The Nature of the Church

[daugher-of-Mary]

I'm having some difficulty explaining the nature of the Church to a Protestant. The confusion exists over the fact that we call the Church the unblemished bride of Christ, but the CCC says the Church will only be perfected in the glory of Heaven. Likewise the Church is the "body of Christ" with sinful members.

Me: [quote]Yes, Christ promised to build the Church and boy did He ever!  Knowing human weakness, He didn't leave us susceptible to the whims of various different religious leaders. Rather, He appointed a Steward, a "keeper of the keys" (Mt. 16:18-19; Is. 22:15-25), he gave the Church His Holy Spirit the Paraclete to enable the Church to be "a pillar and bulwark of truth" (1 Tim. 3:15), and gave the Apostle's His voice 'He who hears you, hears me' (Lk. 10:16) so that the sheep might continue to follow the voice of the Shepherd.

As you say, I am no saint and have a great deal to learn. No argument there!  God is jealous for our souls as a husband for his wife, so we must strive constantly to "be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect." Since we continue to fall, daily repentance and conversion is part of our Christian life...God's glory is manifest in our weakness. However, the Church has already been made clean by Him. As we read in Ephesians, "...Christ love the Church and sacrificed himself for her to make her holy. He made her clean by washing her in water with a form of words, so that when he took her to himself she would be glorious, with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless.[/quote]

seperated brother: [quote]the church is Christ, and only Christ. In this sense it is sinless and perfect. But Christ desires a corporate body from among men, and therefore seeing that only He is the perfect element that this body must be made of, He needs to become us and us become Him. And this is what is being carried out by the Spirit in all those who believe

The church in its perfection is just Christ, not some man-made institution.
[/quote]

I think I'm just choosing the wrong words, but I don't know how else to say it! Help!

[phatcatholic]

[quote name='daugher-of-Mary' date='Aug 4 2005, 08:36 AM']I'm having some difficulty explaining the nature of the Church to a Protestant. The confusion exists over the fact that we call the Church the unblemished bride of Christ, but the CCC says the Church will only be perfected in the glory of Heaven. Likewise the Church is the "body of Christ" with sinful members.[right][snapback]671507[/snapback][/right][/quote]
i believe the relevant verses would be the following:

[b]Eph 5:25-27[/b]
[b]25 [/b]Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
[b]26 [/b]that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
[b]27 [/b]that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

[b]2 Pet 3:13-14[/b]
[b]13 [/b]But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
[b]14 [/b]Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

notice that Christ died so that he could present us to the Lord w/o spot or blemish. he does this by giving us the grace that cleanses all sin and strengthens us in our walk w/ the Lord. so, the "Church" --as in, the members of the Body--are holy and w/o wrinkle as long as they remain in his grace, as long as they are "zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish." the "Church"--as in, the Magisterium--is holy and w/o wrinkle b/c she is the instrument through which the Lord appropriates his grace and b/c her doctrine is pure and true, now and forever.

you mention the future perfection of the Church. this does not contradict her present holiness. the Church is still Holy--holiness is one of the four marks of the Church--even tho she realizes the kingdom of God in an imperfect way. she is holy for the ways i have already mentioned. she is however still "imperfect" b/c sinners still exist among her, which surely cannot be avoided, and b/c as long as the Son sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven, the Church can exist only as the mystical and incarnational presence of the Son on earth. however, when Jesus comes again, there will be sinners no more and he will stand as the real / physical / visible king and head of the Church. then, our realization of the Kingdom of God and of Jesus' presence among us will be perfect.

i conclude w/ the catechism, which is helpful here:[list][b]823[/b] "The Church . . . is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as 'alone holy,' loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God."289 The Church, then, is "the holy People of God,"290 and her members are called "saints."291

[b]824 [/b]United with Christ, the Church is sanctified by him; through him and with him she becomes sanctifying. "All the activities of the Church are directed, as toward their end, to the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God."292 It is in the Church that "the fullness of the means of salvation"293 has been deposited. It is in her that "by the grace of God we acquire holiness."294

[b]825[/b] "The Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real though imperfect."295 In her members perfect holiness is something yet to be acquired: "Strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state - though each in his own way - are called by the Lord to that perfection of sanctity by which the Father himself is perfect."296

[b]826 [/b]Charity is the soul of the holiness to which all are called: it "governs, shapes, and perfects all the means of sanctification."297[list]If the Church was a body composed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of all; it must have a Heart, and a Heart BURNING WITH LOVE. And I realized that this love alone was the true motive force which enabled the other members of the Church to act; if it ceased to function, the Apostles would forget to preach the gospel, the Martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. LOVE, IN FACT, IS THE VOCATION WHICH INCLUDES ALL OTHERS; IT'S A UNIVERSE OF ITS OWN, COMPRISING ALL TIME AND SPACE - IT'S ETERNAL! 298
[/list][b]827[/b] "Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. The Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal."299 All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners.300 In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time.301 Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ's salvation but still on the way to holiness:[list]The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.302
[/list][b]828[/b] By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors.303 "The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history."304 Indeed, "holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal."305

[b]829[/b] "But while in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle, the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness. And so they turn their eyes to Mary":306 in her, the Church is already the "all-holy."


[i]Footnotes:[/i]
289 LG 39; Cf. Eph 5:25-26.
290 LG 12.
291 Acts 9:13; 1 Cor 6:1; 16:1.
292 SC 10.
293 UR 3 § 5.
294 LG 48.
295 LG 48 § 3.
296 LG 11 § 3.
297 LG 42.
298 St. Thérèse Of Lisieux, Autobiography of a Saint, tr. Ronald Knox (London: Harvill, 1958) 235.
299 LG 8 § 3; Cf. UR 3; 6; Heb 2:17; 726; 2 Cor 5:21.
300 Cf. 1 Jn 1:8-10.
301 Cf. Mt 13:24-30.
302 Paul VI, CPG § 19.
303 Cf. LG 40; 48-51.
304 John Paul II, CL 16,3.
305 CL 17, 3.
306 LG 65; cf. Eph 5:26-27.
[/list]i hope that helps. if you have anymore questions, just let me know. sorry this response came so late.

pax christi,
phatcatholic