THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE CHURCH By Leonard Canamo

Cofat Catechesis

The Church with the Pope

Part 5: Visible and Invisible Church

Now a days, iba iba ang pagkakaunawa ng mga Kristiyano sa salitang “Simbahan o Church”. Some take it with a deeper meaning and some take it with a lesser one. Some with an exclusive mind believe na we should be a card holding member of this church in order for you to be save otherwise you will be damn in hell. On the other hand, there are some who believe na hindi importante kung saang simbahan ka nabibilang, what is important according to them is your personal relationship with Christ. And for me that’s a dilemma and if we sum up those views we can group them into two; either the Church is

1) Visible or

2) Invisible

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For the first view of the Church, they believe that the Church is a Visible organization that can be identified. But some take it exclusively to the point that they promote a belief that we should be a member of this Church and outside of this church you have no hope to be save. Only the members of this Church ang may pagasang maligtas. Sometimes ganito ang nangyayari if we focus too much sa ganitong view to the extent na it emphasized membership rather than God’s saving grace working inside of us. Evident ito sa mga Philippine founding church like Iglesia ni Cristo and others

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While for the second view, they believe that the Church is Invisible meaning the holy Christian Church is a reality, although it is not an external, visible organization. Because ‘man look on the outward appearance, but the Lord look on the heart, therefore only the Lord knows ‘them that are his.’ That’s why according to them, the members of the holy Christian Church are known only to God; we cannot distinguish between true believers and hypocrites. So for those who believe in an Invisible church promotes a kind of church that cannot be identified with anyone church body or the sum total of all church bodies. The invisible church is a typical view of most of “born again christian groups” now a days na very appealing because of their clever expression of their view like “Christianity is not a religion it is a personal relationship with Christ”, and “I’m spiritual but not religious”. Those expression shows their belief to an invisible church.

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In both extremes that we have, the Catholic Church gives I think the balance between this two different views. Because we catholics believe that the Church has both Visible aspect and Invisible aspect. It means we believe that the Church is a Visible Church with a hierarchical structure, with an address that we can locate their place and leaders that has authority to settle doctrinal and moral issues. At the same time we believe in the Church that transend,meaning it has invisible aspect in which we can receive the grace of God through sacraments that make us holy and partakers of the life of God.

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That is why Catholics believe that Christ’sChurch is more than invisible communion of faith. Just as Christ had a real physical body, so Christ’s Church is made up of a real physical union of believers held together by human bonds, as well as by divine grace. The Church is the “Mystical Body of Christ”, an expression which reflect both the spiritual (Mystical) and the physical (Body) nature of the Church.

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Of course,there are some Christians that will object with that, because they see the human,physical side of the Church as a barrier between them and God. They contend that the Church should be only spiritual and therefore invisible community of faith. God offers grace,they think, directly to each person,not through the mediation of any Church. God speaks, they suppose, to each one individually,not through the teaching office of a Church.

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But if we read the bible, it shows that God offers salvation to human being not merely as individuals without any mutual bonds,but by making them into a single people. Remember God formed first, the people of Israel sa Old testament to prepare the way, then through Jesus, he formed the new “People of God” we read

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1 Peter 2,10

[10]Though in past times you were not a people, yet now you are the people of God. Though you had not obtained mercy, yet now you have obtained mercy.

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This People of God is the Church. Now if that Church is invisible we will fail to see the significance of Jesus words in the bible we read

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Matthew 18,17

[17]And if he will not listen to them, tell the Church. But if he will not listen to the Church, let him be to you like the pagan and the tax collector.

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This is a passage from the Gospel that explain how to settle disputes among christians and from that text Jesus shows the role of the Church as a final arbiter in which Jesus said “if he will not listen to the Church let him be like the pagan and tax collector” meaning a foreigner or a sinner.

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Ngayon kung iaapply natin yan today,if we have doctrinal dispute sa isang born again Christian, following the words of Jesus na “tell the Church” which will serve as our arbiter, the question is saang church kami pupunta? Ako as catholics will go to the Catholic church habang ang kaibigan kong born again will go sa Church na kinabibilangan nya, in the end we will not solve our doctrinal dispute. That’s the problem of those christians na naniniwala na ang simbahan is an invisible church. But for catholics,we don’thave that problem because as i said we believe also sa visible church that serve as a judge to settle doctrinal issues.

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Next time pagusapan natin ng mas malalim ang Visible aspect ng simbahan kung saan alam naman natin maraming issue dito hindi lang ang mga non catholics kundi maging ang mga kapwa natin catholics. And after that dadako na tayo sa aspect kung saan paguusapan na natin sino sino ang bumubuo sa simbahan hanggang sa makarating tayo sa main topic ko walang iba kundi ang Santo Papa. Stay tuned. Godbless

References:

Canamo, L. (2022, September 10). THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE CHURCH . Retrieved from The Splendor of the Church: http://thesplendorofthechurch.com/2022/09/10/the-visible-and-invisible-church-by-leonard-canamo/