methinks this one “born again” poster posteth too much

[MaxGrit]

When was the Church born, and what is “the Church?” Jesus established His Church in Matthew 16 when He said to Peter “thou art rock and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against thee. I give thee the keys of the kingdom… whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” That is no small gift of authority so ordained by Christ. Clearly Jesus knew what would transpire after his ascension, that being disagreement amongst the believers. Who is to say what God intended? Jesus said it was to be His Church, the authority Christ established with apostolic succession, Peter being the first papal authority. This line of succession of papal authority, even though it was corrupted by weak man, has never been broken. As many doctors of the Church have reminded us, it is not the pope that is divine or holy, it is the office of the pope that is divinely ordained.

So it was the Church along with its many councils of ordained bishops and Church leaders that convened to rule on very difficult matters, such as what books are divinely inspired to be included as part of Holy Scripture and the Word of God. It was the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, that gave us the Bible. And that was more than 300 years after Jesus when it was finally codified. The Church was the vehicle by which Christianity became widespread. The Church is the authority despite it being made up of sinners.

So who is it to interpret Scripture, any individual who has their own take on the passage? That would never work. But as a result of that we have thousands of different Christian denominations all insisting they have the purest truth of salvation. How can all be right when they differ so often? It is worth noting that even though there have been many sinful and corrupt popes, none of them ever issued a decree that went against dogma and Catholic teaching on faith and morals. These doctrines have always been the same and no compromise was allowed when Luther and Calvin broke away from the Catholic Church in the 1500’s. Question: Did God allow His Church, the Catholic Church, to be teaching great error to His people for 1500 years, and just waited for Luther to come along to start us on the right path? How does that line up with God’s mercy and will for all those in love with Jesus prior to the Reformation?

Some have argued that “the church” is where two or more are gathered in Christ as Scripture says. That may be “church” in some sense of the word, but in other passages church means something very different. As in Matthew 18:15-17 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church treat him as a tax collector.” Other Scriptural examples exist as well. The Church is an ordained body of authority --- including here in 1 Timothy 3 >> "I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but [k]in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth."

Matthew 16

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The rock is, "my Father who is in heaven." More specifically, the passage reads like this in modern language:

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.