Truth Unites Why Protestant Is More Catholic
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Dec 2, 2025 Gavin Ortlund dives into the fascinating world of Christian unity, emphasizing a biblically grounded perspective on catholicity. He proposes that Protestantism serves as a renewal within the church rather than a replacement. Through historical examples, he argues that schisms are internal divisions, with genuine church presence observable across diverse traditions. Ortlund makes a strong case for a liberal ecclesiology that recognizes valid churches based on spiritual fruit, advocating for a more inclusive understanding of faith.
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Protestant Ecclesiology Embraces Multiple Institutions
- Protestantism frames the church as a reform movement within a broader, visible, institutional reality rather than a single exclusive institution.
- This view lets Protestants affirm valid churches across diverse institutions when the gospel and sacraments are present.
Institutional Exclusivity Versus Organic Church
- Non-Protestant traditions often claim institutional singularity tied to apostolic succession and sacramental exclusivity.
- Protestants rejected that exclusivity, arguing the church can subsist across many institutions where the true gospel remains.
How Reformers Reinterpreted Historic Schisms
- Historical schisms (5th and 11th centuries) were treated as decisive breaks with anathemas and mutual exclusivism.
- Protestants reframed those splits as schisms within the one church, not the disappearance of the church from one side.
