This was the Gospel read at Mass on Thursday April 3. It is from John 5
Jesus said to the Jews: “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life.
“I do not accept human praise; moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
Several things stuck out to me in this passage and I cannot believe that I did not see this before.
Jesus says that the Father has sent Him, but you have never heard His voice nor seen His form, and you do not have His word remaining in you.
WHY? Is it because they did not believe the scriptures? No, Jesus says that they have the scriptures and think that they have eternal life through them, but they don’t. WHY?
They do not believe on whom he has sent. He whom the Father has sent is Jesus, we know, but whom did Jesus send? He told the Apostles to go into all the world and preach the Gospel teaching them to obey all I have commanded you. Apostle means one who is sent.
He did not say to search the scriptures day and night to come to your own conclusions. No, authority was given to the Apostles, and they were sent by Jesus, so all Christians are obligated by faith to believe them.
The Bereans tested Paul by reading the scriptures to see if what he said was true, but they did not use the scriptures to abandon Paul and go on their own thinking they knew better.
He goes on to say “How can you believe when you accept the praise from one another and not the praise that comes from God alone?”
The scriptures speak of Apostolic authority, yet those that claim Sola Scriptura use it as an excuse to disbelieve the Apostles. They cry freedom of conscience.
Yes you have God given free will, but God does not praise freedom of conscience. He says I desire obedience rather than sacrifice. Who do we obey? The Apostles whose authority has come down to us by the laying on of hands and the promise of the Holy Spirt. Who do sola scripurists obey? If they are honest then it is no one, as each interprets scripture by his own understanding.
If we cannot obey the Apostles whom we can see, how can we claim to obey God whom we cannot see?
Yes obedience takes humility, but humility is the primary Christian virtue. There was even a song that I fondly remember as a Protestant
“Trust and obey, trust and obey. For there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”
I am not ashamed to say that I trust and obey the Apostles who were sent in the Catholic Church. I tired sola scriptura but was frequently beset by sin and told not to worry. When I finally submitted to the full authority of the Catholic Church without reservation, the sin that so easily beset me was gone. God gave me the grace that sola scriptura never could, because sola scriptura came from my own understanding and the praise of men, not from God.
You all have freedom of conscience and can follow whoever you want. I know His grace is real and I am following His Apostles in the Catholic Church. It is the Church Jesus built and confirms by the Holy Spirit
Jesus pretty much condemns sola scriptura in John 5. May God have mercy and he that has a ear to hear let him hear
Jesus said to the Jews: “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life.
“I do not accept human praise; moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
Several things stuck out to me in this passage and I cannot believe that I did not see this before.
Jesus says that the Father has sent Him, but you have never heard His voice nor seen His form, and you do not have His word remaining in you.
WHY? Is it because they did not believe the scriptures? No, Jesus says that they have the scriptures and think that they have eternal life through them, but they don’t. WHY?
They do not believe on whom he has sent. He whom the Father has sent is Jesus, we know, but whom did Jesus send? He told the Apostles to go into all the world and preach the Gospel teaching them to obey all I have commanded you. Apostle means one who is sent.
He did not say to search the scriptures day and night to come to your own conclusions. No, authority was given to the Apostles, and they were sent by Jesus, so all Christians are obligated by faith to believe them.
The Bereans tested Paul by reading the scriptures to see if what he said was true, but they did not use the scriptures to abandon Paul and go on their own thinking they knew better.
He goes on to say “How can you believe when you accept the praise from one another and not the praise that comes from God alone?”
The scriptures speak of Apostolic authority, yet those that claim Sola Scriptura use it as an excuse to disbelieve the Apostles. They cry freedom of conscience.
Yes you have God given free will, but God does not praise freedom of conscience. He says I desire obedience rather than sacrifice. Who do we obey? The Apostles whose authority has come down to us by the laying on of hands and the promise of the Holy Spirt. Who do sola scripurists obey? If they are honest then it is no one, as each interprets scripture by his own understanding.
If we cannot obey the Apostles whom we can see, how can we claim to obey God whom we cannot see?
Yes obedience takes humility, but humility is the primary Christian virtue. There was even a song that I fondly remember as a Protestant
“Trust and obey, trust and obey. For there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”
I am not ashamed to say that I trust and obey the Apostles who were sent in the Catholic Church. I tired sola scriptura but was frequently beset by sin and told not to worry. When I finally submitted to the full authority of the Catholic Church without reservation, the sin that so easily beset me was gone. God gave me the grace that sola scriptura never could, because sola scriptura came from my own understanding and the praise of men, not from God.
You all have freedom of conscience and can follow whoever you want. I know His grace is real and I am following His Apostles in the Catholic Church. It is the Church Jesus built and confirms by the Holy Spirit
Jesus pretty much condemns sola scriptura in John 5. May God have mercy and he that has a ear to hear let him hear