible does teach implicitly and logically, if not formally and explicitly, that the Bible alone is the only infallible basis for faith and practice. (Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences, co-author, Ralph E. Mackenzie, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1995, 184; emphases added)
He denies that there is either “formal” or “explicit” biblical proof for this foundation of Protestant theology and its very rule of faith. So if even sola Scriptura lacks this sort of biblical proof (and I would also deny that one can find even implicit or logical proof for it in Scripture), why is it required of Catholics to provide more for a doctrine like the Assumption? There are such things as “implicit” and deductive proofs from Scripture or at least indications. Nothing in Scripture contradicts the possibility of Mary being assumed into heaven (and many parallels show it to be entirely possible and plausible).
As with Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Catholics believe that this event was “fitting” and proper, as opposed to being intrinsically necessary. The word “fitting” is used seven times in the proclamation of her Assumption as a dogma in 1950. St. Cardinal Newman makes an extended argument for Mary’s Assumption from “fittingness”:
It was surely fitting then, it was becoming, that she should be taken up into heaven and not lie in the grave till Christ’s second coming, who had passed a life of sanctity and of miracle such as hers. . . . Who can conceive, my brethren, that God should so repay the debt, which He condescended to owe to His Mother, for the elements of His human body, as to allow the flesh and blood from which it was taken to moulder in the grave? . . . Why should she share the curse of Adam, who had no share in his fall? “Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return,” was the sentence upon sin; she then, who was not a sinner, fitly never saw corruption. She died, then, as we hold, because even our Lord and Saviour died . . . by the grace of Christ which in her had anticipated sin, which had filled her with light, which had purified her flesh from all defilement, she was also saved from disease and malady, and all that weakens and decays the bodily frame. Original sin had not been found in her . . . If the Mother of Emmanuel ought to be the first of creatures in sanctity and in beauty; if it became her to be free from all sin from the very first, and from the moment she received her first grace to begin to merit more; and if such as was her beginning, such was her end, her conception immaculate and her death an assumption . . . (Discourses Addressed to Mixed Congregations [1849; London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1906), Discourse 18: “On the Fitness of the Glories of Mary”)
Protestant anti-Catholic apologist Jason Engwer, who runs the Triablogue site, took some potshots against the Assumption of Mary in his article, Luke Against Roman Catholic Mariology (10-24-21). I counter with similar arguments, using his incessantly skeptical, cynical methodology (two can play at this game). Jason wrote:
Similarly, she’s mentioned in Acts 1:14, but not in the three decades of church history narrated afterward. No assumption of Mary is mentioned either. . . . if she died within the history covered by the document, especially if she died earlier rather than later, why is there no mention of an assumption? . . .
Luke’s writings can be an important part of a cumulative argument when considering an issue like the assumption of Mary. The more sources we have that show interest in relevant subjects, yet don’t mention an assumption of Mary, the less likely it is that she was assumed (e.g., Luke’s failure to mention an assumption despite multiple references to Jesus’ ascension, . . .) . . . Luke is the sort of author who would have been in an unusually good position to have referred to an assumption if one had occurred.
Applying the technique of analogical argument, I countered this, bringing about what is known in logic as a reductio ad absurdum (reduction to absurdity):
Matthew’s and John’s Gospels can be an important part of a cumulative argument when considering an issue like the ascension of Jesus. The more sources we have that show interest in relevant subjects, yet don’t mention an ascension of Jesus, the less likely it is that He ascended to heaven (e.g., Matthew’s and John’s failure to mention His ascension . . .) . . . Matthew and John are the sorts of authors who would have been in an unusually good position to have referred to His ascension if it had occurred. They wrote a lot in relevant contexts, including a substantial amount about Jesus, . . .
By the way, the book of Acts “is usually dated to around 80–90 AD, although some scholars suggest 90–110”: according to Wikipedia. St. Paul’s death, according to the Wikipedia article about him, “is believed to have occurred after the Great Fire of Rome in July 64, but before the last year of Nero’s reign, in 68.” St. Peter’s death, in the article devoted to him –according to “Early Church tradition” was “at the time of the Great Fire of Rome in the year 64.” Yet neither event is mentioned in the book of Acts.
No martyrdoms of St. Paul or St. Peter are mentioned [in Acts] either. . . . if they died within the history covered by the document, especially if they died earlier rather than later, why is there no mention of their martyrdoms? . . . Luke’s writings can be an important part of a cumulative argument when considering an issue like the martyrdoms of St. Paul and St. Peter. The more sources we have that show interest in relevant subjects, yet don’t mention martyrdoms of St. Paul and St. Peter, the less likely it is that they were martyred (e.g., Luke’s failure to mention martyrdoms of St. Paul and St. Peter . . .) . . . Luke is the sort of author who would have been in an unusually good position to have referred to the martyrdoms of St. Paul and St. Peter if they had occurred. He wrote a lot in relevant contexts, including a substantial amount about St. Paul and St. Peter, . . .
Mark’s and John’s Gospels can be an important part of a cumulative argument when considering an issue like the virgin birth in Bethlehem of Jesus. The more sources we have that show interest in relevant subjects, yet don’t mention the virgin birth in Bethlehem of Jesus, the less likely it is that He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem (e.g., Mark’s and John’s failure to mention His virgin birth in Bethlehem, and Mark’s failure to mention Bethlehem at all in his entire Gospel . . .) . . . Mark and John are the sorts of author who would have been in an unusually good position to have referred to the virgin birth in Bethlehem of Jesus if it had occurred. They wrote a lot in relevant contexts, including a substantial amount about Jesus, . . .
Matthew’s and Mark’s and Luke’s Gospels can be an important part of a cumulative argument when considering an issue like the raising of Lazarus from the dead by Jesus. The more sources we have that show interest in relevant subjects, yet don’t mention the raising of Lazarus, the less likely it is that Lazarus was raised by Jesus (e.g., Matthew’s and Mark’s and Luke’s failure to mention His being raised from the dead by Jesus . . .) . . . Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the sorts of authors who would have been in an unusually good position to have referred to the raising of Lazarus from the dead by Jesus if it had occurred. They wrote a lot in relevant contexts, including a substantial amount about Jesus, . . .
Etc., etc. One gets the analogical / satirical point by now . . . Folks don’t always mention every particular thing.
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Photo credit: Madonna in Glory (c. 1670), by Carlo Dolci (1616-1686) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
Summary: I respond to a video by Reformed Baptist apologist Gavin Ortlund, explaining why Protestants reject the Assumption of Mary. Unlike him, I discuss relevant Scripture, too.
Photo Credit: Assumption of the Virgin (1526-1529), by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
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This is a reply to anti-Catholic Reformed Protestant polemicist James Swan’s article, “Martin Luther and Mary’s Assumption” (12-18-06). His words will be in blue; Luther’s in green.
Here’s another one of those “Martin Luther was devoted to Mary” quotes. This time, Luther is said to believe in Mary’s assumption.
Well, yes. Lutheran scholars agree that he did, as I will document.
William J. Cole did not have anything to do with the Weimar edition of Luther’s Works.
Since it was compiled either before he was born or when he was very young, that would follow, yes.
He was a Roman Catholic scholar who wrote an article on Luther’s Mariology many years ago. . . . The quote is originally from WA 10(3), 268,13 to 269. The translation utilized is from Cole’s old article from 1970, “Was Luther a Devotee of Mary?” [Marian Studies XXI].
Yep. I put it online (probably the first person to do so). And that’s where I got it. There is nothing improper in this. A secondary scholarly source can be used if he or she cites a primary source. That’s what Cole did. Nor does a person have to read the original in a different language in order to cite a secondary source citing it in English. Swan — who knows why? — has this ludicrous notion in his head that this is what is required of everyone.
The quote is from Luther’s sermon of August 15, 1522. Cole mentions it was the last time Luther preached on the Feast of the Assumption, which should tip us all off on where Luther was heading with his “Mariology” (recall, Luther lived till 1546, thus this comment comes very early in his “Reformation.”). Cole quotes Luther as saying,
“There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven. How it happened we do not know. And since the Holy Spirit has told us nothing about it, we can make of it no article of faith.” [note from 8-2-24: actually, these are not Luther’s words; see the Addendum at the end]
Now, one could say here that Luther leaves the door open for Mary’s assumption. Perhaps he did in 1522. . . . Here we find Luther living up to “Sola Scriptura.” One is not [to] believe in the Assumption.
Not all Lutheran historians or other scholars would agree with Swan that Luther always thought his followers should “not believe in the Assumption.” Lutheran scholar Eric W. Gritsch, who was a major translator in the English set, Luther’s Works (edited by Jaroslav Pelikan), observed:
Luther affirmed Mary’s assumption into heaven but did not consider it to be of benefit to others or accomplished in any special way. (in The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary, Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue VIII, edited by H. George Anderson, J. Francis Stafford, Joseph A. Burgess, Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Press, 1992, 241; footnote 44; p. 382: “Sermon on the Festival of the Assumption, August 15, 1522. WA 10/3:269.12-13. Sermon on the Festival of the Visitation . . . August 15, 1522. WA 52:681.27-31.”; my bolded emphasis)
In the same book, twelve Lutheran and ten Catholic scholars participated. Their “Common Statement” (a sort of creed-like formulation agreed-upon by all) yielded some very interesting conclusions indeed:
(89) Luther preached on the Assumption . . . There were early Lutheran pastors who affirmed the Assumption as both evangelical and Lutheran.
(101) From the Lutheran side, one may recall the honor and devotion paid to the Mother of God by Luther himself, including his own attitude to the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, which he accepted in some form. (p. 55; my bolded emphasis)
Luther signed an August 19, 1527 letter to Georg Spalatin in the following (very “unProtestant”) manner:
Yours, Monday after the Assumption of Mary, 1527. Martin Luther. (in Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, edited and translated by Theodore G. Tappert, Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 2003, 230)
He did the same eight years later, in a letter dated “the Friday after the Assumption of Mary 1535” (letter to Elector John Frederick, 20 August 1535, referenced in Luther’s Works, Vol. 2, p. 21, footnote 31).
It is not to be an article of faith.
Luther did state that. But that’s a separate issue from whether he believed it at that time.
Interestingly, Cole goes on to point out that Luther “used strong language….for the elimination of the Assumption as an aspect of the ‘hypocritical church’,” particularly in celebrating a feast for it. Cole cites Luther as saying in 1544:
“The feast of the Assumption is totally papist, full of idolatry and without foundation in the Scriptures. But we, even though Mary has gone to heaven, should not bother how she went there. We will not invoke her as our special advocate as the Pope teaches. The pope takes away the honor due to the Ascension of our Lord, Christ, with the result that he has made the mother like her Son in all things.”
Even this doesn’t particular quotation necessarily require that Luther himself gave up all belief in Mary’s Assumption, since he was discussing not the thing itself, but how the feast celebrating it was conducted in the Catholic Church (thus, he referred to invoking her, etc., which has nothing directly to do with the doctrine itself).
In fairness to the work of William Cole, Cole doesn’t take a stance one way or the other if Luther ever held to the doctrine of Mary’s Assumption. He simply says that for Luther the Assumption was of “little importance…” and Luther never explicitly “denied” it either.
Swan (the world’s greatest expert on how to make a citation) gets this wrong, too, and he refutes himself in his later article, “Revisiting Luther on the Assumption of Mary” (5-24-16). He himself quotes Cole from the same article, where Cole certainly did take a “stance“:
For Luther the Assumption seems not to be so much a matter of doubt as of little importance and this is perhaps the reason, as Max Thurian affirms, that Luther did not pronounce clearly on the subject, but was content simply to affirm it.
“Affirm” means holding a belief. This ain’t rocket science. Cole thought that Luther affirmed Mary’s Assumption. But for some strange reason, Swan thinks he didn’t. The well-known Luther scholar Eric Gritsch also thought he did (“Luther affirmed Mary’s assumption into heaven”), as did the twelve Lutheran scholars in the ecumenical book mentioned above (“he accepted [Mary’s Assumption”] in some form”).
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So who are we supposed to believe on this score?: a self-appointed Luther “expert” and anti-Catholic Protestant apologist with a philosophy degree and no published books, or a guy who helped translate the materials in the 55-volume standard set, Luther’s Works, along with twelve other Lutheran scholars, who all agree that Luther believed in it? They didn’t even say that he stopped doing so. Maybe he did. But they didn’t seem to think so, or else — it seems to me — they could and would have mentioned that.
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It is simply the case that people in the Bible died. Scripture doesn’t tell us how many of them died. On Roman Catholic logic, one might as well suggest all the biblical characters that did not have their deaths mentioned were assumed into Heaven…or, one can simply cease and desist from sophistry.
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Yeah, most people die a normal death; no argument there! But in Scripture there are extraordinary departures from this life, too, and Catholics are saying that if these parallels exist in Scripture, that it can’t be absolutely ruled out that Mary’s departure was of the same or similar nature. It’s a possibility, in other words: one that is in harmony with other events in the Bible. It’s not unbiblical. But it is speculative, with regard to the biblical data with respect to Mary. I think a theological / biblical case can be made for it.
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If indeed Mary was free from sin, then it follows that she would not undergo the decay of death, which was the penalty for sin (Gen 3:16-19). But for the fall of man, no one would have died. Mary is the exception, for very good reason, and the forerunner of the resurrection that all who are saved will experience (1 Cor 15:12-23; cf. Mt 27:52-53).
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This in turn is based on a prior acceptance of her Immaculate Conception, which can largely be argued from the Bible as well. We have the case of Enoch (Heb 11:5; cf. Gen 5:24), Elijah (2 Ki 2:1, 11), and many during the Second Coming (1 Thess 4:15-17): none of whom died before they were taken up into heaven. We also have in the Bible similar dramatic “going-up-to-heaven” events after having died, in the case of the two witnesses of Revelation (11:7-12) and our Lord Jesus Himself. Catholics are free to believe that Mary died or that she didn’t die (the dogma allows either scenario). Either way, there are scriptural parallels.
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Swan goes on to make a more in-depth case in his follow-up article on this topic (mentioned above). Let’s see what he comes up with there:
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Citing Luther’s 1522 sermon on the feast of the Assumption, Swan opines, “A careful reader will notice nowhere in this context does Luther admit to believing in the Assumption of Mary, . . . There is no Luther-an affirmation of the Assumption here.” I see. Why, then, does Gritsch think that this same sermon is evidence for his affirmation of the doctrine? After all, he cited it in his footnote when he wrote, “Luther affirmed Mary’s assumption into heaven.” He also cited his “Sermon on the Festival of the Visitation” from the same date. I tried unsuccessfully to find this latter sermon online. Swan cites a partial citation and translation of it, after making the point that he believes Gritsch got the date wrong:
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It was preached in 1532 (seeWA 52, XXIV). . . . Eric Gritsch actually places the preaching of this sermon in 1522, . . . but this is an error.
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Swan then cites a portion of this 1532 sermon (source: Susan C. Karant-Nunn and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks Luther on Women: A Sourcebook; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 46-47). The relevant portion is: “We however, even if she has already gone to heaven, cannot enjoy her ascension, and should not for that reason call to her or to take comfort in her intercession.” So Luther affirms her Assumption (casually assumes it) in 1532, and this is one of two reasons that Gritsch gives for asserting that he held the doctrine. I love facts!
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Swan cites the Catholic William Cole, who correctly observed:
In summary, we can see that if the Feast is rejected, it is for reasons extraneous to the fact itself, which Luther never denied. Essentially, as Luther himself said in the same sermon the reason he does not celebrate it, “although she has gone to heaven” is that he sees it is a source of justifying invocation to Mary.
Bingo! (to use some Catholic lingo there . . . )
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Once again, we see here that Cole simply assumes what he’s never proved, that Luther accepted the Assumption of Mary.
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Before, Swan claimed that he took no stand either way. Now he is bashing him for supposedly assuming without proof. Swan himself (thankfully) provided more context for the second 1532 sermon, that Gritsch cited as evidence. Luther assumes her “ascension.”
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Cole’s “benign interpretation” is a malignant interpretation of the context. Luther says there’s nothing in Scripture about it, and because of that, her ascension into heaven is not to be celebrated.
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Again, those are two different things. We can believe in a doctrine, while not thinking a celebration of it is required or pious. And Luther explained in both 1532 and in 1544 that what he objects to is invocation of Mary in the context of the feast. So he wanted to ditch the feast, not the Assumption itself. He says there is nothing in Scripture about it, yet still believes it, so it has to be on the authority of Church and tradition, doesn’t it? In so doing, he makes a temporary exception to sola Scriptura, his rule of faith. And that is fascinating, too.
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This though has not stopped some of Rome’s scholars from saying this [1522] sermon serves as proof that Luther believed in the Assumption of Mary.
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Nor has it stopped Lutheran Eric Gritsch and twelve other prominent Lutheran scholars from believing that he held to the Assumption, based in part on this sermon. Swan actually deals with Gritsch’s statement, and spins it more wildly than a tornado:
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Gritsch’s main proof? This 1522 sermon. Keep your eye on the ball again. Notice how careful Gritsch is: Luther is said to affirm Mary’s Assumption into heaven but it was not “accomplished in any special way.” In this brief synopsis offered by Gritsch, he appears to redefine what it means to be “Assumed” into heaven. What he gives with one hand, he takes away with the other, for being Assumed into heaven by its very nature is a special way of arriving in heaven!
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Well, I would say that Luther says many silly and/or self-contradictory things. Nothing new there. In any event, Gritsch says that he affirmed the Assumption. Period. End of story. So it ain’t just us lowly “Romanists” who believe this out of our alleged desire to systematically lie and pretend, etc.
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Many years ago now these irresponsible conclusions from Cole and O’Meara were taken by Rome’s cyber-apologists and plastered all over the Internet.
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Swan just can’t stop with this idiocy. It’s in his anti-Catholic blood, I guess. Many Lutheran scholars agree with this conclusion! At least he acknowledged that Gritsch did so. Miracles never cease . . .
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Why would these pop-apologists be so interested in Luther believing in Mary’s Assumption?
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Presumably for some of the same reasons I do:
1) We are interested in Christian history, including the founder of Protestantism (who is an extremely fascinating figure). I’ve always loved history in general, and it’s much more interesting to me than fiction. Anomalies like this are interesting and educational by nature.
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2) We would make the point that if a person committed to sola Scriptura believed in the Assumption, then it must be based in some fashion (assuming internal consistency) on the Bible, since these people reject authoritative apostolic tradition and an infallible Church.
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3) If the founder of Protestantism believes in a Catholic “distinctive” then it’s no longer in fact exclusively a Catholic distinctive, is it?
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4) We rejoice in any agreement from our Protestant separated brethren, since it means that we have that much more in common than we already do (which is quite a bit) and are more unified.
From how I’ve encountered these people, the motivation seems to be to cause dissonance in the minds of non-Roman Catholics.
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Case in point. But what Protestants think of these facts that they are rarely told in their own circles is up to them. To me they are at bottom interesting facts, and I always seek facts and truth rather that fables and lies. They are what they are.
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First, Luther believed in sola scriptura, but look: he also adheres to our Mariology.
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That corresponds to my point #2 above. Kudos!
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Second, Roman Catholics are typically fairly critical of Martin Luther. But when it comes to the topic of Mary, Luther becomes the staunch supporter of Mary; a leader that all contemporary Protestants should learn a great lesson in Mariology from.
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We disagree with some of his teachings and agree with others. DUH! Like this is some big revelation or shocking thing? We write about disagreements because that is apologetics and comparative theology. We write about agreements for the sake of more unity and mutual understanding (#3 and #4 above). We’re not as far apart as we thought . . .
Luther did not write the exact quote Roman Catholics say he did. Rather, the quote is not from Luther, but from William Tappolet, author of the book, Das Marienlob der Reformatoren [The Marian Praise of the Reformers, from 1962]. The quote is actually Tappolet summarizing his personal view of Luther on the Assumption, or rather, providing a summary of (what he thinks is) Luther’s view. Then he cites Luther’s sermon for proof . . .
True to form, he proceeded to mock Catholic apologists (and if you know my ludicrous 20-year history with him, he especially had me in mind):
I suspect now may occur, at least on some Roman Catholic webpages, the disappearing Luther quote act, which has different variations.
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Drumroll please.
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Edited. Poof! Gone.
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Or: Nope, we never cited this as a Luther quote. See.. it’s not on our webpage anymore, so it never happened.
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Or: the documentation will be fixed: yep, we’re just great Roman Catholic researchers that figured out all of this stuff on our own.
In fact, I am not like James Swan at all: a person who seems to never be able to admit that he ever made an error in his research (at least not if I or any dreaded, despised Catholic had pointed it out). I have done none of these things. I accept the fact that he discovered an error that the Catholic William Cole made in an article that I cited. The original disproven “citation” remains above (with a note to this Addendum), and now I issue a retraction (which I will also announce on my blog). What Swan in his triumphant and arrogant correction, however, doesn’t appear to realize is that he had done the same thing that I did: accepted Cole’s “quotation” as genuine.
The mockery in his article title lands on top of his head as well. After all, he had cited Cole with some of the context surrounding the alleged Luther quote in another article of his on the same topic, dated 5-24-16, without renouncing it as a “fake Luther quote.” So obviously, he hadn’t checked the original primary source to verify it at that time; i.e., the thing that he is always chiding Catholic apologists for not doing: he expects us to look up every original Luther source in German. He wrote in his recent article:
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with citing Cole, I’ve found useful information in his article. However, there is something wrong with not checking his references! Almost anyone can do this now. No excuses Roman Catholic apologists! Do your homework!
Again, he hadn’t done that himself in 2016, so his childish lecturing again merely exposes his own hypocrisy and shoddy research (just as bad as he claims ours is, if not worse, because of his constant self-absorbed and deluded claims of intellectual superiority). As I documented above, in his article on the topic almost ten years before that, dated 12-18-06, he is just as sure of the genuineness of the Cole “citation” of Luther as any Catholic:
The quote is from Luther’s sermon of August 15, 1522. Cole mentions it was the last time Luther preached on the Feast of the Assumption,. . . Cole quotes Luther . . . Now, one could say here that Luther leaves the door open for Mary’s assumption. Perhaps he did in 1522. . . .
No ultra-enlightened, academic skepticism here, is there? For over eighteen years, then, Swan didn’t do what he blamed us for not doing, until the light bulb went off in his head and he finally proclaimed in his article yesterday, “I have solved this mystery!”
Now, having acknowledged my own mistake (and you notice that Swan is utterly, blissfully unaware of his same 18-year mistake), I hasten to add that it doesn’t change my argument in the slightest, because, as Swan noted, Tappolet was summarizing the Marian statements of Luther in his sermon on the Feast of the Assumption, on 15 August 1522. Swan was kind enough to provide an English translation of its introduction in his earlier article (I’ve italicized the most relevant portions):
Today the festival of our dear lady, the mother of God, is observed to celebrate her death and departure above. But how little this Gospel corresponds with this is plain. For this Gospel tells us nothing about Mary being in heaven. And even if one could draw from this text every detail about what it is like for a saint to be in heaven, it would be of little use. It is enough that we know that departed saints live in God, as Christ concludes in Matthew [Matthew 22] based on the passage in Exodus [Exodus 4] where God says to Moses, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob,” that God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.
These passages sufficiently prove that they live. But we should not try to figure out what their life is like up there for it is not necessary for us to know. It is also not necessary to discover it. Reason is incapable of it. Some great masters have understanding about some things and yet not about this. For there are three states of life. First, as a child lays in his crib he lives in God but hardly perceives it. Second, when we sleep we also are alive and are scarcely aware of it. Thirdly, when we definitely are aware and experience that we are living, even then we don’t know how.
Now since here on earth God deals with us in this meager prison (that is barely half a life), in such a way that we barely perceive how we live here, how much more can He give life in heaven where it is spacious and where is true life. So we cannot set up any definite limits or establish a rule as to how the saints live there since even here dreaming and crazy people live, but we can’t imagine how. It is enough to know that they live. But it is not necessary for us to know what that life is like. That is why I have always said that our faith always must rest upon what is known. We do not make articles of faith out of what doesn’t rest squarely on Scriptures, else we would daily make up new articles of faith. For this reason, those things that are necessary to believe which you must always preserve, which Scripture clearly reveals, are to be markedly distinguished from everything else. For faith must not build itself upon what Scripture does not clearly prove. So since the Scripture clearly says here that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all believers live, then it is necessary for you to believe that the mother of God lives. You can leave it in our gracious God’s hands what that life is like. Enough said about this festival. We will say something about the Gospel. (Festival Sermons of Martin Luther, Michigan: Mark V Publications, 2005, pp. 145-146)
As I showed above, Luther casually assumed Mary’s “ascension” in a 1532 sermon. Swan, as always, makes out that Catholics (never Protestants!) are overzealously rationalizing and engaging in dishonest, deceitful historical revisionism as to Luther’s Mariology. But of course, what he needs to adequately explain is how Lutheran scholar Eric Gritsch could read the same sermon, along with the 1532 sermon above, and cite both of them as the basis of his statement that “Luther affirmed Mary’s assumption into heaven”.
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Nor has Swan explained how twelve other Luther scholars could write that Luther “accepted” Mary’s Assumption “in some form.” Note that they don’t assert that he ceased believing in it. So it’s not just Catholics who think he affirmed the Assumption (however “minimally” it may have been) his entire life; and this shows that our arguments don’t simply flow from our natural Catholic bias. They’re in line with serious Lutheran Luther scholarship.
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Yet Swan, the amateur blogger and self-proclaimed expert on Luther, with no published books of theology, apparently thinking himself superior to all these Lutheran scholars, blithely barges ahead, writing in his recent article:
The obvious question remains… does the Luther sermon Cole and Tappolet cite prove Luther believed in the Bodily Assumption of Mary? I’ve been over that before also. Read the context for yourself, either byvisiting my old blog entry, Baseley’s English rendering of the sermon fromFestival Sermons of Martin Luther, orthe German text. The Bodily Assumption of Mary is being read into the context by Roman Catholics. A careful reader will notice nowhere in the context does Luther admit to believing in the Assumption of Mary, . . . In this brief synopsis offered by Gritsch, he appears to redefine what it means to be “Assumed” into heaven.
Yet Gritsch and the other Lutheran scholars think that Luther did believe in the Assumption, based on these two sermons. Who to believe? Will we accept the word of a notoriously sloppy and dishonest, relentlessly sophomoric anti-Catholic blogger like James Swan, even when it expressly contradicts Lutheran scholars (including one major translator of his works in English) in matters of what Luther believed? I will accept the conclusions of the Lutheran scholars and experts on Luther, thank you. Swan is playing the sophist’s game, as usual. Avoid people who do that like the plague! I certainly would utterly ignore Swan and his vapid antics, too, if it weren’t for my duty as an apologist to expose and refute his special pleading nonsense, lest folks be led astray by it.
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Photo Credit: Assumption of the Virgin (1526-1529), by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
Summary: Anti-Catholic Protestant polemicist James Swan tries his hardest to prove that Luther rejected Mary’s Assumption, but infinitely more qualified Lutheran scholars disagree.
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