In today’s First Reading, Scripture reaffirms that our Lord Jesus Christ established a visible Church, founded on the visible leadership of his apostles (Eph. 2:19-22); and that the apostles and their successors had—and have—God-given authority to watch over the flock, making sure they are not seduced by doctrinal error.
Episkopoi
The Greek term used in Acts 20:28 for “overseers” or “guardians” is episkopoi, which, in time, was used exclusively for bishops in Christ’s Catholic Church. In the earliest period of the Church, though, the term was also used to describe “elders” or “presbyters” (Acts 20:17) and thus ministerial priests who served under the leadership of bishops. In any event, the apostle St. Paul, himself a bishop, exhorts in Miletus the Church leaders of Ephesus to do their duty:
“Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the Church of God that he acquired with his own Blood, I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them. So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears (Acts 20:28-31).
No Sola Scriptura
Notice that St. Paul does not exhort the leaders to advise their flock to safeguard themselves by relying on Scripture alone, which at the time would’ve been officially restricted to the Old Testament books, because the New Testament books were not yet all written, let alone compiled officially by the Church. Consider too that, in the Roman Empire in the first century, only about 10-15 percent of the people were literate, and that reading Scripture would’ve required not only fluency in Hebrew or Greek, but also the wealth to have ready access to a rare and expensive copy, given that Johannes Gutenberg would not invent the moveable-type printing press for another 1,400 years. Thus, for the average Christian back in the day, a sola Scriptura approach to God’s word was rather impractical simply on human terms.
Recall that in Acts 8, Philip doesn’t tell the Ethiopian eunuch—who was able to read—that he should rely on the Holy Spirit alone in correctly understanding the “Suffering Servant” passage of Isaiah (Isa. 52–53). Rather, Philip presumes to instruct him after the eunuch asks Philip for help (Acts 8:30-35).
For these collective reasons, we are reminded of the fundamental importance of the Magisterium or teaching office of the hierarchical Church Jesus founded on St. Peter and the other apostles (Matt. 16:18-19; 18:15-18). After the Resurrection, Jesus tells his apostles, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21). How did the Father send Jesus? Jesus explains to his apostles in another post-Resurrection encounter: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18), and so Jesus empowers his apostles to “teach them to observe all that I have commanded you” in making “disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:18-20).
“The Apostles’ Teaching”
So identified were the apostles with Jesus and his word that “the apostles’ teaching” was synonymous with the doctrine of Christ (Acts 2:42). In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays,
“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one” (John 17:11; see 17:20-23).
Jesus and the Father ensure the Church’s unity by founding a visible Church with visible leaders—leaders who are protected by the Holy Spirit whom they send (John 14:26; 15:26), who guides God’s Church “into all truth” (John 16:13; see 14:26).
Thus are the flock kept safe from the wolves, if only we respond with childlike docility like faithful lambs, instead of going our own way like unruly, self-destructive goats (see Matt. 18:1-4; 25:31-46).
