Good, Bad, and Still Ugly

The resignation of Pope Benedict brought the Roman Catholic Church into the limelight once again. In one sense, the election of the new pope is “much ado about nothing” since Jesus Christ does not need a vicar on earth. Jesus can lead His Church very well without help. In another sense, the election will determine the course of the Roman Catholic Church for the next decade or more.
The good: We could thank outgoing Pope Benedict for trying to steer his church back from the Vatican II theology of the liberals and their leftist “Liberation Theology.” We should always rejoice when God’s Word is restored to its place as the basis of talking about God and Jesus’ salvation.
The bad: The next pope will continue to deal with the fallout from the many scandals of abuse by its clergy and the subsequent cover-ups by its bishops. This crisis will not easily be set aside or go away.
In the nations of historic Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church will also feel the growing secularization that is driving people away from organized religion and towards more secular expressions of spirituality. The closings of parishes, schools, and universities will not be easy to stop—due in part to a lack of priests and to fewer people willing to attend and support the outward churches. Much will depend on what the new pope emphasizes if this trend is to be lessened or reversed.
The still ugly: Articles 22-28 of the Augsburg Confession (AC) are titled, “Articles in which are Recounted the Abuses which have been Corrected” (ELH, pp. 14–28). These articles describe the practices within the Roman Catholic Church that are contrary to Scripture and sound practice. These practices still continue in the Roman Catholic Church to this day.
Article 22 speaks about the Roman Catholic practice of lay communicants receiving only the body/bread of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. The AC states, “But it is evident that any custom introduced against the commandments of God is not to be allowed, as the Canons witness” (ELH, p15). Where the Roman Catholic Church forbids its priests to marry, Article 23 notes: “In 1 Timothy 4:3 Paul calls a teaching that forbids marriage a ‘doctrine of demons.’ This is now easily understood when the law against marriage is enforced by such penalties [as death]” (ELH, p. 16).
Concerning “The Mass,” the AC complained about the Lord’s Supper being used to collect money to say private masses to take away daily sins. The AC states that “the Mass was instituted that the faith of those who use the Sacrament should remember what benefits are received through Christ and should cheer and comfort the troubled conscience” (ELH, p. 17). In conjunction with the Mass, there was the abuse of confession of sins. The Roman Catholic Church required a complete enumeration of sins and the payment of satisfactions, or penance. The AC says, “The people are most carefully taught concerning the faith and assurance of absolution, about which before there was profound silence. Our people are taught that they should highly esteem absolution, for it is the voice of God proclaimed by God’s command” (AC 25, ELH, p. 18).
Article 27 speaks about the distinction of foods and fasting, which the Roman Church claimed were works that merited grace from God. The AC objected because “traditions were placed far above the commandments of God. Christianity was thought to consist wholly in the observance of certain festivals, rites, fasts, and vestures” (ELH, p. 19). Observing human traditions cannot merit grace or make someone justified.
The vows of monks and nuns were dealt with in Article 27. The AC notes that in the beginning monasteries were voluntary associations, but when discipline declined, vows were added to restore discipline. Some in the Roman Church taught that life in the monastery was more virtuous than Christians living in the world. Such ideas detract from Christ’s work of salvation, adding, “For Christian perfection is to fear God from the heart, again to have great faith, to trust that for Christ’s sake we have a gracious God, and to ask of God and assuredly to expect His aid in all things that are to be borne according to our calling” (ELH, p. 23).
The last article, 28, in the AC deals with the power of the bishops and pope in the Christian Church. In the AC, the Lutherans state that “the power of the Keys, or the power of the bishops, according to the Gospel, is a power of commandment of God to preach the Gospel, to forgive and retain sins, and to administer the Sacraments” (ELH, p. 24), to be exercised only by teaching and preaching. The civil government has no authority to teach or preach, but to “restrain with the sword and physical punishments in order to preserve civil justice and peace” (ELH, p. 24). And the bishops have no power to introduce ceremonies or make laws that are contrary to God’s Word.
While a new pope may catch the attention of the world for a time, the Augsburg Confession helps us realize how greatly the Roman Catholic Church has refused to listen to Scripture in its practices and how it continues to fall under St. Paul’s condemnations in 1 Timothy 4:1–3 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3–12.
Scripture states that Jesus Christ is the head of His Church (Ephesians 1:22) and that Jesus cleansed the Church “with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:26) so it would be holy before God. All who believe that Jesus is God and their Savior from sin have both forgiveness of sins and eternal life. We should thank God that He continues to give His grace to us as we live amid a perverse and wicked generation.
Theodore Gullixson is pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin.