12/18/2017 Difficulties of Authority: Luther, Calvin, & Protestantism (Part 1)
Dave Armstrong
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/12/difficulties-authority-luther-calvin-protestantism.html Books by Apologist Dave Armstrong: “The Catholic Verses.” Chapter Five: “Bible and Tradition”; section one: “The Necessity of Authoritative Interpretation”
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2006/07/books-by-dave-armstrong-catholic_31.html Catholics hold that Scripture is a fairly clear document and able to be understood by the average reader, but also that the Church is needed to provide a doctrinal norm (an overall framework).
For determining proper biblical interpretation (specifically, for “vetoing” that interpretation which is erroneous because it leads to doctrinal error).
Both Luther and Calvin underemphasize the guidance of the Church in understanding the Bible and assert the perspicuity, or clearness, and self-interpreting nature of Scripture, in terms of its overall teaching.
Luther wrote:
The contents of Scripture are as clear as can be . . . If words are obscure in one place, they are clear in another . . . to many people a great deal remains obscure;
But that is due, not to any lack of clarity in Scripture, but to their own blindness and dullness. (The Bondage of the Will, II: “Review of Erasmus’ Preface”; ii: “Of the Perspicuity of Scripture”; from Packer, 71-72)
The apostles promulgated an authoritative tradition, . . . and they didn’t tolerate dissension from it . . .
Once again, we find that an important Protestant distinctive is not biblical.
So how do they attempt to explain this discrepancy?
John Calvin, in his Commentaries, makes the following argument, pertaining to 1 Peter 20, Biblical Context: 1 Peter1:17-24
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
24 For, “All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.But the Papists are doubly foolish, when they conclude from this passage, that no interpretation of a private man ought to be deemed authoritative.
For they pervert what Peter says, that they may claim for their own councils the chief right of interpreting Scripture;
But in this they act indeed childishly;
For Peter calls interpretation private, not that of every individual, in order to prohibit each one to interpret;
But he shews that whatever men bring of their own is profane . . . the faithful, inwardly illuminated by the Holy Spirit, acknowledge nothing but what God says in his word.
I would like to apply Calvin’s principle and reasoning and by so doing, demonstrate that it ultimately reduces to absurdity and the utmost impracticality.
Calvin (like Luther) despised the sectarianism that proliferated as a result of Protestant principles of authority, such as private judgment and the perspicuity of Scripture.
But neither seemed to see the obvious causal connection between their new principles and the rapidly growing number of Protestant sects.
Luther claimed authority to overthrow a host of traditions that had been held for 1500 years.
On what basis did he do so?
In order to probe that issue and get to the bottom of it, one might construct a hypothetical dialogue between Luther [words in [b]blue[/b] and a Catholic critic that would run something like the following:
Luther (L):
The Catholic Church is incorrect in beliefs a, b, c, and d. Catholic (C): Why do you say that?[/b]
L:
Because what you teach is unbiblical. C: What gives you the authority to determine such a thing?
L:
My authority is the Word of God, to which my conscience is captive. C: We grant your sincerity, but not everyone agrees with your interpretation of Holy Scripture. Why should we believe you over against Church Tradition?
L:
Because God has appointed me as the restorer of the gospel. C: How do you know that? Why should we believe it?
L:
God’s Word will make it manifest. C: But what happens when your fellow Protestants disagree with you (e.g., Calvin, Zwingli, the Anabaptists)?
L:
One must determine which view is more biblical.C: How does one go about that, since your movement has no one leader, but rather, increasing numbers of sects who oppose each other on one or more grounds?
L: [b]From now on I shall no longer do you the honor of allowing you—or even an angel from heaven—to judge my teaching or to examine it . . . Instead, I shall let myself be heard and, as St. Peter teaches, give an explanation and defense of my teaching to all the world — I Pet. 3:15.
22 “He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”[e]
23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
25 For “you were like sheep going astray,”[f] but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
1 Peter 4 (NIV)
Living for God
4 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.
2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.
3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.
5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.I shall not have it judged by any man, not even by any angel. For since I am certain of it, I shall be your judge and even the angels’ judge through this teaching (as St. Paul says [I Cor. 6:3] )
so that whoever does not accept my teaching may not be saved — for it is God’s and not mine. Therefore, my judgment is also not mine but God’s.
3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
1 Corinthians 6 (NIV) Biblical Context:
Lawsuits Among Believers
6 If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?
2 Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church?
5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!
7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a]
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.[actual words of Luther: Against the Spiritual Estate of the Pope and the Bishops Falsely So-Called, July 1522; Luther’s Works, 39, 239-299; quote from 248-249]
C: But Martin, don’t you see that when Calvin or Zwingli disagree with you, that they do so on the same grounds you claim for yourself, and that no one can figure out who is telling the truth unless there is a “court of final appeal”?
L:
My truth is plain in the Bible. C: That’s what Zwingli says too.
L:
He is damned and out of the Church because he denies what has always been taught by the Church: that the body and blood of Jesus are truly present after consecration. It pains me that Zwingli and his followers take offence at my saying that “what I write must be true.” Zwingli, Karlstadt, and the other heretics have in-deviled, through-deviled, over-deviled, corrupt hearts and lying mouths. C: The truth is that which has always been held by the Church (just as you yourself argued with regard to the Real presence in the Eucharist). Why, then, do you deny other Catholic doctrines that have an equally long history?
L:
Because they are unbiblical. C: According to whom?
L:
According to the Bible.C: As interpreted by you?
L:
Yes, because, like I said already, whoever does not accept my teaching may not be saved — for it is God’s and not mine. Do we not read in the Old Testament that God commonly raised up only one prophet at a time? I say not that I am a prophet, but I do say that the more you despise me and esteem yourselves, the more reason you have to fear that I may be a prophet. If I am not a prophet, yet for my own self I am certain that the Word of God is with me and not with you, for I have the Scriptures on my side, and you have only your own doctrine.[closely based on actual words from Luther’s tract, An Argument in Defense of All the Articles of Martin Luther Wrongly Condemned in the Roman Bull, 1521, in Jacobs, III, 13-14]
C: So we either accept your authority and word as the preeminent Bible expositor and deliverer of Christian truth of all time (and possibly a prophet), or so much the worse for us?
L:
Yes, because God would have it so.
You are obviously wrong and I must be right, because my teaching lines up with Scripture.
You disagree with me not because of any lack of clarity in Scripture, but because of your own blindness and dullness.And so on and so forth.
(End Part 1)