Common Objections
Common Objections
Common Objections
Catholic doctrines were invented centuries after the apostles
You’ve probably seen one of those lists purporting to show when various Catholic doctrines were invented. They typically include entries like these:
The dates vary from list to list, but the message is always the same: these beliefs weren’t part of original Christianity. They were invented by the Catholic Church centuries after the apostles.
What’s wrong with these lists?
There are typically three problems with lists like this, and each is very misleading. First, they confuse customs with doctrines; second, they include items that are just plain false; and third, when they list something that actually is a doctrine, they often assign it a date centuries after the belief originated.
An example of the first problem is the rosary. It almost always appears on lists like this. But the rosary is a devotional practice, not a doctrine. Catholics don’t have to pray the rosary at all if they don’t want to. And they don’t believe that Jesus handed the apostles a rosary and taught them how to pray it. (The Sorrowful Mysteries would have been a spoiler alert, anyway.)
Protestants have developed religious practices of their own. Consider the altar call, a familiar feature of many evangelical services. The practice of inviting people to come forward publicly in response to a sermon became especially prominent during the revival movements of the nineteenth century.1
Evangelicals don’t claim this practice is ancient, or that after his sermon on Pentecost Peter invited the crowd to come forward if the Lord just really touched their hearts. No, it’s a modern practice, and a fine one.
A religious practice doesn’t have to originate with the apostles to be legitimate.
And some of the claims are simply false
The second problem is that several of the items on lists like this are usually just plain false. Consider the allegation that Catholics began worshiping relics and the cross in AD 786.2
Catholics don’t worship relics or the cross. They may honor relics because of their association with Christ or the saints, and they may show reverence toward a crucifix because it represents Christ and his sacrifice for us. But honoring something isn’t necessarily worshiping it.
Protestants understand this. When they handle a Bible reverently or hang a picture of Jesus on their wall, they know they aren't worshiping these things.
An ancient belief with a later date
The third problem is more subtle. These lists take the date when something was named, defined, or adopted and present it as the date when the underlying belief originated.
Consider transubstantiation, which some lists claim was invented in 1215.
That’s the year the Fourth Lateran Council used the term transubstantiation in an official statement about the Eucharist.3 But Christians had believed that the Eucharist was truly Christ’s body and blood long before anyone used that particular word to explain it.
Around AD 107, within living memory of the apostles, Ignatius of Antioch condemned certain heretics because they refused to acknowledge that the Eucharist was the flesh of Jesus Christ, the same flesh that suffered for our sins.4
Around AD 155, Justin Martyr explained that Christians didn’t receive the Eucharist as ordinary bread and wine, but as the flesh and blood of Jesus.5
And around AD 180, Irenaeus of Lyons likewise described the Eucharistic bread and wine as becoming the body and blood of Christ.6
So, did the Catholic Church invent the Real Presence in 1215? Obviously not. The belief was already ancient when the Fourth Lateran Council used the term transubstantiation to describe it.
The date tells us something about the history of theological terminology. It doesn’t tell us when Christians first believed that the Eucharist was Christ’s body and blood.
The same problem appears elsewhere
Consider confession to priests, supposedly invented in AD 1215.
Yet Christians had been confessing their sins and receiving reconciliation through the ministry of the Church for centuries before that. In the third century, Cyprian of Carthage described Christians confessing their sins to the Church’s priests and receiving reconciliation.7 The Fourth Lateran Council didn’t invent the practice. It simply required the faithful to confess their serious sins at least once a year.8
Or consider the canonization of saints, supposedly invented in AD 995. Yet Christians had been recognizing and honoring saints since the earliest centuries of Christianity. An account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, written in the second century, describes Christians collecting his remains and commemorating the anniversary of his death.9
The date apparently refers to the first formal papal canonization, that of St. Ulrich of Augsburg. But that took place in 993, not 995.10 Apparently, whoever compiled these lists couldn’t even get their misleading dates right.
The same pattern appears repeatedly. A date is assigned to a doctrine or practice, but evidence of it can be found centuries earlier.
Sometimes the date marks a formal definition. Sometimes it marks the introduction of a particular term. Sometimes it’s associated with a council, a pope, or a change in Church discipline.
And sometimes it’s difficult to determine where the date came from at all.
Why aren’t Protestant doctrines on those lists?
There’s something else worth noticing about these lists: they leave out doctrines that Protestants accept, too.
For example, why don’t they include the Trinity?
The word Trinity doesn’t appear in the Bible, and the Church’s teaching about the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was formally clarified at the Councils of Nicaea in 325 and Constantinople in 381.11
If we’re going to assign the date of a formal definition as the date a doctrine was invented, shouldn’t we say the Trinity was invented in the fourth century?
And what about the doctrine that Jesus Christ is one divine person with two natures, human and divine? That was formally defined at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.12
Or what about the New Testament itself? The first surviving list containing exactly the twenty-seven books Protestants and Catholics recognize today appeared in AD 367, in a letter written by Athanasius. The same canon was subsequently recognized by councils at Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397.13
Just for fun, let’s compose a list of Protestant “inventions.”
You don’t have to be a history major to know what a crock that is.
Conclusion
These lists of supposed Catholic inventions present customs as doctrines, attribute beliefs to Catholics that Catholics don’t actually hold, and assign dates to ancient beliefs that make them appear to be later inventions. They’re fundamentally dishonest and misleading.
And as we saw, the same tactics could be used to manufacture a supposed list of Protestant inventions that would be just as dishonest and just as misleading.
Bogus accusations like this do nothing but drive us farther apart and grieve the Lord, who prayed that we would be one so that the world would believe the Father sent him (John 17:21).
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1 Charles G. Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion (1835), Lecture XIV, “Measures to Promote Revivals.” Finney describes the anxious seat, a forerunner of the modern evangelical altar call, and discusses its use in revival meetings. Text.
2 Second Council of Nicaea (787), Definition of Faith. The council explicitly distinguished the veneration of sacred images, including representations of the cross, from the worship due to God alone. Far from introducing the worship of religious objects, the council reaffirmed that worship belongs to God alone. Text.
3 Fourth Lateran Council (1215), Constitution 1, Firmiter Credimus. The council uses the term transubstantiation in its profession of faith concerning the Eucharist. Text.
4 Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 7:1 (c. AD 107–110). Ignatius condemns those who refuse to acknowledge the Eucharist as the flesh of Jesus Christ. Text.
5 Justin Martyr, First Apology 66 (c. AD 155). Justin explains that Christians do not receive the Eucharist as ordinary bread and drink, but as the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus. Text.
6 Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 5.2.2–3 (c. AD 180–190). Irenaeus identifies the Eucharistic bread and cup with Christ’s body and blood. Text.
7 Cyprian of Carthage, On the Lapsed 28–29 (c. AD 251). Cyprian describes Christians confessing their sins to priests and receiving reconciliation through the Church’s ministry. Text.
8 Fourth Lateran Council (1215), Constitution 21, Omnis utriusque sexus. The council required the faithful who had reached the age of discretion to confess their sins to their priest at least once a year. Text.
9 The Martyrdom of Polycarp 17–18 (second century). The account distinguishes the worship of Christ from the honor shown to martyrs and describes preserving Polycarp’s remains and commemorating his martyrdom. Text.
10 Pope John XV authorized the veneration of St. Ulrich of Augsburg in 993, an event generally regarded as the first recorded formal papal canonization. See Paul Pallath, Evolution of the Special Law on Canonization, Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, citing the papal canonization document of January 31, 993. Vatican document.
11 First Council of Nicaea (325), Nicene Creed; First Council of Constantinople (381), Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. These councils formally clarified important aspects of Trinitarian doctrine. See Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, vol. 1. Text.
12 Council of Chalcedon (451), Definition of Faith. The council defined Christ as one divine person in two natures, human and divine. See Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, vol. 2. Text.
13. Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 (367); Council of Hippo (393); Third Council of Carthage (397). Athanasius provides the earliest surviving list containing precisely the twenty-seven New Testament books recognized today. The African councils subsequently recognized the same New Testament canon. Athanasius.
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