A. The proximate end (object or goal) of the Church is the preservation and practice of the Christian religion.
We may distinguish a twofold end of the Church: an immediate or proximate, and a mediate or ultimate one. The ultimate end of the Church is to lead men to eternal life; the proximate, to teach all men the truths of revelation, to enforce the divine precepts, to dispense the means of grace, and thus to maintain the practice of the Christian religion.
I. We can with certainty infer the end of the Church from the words of Christ to the Apostles when He sent them forth to gather all nations to the Church; for from the commission given to a messenger we may gather the object of the mission. The charge given to the Apostles was to teach the nations, to administer the Sacraments, to enforce the observance of the Christian law; and that not only for a time, but to the end of the world. For this purpose Christ assured them of His never-failing assistance (Matt. 28: 18-20). Now two things are implied in these words: first, that the Apostles and their successors have the duty, with the assistance of Christ, to expound, to impart, to enforce the substance of Christ's teaching; secondly, that it is the duty of all, without exception, to believe the doctrines thus proposed, to make use of the means of grace thus offered, and to fulfill the precepts thus enjoined. By this means the substance of the Christian religion is preserved, and at the same time put in practice. The administration and the maintenance of religion is, therefore, the proximate end of Christ's Church.
II. The same is evident from the words addressed to St. Peter: Feed My lambs; feed My sheep
(John 21: 15-17). He to whom these words were addressed is to pasture and govern men,
inasmuch as they are the lambs and sheep of Christ. But they are the lambs and sheep of Christ by the acceptance of His doctrine and the profession and practice of His religion.
The direction of the flock in matters of religion, the preservation of Christ's teaching, the dispensation of the means of grace, were, consequently, the special duties imposed on St. Peter,
and on those who shared with him the direction of Christ's flock.
Since the specific nature of a society is determined by its immediate object or end, the Church may be defined as the community of the faithful, or, the union of those who profess the true Faith of Christ.
B. The ultimate end of the Church is, by the doctrine and means of grace entrusted to it by Christ, and by its authority, to lead men to everlasting life..
I. That the practice of the Christian religion is the God-given way to salvation follows from the nature of religion as a living union of man with God, and especially from the divine character of the Christian religion. For, if man is bound to practice religion in order to attain to his end as a rational being, he is, consequently, bound to believe and to practice the Christian religion, since it is manifestly of divine origin. Now, the Church is charged with the preservation and dispensation of those doctrines and means of grace which make up the Christian religion. The ultimate end of the Church is, therefore, to lead all men to salvation, that is, eternal happiness.
II. The same is evidently proved from the words of Christ: Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved,
but he who does not believe shall be condemned
(Mark 16: 15-16). The belief and practice of the Christian religion, committed to the Apostles, and through them to the Church,
leads to salvation, while its rejection leads to condemnation; wherefore the object of the Church is to lead men to salvation.
III. Christ clearly intimated the same on other occasions by the assurance that salvation depended upon the practice of all those things that form the substance of His religion.
Now He makes salvation depend on faith: For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that those who believe in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting
(John 3: 16).
Now He teaches the same of Baptism: Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God
(John 3: 5).
Again, He says with regard to the commandments: If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments
(Matt. 19: 18). The Church, accordingly, being the divinely
appointed channel of religion, is also the means of securing eternal salvation.
C. All who come to a sufficient knowledge of the Church of Christ are by divine precept obliged to become its members.
The fulfillment of an obligation may be necessary for salvation in two ways: either in consequence of a divine precept or as a means of salvation. Invincible ignorance will excuse a person from the non-fulfillment of a commandment (divine precept), whereas without a necessary means of salvation not even the invincibly ignorant can be saved. Of the latter kind is, for instance, the necessity of Baptism. We will not discuss here the question of whether, and how far, it is necessary as a means of salvation to belong to the Church. (These questions were discussed in Issues 204 and 214.) The question in this place is only of the necessity arising from divine precept.
I. If the Christian religion is intended for all nations and individuals, and if it is Christ's will that its adherents form one society, or Church, of which He Himself is the Founder, it necessarily follows that all who wish to be Christians must belong to this society, i.e., must be members of the Church. For the Church is the embodiment of Christianity, or the visible form in which Christianity is to be practiced. Therefore, as it is the duty of all to accept the Christian religion, because God, by the very fact that He revealed it, imposed on us the obligation of accepting it, so it is the duty of all to belong to the Church; for God by the very fact of its foundation made it an obligation for us to join it. His will is equally a law when He commands us to accept His religion itself, and when He prescribes the particular form in which we are to practice that religion.
II. Everyone is bound to pursue the way ordained by God for his salvation, if it is brought within his reach. Now, the Church is the way of salvation intended by God. All have therefore the same obligation of joining the Church as they have of pursuing the way of salvation.
III. Christ expressly declares the duty of submitting to the Church: If he refuse to hear even the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican
(Matt. 18: 17).
He, therefore, who will not hear the Church – i.e., the rulers of the Church, who, as the context shows, are invested with that authority conferred on the Church – is to be regarded as a heathen,
who despises the means of salvation offered him, and as a publican, who willfully persists in impenitence. But those who hear not the Church are, in the first instance, they who refuse even to belong to Her
(c.f. Luke 10: 16; Mark 16: 16).
IV. All are bound to submit to the authority established by God to represent Him on earth. The Church founded by Christ is by its very nature such a divine authority; for Christ, as we have shown, has founded the Church by the creation of a representative authority which was to unite His followers in one body. By being members of the Church we submit to this authority; by refusing to do so we oppose it.
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