Matthew 21:23
When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?"
Mark 11:15
Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves;
Luke 19:45
Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling
John 7:28
Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, "You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.
All these quotations prove christ had authority tt
he was talking to the temple scribes and pharisees who had usurped power through twisted scriptures. christ came to set it straight with the New Testament, the final covenant, sealed in his own blood. And the blood the spirit and the water testify to this truth.
christ is the mystical body of christ referenced all over New Testament.
New Testament begins in earnest when at the passover feast christ offered himself as the lamb, king priest and sacrifice. fulfilling the old covenant and beginning the new covenant sealed with his Holy Spirit.
his body and blood which he claimed was real food and you should turn from yourself and follow him if you love him.
the first holy communion
the last supper
later before ascending into heaven at right hand of father he commanded his church which he had blessed and created at the same moment he rent asunder the authority badly used by the scribes and pharisees of the temple when they condemned an innocent man to death, they overstepped their authority. and the sign was the temple veil was ripped asunder.
all authority was given to christ for he and the father are 1
And christ explained the name of his church and its mission
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Mt 28:18-20)
This brief passage contains several critical points about Church authority: * Jesus tells the Apostles that the authority he is giving them derives from his own, divine authority. (“All authority…” / “Go therefore”.) * The Apostles’ authority and mission comes directly from Christ himself. * The nature of this mission is to lead or govern (“make disciples”), sanctify (“baptizing them”), and teach (“teaching them to observe”). * Christ promises to remain present with them always in support of this mission (“I am with you always”).
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you.” (Jn 20:21)
In this passage, Jesus commissions the Apostles with continuing his own mission. Again, this mission has its source in the divine authority of the Father. (CCC 859)
“He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” (Mt 10:40)
And:
“He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” (Lk 10:16)
Here, Christ explicitly identifies himself with the Apostles: this identification is so complete that accepting or rejecting the Apostles is the same as accepting or rejecting Christ. What’s more, both passages compare the union between Christ and his Apostles to that of the Son and the Father within the Holy Trinity.
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” (Mt 16:18-19)
This is a key passage for understanding the Catholic doctrine of Church authority: * Christ’s deliberate intent to establish a new Church (“I will build My Church”) * His choice of Peter as the foundation, or head, of this Church * Christ confers on Peter his own divine authority (“the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven”) for ruling the Church (“bind” and “loose”). This power to “bind and loose”, repeated also in Mt 18:18 to the Apostles as a whole, is understood as applying first to Peter and his successors (the Pope), and then to the rest of the Apostles and their successors (the other Bishops) in union with Peter.
The Acts of the Apostles (a New Testament book) provides abundant evidence of how Church authority was practiced during the Apostolic age (during the lives of the Apostles themselves, after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ).
In Acts, we see repeated examples of the Apostles teaching, governing, and sanctifying (baptizing and confirming, as well as “breaking the bread”).
One of the most striking passages in Acts tells how the Apostles describe their decision about whether pagan converts should submit to the Jewish laws of circumcision. They say, “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” that those laws of the Old Covenant should not apply (Acts 15:28). This passage shows:
- The Apostles knew that they had the governing power necessary to decide this question (this is a huge point: they’re overriding the ritual law of the Old Covenant!); and
- They are conscious of the presence of the Holy Spirit who is guiding their decision, so ultimately it is God who has decided the matter.
This passage in Acts would be meaningless, even blasphemous, if the Apostles did not in fact possess the authority of Christ, supported and guided by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, the various Epistles in the New Testament (the letters of Paul, Peter, etc.) likewise give many examples of the Apostles exercising their teaching and governing offices. In fact, those letters only exist because the Apostles knew that it was their role to teach and lead the various local churches!
