The Bible Archive

John F. MacArthur, Jr.

this is a continuation of part 1

And then came the idea that this was in imitation of the virgin Mary, with utter disregard for the fact that after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had a whole family full of children. But the lie of the system is that she was a perpetual virgin to her death. And they also elevated the celibacy because they said Christ was celibate, and this was the approximation and the imitation of Christ. And the idea began to develop that if people did this voluntarily, if lay people did this voluntarily and ascended to this high level of spiritual devotion, that wouldn’t it be imperative for their leaders to go to this high level? And again, this was the influence of some of these philosophical ideas. Shouldn’t bishops and priests be the models of asceticism? So by the third century, you started having celibate priests. And it was for the first time in the third century the Council of Elvira in Spain put down the first law that we can find in history enforcing celibacy. Bishops and priests and deacons also were to be deposed if they lived with their wives and begot children after their ordination. They would allow the ones that were married to stay married. But if you were ordained, that in itself said you will never marry. A similar decree was enacted by a Roman Council under Pope Serichias in 384 to 399.
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John F. MacArthur, Jr.

Well, thank you for coming tonight. I am going to put on the hat of sort of a professor and historian tonight. I am so used to getting up and saying “take out your Bible,” but that wouldn’t help, since the Catholic priesthood isn’t found anywhere in scripture, so we can’t start there. I want to talk about the scandal of the priesthood, because obviously we are all made very much aware of the tremendous tragedy that is playing out before us in the immorality of the Catholic priesthood. And what I would like to do is to give some historical perspective to that, some sense of the bigger picture of what’s going on in the priesthood. And in order to do that, I have to talk a little bit about the scandal of the priesthood itself. So it’s a bit of a play on words. It’s a bit of a pun, if you will, when I talk about the scandal of the priesthood.

I’m not just talking about the current scandal. I’m talking about the whole scandal of the priesthood itself, as the hierarchical structure of the Roman Catholic church. Let me give you a little bit of background.

There’s a lot that could be said about Roman Catholic theology. We could expose its errors, which are numerous; we could talk about its sources of revelation or divine truth that are outside the pages of scripture, or we could talk about the corruption of the mass. We could talk about the idea that Mary is the co-redemptrix which, of course, is really a blasphemous concept. We could talk about the idea that God is a tough guy, and if anybody wants grace out of God, it’s only Jesus who could get it from Him; but you can’t expect to go to Jesus because He’s pretty tough himself, so you need to go to Mary, because nobody can resist his mother. And so she’ll talk to Him and he’ll talk to the father, and Mary
will get you what you need, or some saint. We could talk a lot about those things; concepts of purgatory, concepts of the sinlessness of Mary, the virgin birth of Mary, a lot of things about Catholic theology that we could speak about; most notably their erroneous doctrine of justification, which cuts people off from the kingdom of God. But what I want to talk about is the scandal of the priesthood, and give you some sense of what the priesthood really is all about.

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Keith R. Keyser

Believers that seek to meet according to the New Testament pattern for
assembly gathering have been blessed with a long succession of gifted teachers over the
past one hundred and eighty years. Men like John Nelson Darby, William Kelly, Henry
Soltau, Edward Dennett, John Gifford Bellett, Frederick W. Grant, and Charles Henry
Mackintosh helped their own generation, as well as subsequent generations through their
spiritually sound writings. Many of their works originated in public “conversational
Bible readings” that were held throughout the English-speaking world.
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Steve Hulshizer

There can be no doubt that one of the greatest needs among the
Lord?s people is shepherds raised up by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28). Some assemblies
have a few shepherds, others may have one, and many others have none. Too many have elders
who are elders in name only. Hopefully none of these fit the Lord?s description of
Israel?s shepherds. ” The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye
healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have
ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost;
but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.” (Ezek. 34:4.)
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Phillip Keller

“Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”: — Psalm
23:4

The shepherd?s staff is normally a long, slender stick, often with
a crook or hook on one end. It is selected with care by the owner; it is shaped,
smoothed,and cut to best suit his own personal use.
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John Foxe

“In every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you” (1 Thess.5:18).

The next time you read your English Bible, remember the following three
incidents and then give thanks that you have a Bible to read in English.
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There is liberty for the exercise of gifts by the Holy Spirit.

Bob Gessner

And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists;
and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11,12). Having then gifts
differing according to the grace that i given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy
according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he
that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, let him
do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence, he that sheweth mercy, with
cheerfulness (Rom. 12:6-8).
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Steve Hulshizer

The following was first given as a message at the May, 1999 Elders and
Workers Conference in Markham, Ontario.

In my travels among the assemblies it is evident that the general
spiritual condition of many of them is poor. Attendance is often a small portion of those
who would claim to be in fellowship. Worldliness has made inroads and it is manifested in
a lack of commitment to the local assembly and a strong commitment to careers, hobbies,
sports, and recreation.
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Steve Hulshizer

As the apostle Paul nears the end of his life, much of which had been
poured out for the Lord, his heart is moved towards Timothy and what his son in the faith
will face in the coming days. Writing from his dungeon, the veteran missionary pours out
his heart and concerns for the younger, and perhaps discouraged Timothy. Surely, the
younger saints of our day would benefit from listening in as Paul, who is about to depart
this world, gives Timothy his final instructions.
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H. P. Barker

“Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in
our hearts” (2 Cor. 1:22). “Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing
is God, Who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 5:5).
“….ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His
glory” (Eph. 1:13,14).
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Ingimar DeRidder

A Lesson from James to the Churches

Watch out when tongues get loose. They can do a lot of damage. Nothing
saddens the heart more than to hear of local churches divided, broken and destroyed by the
Devil. It is especially sad when good churches are needed to be winning souls for Christ.
The Devil has many devices which he uses to split a church and to divide one brother from
another. Let there be no mistake about it, the Devil hates the church. Today, a church is
more likely to be destroyed from within than from without.
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Carl Knott

The name “Christian” does not mean much in the world anymore,
except maybe “not Buddhist” or “not Muslim,” or something like that.
But taking its original and long forgotten meaning, “Christ-one,” a follower of
Jesus Christ, we ask, “What makes a family a Christian family?” How can we tell
one when we see it? Are there distinctive features that will help us pick out of a group
of families those that are Christian? How about our homes, how can we discern if they are
really Christian?
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Recently, a friend asked me when the 7 Feasts occured in the Jewish
Calendar. The question came up because we were taking a look at the Day
of Pentecost and how long Christ was on Earth. We’ve both been in
enough meetings where we knew that 50 days after the Passover was the
Day of Pentacost….but what did that mean?

It meant we had assimilated information without verifying the facts.

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F. B. Meyer

What glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall
take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this
is acceptable with God.”? (1?Peter 2:20)

The servants here addressed were the household servants and
slaves, so largely employed in the great establishments of that age. Wealth and position
made special boast of the vast number of dependents that were maintained. Life was held
cheaply enough; and when a slave was once purchased, he cost little to keep. The Roman
empire swarmed with bondmen; and they became her ruin.
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Walter Scott

1. Make the Holy Scriptures your sole authority for your justification, forgiveness,
and hope of glory (Rom. 5:1; 1 John 2:12; Col. 1:27).

2. Make the Bible your daily companion, and prayer, at least night and morning, your
characteristic daily habit (2 Tim. 3:15-17; 1Thess. 5:17).

3. Confess Christ at all times, and under all circumstances, by word, behavior, or by
silence (Lk. 12:8,9,11; 2 Tim. 2:12,13; 1 Pet. 3:4).

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