"...the Gospel is given to us in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition which together constitute a single divine deposit of faith transmitted authentically and authoritatively by the Bishops in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. We must surrender our private judgments in all matters of faith and morals to the sacred teaching authority of the Church’s Magisterium if we are to receive the whole Gospel."Here is another great example of how Protestants and many former Protestants (such as Tiber) have no concept of the nature of Inspiration and Canonization. It is simply assumed that someone or some group somewhere has the infallible ability to define the canon of Scripture. Yet Rome did not officially define her canon until Trent. So for centuries Christians could not know what the canon was dogmatically?
What strikes me odd is that we must put aside all private judgment and submit to Rome's authority. How does one do this? Do I make a blind leap of empty faith? This is the presupposition of Roman apologists. According to them, you must accept Rome as the self authenticating ultimate authority. Yet if I do that for God's Word that is just mere private judgment. We are to blindly accept Rome's judgment.
Allow me to offer in part a different perspective on how I, as a Reformed person, would see the nature of Scripture. Let us jump back into the time of Jesus' ministry. If you were standing in the crowd, would Jesus need a church to declare that He is the Son of God? Would His His teachings need to be validated by some infallible Council before you would know with any degree of certainty that they were in fact God's Word? Would you be accountable to His teaching in the last day? The answer should be obvious. Jesus is self authenticating. He does demonstrate who He is and His authority, but He does not prove it by some higher authority.
The Protestant approaches the Scriptures in the same manner. The Scripture is God's Word, and in the Gospels and rest of the NT is also Christ's teaching inscripturated. In the proclamation of God's Word, Men and women everywhere are accountable without any council or local church. It is God's Word that gives birth to the church, not the other way around.
We must surrender all private judgments to the clear teaching of God's Word. To follow after any other ultimate authority is to deny to God His ability to speak to man and his most urgent need.
2 comments:
I remember you once telling me I must submit to an authority of a church be it pastors or preists( I believe the exact words you used were pastoral authority). You did clearly say that, Do you feel differently now, or just for Catholics?
Great question. Yes, I do still think that. Please read what I am saying carefully. There is a vast difference between accepting a pastor's authority as if he were infallible and the ultimate authority and submitting to him as an authority appointed by God's calling as an undershepherd of the flock of God.
If you read one of my later posts, you will see that I accept God's Word because it is God speaking. God never appeals to a secondary authority in order to validate Himself. When He speaks, that is the final authority.
This seems to be difficult for those Prot converts to Rome. They "think" they know what Protestantism is and then do what they are accusing men like myself for doing exactly what they are doing.
Allow me to give a real life example. Tiber has written against Sola Scriptura. Yet just as you have done, he thinks Sola Scriptura means that there is no other secondary authorities.
I accept the London Baptist Confession of Faith 1689 as authoritative along with the Nicene Creed and the Athanasius Creed ect... Yet I accept these authorities because of the faithfulness to Scripture.
Keep asking questions. Perhaps you will get me to flesh this out a bit more.
God Bless
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