Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus II (Pars Altera): Demonstratio Catholica

1. Christ preached a social kingdom. That Christ was wholly taken up with announcing, founding, and propagating the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, we have abundantly demonstrated. Moreover, that the kingdom of God preached by Christ had the character of a society is evident both from the concept of the kingdom already set forth and from the parables that illustrate the kingdom.

We have investigated the concept of the kingdom of God preached by Christ in the question concerning His messianic testimony.¹ The whole Old Testament expected the messianic kingdom in the form of a true society. Yahweh had given the Israelite people not only a moral and religious law, but also a civil one, and in this way had established a Davidic-synagogal theocracy.

Yet that theocracy was nothing but a figure and shadow of that new, spiritual, and universal kingdom for the founding and governing of which the coming Messiah was foretold. Indeed, at the time of Jesus, carnal Judaism understood the kingdom of God in an earthly and political manner, but it never denied that the Messiah would found a true social kingdom.

Jesus finally restored the concept of the kingdom of God to its pristine purity and fulfilled it in deed by instituting the Church. For that the kingdom of God preached by Christ is identical with the Church is evident of itself and is expressly affirmed by the Lord Himself.² Hence the social character of the Church of Christ cannot be called into doubt.

Furthermore, the parables of the kingdom of God illustrate this social character. The kingdom of heaven is likened to a field in which, together with the wheat, weeds also grow,³ to a net gathering fish of every kind, good and bad,⁴ to a wedding feast,⁵ to which are gathered both chosen guests and those collected from the highways and hedges, and utterly unworthy ones as well: indeed, every kind of men, good and bad, is united in the Church.

The kingdom of heaven is likened to a flock and to the sheepfold to which not only Jews but also Gentiles are to be called, so that they may form one flock under one shepherd, Christ, and His vicar Peter.⁶ The kingdom of heaven is compared to a house to be built by Christ upon the Petrine foundation: "Upon this rock I will build (οἰκοδομήσω) "my" Church⁷: just as individual stones laid upon the foundation coalesce into a physical house harmoniously constructed, so all the faithful, united with Peter and subject to him, form that spiritual house, i. e., that family or society which we call the Church of Christ. Therefore the whole gospel of the kingdom of God shows the ecclesiastical society as instituted by Christ and to be instituted by Him.

2. Christ established social authority. We shall show this fact expressly in the chapter on the constitution of the Church. Therefore it suffices at this point to have indicated what follows.

From the very beginning of His public ministry Christ called the apostles. These He instructed and trained in a special way, so that they might become "fishers of men".⁸ And after He had sent them, as it were, by way of trial, to announce the kingdom of God, He finally solemnly handed over to them His authority to teach, sanctify, and govern men: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you... Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain, they are retained ...⁹ All power is given to me in heaven and on earth: going therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you..."¹⁰

"I dispose to you, as my Father has disposed to me, a kingdom."¹¹

Peter He specially chose as the foundation of the Church and as the key-bearer of the kingdom of heaven¹² and made him the supreme shepherd of all the faithful: "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep..."¹³

By instituting this ecclesiastical authority, Christ manifestly instituted the ecclesiastical society. For where there is authority, there is society.

3. Christ wove the social bond. Since a society is a union of several persons entered into for the attainment of a common end, he is to be said to found a society who brings about this union. But Christ united His worshippers with a threefold bond: symbolic, liturgical, and hierarchical.

By a symbolic bond: by requiring the profession of one faith. "Preach the gospel to every creature; he who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned."¹⁴ An internal assent of faith does not suffice, but an external manifestation of the same is required. For since baptism is to be conferred upon believers, it must first be established through external confession that the faith has been embraced.

By a liturgical bond: by instituting communion in the same rites or sacraments, especially of baptism and of the Eucharist. Of baptism: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved."¹⁵ "Unless a man is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."¹⁶ Of the Eucharist: "The bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world … Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you."¹⁷

By a hierarchical bond: by commanding obedience toward superiors. This is evident from the institution of authority or hierarchy. For the authority of the apostles and the obedience of the faithful are correlative. Hence Christ, speaking of fraternal correction, says: "And if he will not hear them [the witnesses brought in], tell the Church [the ecclesiastical superiors]. But if he will not hear the Church, let him be to you as a heathen and a publican."¹⁸ Likewise, on another occasion, He said to the disciples: "He who hears you hears me, and he who despises you despises me. But he who despises me despises Him who sent me."¹⁹

Hence Christ bound His faithful together by the threefold symbolic, liturgical, and hierarchical bond into an ecclesiastical society in the true sense of the word.