We Do Not Need Any Intermediates Or Priests For Salvation:
The most important aspect of the crucifixion is the moment our Savior died and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Matthew 27: 15 "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split."
Luke 23:45, "[43] And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise. [44]And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.[45] And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
Protestant Christian Understanding: This significance is so profound -- that the death of Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice; we no longer need a priest to approach the throne of God. Through Jesus, we have the authority to speak directly to the most Holy God. The curtain was not simply ripped, but it was utterly torn in two, from top to bottom. This was no accident. Christians are so thankful for the ability to pray directly to our Heavenly Father, and so thankful for what Good Friday means. That Jesus gave His life for ALL.
These verses prove the separation between man and God was lifted and a high priest, or any priest, was no longer needed.
Catholic Christian Understanding: First, Catholics completely agree and believe in everything these passages say. Catholics also believe that their prayers go right to the heart of God, because of the splitting of the veil in two, and that they now can pray directly to Him every time they pray in the name of Jesus, in any prayer. The entire book of Hebrews is all about this, and like the entire rest of the Bible, Catholics accept all of these teachings whole heartedly. All Christians can pray directly to God without any mediates and God hears our prayers.
Now, the difference is when these verses are "read into" and given meaning that the bible does not say or intend, and that is, the idea that there is no need for clergy or priests, which is non-biblical. Nowhere in these passages, or any passages for that matter, does it follow up with "we do not need the assistance of our fellow Christians to pray for us". Any Christian that makes that objection violates their own measuring stick or criteria when they ask other fellow Christians to pray for them, which all Christians do. The bible commands us to pray for one another.
In first Timothy 2:6, Paul commands us, "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people."
So what is being said here: Notice what Paul says in the first passage Timothy 2-6, Paul is preaching 2 truths and he does not pit them against each other. He says 1) Jesus is our only mediator between God and man. 2) He gave Himself as a ransom for us. Bowed his head and the veil of the temple was torn. But Paul does not draw from point 2 the false inference that would negate everything he just said in verses 1-4. He did not say that because Jesus is our mediator we do not have to pray for each other anymore. These two things are "both-and" not "either-or" and were completely meant to coexist in harmony according to this passage and the bible. God died for us and split the vail right down the middle, and at the same time, has commanded all Christians to pray for one another.
Now, some Christians are called to a higher calling or a special position to pray for others. Even Protestants recognize that "Pastors" are needed for every church. That is, a person that is fully dedicated and spends more time praying for people than others and filling up his time studying the bible and preparing lessons for every Sunday. Why have a minister preach a sermon or have someone dedicated to do so who is specially trained if we are all equally priests, and all equally understand the bible? The Protestant agrees that we all have a priestly duties and are called by God, but that does not negate the idea that someone could be called to be special, to take it to the next level as a priest of God and do more and make it as a full time career. That is what Priests are and what they do.
Catholics say as well 1) Jesus is our ONE mediator between almighty God and man. We are part of it because we are part of the body of Christ and as parts of the Body of Christ, therefore, we are called to activate and participate in all that He is saying when we pray for our fellow Christians.
If we take the ideal that "priests" are no longer needed and that was what Christ really intended when he split the veil, then Protestants are violating the same principle with having appointed a minister to lead the congregation every Sunday. What is the Protestant minister doing? He is mediating to his congregation a deeper understanding of the bible which he is preaching. He also goes and visits families and the sick. If Jesus is our only mediator, then all of these actions are unnecessary and unpleasing to God because why else would a minister do them?
As an interesting side note, the Protestant sect that literally falls in line with this belief on not literally needing priests or ministers, that most Protestants do not practice, is the Quakers. The Quakers do not have a head pastor or a minister at all OR read the Bible for that matter, because they take this notion of not needing anything but Christ literally. They all join in a room equally and wait till they are moved by God and then jump up and say something. No one leads, no one acts as the leader or head.
Going along with the Protestant logic in this objection #4, one could also make the argument that the Bible is also a non needed mediator. Why do we have to read the bible then if Christ is the only mediator? And if one says, "well the Bible is the word of God and therefore it is God", Catholics would say, EXACTLY! Just like His church, the bride of Christ, is God and everything that He established and instilled in it is part of His mystical Body.
If it was not for the Bible and things that were taught and written, none of us would even know Christ so we can't go on a rampage and say that all the channels (priests and ministers) that bring understanding of God to us are obsolete. That would be reading into these passages and inferring meaning that simply is not there, which makes it not biblical.
The tearing of the veil in two and the symbolism of that was not to rid priests. Now when it came to the splitting of the veil, it put all man in the holiest of holies so we call can talk to God and pray to him directly. Before that, only the holiest of holy priest could enter the temple and go behind the veil to petition and pray to God on behalf of the people.
Catholics believe the same thing, Catholics know and believe any Christian can speak to God directly.
Switching gears, let's take a look at what happened with the good thief, who was on a cross next to Jesus. The understanding and symbolism of the tearing of the veil will shed new light after looking at this passage.
Luke 23:45, "[43] And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise. [44]And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.[45] And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
To touch on the second point from above, the notion that Jesus took the thief straight to heaven is not biblically correct and the paradise that Jesus took this man on that day was not the innermost presence of God. It was not heaven because Jesus did not enter heaven until 40 days after his resurrection on His Ascension. Paul tells us this in the bible in Ephesians 4, When He Ascended then He brought all those waiting to enter Heaven after Him. Paul also explains how Jesus had to be the first into Heaven and enter the gates to lead man to the true paradise. It was not possible for the thief to enter Heaven before Christ, therefore he did note enter heaven that same day. The Bible tells us that Our Lord first descended into Hell, to the Limbo of the Fathers, where the people from the old testament were, waiting to get into heaven by way of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The proof of this is biblical, found in John Chapter 20:17 when Mary Magellan is clinging to Christ's feet after he rose from the dead and appeared, He says to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet Ascended to the Father." So to say that Christ took the thief immediately to Heaven is misinterpretation and not biblical. Now why is all of this important and what does it have to do with the veil tearing in two? Because there was still a spiritual barrier and it was not as if when the vail split, the gates of Heaven flew open and it was a rush for all to just enter on their own. There was still a spiritual barrier that denied anyone to enter Heaven until Christ did, 40 days later at His Ascension.
In conclusion, this passage does teach something, but does not teach what most Protestants would like it to teach. That passage is a beautiful one and gives a good lesson, just not the lesson or meaning that is the Protestant Christian understanding. What it does teach is that the Old Covenant style of prayer and communicating with God has been done away with. In the Old Covenant, only the high priests of the Israelites could approach God on behalf of the people and they would literally have to go into the Temple and walk through a series of veils to enter into the Holy of Holies to speak to God. Now, because of Christ's death and His resurrection, which was to follow three days later, this passage teaches that the people of God now had direct access to God's heart and mind and could pray and speak directly to Him from anywhere, which all Christians believe today. The veil had been torn and now all Christians could pray to God directly and did not need a high priest from the Israelites to physically enter the Holy of Holies and pray to God on their behalf.
What this passage DOES NOT teach is, therefore, because of the tearing of the veil it is unbiblical for Christians to pray for one another or a select few Christians being called to a higher calling in God's Church to lead others in prayer and worship as priests, pastors and ministers. This passage does not teach in any way God intended the meaning of the tearing of the veil to rid the world of intermediaries such as priests or ministers. And to say it does would be twisting the meaning of the passage to mean something far beyond what it actually means. Just as Catholics have Priests, so do Protestants have Pastors and Ministers to lead the congregation every week to help them get a better understanding of their faith.
In fact, the person that claims that this passage means that God intended to do away with any mediators (priests and pastors) is completely contradicting themselves when they in the same breath claim that all they need is the bible. The Bible itself is a mediary to God. The Protestant bible is an english copied bible from Greek manuscripts done by Protestant human hands, which has been copied and copied and copied and copied of the original version penned in Hebrew by Moses, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the rest. So the Protestant himself has nothing but human intermediaries for the Word of God that he calls his bible because it was in fact humans who copied copies of copies to allow him to have it. So like the Catholic, the Protestant doesn't avoid having "intermediaries" because everything he bases his salvation on comes from the writings of human hands.
Also, the Protestant's intermediaries are all anonymous. He has no way of knowing or finding out who these people where that copied his bible to hand down or how trustworthy they were. Whereas, in the Catholic conception of the Church, at least Catholics know who the Popes have been down through the years since Christ, who have track records that are public for all to see. Their actions and leadership can be looked at and scrutinized, as apposed to the faceless, anonymous hordes of men that have come down through the years of Protestantism mediating the Word of God (bible) in the vernacular for the Protestant reading it today.
Also, the Protestant's intermediaries are all anonymous. He has no way of knowing or finding out who these people where that copied his bible to hand down or how trustworthy they were. Whereas, in the Catholic conception of the Church, at least Catholics know who the Popes have been down through the years since Christ, who have track records that are public for all to see. Their actions and leadership can be looked at and scrutinized, as apposed to the faceless, anonymous hordes of men that have come down through the years of Protestantism mediating the Word of God (bible) in the vernacular for the Protestant reading it today.
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