We are pleased to share an excerpt from John Martignoni’s new book, A Blue Collar Answer to Protestantism (Catholic Questions Protestants Can’t Answer) published by EWTN Publishing.
Problems with Protestantism – Decapitating Jesus
In Protestantism, there is a tendency to separate Jesus from the church. I have heard time and time again from any number of Protestants that they don’t need a church as long as they have Jesus, and their bible. I have also been told, many times, I should go by what the bible says and not by what the Church says. “Listen to the bible, not the church.” They say the church is simply a place to go to fellowship and worship with other Christians, but it is not necessary for their salvation. Jesus is necessary, but the church is not. The bible is necessary, but the church is not. I refer to this tendency of separating Jesus from the church – of pitting bible vs. church – as “decapitating Jesus”.
Decapitating Jesus. That’s a fairly stark phrase, but intentionally so. My hope is to jar people’s sensibilities just a bit so as to get them thinking about what it is they believe and why they believe it. So why do I say that Protestantism decapitates Jesus? Let me start the explanation with a passage from Scripture: John 1:16-17, “And from His fullness have we all received, grace upon grace…” Again, what does that passage tell us? It tells us we have received, from the fullness of Jesus Christ, grace upon grace. Grace comes to us from the fullness of Jesus Christ. I think everyone – Catholic and Protestant – would agree with that. I mean, that’s what the Bible very clearly states.
Okay, then, let’s look at another Bible passage: Colossians 1:19, “For in Him [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell…” And, in Colossians 2:9-10, it says this: “For in Him [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness of life in Him, Who is the head of all rule and authority.” Fullness is the theme here. The fullness of deity dwells bodily in Jesus Christ. And we have received, as it says in John 1:16-17, grace after grace from this fullness. Again, I believe both Catholic and Protestant would agree with that 100%.
But, this actually presents a bit of a problem for those Protestants who pit Jesus and the bible against the church. How so, you might ask? Well, because of what it says in Ephesians 1:22-23 – “…and He [the Father] has put all things under His [Jesus] feet and has made Him the head over all things for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all”.
Did you catch that? The church, according to the Word of God, is the “fullness” of Jesus Christ. Where does the Bible – the Word of God – say that we get grace upon grace from? From the “fullness” of Jesus Christ (John 1:16-17). And what is the “fullness” of Jesus Christ, according to the Word of God? The church! And where does the Bible – the Word of God – say we get fullness of life from? From the “fullness” of deity in Him (Jesus). And what is the “fullness” of Jesus Christ, according to the Word of God? The church! So if grace upon grace and fullness of life come from the fullness of Jesus Christ, and the church is the fullness of Jesus Christ, then where do we get grace upon grace and the fullness of life from? The church. The church which is the Body of Christ, the “fullness” of Him Who fills all in all.
If the church is the Body of Christ, who is the Head of the Body? Jesus Christ (Eph 1:22-23). And how does the Word of God describe what Jesus is the Head over? The Word of God says He is the head of “all rule and authority,” (Col 2:9-10). So, Jesus is the Head over the Body, which is the church, which is “all rule and authority.” So, where do we find rule and authority? In the church! The church which is the Body of Christ.
The argument of finding the authority of Jesus Christ Himself in the church is further strengthened by Scripture when you look at Matt 18:15-18, where Jesus tells the Apostles to take disputes to the binding authority of the church for a decision. The church that has the authority, from Jesus Christ Himself, to bind and loose on earth that which then shall be bound and loosed in Heaven. In other words, the church has to be infallible in its judgment because whatever it is binding and loosing on earth is being bound and loosed in Heaven by God. God does not bind and loose error. Therefore, the Church’s judgments in these matters have to be free from error – i.e., infallible.
So, where does all of this get us? For Protestants, the answer is that it gets you in a lot of theological trouble. I once dialogued with an Evangelical pastor in my e-newsletter (Apologetics for the Masses) who said that all authority that he has – to preach, to teach, to pastor, etc. – comes directly to him from Jesus Christ through the Scriptures, not through the church. First of all, nowhere does the Bible ever say such a thing. Secondly, the Scriptures tell us that all authority of Jesus Christ, grace upon grace through Jesus Christ, fullness of life in Jesus Christ, all come through the fullness of Jesus Christ. The fullness of Jesus Christ which is identified as…the church.
The thing is, though, I don’t believe that pastor, or any Protestant minister – or lay person – would ever claim that his church is the fullness of Jesus Christ and that one receives grace upon grace through his church and that in his church resides all rule and authority of Jesus Christ. I mean, this particular pastor had already said all authority resides in the Bible, and he isn’t alone in his belief. Yet, the Bible says all authority resides in the Body of Christ – the church. So, who do you believe…the Word of God, or the Word of Pastor X?
Which is why, when so many Protestants pit bible against Church, pit Jesus against the church, what they are actually doing is removing the Head (Jesus) from the Body (the church). They are, in essence, decapitating Jesus. When Protestants adopt a “me and Jesus” theology; when they say that you don’t need the church as long as you’ve got the Bible; when they say that the Church isn’t necessary for one’s salvation; what they are essentially doing is cutting Jesus’ Head off of His Body. They are saying that you don’t need the Body of Christ for salvation, you just need His head.
All those Protestants who downplay the role of the church, and even sometimes look at the church with disdain, are in grave danger of losing their salvation. Why? Because you cannot have Jesus if you don’t have the church. You cannot have the Head if you do not have the Body. The Bible makes that very plain. Jesus and the church are one. Separating the church from Jesus, pitting the bible against the church, is cutting the Head off the Body. It is a catastrophic mistake.
Author Bio – John Martignoni
John Martignoni is the founder and president of the Bible Christian Society, an apologetics and evangelization apostolate that reaches hundreds of thousands of people each year across the United States and throughout the world with the truths of the Catholic Faith. For seventeen years, he hosted EWTN Radio’s Open Line, which was heard on hundreds of stations around the country. He founded and has run Catholic radio stations in Alabama. His regular e-newsletter, Apologetics for the Masses, has more than sixty thousand subscribers in all fifty states and in more than eighty countries around the world. He is currently the director of evangelization for the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama.
