Christ is the Church’s final and perfect teacher, and every minister, council, and Christian must remain subject to His Word. In today’s reading from Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin argues that God’s revelation reaches its fullness in Christ and that the Church therefore has no authority to invent new doctrines beyond what has been delivered in Scripture. Ministers possess real authority, but only as servants of the Word: they may teach, rebuke, exhort, and defend the faith boldly, yet they may never demand belief in teachings of their own making. Calvin then turns his criticism toward councils that claim an unrestricted guidance of the Holy Spirit, insisting that Christ’s promises of His presence do not make human teachers incapable of error. Precisely because believers and church leaders remain weak and imperfect, they must continually submit themselves to Scripture, where the Spirit teaches the truth God has given.

Today’s Reading:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 8, Sections 7–11

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