{"id":127,"date":"2025-01-13T13:52:55","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T13:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/?p=127"},"modified":"2025-01-13T21:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T21:28:07","slug":"towards-a-theory-of-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/2025\/01\/13\/towards-a-theory-of-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Towards a Theory of the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

\nOne, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church<\/h2>\n

The Nicene Creed<\/a> declares the Church to be One<\/i>, Holy<\/i>, Catholic<\/i>, and Apostolic<\/i>. These are often called the four marks of the church<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can a Protestant affirm these words from the Nicene Creed or does he\/she redefine the words from their traditional meaning when using the words?<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t think I can have an answer which will satisfy all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nScriptural Basis<\/span><\/h3>\n

\nEph 4 4 <\/sup>There is one body and one Spirit\u2014just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call\u2014<\/span> 5 <\/sup>one Lord, one faith, one baptism<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One body… The body of Christ… <\/p>\n

\nHistorical<\/h3>\n

Schism between East (Orthooix) and West (Catholic) 1054 A.D.<\/p>\n

\nClaims – Orthodox<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Eastern Orthodox Church claims to be the One True Church.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nClaims – Catholic<\/h3>\n

The Catholic Church says that others are “separated brethren”.<\/p>\n

\nCenter of Unity – the Pope<\/h3>\n

\nThe truth is that an <\/b>undivided oneness characterizing
\nthe external hierarchical unity of the earthly Church is simply
\nunintelligible unless there be an indefectible center of unity that
\nsafeguards the visible unity of the Church.    http:\/\/www.hprweb.com\/2012\/01\/confronting-the-claim-of-eastern-orthodoxy-to-be-the-true-church\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\nBranch Theory<\/h3>\n

\n <\/h3>\n

\nProperty of Visibility<\/h3>\n

\n <\/h3>\n

\nApostolic Succession<\/h3>\n

“…rule by Bishops, who are the legitimate successors of the Apostles”<\/p>\n

\nThe key question then comes down to this : Which communion of Bishops
\n(Catholic or Eastern Orthodox) constitutes that hierarchy of the Church,
\n founded by Christ to \u201cmake disciples of all nations\u201d Matt. 28:19)? To
\nwhich hierarchy, claiming to represent the dogmatic continuation of the
\napostolic college of bishops during the first ten centuries do the words
\n of Our Lord, apply?  http:\/\/www.hprweb.com\/2012\/01\/confronting-the-claim-of-eastern-orthodoxy-to-be-the-true-church\/<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n <\/h3>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church The Nicene Creed declares the Church to be One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. These are often called the four marks of the church. Can a Protestant affirm these words from the Nicene Creed or does he\/she redefine the words from their traditional meaning when using the words? I don’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5,12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apostolic-succession","category-eoc","category-episkopate","category-reformed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":733,"href":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions\/733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/douglasgilliland.com\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}