Today’s Readings Podcast Description

Where does the true power of the Church lie, and how far does it extend? In these opening sections of a new chapter, Calvin insists that whatever authority Scripture confers on priests, prophets, or apostles is given not to the men themselves but to the ministry of the word. Moses, the prophets, and the apostles were all bound to speak only what they had received from the Lord. Christ himself, though the eternal Counsellor of the Father, declared that his doctrine was not his own but the Father’s who sent him. The same rule holds in every age: the servants of God may teach only what they have learned from him. After the Law was written, every doctrine had to be tested by that standard; the prophets added no new doctrine of their own, but only pure exposition of the Law and predictions of future events. The power of the Church is therefore not infinite. It is subject to the word of the Lord and confined within it.

Today’s Readings:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 8, Sections 1–6

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