Question:
Answer:
Short Answer:
Our Lord Jesus Christ established one, visible Church with a divinely ordained human authority structure, consistent with how the Lord worked through visible human authorities in Old Testament times, including through the patriarchs, Moses, etc. Jesus founded his Church as the New Covenant restoration and fulfillment of the Old Covenant kingdom of Israel, over which he now reigns as the “King of kings” (Rev. 17:14).
Long Answer:
If what our Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ argue were true, then the gates of hell would have prevailed against Jesus and his Church for basically the first 1,500 years of the Church’s existence, contrary to what our Lord promised (see Matt. 16:18-19), given that the purported Protestant Reformation only took place beginning in the 1500s. In addition, the Reformation has not fostered the unity that is fundamental to the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:4–6). To the contrary, we’ve seen increasing disunity among Christians beginning with the first Protestant leaders, for example, Martin Luther, John Calvin, et al. This disunity is in marked contrast to the unity for which Jesus himself prayed (John 17:20–23), and we know that Jesus’ prayerful words come true here on earth—not simply later on in heaven—because he is God, the incarnate Word (see Isa. 55:10–11; John 1:1–3, 14). Also, to safeguard such unity, it is only logical that Jesus would provide such a visible authority structure, and we can see from both the Bible and history otherwise that our Lord did, in fact, establish such a hierarchical structure, founded on St. Peter, the other apostles, and their successors.
Scripture (and history otherwise) illustrates that Christianity—specifically, the Catholic Church—was always intended by God, whose plan it was from all eternity to ultimately send his only Son to be the Savior of the world in establishing his Church and ministering his salvation through it (Matt. 28:18–20).
St. Matthew distills this reality in the first verse of his Gospel, demonstrating the human and covenantal pedigree of Jesus Christ: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1).
In addition, Jesus makes clear that he has founded his one Church, the restoration and fulfillment of the Davidic kingdom of Israel, upon St. Peter and his apostolic confreres (Matt. 16:18–19; 18:15–18; see Isa. 22:15–25; Amos 9:11–12). Indeed, Jesus proclaims that “all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18), and he confers that authority on his apostles in giving them the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19–20), sending them as the Father sent him (John 20:21–23). And Jesus sustains that Church—“built upon the foundation of the apostles” (Eph. 2:20)—through their apostolic successors, giving the faithful clear, visible leadership until he returns at his Second Coming, so that the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church in the interim, as he promised St. Peter.
Divinely Given Authority in Safeguarding God’s Word and in Governing the Church
The Church’s divinely given authority extends to faithfully interpreting and safeguarding God’s word through the power of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13), a word which he has communicated through both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition; and the early Church testifies otherwise to this apostolic Tradition.
Jesus established St. Peter as his first pope, who has primacy in leading the Church, as do his Petrine successors. The early Church also testifies to the office of the papacy and the primacy of the pope in leading the Church, including at the first ecumenical (general) councils, beginning with the Council of Nicaea and other early ecumenical councils.
Further, if the Catholic Church were a merely human institution, it would’ve been consigned to the dustbins of history centuries ago, not only because of persecutions from without but, sadly, scandals from within. Rather, because she is the mystical bride of her divine bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ, she is indestructible, as Jesus promised (Matt. 16:18–19).
See also Catechism (CCC) 156 for the related motives of credibility that Jesus has provided in establishing and sustaining his one Catholic Church. Finally, for more on how Jesus divinely established and sustains his Catholic Church as his divinized family and instrument of salvation, see also our classic primer.