Magisterium

When Jesus ascended into Heaven, He did not leave a book; He left a Body. That Body was equipped with the spiritual gifts necessary to preach Jesus to the whole world. That Body has never died and will never die. "The gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."

As the apostles preached Jesus, questions and controversies arose:

"For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths" (2 Tim 4:3-4).

The Magisterium is a relatively recent term derived from the Latin word, magister, which means "teacher." It refers to the teaching authority of the Church by means of which sound doctrine may be distinguished from false teaching.

• Ordinary Magisterium: Bishops acting in union with the pope, especially in an ecumenical council.
• Extraordinary Magisterium: The pope exercising the infallibility of the Church in union with the College of Bishops.
• Representatives of the Magisterium: priests, deacons, theologians.

Scriptural roots of the magisterium

Pastoral gifts--"Living the truth in love"

The pastoral gifts (Greek, charismata or "charisms") are given to human beings who act as instruments in God's hands to build, unify, and maintain the Body of Christ. No verse in the Scriptures says, "These offices and charisms have been replaced by the Bible." The Scriptures are actually incapable of saying that because the word "Bible" is not in the Bible.

Eph 4:11-16

And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming. Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body's growth and builds itself up in love.

	singular
apostles	ἀπόστολος
prophets	προφήτης
evangelists	εὐαγγελιστής
pastors	ποιμήν, -ένος, ὁ
teachers	διδάσκαλος

1 Cor 12:28

Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues.

	singular
apostles	ἀπόστολος
prophets	προφήτης
teachers	διδάσκαλος
administration	κυβέρνησις

Gospels

Lk 10:16.

"Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

Jn 16:12-15

¹² “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.

¹³ But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.

¹⁴ He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

¹⁵ Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

2 Tim 3:16-17

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Hindsight

They say that "hindsight is 20-20 vision." The gospels were written down long after the events told in them had revealed their full significance to believers. The entire structure of the gospels is dictated by post-Pentecost understanding.

This is devastating for the biblical critics, who want to detach a transcript of exactly what Jesus Himself said and did before the disciples understood Him. Every word attributed to Jesus in the gospels is suspect. It might have been put there by the gospel writers because of later developments in the Church. Such critics implicitly reject the Scriptural claim that the "Spirit of truth" was and is given to the Body of Christ to guide it to "all truth" (Jn 16:13). For them, the only thing that counts is "the very words" (ipsissima verba) of Christ; any extra words provided by the Spirit through the ministry of the Church are negligible.

Catholics trust the Holy Spirit and accept that "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:16-17).

It is the Church who defines the meaning of "all scripture." No book of the Bible lists the books of the Bible. Telling us what is--and is not--the "Word of God" is the work of the Church.

The Protestant theory is that a stream is cleanest closest to its source. As the water runs downhill, other streams run into the original and pollute it.

For Catholics, the Church is most herself after Jesus has ascended and sent the Holy Spirit to "complete His work on earth" The Church uses an organic model of revelation. Just as the body needs to develop from a single cell into a mature organism, so the Church needed to develop its structures and powers over the course of time. The very earliest moment of an organism's existence is not the best part of its life; the single cell is meant to multiply and differentiate until all the powers of its nature are expressed in its mature form.

To fill in later ...

"Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way" (Hebrews 13:17-18).

"You are rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church" (Mt 16:18).

"Call no man Teacher" (Mt 23:8). The authority of Jesus is different from that of rabbis and academics!