Why Every Dogma Must Be Tested by Christ and the Apostles

Before proceeding through Denzinger entry by entry, it is important to explain why such an examination is necessary in the first place.

The purpose of this study is not to attack Christianity (I myself am a Christian), nor is it to dismiss the value of Church history, councils, creeds, or ecclesiastical authority. The Church has an important responsibility to preserve, teach, defend, and transmit the faith once delivered to the saints. Yet the existence of ecclesiastical authority does not remove the obligation placed upon believers to test all things against the Word of God. Scripture repeatedly calls God's people to examine teachings, weigh claims, and distinguish between divine revelation and human tradition.

The Apostle Paul writes:

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Likewise, the Bereans are praised because:

"They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11)

What makes this passage particularly significant is that the Bereans were testing the teaching of an apostle. They did not suspend discernment because a religious authority spoke. Instead, they compared what they heard against the Scriptures. Luke does not condemn them for doing so. He calls them "more noble" because they did so.

The Apostle John issues a similar warning:

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." (1 John 4:1)

These commands establish an important principle. No claim should be accepted merely because it is ancient. No doctrine should be accepted merely because it has been repeated for centuries. No decree should be accepted merely because it bears ecclesiastical authority. Every claim must ultimately be measured against the revelation given by Christ and His apostles.

This principle becomes especially important when studying dogmas that developed gradually over centuries and were only defined long after the apostolic age. The Roman Church itself has occasionally acknowledged this reality. One striking example appears in Pope Sixtus IV's constitution of 1483 concerning the Immaculate Conception. Although the feast of Mary's conception was already being celebrated, Sixtus stated:

"Up to this time there has been no decision made by the Roman Church and the Apostolic See."

The significance of that statement should not be overlooked. A doctrine that would later become a binding dogma upon the consciences of hundreds of millions of Catholics had not yet been definitively decided by the Church. This naturally raises important questions. If a doctrine is truly apostolic, where is it found in the teaching of Christ and the apostles? If it belongs to the faith once delivered to the saints, why does it require centuries of debate before becoming a dogma?

The same questions arise when examining the doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity. One of the arguments employed in its defense reveals how easily theological assumptions can become foundations for doctrine. In defending Mary's perpetual virginity, Sixtus IV wrote:

"Neither would the Lord have chosen to be born of a virgin, if He had judged she would be so incontinent, that with the seed of human copulation she would pollute that generative chamber of the Lord's body."

The statement is remarkable because it is not an appeal to an explicit biblical text. Rather, it is an inference built upon a particular view of virginity, celibacy, and marital relations. The assumption is that marital intimacy would somehow be incompatible with the dignity of the womb that bore Christ.

Yet Scripture nowhere says this.

In fact, Scripture repeatedly honors marriage.

"Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled." (Hebrews 13:4)

If marriage is honorable and the marriage bed undefiled, on what biblical basis can it be argued that Mary would have somehow polluted herself by living as a wife after the birth of Christ?

The issue becomes even more significant when one considers the repeated New Testament references to the brothers of Jesus. The Greek term used throughout the Gospels is adelphoi, the ordinary word for brothers.

For example:

"Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?" (Matthew 13:55)

The natural meaning of adelphoi is brothers. While attempts have been made to reinterpret the word as cousins or more distant relatives, the ordinary Greek word for cousin is different. The burden of proof therefore falls upon those who wish to argue that the word does not mean what it normally means.

Examples such as these illustrate why this study is necessary.

The purpose is not to begin with the assumption that every decree in Denzinger is false. Nor is it to dismiss two thousand years of Christian history. Rather, the purpose is to ask a simple but vital question of every decree, canon, definition, and dogma: Is this doctrine explicitly taught by Christ and His apostles? Is it necessarily implied by their teaching? Or does it represent a later theological development that eventually acquired dogmatic status?

The Roman Church itself has sometimes described apostolic teaching as a pure fountain from which later generations draw. That image is helpful. The closer one moves to the source, the clearer the water becomes. Christ and His apostles constitute that source. Their writings are the inspired foundation of the faith. Therefore every later claim, no matter how ancient, revered, or authoritative, must ultimately be brought back to that fountain and tested there.

The standard employed throughout this study will therefore be neither modern opinion nor personal preference. The standard will be the teaching of Christ, the witness of the apostles, and the Scriptures that God has given to His Church. Wherever a doctrine can be clearly demonstrated from that foundation, it should be embraced. Wherever a doctrine cannot be found there, or appears to rest primarily upon later assumptions, developments, or ecclesiastical decisions, those facts should be honestly acknowledged. Such examination is not hostility to the faith. It is obedience to the biblical command to test all things and hold fast to what is true.