The effect of this “church formation” is that the people are no longer the church but are made to feel dependent on the church (institution). If this organization is to exist, it must position itself as providing a need/blessing to people, who would then feel a dependency for it and support it. This practice is patterned after the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament, a practice that should have ended with the fulfillment of the law. To be sure, many of the false teachings are patterned after a physical order that has been fulfilled by the spiritual realities accomplished in Christ’s rule. To persuade a general populace who are uneducated to listen and follow the rule of bishops, all one has to do is point to the qualification of bishops who were not only educated, but were thought to be acquainted with the apostles and their tradition. These men claimed personal knowledge of the apostles and were acquainted with them and their stories. They would be able to convince the people that they succeed the apostles’ rule (apostolic succession). The accepted view is that the church or organization of bishops had vested authority to establish and maintain the doctrine of Christ (orthodoxy). If they had the power to establish church doctrine, they also had the authority to reject any opposing view as heretical and excommunicate such proponents of error as “heretics.”
The product of their work is often referred to as “the faith.” However, the Scriptures explain that it had already been “once for all delivered to the saints” by the time Jude was written (Jude 3). Just as God’s revelation had been first delivered to the apostles and prophets who shared it, it should lie in the hands of the saints who share it among themselves and others. It is that body of truth revealed by the Holy apostles and prophets for which we contend and defend. Still, we are not responsible to police what others may practice or teach. Standing for the truth does not mean using political power to weld such control as to force compliance. For Catholics, the perception is that the faith is inadequate in the hands of incompetent and weak people and could not prevent the landslide of errors away from the truth. Someone must be available to enforce this truth in order to have uniformity. To counter this landslide, therefore, the church became a visible organization of priests believed to be ordained by God to establish and protect orthodoxy. This is how they validate their place in the religious world of Christendom.
However, such power and control is only a description of the church organization, not the people of God. Such an organization is separate from the people that they serve. We propose that the Scriptures provide a different model.