Category Archives: Roman Primacy

Church History, Epistemology, Papal Primacy, Roman Primacy

Apostle to the Jews

August 6, 2023 Timothy F. Kauffman 77 Comments

One of the blessings of the chronological record of the life of Christ’s apostles is the ability to peer into their personal growth as they transition from common men to passionate evangelists. The carnal ambition and obstinacy of John, James, Peter and the rest are on full display, and Paul’s unrestrained indignation at the New Way is well-documented. But they came around, and their transformations are both informative and inspiring.

But at one point in their sanctification, Peter and Paul appear to come to opposite conclusions about something that ought to have been quite clear: each appeared to think God had chosen him to be the apostle to the Gentiles.

At the Council of Jerusalem, Peter appeared to be quite sure God had chosen him for the task:

“Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.” (Acts 15:7)

But in his letter to the Galatians, Paul was quite sure God had committed that ministry to him, and that Peter’s ministry was to the Jews:

“… the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)” (Galatians 2:7-8)

Their inscripturated teachings support Paul’s assessment, for Peter wrote to the “diaspora (διασπορά),” the “scattered exiles” in Asia minor: “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Peter 1:1). These “scattered exiles” are the same “twelve tribes of the disaspora” to whom James wrote (James 1:1). Indeed, many thousands of Jews had been relocated to Asia Minor by Antiochus III centuries earlier. The region is precisely where many of the “diaspora” had been scattered. Paul, on the other hand, wrote to the gentiles (Romans 11:13), as his many letters also attest, for God had sent him “far hence unto the Gentiles” (Acts 22:21).

So, who was “Apostle to the Gentiles”? Was it Peter? Or was it Paul? Was either, or were both, confused? Continue reading Apostle to the Jews →

Church History, Papal Primacy, Roman Primacy

“Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 6

June 25, 2023 Timothy F. Kauffman 1 Comment

Books — “…of making many books there is no end…” — Ecclesiastes 12:12

We continue this week with our analysis of Mr. Joshua T. Charles’ claim that he had found “profoundly [Roman] Catholic doctrine” in Ignatius of Antioch’s seven letters from 107 AD. Mr. Charles, a former Protestant who converted to Roman Catholicism because Ignatius “red pilled” him into the truth, repeatedly claims to have read “tens of thousands of pages” of the Early Church Fathers, finding Roman Catholicism “absolutely everywhere,” and was particularly surprised by Ignatius.

Of the 10 points he listed, we have covered eight so far — the sacrifice of the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Christ in Part 2, the New Testament priesthood, Episcopal Succession and Episcopal Authority in Part 3, Roman Primacy in Part 4, and Baptismal Regeneration and Losing Salvation in Part 5. As we showed last week, Ignatius’ reference to Jesus purifying the water in His baptism and breathing immortality into the Church in His anointing was not a nuanced affirmation of baptismal or confirmational regeneration. It was rather a rejection of the Gnostic teaching that Jesus could not come in contact with created matter. His call to “let your baptism endure as your arms” was not an affirmation of baptismal regeneration but was rather an imitation of the Pauline “whole armour of God” narrative in Ephesians 6. As for Mr. Charles’ claim that Ignatius taught that a Christian could lose his salvation, we found that Ignatius rather warned the congregations not to stumble into error lest they demonstrate that they had never received grace at all and had never been Christian. He did not warn them that they might “lose” their salvation.

We now address the last two of his “10 points”:

9. Schism and heresy from the one true Church possessing the one true Faith is not of Christ, and always unacceptable;

10. This one true Church is called the “Catholic Church.”

Continue reading “Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 6 →

Church Fathers, Church History, Papal Primacy, Roman Primacy

“Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 4

June 11, 2023 Timothy F. Kauffman 3 Comments

“…of making many books there is no end…” — Ecclesiastes 12:12

As we continue in our analysis of the genuine works of Ignatius of Antioch (d. 107 AD), we focus this week on the Roman Catholic claim that Roman Primacy can be found in his letters. In this series we have been assessing the claims of Mr. Joshua T. Charles, a former Protestant who converted to Roman Catholicism because Ignatius of Antioch “red pilled” him into the truth. Mr. Charles, repeatedly claims to have read “tens of thousands of pages” of the Early Church Fathers, finding Roman Catholicism “absolutely everywhere.” He was particularly surprised to find “profoundly [Roman] Catholic doctrine” in Ignatius’ letters, “point by point,” which “was apparent in just seven short letters.”

Of the 10 points he listed, we have covered five so far — the sacrifice of the Eucharist, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist in Part 2, and the New Testament priesthood, Episcopal Succession and Episcopal Authority in Part 3. As we demonstrated last week, because of Mr. Charles’ approach he finds more in Ignatius than Ignatius actually wrote, and indeed much more than even Mr. Charles bargained for. He claimed that Ignatius described a New Testament priesthood composed “primarily” of bishops based on Luke 10:16 — “He who hears you, hears me” — but we found that Mr. Charles had relied on the longer Greek recension of Ignatius’ letters, a recension the Catholic Encyclopedia denies to be authentic. Only the shorter recension is considered genuine, and those genuine letters do not apply Luke 10:16 to the Apostles. In fact, Luke 10:16 was spoken not to the Twelve but to the Seventy. Thus, anyone who claims to have found a succession of apostolic priests based on Luke 10:16 has completely misunderstood the verse, and anyone who claims to have found that construct in Ignatius is reading something he did not write. In fact, if we were to take Mr. Charles’ approach seriously, we would have found in the longer recension not only an unending line of priests that succeeded from the Seventy, but also an unending line of priests that succeeded from the Seven (Acts 6:1–8), since Ignatius is quite clear that he believed the Deacons had been “entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ” (to the Magnesians 6) and “the mysteries of Jesus Christ” (to the Trallians 2). And Jesus’ ministry is both priestly and prophetic.

This week we continue with the eighth point Mr. Charles found in Ignatius:

8. The Church of Rome has greater authority than other churches;

Continue reading “Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 4 →

Church Fathers, Church History, Idolatry, Roman Primacy

“Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 3

June 4, 2023 Timothy F. Kauffman 23 Comments

We continue this week with our analysis of the works of Ignatius of Antioch (d. 107 AD). We have been assessing the claims of a former Protestant who converted to Roman Catholicism because of the letters of Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius, he claims, “red pilled” him into the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Joshua T. Charles, former White House speech writer, former Protestant and now apologist, has read “tens of thousands of pages” of the Early Church Fathers and claims to have found Roman Catholicism “absolutely everywhere.” He was particularly surprised to find “profoundly [Roman] Catholic doctrine” in Ignatius’ letters, “point by point,” which “was apparent in just seven short letters.” As we showed last week, however, in his claims regarding the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Mr. Charles is reading those “thousands of pages” through a myopic medieval lens, leading to an interpretation that the native context does not bear out. To Ignatius, “the Eucharist” was the tithe offering for the widow, the orphan and the stranger (Smyrnæans, 6), and the ancient church indeed sacrificed the Eucharist as part of its weekly worship. But to them, the Eucharist was the offertory, a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving (Philippians 4:18; Hebrews 13:15-16), a sacrifice Protestants still offer today. Additionally, we showed that in Ignatius’ letter to the Smyrnæans, which Mr. Charles provided as evidence, all three uses of “Eucharist” were in reference to unconsecrated bread, and therefore cannot be references to the “real presence” of Christ. In sum, it is true that the ancient Church included an offertory in their weekly gatherings, but it is also true they did not believe Jesus was “really present” in the Eucharist and they did not believe they were sacrificing Him in the Lord’s Supper. What we continue to find as we evaluate Mr. Charles’ claims is that he tends to reject that which contradicts his preconceptions, and is naïvely receptive of data known to be spurious, redacted and fraudulent. Because of this, his reading of Ignatius is foreign to, and ignorant of, the native context of his letters.

Of the ten “points” Mr. Charles identified from Ignatius, we covered two last week — the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and the Real Presence — and will address three more in this entry:

2. The New Testament ministerial priesthood;

6. Authority in the Church is exercised by bishops who are successors of the Apostles (apostolic succession);

7. Lay Christians must be under a successor of the Apostle’s authority, and cannot start their own independent congregations;

Continue reading “Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 3 →

Church Fathers, Church History, Papal Primacy, Roman Primacy

“Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 1

May 21, 2023 Timothy F. Kauffman 5 Comments

John Henry Newman, erstwhile Anglican, then Roman Catholic Apologist, Cardinal and finally “Saint,” famously claimed in 1845 that “To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.” Ever since, that empty rallying cry has served as a substitute for actual scholarship, as ignorant Roman Catholics, clergy and lay, claim without justification to be “deep in history.” And yet a simple examination of the evidence reveals just how shallow in history the Roman Catholic actually is.

Joshua T. Charles, former White House speech writer and self-described historian, believes that he, too, is now deep in history, and has converted to Roman Catholicism. In his words — and there are plenty of them — he has read “tens of thousands of pages” of the Early Church Fathers, and was surprised to discover Roman Catholicism “absolutely everywhere.”

Yet, upon inspection it is clear that while he may have looked at tens of thousands of pages, he did not read them all, and those he did read, he interpreted though a medieval Roman Catholic lens instead of in their native historical context. And still others, heavily redacted by the scholars, are made to appear Roman Catholic while obscuring their very “Protestant” underpinnings. This fact the scholars freely and often admit, though Mr. Charles appears to be ignorant of it. And thus, skimming the Early Church Fathers, interpreting them through a carefully crafted medieval lens, swallowing whole the grotesque redactions and intentional mistranslations, Mr. Charles thinks to have arrived at the Church Jesus Christ founded. Instead he has arrived at a tasteless and extravagant imitation of it. And that, says Mr. Charles, is the church to which we should all convert.

In this series we will explore just one claim from his manifold twitter files: that on “point after point” Ignatius of Antioch (107 AD) taught “profoundly [Roman] Catholic doctrine.” The claim is false, and Mr. Charles is not nearly so very “deep in history” as he imagines. But he is not alone. Cardinal Newman wasn’t very deep in history either.

Continue reading “Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 1 →

Out of His Mouth