To: Cicero
no salvation except through His Church Is Catholic doctrine interpreting "His Church" as being limited to Catholic churches or the broader family of Christian churches. Just trying to understand.
To: plain talk
"Church" is actually a pretty complicated word. The is one Church of Christ, of which St. Paul says that Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride. But the word is also used for bishoprics or regions, as in the Seven Churches of Asia Minor. And the Catholic Church recognizes the legitimacy of the Orthodox Churches, which are both one and many, depending how you view them. Plus there are all the various Eastern Rite Churches in communion with Rome. And ancient churches such as the Coptic Church in Egypt.
So, for Catholics "Church" can either mean all Christians in communion with the Pope and the bishops, or it can mean something a little broader. Ultimately, it's Jesus who decides on the bounds of His Church.
Most Protestant Churches consider themselves to be separate from the Church of Rome, although some Anglicans would argue a little differently on that point.
In any case, the Catholic teaching is that there is no salvation except through the Church, but that Jesus most likely extends His salvation backward in time to the great patriarchs and prophets, and reading the hearts of men may extend salvation to whom he chooses.
To further complicate matters, some Protestants speak of the Church Invisible. This is the Church as God sees it, not man. The term was invented partly to deal with the problem of where was the Church between the time of the Apostles and the time of the Reformation, when many Protestants believed that the visible Church of Rome was led by Antichrist. Catholics don't quite believe in that. The Church is visible. But it likely extends beyond those visible bounds. That's my take on the matter. Ecclesiology is actually a very late developing branch of theology, and much of this is still being hashed out.
338 posted on
02/10/2004 11:44:05 AM PST by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius)
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