Apostolicity is not as authentic as it appears.

Readership: Christians
Theme: Church Policy and Sacramental Marriage
Length: 1,000 words
Reading Time: 5 minutes

What is Apostolicity?

Derek wrote a summary of this in Axioms of Faith (2023/6/5), but more of the text is spent on qualifying his argument than on actually presenting it.  So at the risk of boring the reader with another tedious recital, here I’ll try to boil it down into digestible pork and tomatoes for the reader.

Understanding Apostolicity as a structure of doctrinal authority is crucially important for apprehending the wide divide between Cathodoxy and Protestantism.  Apostolicity is the main crux of why Protestantism broke from the Catholic Church.

Apostolicity basically refers to what doctrinal authority is regarded as preeminent.  In summary, there are two different conceptions of Apostolicity held by Catholics and Protestants, Sola Ecclesia and Sola Scriptura, respectively.  (For more information, see footnote on The Solas below.)

In the former view (Sola Ecclesia), church authorities interpret and confirm the authenticity of doctrine which the adherents must then accept by faith.  Thus, apostolicity in the New Covenant is considered to be a matter of “succession of leadership”, which is why Cathodox churches adamantly claim to trace their papacy to St. Peter.

In the latter view (Sola Scriptura), scriptural hermeneutics are used to interpret and confirm the authenticity of church authority, which the adherents must then agree on by faith.  Thus, apostolicity in the New Covenant is assessed by a particular church’s leadership’s “adherence to scripture”.  The fact that biblical exegesis is widely open to differing interpretations is why there are hundreds of Protestant denominations.

As Derek and EoS explained, since these are completely different paradigms with different structures of authority, you cannot really have both.

Apostolicity as it Relates to Marriage

With respect to Sola Scriptura, the Bible makes a coherent case throughout the Old and New Testament that Sex = Marriage.  Every instance of marriage described in the bible holds to this postulate.  Those examples in scripture that do not conform to this definition are instances of sexual sin: adultery, fornication, fraud, incest, r@pe, etc.  (The discussion on this topic begins here.)  Perhaps this incoherency is the exact reason why these things are sin – because they cannot lead to a sanctified marriage as God created it to be between male and female.

Regarding Sola Ecclesia, the Sex = Marriage concept of marriage was widely recognized by law and society… UNTIL the church instituted matrimonial regulations in 1563, thereby solemnly declaring under penalty of excommunication (viz. eternal damnation), that only those marriages condoned by the church are to be recognized as valid.  More regulations were imposed by law (in England) in 1753.

These laws and regulations are loosely interpreted by laymen to mean that only marriages endorsed by the church and/or state are “real” marriages.  This belief has since been incorporated into tradition and has spread throughout all of society.  In summary, this is the main reason (and perhaps the only reason) why most people now believe that Church / State Confirmation = Marriage and Sex ≠ Marriage.

Since Cathodoxy IS Sola Ecclesia, it is easy to understand how the church ordinated marriage construct arose and its place and necessity thereof.  What remains as rather confusing is why the Protestant church abandoned their firmly held Sola Scriptura Apostolicity and adopted a Sola Ecclesia approach in the area of marriage.*  It appears as though every Christian church in the whole wide world wanted everyone to forget that Sex = Marriage according to the Bible, no matter which Apostolicity they formally embraced.

The Bitter Fruits

As described in the previous section and in previous posts in this series, social regulations and church canons governing sex and marriage are based on doctrinal interpretations (Sola Scriptura) and maintaining structures of ecclesiastical administration (Sola Ecclesia), and both of these authorities have become more gynocentric, progressive, trendy, and whimsical with every passing decade. They are NOT designed on the basis of what “works” towards increasing chastity, faith, marital harmony, and sanctification, although it is believed and intended that such should be the result, by the inscrutable grace of God.

In spite of the lofty aims of establishing ecclesiastical and legal regulations regarding marriage, in reality it superimposes hard rules and hoop jumping onto marriage without addressing the more fundamental nature of marriage regarding one’s sexual history and who’s pegging who.  The modern Protestant version of this holier than thou acerbity is Purity Culture.

Meanwhile, the larger secular culture has embraced a free-for-all view of sex, having very few restrictions, if any.  The juxtaposition of these two extremes, combined with the church and state imposed bifurcation of sex and marriage de jure, and the latent confusion surrounding the central importance of sex in marriage, has led and still leads many to ruin.

Now, 270 years after Church / State Confirmation = Marriage has replaced Sex = Marriage, we can see that the results have been catastrophic.  In effect, Sola Ex Iude Dictatum (“dictated by the law alone”) has taken precedence over Sola Ecclesia, Sola Scriptura, et al.  But the law alone cannot produce righteousness (Romans 8; Galatians 2:15-21).  This transplanted authority only elides and complicates things further as we saw in A Concise History of Marriage Regulations (2023/6/12).  The emphasis on procedural regulations assigns MORE pressure and responsibilities which obfuscate the central place of sex in marriage.

As it stands today, Marriage 2.0 is a fake mockery and a sham, and the problems are more profound in the church — any church for that matter.  Anyone who has been reading Dalrock (Protestant), Wintery Knight (Protestant), Adam Piggott (Catholic), Darwin Catholic, or Zippy Catholic should already know this.

Concluding Statements

Overall, the longitudinal consequences of this confusion over sex and marriage has become The Cross of Our Age (2021/5/3).

Rolling back Feminism or even the Enlightenment would not be sufficient to counteract these forces originating from ecclesiastical schisms that occurred more than 500 years ago.  These ills are merely the bitter fruits of both Cathodoxy and Protestantism abandoning the recognition of human fallibility and the power of personal faith in Christ, in favor of imposing conformity on the masses.*  We need to return to the elementary faith in Jesus the Messiah.  If the law could produce righteousness, then Jesus died in vain (Galatians 2:21).

* Catacomb Resident pointed out that it is all for human political unity in the church.

Related

• Donal Graeme: What We Mean By Marriage (2014/6/14)
• The Southern Cross: History of the Sacrament of Marriage (2019/9/24)
• Darwin Catholic: When A Marriage is not a Marriage (2023/1/22)
• Σ Frame: Regulations vs. Reality (2023/5/30)
• Christianity and Masculinity: Moral agency and sex define a marriage (2023/6/14)

The Solas

The Solas include…

1. Sola Scriptura (“by Scripture alone”)
2. Sola Fide (“by faith alone”)
3. Sola Gratia (“by grace alone”)
4. Solus Christus (“Christ alone”)
5. Soli Deo Gloria (“glory to God alone”)
6. Sola Ecclesia (“the Church alone”)
7. Sola Caritas (“Charitable love alone”)

The first three were issues addressed during the Reformation.  The first five are identified with Reformed theology.  The last two have recently been adopted by the Anglican Church.

Further Reading

• Wikipedia: The Five Solas
• Reformation Bible College: The Five Solas (2021/10/20)
• Infogalactic: The Five Solas