In Acts 10:25 we read, “As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, ‘Stand up; I myself am also a man.' ” Don't worship me, Cornelius! I'm here to tell you of the One who is worthy of all worship, Jesus Christ.
It's no accident that God gave us this example using Peter – the man the Vatican claims as the first Pope. Roman Catholics bow before their Pope and kiss his ring as though he were a deity. Peter made no such claim for himself. He told Cornelius, “Get up! I'm also a man.”
Contrary to Peter's example, Roman Catholicism deifies the Pope as “the Vicar of Christ.” That phrase, from the Latin, means literally, “the vice-Christ” or “substitute Christ.” The Bible gives us the corresponding Greek term: Antichrist. Scripture gives this title to the one who sets himself up as the vice-Christ – or as Rome puts it, “the one true representative of Christ on earth.”
Christ's true representative isn't the Pope, it is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come” (John 16:13).
You don't need a “Vicar of Christ” to tell you what to think, or how to interpret the Bible. You need the true Representative of Christ, the Holy Spirit, living in you and illuminating His written Word for you. God commands us not to bow before a vice-Christ, but to worship Jesus, “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15).
That's our focus as we continue our series, Christ Above All: Studies in Colossians. |
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