One of the most distinctive claims of the Catholic Church is the doctrine of apostolic succession. According to this teaching, the authority that Christ gave to his apostles did not die with them but was passed on to their chosen successors. Through the laying on of hands, this authority is believed to have continued in an unbroken chain of bishops, stretching from the first century to the present. For Catholics and the Orthodox, this succession is what guarantees the authenticity of the Church, the validity of its sacraments, and the preservation of its doctrine.
At first glance, the idea has a certain appeal: if Christ entrusted his message to the apostles, it seems reasonable that their authority would be carefully handed down through generations, ensuring that the Church remains faithful to its original foundation. This belief also provides a powerful institutional anchor — the reassurance that despite schisms, heresies, or personal failings, there exists a visible, traceable line back to the apostles themselves.
Yet the question remains: is this how authority actually functioned in the earliest Christian communities? The New Testament presents a very different picture, one in which leadership was fluid, often shared among elders, and rooted in the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit rather than in formal succession. Even more troubling for the Catholic claim is the fact that the first clear articulation of apostolic succession, complete with lists of bishops, only emerges more than a century after Christ.
This article will examine the Catholic doctrine of apostolic succession, tracing its historical development and stated purpose, before presenting the case against it. Particular attention will be given to the biblical example of James, the brother of Jesus, whose authority in the Jerusalem church poses one of the strongest challenges to the Catholic narrative. Ultimately, the evidence suggests that apostolic succession was not an apostolic institution at all, but a late-stage development, created to defend the Church against rival claimants to spiritual authority.
Catholic Understanding of Apostolic Succession
In Catholic theology, apostolic succession is not merely a historical curiosity; it is the foundation upon which the authority of the Church rests. The logic runs as follows: Christ gave his apostles unique authority to teach, govern, and sanctify the Church. This authority was then transmitted to their successors through ordination, ensuring that the Church remains apostolic in both teaching and structure. According to Catholic thought, without this line of succession, there can be no guarantee that the faith handed down is truly the faith of the apostles.
Theological Foundation
The New Testament is often cited as the seed of this doctrine. Catholics point to Christ’s words to Peter: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18), or to Paul’s reminder to Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). These passages are interpreted as evidence that authority could be transmitted by ordination, and that this transmission would continue after the apostles’ deaths. In this framework, the bishops are the guarantors of continuity, each one standing in the place of the apostles who came before them.
Historical Narrative
The Church of Rome holds a special place in this narrative. According to Catholic tradition, Peter himself served as its first bishop before his martyrdom, and his authority passed to his successors. By the late second century, Christian writers began producing lists of bishops in Rome to demonstrate this unbroken line. The most influential comes from Irenaeus of Lyons, who traced the succession from Peter through Linus, Anacletus, Clement, and onward, down to Eleutherus, who was bishop of Rome in Irenaeus’ own time. For Irenaeus, this succession was the definitive proof that Rome preserved the true faith, unlike the Gnostic sects who appealed to secret revelations.
Early Voices in Support
Several early Christian writers are often marshaled as evidence for this continuity. Clement of Rome (c. 96 CE), in his letter to the Corinthians, insists that the apostles appointed leaders and gave instructions for these offices to continue after their deaths. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 CE) places extraordinary emphasis on the authority of the bishop, urging believers to remain united under him as they would under Christ Himself. Hegesippus (mid-2nd century) reportedly gathered records of bishops in major cities to confirm that orthodox teaching had been faithfully preserved. Finally, Irenaeus (c. 180 CE) formalized the argument, presenting detailed succession lists and insisting that the continuity of bishops was the surest safeguard of truth.
Taken together, these strands form the Catholic case: Christ established the apostles, the apostles appointed successors, and those successors carried the same authority to the present. For Catholics, apostolic succession is what makes the Church visible, tangible, and safeguarded from error.
Apostolic Succession as a Late-Stage Development
When viewed against the backdrop of the first two centuries, apostolic succession does not appear as an apostolic institution but as a later construct. Even Clement of Rome, in his letter to the Corinthians, speaks of church leadership in the plural—presbyters/overseers—rather than of a single monarchical bishop, and his letter says far less about succession than later Catholic tradition claims.
The earliest Christian communities did not operate with the rigid hierarchy of bishops envisioned by Catholic tradition. Instead, they were led by apostles, prophets, teachers, and elders, all recognized for their spiritual gifts and service rather than their place in an institutional chain. The New Testament consistently portrays authority as flowing from the Spirit of God at work in the community, not from an inherited office.
Charismatic Authority in the Early Church
The New Testament reveals churches that were vibrant, Spirit-led communities rather than rigid hierarchies. Authority was not concentrated in a single office but distributed through a diversity of spiritual gifts.
In 1 Corinthians 12–14, Paul describes the church as a body composed of many members, each endowed by the Holy Spirit with gifts such as prophecy, teaching, healing, tongues, and interpretation. No single gift is exalted as the sole channel of authority; instead, Paul stresses that “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). In fact, he warns against the very mindset that would later characterize the doctrine of succession — that one office could claim to embody the whole. The Spirit, not institutional lineage, determined who served and how.
Leadership in the earliest churches was likewise communal. In places like Ephesus and Crete, Paul instructed that elders (presbyters) be appointed in plurality to shepherd the community (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). These elders were recognized for their character and ability to teach, not for belonging to a particular succession line. The pastoral letters emphasize qualifications such as faithfulness, hospitality, and sound doctrine (1 Timothy 3:1–7), never hereditary or institutional continuity.
Even when disputes arose, decisions were framed as cooperative discernment under the Spirit’s guidance. At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, where the church debated whether Gentiles must keep the law of Moses, the apostles and elders did not appeal to a chain of succession for authority. Instead, after hearing testimony and discussing together, they concluded: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things” (Acts 15:28). The council’s authority rested on Spirit-guided consensus, not on the pronouncement of a single bishop.
This picture stands in sharp contrast to the later model of a solitary bishop wielding authority by virtue of succession. In the apostolic era, authority was dynamic and Spirit-driven, rooted in faithfulness to Christ’s teaching and the recognition of spiritual maturity. The early church functioned as a body in which God could raise up prophets, teachers, or elders as He willed, rather than being bound to a fixed institutional order.
Threats from Rival Claims
By the second century, the openness of Spirit-led authority began to generate serious challenges for the church. With no fixed institutional structure universally recognized, rival groups emerged that appealed to spiritual authority outside the growing episcopal framework.
The Gnostic Challenge. Gnostic teachers claimed that the apostles had entrusted hidden truths to a select few, secret teachings passed down through private channels of authority. Figures like Valentinus and Basilides presented elaborate systems of cosmology and salvation, claiming their revelations originated with apostles such as Thomas, Philip, or even Paul. These teachings bypassed the common Scriptures and public traditions of the churches, instead appealing to esoteric knowledge available only to the initiated. For orthodox leaders trying to safeguard the faith, such claims undermined the very idea of a unified, public gospel.
The Montanist Challenge. Around the same time, Montanus and his prophetesses, Prisca and Maximilla, electrified Asia Minor with proclamations of new revelations from the Holy Spirit. They claimed that the “Age of the Spirit” foretold by Christ in John 14–16 had arrived in them, bringing fresh prophecies, stricter moral demands, and a radical vision for the church. The Montanists saw themselves as continuing the prophetic tradition of Acts 2, where the Spirit was poured out on “sons and daughters” who prophesied. But to bishops trying to assert their authority, this unmediated appeal to the Spirit threatened to destabilize church order.
Both groups — the Gnostics with their secret revelations and the Montanists with their ecstatic prophecies — exposed a fundamental tension. If authority in the church came from the Spirit, then what prevented any charismatic figure from claiming to be the Spirit’s mouthpiece? Without a visible safeguard, the door seemed open to chaos and fragmentation.
Institutional Response: Succession as Safeguard
It is precisely in this context that apostolic succession gained its sharpest edge. By rooting authority in a public, traceable line of bishops, the church could claim that authentic teaching was not hidden in secret revelations or in the utterances of new prophets, but preserved openly in the communities founded by the apostles. No figure looms larger here than Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 CE). In his Against Heresies, Irenaeus openly mocked the Gnostics for their secret traditions and instead appealed to the succession of bishops in Rome, beginning with Peter and running down to Eleutherus in his own day. For Irenaeus, this succession was the ultimate proof that Rome’s teaching was apostolic and uncorrupted.
The result was a fundamental shift: authority in the church was no longer grounded primarily in charismatic gifting or direct recognition of the Spirit, but in institutional continuity. The bishop became the center of unity, and the succession of bishops became the test of authenticity. What began as a practical defense against heresy hardened into a theological principle: only those in the succession could claim true authority.
The Case of James: A Scriptural Counterexample
If the Catholic doctrine of apostolic succession were truly apostolic, we would expect the New Testament itself to present clear evidence of leaders being formally appointed to carry on authority in an unbroken chain. Instead, what we find is almost the opposite. The most striking example is James, the brother of Jesus, whose leadership in the Jerusalem church undermines the Catholic framework at its root.
Not One of the Twelve, Yet Leader of the Church
James was not listed as one of the original Twelve apostles chosen by Jesus. In fact, during Jesus’ ministry, the Gospels portray his family — including James — as skeptical of him (John 7:5; Mark 3:21). This negative portrayal has led many scholars to suspect that there may have been an intentional bias in how James was remembered in the Gospel narratives. Later church politics, particularly the elevation of Peter in Rome and Paul’s mission to the Gentiles, may have contributed to diminishing James’s role in the written accounts. By the time the Gospels were composed, the center of Christian identity was shifting away from Jerusalem — the very community James led — and toward the emerging Gentile mission and the authority of other apostles.
Yet after the resurrection, James undeniably emerges as the central leader of the Jerusalem church. Paul consistently mentions James first when referring to the Church (Acts 21:18, Gal 2:9). Also, according to Paul, James was the first person that Jesus appeard to before all the apostles (1 Cor 15:7). Paul also indicates that the apostles who were sent to him came by the authority of James and not Peter (Gal 2:12). In Acts 12:17, when Peter is forced into hiding, he directs the church to “tell these things to James and the brothers,” showing that James had already assumed a position of authority. Far from being a marginal figure, James was recognized as the chief leader of the mother church in Jerusalem, and his prominence in Acts and Paul’s letters suggests that his leadership was far more decisive than the Gospels allow.
Authority Rooted in Recognition, Not Office
The decisive moment comes at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, where the apostles and elders gathered to decide whether Gentile converts needed to observe the law of Moses. After a heated debate, Peter speaks, Paul and Barnabas testify, Yet, it was James who delivers the final judgment: “Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God” (Acts 15:19). His words settle the matter, and the council issues its letter in line with James’s ruling. This is remarkable: James, who was neither one of the Twelve nor a successor in an episcopal chain, exercises final authority because of his wisdom, reputation, and recognition by the community. His leadership was Spirit-confirmed, not institutionally conferred.
Absence of a Successor
Even more problematic for the Catholic model is what happens after James’s martyrdom around 62 CE. There is no clear record of a designated successor. Later church historians such as Eusebius, writing in the fourth century, attempt to provide lists of bishops of Jerusalem, but these appear retroactive, an attempt to retrofit the later monarchical episcopacy onto the first-century church. In the New Testament itself, no figure is presented as James’s official heir, leaving a conspicuous silence if succession were as vital as Catholics claim.
Paul vs. James: Different Models of Authority
The contrast between James and Paul underscores the absence of a uniform succession system. Paul insists repeatedly that his apostleship came “not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:1). His authority bypassed all institutional approval, even requiring him to publicly rebuke Peter when Peter acted contrary to the gospel (Galatians 2:11–14). James, by contrast, exercised authority through community recognition and spiritual stature within Jerusalem. Neither model looks anything like the Catholic claim of authority passed down through an unbroken line of bishops.
The Implication
James’s role in the early church presents a devastating counterexample to apostolic succession. If Christ had truly established a perpetual chain of succession, James should have been clearly identified as the first link after Jesus, and his successors carefully documented. Instead, the New Testament portrays his authority as emerging organically, rooted in recognition of his spiritual leadership, with no concern for institutional succession. James demonstrates that the early church recognized authority on the basis of faith, wisdom, and the Spirit’s guidance — not on a formalized, hereditary chain of bishops.
This point is so damaging to the Catholic narrative that later tradition sought to blunt it by diminishing James’s status altogether. One way this was done was by denying that James was even Jesus’s actual brother — despite the plain testimony of Scripture.
Was James Really the Brother of Jesus?
Catholic tradition has long resisted the clear biblical witness regarding James’s relationship to Jesus. Because of the doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity, Catholic theology denies that Jesus had literal brothers and sisters. Instead, Catholic apologists argue that the Greek word adelphos (“brother”) can sometimes mean cousin, kinsman, or close associate. On this reading, James was not Jesus’ biological brother but perhaps a cousin or stepbrother.
Yet the biblical evidence points decisively in the opposite direction. Both Matthew and Mark record the people of Nazareth identifying Jesus by his family: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?” (Matthew 13:55; cf. Mark 6:3). In these passages, James is explicitly listed among Jesus’ brothers in the most ordinary, household sense. The texts distinguish between his mother and his brothers, and even mention his sisters, making it clear that the Gospel writers were describing a normal family structure.
Paul reinforces this plain reading in Galatians 1:19 when he recalls visiting Jerusalem: “But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.” Here, James is not identified by office but by direct familial relation to Jesus. If Paul had meant “cousin,” he had a perfectly good word available in Greek (anepsios, used in Colossians 4:10). The deliberate use of adelphos instead, in passages that already identify Mary as Jesus’ mother, strongly indicates that James was regarded as part of Jesus’ immediate family.
For this reason, the Catholic denial that James was Jesus’ literal brother cannot be sustained by Scripture. The consistent testimony of the Gospels and Paul’s letters shows that James was indeed the brother of Jesus. This fact makes his leadership in the Jerusalem church even more significant: it reveals that authority in the earliest Christian community did not come through an episcopal chain of succession, but through recognition of those closest to Jesus and confirmed by the Spirit.
Conclusion
The doctrine of apostolic succession is presented by the Catholic Church as the bedrock of Christian continuity — the guarantee that the faith today is identical to that of the apostles. Yet when weighed against the testimony of Scripture and history, the claim collapses. The New Testament depicts a church animated by the Spirit, led by a plurality of elders, and guided by consensus under God’s direction, not by a rigid hierarchy or a hereditary chain of bishops. Authority was dynamic, Spirit-driven, and rooted in faithfulness to Christ’s teaching rather than in institutional succession.
The historical record only confirms this. Lists of bishops emerge more than a century after Christ, and they appear not as careful archival records but as apologetic constructions designed to fend off rival claimants — the Gnostics with their secret traditions and the Montanists with their prophetic revelations. Irenaeus’s appeal to Rome’s succession is a response to controversy, not the preservation of a system that had been there from the beginning. The lateness, inconsistency, and polemical purpose of these lists reveal apostolic succession to be a second-century invention, not an apostolic institution.
The strongest blow comes from the figure of James, the brother of Jesus, who was the head of the Jerusalem church, the most important church after the death of Jesus. According to Paul, it was James, not Peter, who led the Jerusalem church and who had the final say on matters of doctrine and practice (Galatians 2:9). When the crucial dispute arose over whether Gentile converts were required to keep the Law, it was James whose judgment carried the day and whose decision was adopted by the council (Acts 15). Even Peter, so often elevated in Catholic tradition as the supposed first pope, is shown in Scripture as secondary to James. Paul notes that men “came from James” with authority (Galatians 2:12), and when Peter acted hypocritically by withdrawing from Gentile fellowship, Paul did not hesitate to rebuke him “to his face” (Galatians 2:11).
The irony could not be sharper: the very apostle Catholics claim as the infallible head of the church is portrayed as fallible, hypocritical, and subordinate to both James in Jerusalem and Paul in the mission field. This picture utterly contradicts the Catholic framework of Peter as the supreme and untouchable link in an unbroken chain. Instead, authority in the early church was accountable, Spirit-led, and subject to correction — not safeguarded by succession or office. After James’s death, no successor is named, and later attempts to impose a bishop-list on Jerusalem look transparently retroactive. The very existence of James — Jesus’ brother, central to the church yet outside the Twelve — demonstrates that the earliest Christians did not believe in a fixed chain of episcopal succession.
The Catholic denial of James’s brotherhood only underscores the problem. By redefining James as a cousin or distant relative, Catholic tradition attempts to blunt the force of Scripture’s plain testimony, but the evidence of Matthew, Mark, and Paul stands unshaken. James was Jesus’ brother, and his leadership is proof that the earliest church recognized authority on the basis of faith, wisdom, and the Spirit — not on a line of bishops.
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