Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Has Jesus Christ resigned as the true Head and Leader of His church on earth? Has He left its management in the hands of some incompetent "vicar of Christ" or vice-president (the word "vicar" is related to vice-president)? Or, instead of one man being "the vicar of Christ on earth," has Christ resigned the leadership of His church into the hands of a committee or an organization, so that fallible people have taken His place on earth?
If the answer is "yes," then it would follow logically and reasonably that the Roman Catholic idea of the "vicar of Christ" is basically true. Whether that "vicar" is one man or an organizational hierarchy is irrelevant--the basic idea remains that Christ must be away on business and has left His church in the hands of His "vice-president."
There is a clear Bible answer to all these questions: the true "vicar of Christ" is neither one man nor an assembly of fallible people--that Vicar is the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-14; 14:16-18). Christ is not on vacation nor away on celestial business; He is present with us through the Holy Spirit.
Sincere people often worry about what's happening to their beloved church; and history is clear--that "vicar of Christ" has indeed often been "resisted," "rejected," even sometimes "insulted." But Christ's last message to His church (Rev. 3:14-21) indicates clearly that "injured and insulted Deity will speak." All He needs are agents through whom He can work, people who "have understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do" (1 Chron. 12:32), in whom self has finally been "crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20).
The combination is clear: "informed intelligence" + self-crucified = leadership whom the Holy Spirit will use to right every wrong, and in cooperation with Christ "bring in everlasting righteousness" (Dan. 9:24). Informed intelligence includes a knowledge of the gospel (not merely refined legalism), and "self-crucified" means boldness and readiness to die for that "truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5-11).
There is Good News!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 31, 2000.
Copyright © 2012 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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