“Only trusting the Bible without the Church would be like loving ‘Romeo & Juliet’ and hating Shakespeare’s explanation of it.”
THE CHURCH is made up of the people who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit because they have believed the Gospel that Christ commanded His Church to proclaim.
This has always been the case since the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost. Apostles were commissioned to found the Church and were required to provide proof of their apostolic authority which included being eye-witnesses to the risen Christ. This apostolic authority is preserved for us today in their writings. (See 2 Peter 1:15.)
Believers are collectively indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Therefore believers do need other believers to receive all of the benefits and blessings of the Holy Spirit as God has fashioned His Church so that each part serves a purpose. Each is needed and needs the other parts.
The idea that believers need help from other believers, i.e. THE CHURCH is not foreign to scripture, but the Catholic concept of reserving to itself and its hierarchy the title of CHURCH is foreign to the message of the Bible and of the Gospel in general.
When the disciples debated over who would be greatest, Christ rebuked this and taught them a different model of leadership. When God ordained that Paul would be an apostle to the Gentiles, He ordered it so that his apostleship did not rely on any other apostles. “neither did I confer with those who were apostles before me...” Paul wrote.
Further, the Catholic idea of apostolic tradition “was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time” is completely foreign to the Biblical basis which it claims. Paul left Timothy to appoint elders (or bishops if you prefer) in each city. These had leadership roles within the church in their geographic boundary which comprised the local churches.
We can find proof from numerous examples that the Gospel was preached, people believed and were baptized into the church without this so-called continuous line. There were those who preached and did works in Christ’s name whom the disciples wanted to forbid because they “follow not with us”. What did Christ reply? “Forbid them not.” Apollos was not trained by the apostles but was recorded in scripture as being an influential preacher of the Gospel. Further, Christ appointed multiple apostles and did not leave a solitary apostle in charge of the others. And Paul was ordained to fulfill his calling as an apostle, not through the other apostles, but through the leaders of the local church in Antioch where he served. And in Revelation, Christ commends those believers who do not blindly follow those who claim apostolic authority but rather put these claims to the test. They tested these claims and found them fraudulent. Revelation, the last book of the canon of scripture, warns of those who want to add or take away from it. The canon has been closed, faithfully sealed by God and preserved by His divine power so that no matter who has opposed its spread and proclamation (even among those who claim to be its keeper), the Bible has prevailed.
This has always been the case since the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost.
This happened 14 to 17 years after Pauls conversion and was hardly mentioned by Paul but is very plain in acts 15.
AMEN, brother.
Excellent points!