The Apostles were given the authority to govern the early Church as a whole, and were commanded to establish elders in each congregation to carry on the governance of that local congregation. There is no commandment, allusion, inference, or hint of Church governance that extends beyond the local congregation.
Mark 7:8-9 and Col 2:8 warn of human traditions and rejecting the Word of God in favor of human traditions. I am not against traditions in general, but I am against holding on to traditions that are contrary to Scripture. The catholic tradition of a priesthood that is separate from the rest of the Church is a man-made tradition that is contrary to Scripture. The tradition of calling these men "father" violates Scriptural commandment.
These positions within the Church are for the local congregations. There is no provision in Scripture for a global hierarchy to govern the diverse congregations of the Church. The elders/presbyters/shepherds/pastors (all of these mean the same thing are are one office) are to be the governing body within the Church. They have the mandate to manage, teach, discipline, and grow the Church. The deacons are to be their hands and feet, managing the daily operation of the Church so that the elders can spend more of their time in the Word, dealing with conflicts, and strategizing the expanding of the Church to the lost.
It’s true there is man made tradition:
Protestants created your man made human tradition of sola scriptura and then you all add your personal interpretation to take over from what Jesus meant.
And because of human arrogance you all swear blind that your own personal man made interpretation is correct, so you all disagree on every matter of substance. You have the words of scripture not meaning, so you do not have the word of God, just words.
It’s time you listened to those who were SENT and those they appointed to teach you!
Study the writings of the early Christian’s , who were disciples of the apostles and sent by them.
Read ignatius , irenaus , Justin martyr etc, and discover for the first time the REAL church, what was handed down to them and by them by letter, and word f mouth, not your twisted reformationist man made tradition view of it.
Do you hold Christ in such contempt that you think he let his church go off the rails, that between him, John and ignatius the truth was lost!
Do you hold Christ in such contempt that you think he could not keep his promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church, or when he promised the gospel would be preached to the end of time?
Do you think Christ too stupid to not provide for succession as proven by history?
Are you so arrogant , and you think Jesus so impotent , you think he needs YOU to bring his church back on the rails?!!
Jesus church has preached the Eucharist is his real flesh since the first years till now. His church is one.
Yours isn’t.
We see the truth in John 6. You see in the first generation of succession ignatius and polycarp the meabing that the Eucharist is valid only if presided by a bishop in succession . Iraneus speaking of such as you When he said they are heretics” because they confess not the Eucharist to BE the body of our Lord.”
Fast forward till now, it is still catholic dogma unchanged confirmed by Christ himself in eucharistic miracle. The Eucharist really is Him. Councils confirmed it with the power to “ bind and lose” resolve disputes.
The truth does not change.
Protestant dogma changes. So itcannot be the truth,
How is it your man made tradition on eucharist is different?
Calvin, luther , and Zwingli couldn’t agree on Eucharist. Proof sola scriptura is a total fail.
And none of calvin luther or Zwingli had the power to bind and loose.
The succession did. It’s there in early church writings what scripture MEANS
The Catholic Church has run for 2000 years as all other institutions and empires have folded. And despite the attempts of sinful,men to wreck it. Something holds it together, not men. It is Christ!
Napoleon once said he would destroy the church. A cardinal replied to him, you are welcome to try. We’ve tried our best to destroy it, and failed , so if we can’t you can’t either!