Hello Rosary Lovers! In this post we will look at some incredibly CATHOLIC Bible verses!
‘What??’ I hear you say.
Yep. There really are some verses in the Bible which look remarkably like what Catholics believe.
When I was a Protestant, I read the Scriptures all the time and really got to know the Bible very, very well.
It was largely the Bible that made me a Catholic.
There were certain verses I had never paid any attention to for many years. But eventually, my eyes were opened and I began to see the Bible in a new light.
Various verses of Scripture could only be explained by a Catholic worldview. These began to gradually pull me away from a Protestant understanding of Christianity and towards a Catholic understanding of the faith.
Much of Scripture is incredibly Catholic, and it is only since becoming Catholic that I have really begun to appreciate this.
I still read Scripture often, and I’m constantly seeing verses which can either only be explained by a Catholic worldview, or that best fit a Catholic worldview.
Let’s look at some examples.
John 20:23
‘Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’
This amazing verse of Scripture hardly gets more Catholic. I remember when I first read this text in the New Testament and frankly I had no idea what it could refer to or mean.
I even recall thinking that it sounded Catholic.
Jesus is addressing the apostles and after breathing the Holy Spirit upon them, he sends them out to the world to preach the Gospel. As an integral part of this mission, he gives them the power to forgive sins, and even to withhold forgiveness of sins.
This is an incredibly Catholic verse of Scripture. Jesus gives mere men, the Apostles, the power to cancel or retain the sins of other human beings.
Protestants have difficultly explaining these words of Jesus. But as Catholics, we know this is fulfilled by the Apostles’ successors, our Bishops and priests.
They cancel our sins through absolution/forgiveness in Confession, and through absolution at Mass.
At Mass, we receive the forgiveness of our venial sins by the absolution of Bishops and priests.
In Confession, we receive absolution/forgiveness of ALL our sins, both mortal and venial.
There it is: there are still people in the world today who have the power to forgive or retain sins by the authority of Jesus Christ himself.
1 Timothy 3:15
‘If I am delayed, you will know how to behave in the Household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation/ground of truth.’
Nowhere does the Bible call ‘the Bible’ the ‘pillar and foundation of truth’. Rather, the CHURCH is called ‘the pillar and ground of the truth’.
It is the Church which upholds the truth. The Catholic Church, the true Church of history.
Protestant Christianity suggests that the Church can err in matters of faith and morals, but the Apostle Paul disagrees.
The Church can never err in matters of faith and morals because if she could then we could not call her ‘the pillar and foundation of truth.’
‘But we have the Bible.’ Yes we do, but it needs interpretation. And whose job is it to interpret the Bible and the Gospel?
‘The Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.’
Matthew 18:15-18
‘If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. … If he refuses to listen … tell it to the Church. If he refuses to hear the Church also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector. Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.’
In this amazing passage, Jesus uses the word ‘Church’. The only other time Jesus speaks of the ‘Church’ is in Matthew 16:16-20.
In this passage, Jesus tells us that whatever the Church decides about a moral matter involving two Christian brothers/sisters is absolutely binding on the conscience of that individual.
If the Church judges that person to be in the wrong, then they MUST repent. They have no other option, or else they will be excommunicated and cast out from fellowship with the Church.
Jesus’ words are so striking in that they say that whatever the Church decides is precisely what heaven decides. Heaven goes along with the judgment of the Church.
Notice also that the Church in this passage MUST be a Community which is very, very visible and authoritative. It has clear Hierarchs, who can judge. It is a Church which can be heard by all Christians. And when this visible Church gives her judgment, then that judgment is final.
The only Church which really has this view of the Church is the Catholic Church.
To fail to obey the voice of the Catholic Church after hearing her speak to you is to fail to remain a true Christian.
There is no sense at all in this passage of the modern practice in Protestant churches of Christians hopping from church to church, until they find what they like.
I’ve known plenty of Christians in Protestant churches who were ‘told off’ by their pastors and didn’t like this, so they just went to another church.
Catholics cannot do this, because all Catholic Churches are in full communion under the authority of the Pope and Bishops. If a Catholic is excommunicated by his/her local parish, then this excommunication will apply to ANY Catholic Church they go to in the world.
Matthew 16:17-20
‘And I say to you: You are Peter [rock/stone]. And on this Rock I will build my Church. And the gates of hell shall never prevail against it. And I give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,’ etc.
This is a very well-known Catholic text, perhaps the most well-known. Protestants have tried for centuries to deny that this passage has reference to Peter the person.
This is because the Catholic claim is that St Peter is the Rock of the Catholic Church, and that Jesus gave the keys to St Peter.
Since St Peter is no longer with us, his successors took his place on earth: the Popes of Rome.
Therefore, the Pope is the Rock of the Church and the Church where the Pope is IS the very Church which hell can never prevail against.
It is interesting that the Catholic Church is still here in this world. It is interesting that many have tried to destroy the Catholic Church but still she stands, perhaps stronger than ever today. Her numbers are over 1.3 billion at the time of writing.
Hell cannot seem to prevail against the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church is the most hated Church on the face of the globe. She has many enemies who would love to see her collapse and no longer exist.
Why then is she still here?
‘If I were outside of Christianity and had to select which Church was true I would go for the one which the world hates the most. Because the world hated Jesus and that Church which the world hates is most like Jesus.’ – Venerable Fulton Sheen (paraphrased)
The Protestant way around this text is to suggest that Christ builds the Church on Peter’s faith alone, not on Peter as a person.
It is true Jesus builds the Church on Peter’s faith, but he also builds it on Peter the man! It’s both and, not either or.
Why can’t Jesus build the Church on Peter and his faith?
Only if you don’t want this verse to point in a Catholic direction.
Otherwise, how could Jesus give Peter’s faith the keys of the kingdom? Jesus could have said that: ‘I give to YOUR FAITH the keys.’ But Jesus doesn’t say that. He says: ‘I give TO YOU (singular) the keys.’
This passage can ONLY be fulfilled in the Papacy. There is no other sensible way to interpret this text of Scripture.
2 Thessalonians 2:15
‘So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us [the apostles], whether by word of mouth or by letter.’
This verse was one of the most influential in compelling me to turn away from Protestant Christianity.
Why? Because Paul COMMANDS Christians to ‘hold the traditions’ which they have been taught by the apostles.
These Apostolic Traditions have been given to Christians either by word – that is, orally – or by letter (i.e., Scripture).
In other words, Christians are COMMANDED to obey Apostolic traditions whether they are found in Scripture or in oral tradition.
‘Well, where are the oral traditions’?
Good question.
They have to be somewhere, so that we can actually obey the Apostle and God.
They are found in the Catholic Church. The Church is the only vehicle that God can possibly use for maintaining oral apostolic traditions.
And this is what the Catholic Church teaches.
We must also see from this verse that St Paul did NOT believe in the Protestant principle of sola scriptura. Paul did not believe that the Bible alone had infallible authority.
Paul believed that Scripture AND oral Traditions had the SAME authority.
And this again is what the Catholic Church still teaches. Scripture and Tradition have absolutely EQUAL weight and authority, and are both binding on the consciences of Christians.
Not Scripture alone.
Let’s follow the Apostle Paul, not Martin Luther and John Calvin.
1 Corinthains 7:7-35
This passage is far too long for me to quote it here, but I recommend you take a look at it.
In short, in this long text of Holy Scripture, the Apostle Paul teaches that it is better – yes, better – to be single and a virgin unto God than to be married.
What does Paul mean?
He means that it is BETTER to be a single person who solely seeks God – like a monk or nun – than to be married.
It is surely good to be married. It is very good to be married, and marriage is a wonderful thing. Marriage is one of the 7 Sacraments of the Catholic Church.
But it is better to be single and to be completely devoted to God: that is, to either be a monk or nun, or to be a very devout member of the laity.
Utter and total consecration to God is a VERY biblical idea. And this is essentially what a monk or nun is.
James 2:24
‘You see then that by works, a person is justified, and not by faith alone.’
This verse pure and simply teaches justification by faith and works, not faith alone.
Enough said really.
John 6:53-58
‘Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I in them. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so those who feed on me will also live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven – not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”’
In this amazing passage, Jesus is telling his hearers that to have eternal life they MUST literally eat his flesh and drink his blood.
The flesh and blood of Jesus contains the fullness of divine life, and this is the only way to have eternal life.
‘My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.’
Add all this to verse 51 of the same chapter: ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is MY FLESH, which I will give for the life of the world.’
Notice that Jesus is the living Bread, and his Flesh is the living Bread. We must eat his Flesh to live forever. Eating his flesh is the same as eating him.
None of this is supposed to be interpreted metaphorically or symbolically. The language is too intense and Jesus cannot emphasise the point more.
The Catholic Church takes these words at face value. Many other Christians do not, sadly.
I hope you have found this post eye-opening. I have tried to pick Scriptures which cannot easily be interpreted through any other lens than a Catholic interpretation. It is very hard to interpret these verses any other way.
I encourage you to read these passages and pray to the Holy Spirit about them, asking him to open your mind to their real meaning.
If you wish to ask anything, or add your own Scriptures, leave a comment below.
God bless!