Apostolic succession
The Catholic Church teaches that it is the sole repository of the doctrines of Jesus Christ, as the teachings originally entrusted by Christ to the apostles would have been handed down through an uninterrupted series of lineages to the Catholic bishops of our time. The Catholic Church, in essence, it considers itself superior to other churches, and points out that Christians not belonging to the Roman church (like evangelicals and Protestant churches)they have nothing to do with this lineage.
They forget that one does not become a disciple of Christ by descent, through real or hypothetical genealogies from which we must stay away (1 Timoteo 1:4; Tito 3:9). The word itself “Cristiano” it means “disciple of Christ” (proceedings 11:26).
To every believer who wants to be his disciple, Jesus said to carry your own cross every day, obeying Him (Luca 14:33). So many anonymous believers did and still do today in every part of the world, dedicating their lives to their Lord who loved them by sacrificing Himself to save them. Already among the first Christians we read of disciples such as Mnasone of Cyprus (proceedings 21:16), Anan (proceedings 9:10), of Giuseppe d’Arimatea (Matteo 27:57), perhaps unknown, but unequivocally called disciples. Parrot, as to all of us who believe and obey in all that the Lord Jesus taught, His words are addressed, His teachings, His commandments (including that of proclaiming the Gospel, in Marco 16:15, and that of abiding in Him day by day to bear fruit to His glory, Giovanni 15:2,8).
According to the Catholic concept of apostolic succession, the alleged descent of the bishops from the apostles should ensure that their church still teaches the pure doctrine of Christ as we find it in the Bible today. Yet as we know during the first centuries the Christian church did not know Marian theology, the Roman primacy, the papacy did not yet exist; there were not all those dogmas that have developed over the centuries, and the so-called apostolic traditions were rejected.
Furthermore, if this succession is a valid rule, and not one of the many inventions “religious” some men, because others shouldn't be able to apply it, for example the Orthodox Church? This church claims by right the descendants of the apostles, and the same two thousand years of history, yet it contradicts the Roman Catholic Church on fundamental issues such as the primacy and universal jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome, dad, and defines Catholic doctrines as the immaculate conception and purgatory heretical.
In addition to the Orthodox, this is also the case with the Anglicans, of the Copts, and of the Baptist successionists.
It is evident that more than one is needed to establish whether a doctrine is true or false “apostolic succession”.
Religious leaders should teach faithful men, which in turn should teach others, so that the Gospel is preserved and passed on from one generation to another, as written:
“the things you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust them to faithful men, that they are able to teach them to others as well” (2 Timoteo 2:2).
Anyhow, the mere succession of bishops, Senior citizens, or shepherds, it does not guarantee at all that the original message is preserved and remains pure.
First of all it must be said that bishops are not apostles, nor do they have the same authority as the apostles. The apostles were a particular group of men commissioned by Jesus Christ himself to prepare the foundations of His Church. The church elders were less than apostles.
Furthermore, the apostle Paul warned the bishops of the church of Ephesus saying:
“I know that after my departure, rapacious wolves will enter among you, who will not spare the flock; and even among yourselves men will arise who will teach perverse things in order to drag the disciples along” (proceedings 20:29,30).
It is well known that gods “rapacious wolves” they originated precisely among the bishops of the church of Ephesus, and that they began to teach “perverse things“. Clearly, although those bishops could claim their own “apostolic descent” (according to the concept of the Roman Catholic Church), their doctrines remained perverse.
Historically, the priests, the Levites and the religious leaders of Israel were “successors”, descendants of Moses and the prophets, yet in the time of Christ they taught all sorts of false doctrines and had filled the house of Israel with “yeast” farisaico. The first Christians were forced to distance themselves from the priests because they saw their infidelity in faithfully teaching the doctrines of the Scriptures.
I hope sincere Catholic believers can open their eyes, and recognize the emptiness of the Catholic bishops' affirmations in declaring themselves infallible authorities thanks to mere historical genealogies. In fact, these are very closely reminiscent of the religious leaders of Israel who often claimed to be descendants of Abraham. Remember how the Lord rebuked them?
“Don't think you are saying within yourself: 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you that from these stones God can raise up children to Abraham” (Matteo 3:9).
Regarding the successors of the patriarchs, Jesus warned his disciples:
“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matteo 16:6).
This principle applies today just as in times past.
