In this episode of Catholic Answers Live, Cy Kellett is joined by Tim Staples to explore the question of why Catholics claim to have the “fullness of the truth” and complete Gospel.
Transcript:
Cy: I grew up Mormon and one of the big things that Mormonism teaches is that it has the full, the fullness of the Gospel of Christ, which is something that has been said on this session of Catholic Answers Live a few times. And I’m curious what sets Catholicism apart in the way of knowing that this is what has the fullness of the Gospel? Because Mormonism has, oh, we have modern day prophets and there’s the Book of Mormon and all these things. What does Catholicism have in order to run with that? Hey, I know that I’ve got the fullness of Christ God.
Tim: Great, great question, my friend. And of course, the big problem we have with the LDS, the Latter Day Saints, is the fact that revelation ceased with the death of the last apostle in the first century. And of course, Jesus warned there would come false prophets. As you know, in Matthew chapter 24, he warned that false prophets would come. And of course, Joseph Smith was one of those false prophets who claimed to have new revelation. And of course, revelation ceased, as I said before.
But what makes the Catholic Church separate from all the others, my friends, is the papacy. That is, Jesus Christ chose 12 apostles, which by the way, the LDS agree with us on. They believe in the 12 apostles. But of course, they came up with their separate quorum of the 12; they have the prophet, which of course is nowhere to be found in the New Testament. Because in the New Testament, you have 12 apostles, Peter being the chief of the 12.
More problems with Mormons when it comes to the New Testament. But the bottom line is we see clearly in the New Testament he established the 12 apostles, their successors, according to Acts chapter 1, verse 21 and 1 Peter 3, one are called bishops, the successors of the apostles. But among those 12, you have one that Jesus chose to make the visible head of the 12, and indeed the visible head of the Church to him and him alone.
You’ll notice that in Matthew 18:15-18, he gives to all the apostles the authority to bind and loose in tandem with Peter. But two chapters before, he gave to Peter and Peter alone the keys of the kingdom, a singular authority. And in fact, in other places where Jesus communicates the authority to all the apostles, he always singles out Peter as having a unique authority.
For example, in Luke 22:29-32, he says to all the apostles, well, he says to Simon in the context of all the apostles, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to destroy all of you.” In the Greek text there, it’s “Humas” in Greek; he wants to have you, to destroy all of you. But I have prayed for you, “Su” in Greek, singular, so that when you are converted, strengthen the brethren. And all the other apostles know that if they want to be protected from the divisions that come by the devil, they have to stay in union with Peter.
And of course, the apostles’ successors are the bishops, and all of the bishops of Rome. In fact, we can trace from Pope Leo XIV all the way back to St. Peter, just as we can trace every bishop in the world, their ordinations, all the way back to Peter and the apostles. We can do the same with the popes.
And really, it’s the papacy that makes us distinctive because that’s the principle, what Saint Cyprian of Carthage called the principle of unity for the entire people of God in a work he wrote in the third century, 250 A.D., called *On the Unity of the Catholic Church*. It’s Peter and his successors, the bishops of Rome, that are that principle of unity. That’s why we have one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, because all must be in union with the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter.
And that’s why, my friend, we have had one Lord, one faith, one baptism. As Ephesians 4:5 says, for 2000 years you cannot find one example of how any pope or any ecumenical council, any infallible teaching whatsoever in the Church has ever contradicted another in 2000 years.
And as you know, my brother, when you look at the Latter Day Saints, even in matters of basic morality like abortion, as you probably know, the prophet back in 1973 declared it’s okay to have abortions in certain situations like rape, incest, and life of the mother. Whereas before, the LDS were strictly against abortion all the time. Well, guess what? The Catholic Church has never wavered, never will. It’s impossible.
Because when Jesus communicated the power of the keys to Peter there in Matthew 16:18-19, my brother, he said, “I will give to you, Peter, the keys of the kingdom. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” But he also said this, “I will build my Church,” right? And so he’s building his Church on the foundation of Peter and the bishops of Rome. He’s building his Church with the foundation being the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20.
So all the apostles or the bishops in union with Peter are that foundation, but Peter having that unique authority, it’s the hinge upon which all, all, all, you know, is based upon, but ultimately the power of Jesus Christ.
Listen, I wish we could talk all day, my friend. You stay in touch with us because we’d like to see you come to the fullness of the gospel that we have in Christ.
Cy: Let’s give him why we’re Catholic. If you’ll hang on the line, we’ll give him why we’re Catholic. Because I want to go back to a little bit of fundraising for just a quick minute and then we’ll get back to chatting with people.