Today’s Readings Podcast Description

Must every command to obey those who rule over us be applied without discrimination to all who claim the name of pastor or council? In these sections Calvin answers that spiritual rulers are to be followed only while they remain under the law of God. Joshua himself was charged never to turn from the written word, and the same limit binds every pastor. Councils of true bishops may usefully settle controversies and promote unity, as the ancient gatherings at Nice, Constantinople, and Ephesus did when they defended the faith by Scripture. Yet no assembly receives the power to invent new doctrines or to force upon the Church interpretations that contradict the clear teaching of Christ and the apostles. The claim that every determination of a council is an unchallengeable interpretation of Scripture opens the door to doctrines unknown to the word of God.

### Today’s Readings:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 9, Sections 12–14

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Today’s Readings Podcast Description

What weight should the decrees of councils carry, and how are we to judge between them when they contradict one another? In these sections Calvin affirms that lawful councils are to be treated with genuine respect, yet never placed above Scripture. Their decisions are to be examined by the occasion on which they met, the intention that guided them, and above all by the standard of the written word. The ancient councils that defended the pure faith—Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon—are received with reverence precisely because they offered a faithful interpretation of Scripture. Later councils, however, often show the gradual decline of the Church, and even the best of them shared in human frailty. When councils disagree, Scripture alone remains the sure balance by which all must be weighed. The Spirit is not bound to any assembly of men.

### Today’s Readings:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 9, Sections 8–11

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Today’s Readings Podcast Description

Do general councils automatically represent the Church, and is their authority beyond question? In these sections Calvin insists that even the most solemn assembly is guided by the Spirit only when it meets in the name of Christ and remains subject to his word. The prophets repeatedly show that entire orders of priests and pastors could fall into blindness while a true Church still existed among the people. The New Testament itself warns that the greatest dangers will arise from those who claim the name of pastor. The council that condemned Christ had every external mark of authority, yet it was not the Church. Therefore discrimination is required: not every gathering of bishops is a lawful council, and not every man who calls himself a pastor is to be followed without the test of Scripture.

### Today’s Readings:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 9, Sections 1–7

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The Church is protected from error not by freedom from Scripture, but by remaining bound to it. In today’s reading from Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin sharpens his argument about ecclesiastical authority by insisting that the Church is trustworthy only insofar as she submits herself to the Word of God. He rejects the claim that the Holy Spirit leads the Church independently of Scripture, arguing instead that the Spirit illuminates and confirms what Christ has already given. Calvin then denies that the apostles left essential doctrines unwritten, challenges appeals to church authority based on Matthew 18, and argues that neither infant baptism nor the Nicene Creed proves the Church can invent new doctrine. For Calvin, Nicaea did not create a new truth when it confessed that the Son is of one substance with the Father; it faithfully expressed the meaning already contained in Scripture. The true authority of the Church, therefore, is ministerial rather than creative: she teaches, guards, and confesses the Word, but does not stand above it.

Today’s Reading:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 8, Sections 13–16

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Today’s Readings Podcast Description

How did the claim of Roman primacy first arise? In the opening of Chapter 7, Calvin traces its beginnings to the Council of Nice, which gave the Bishop of Rome a place of honour among the patriarchs but not supremacy over them. He shows that in later councils the Roman legates often sat in inferior places, that the first seat at Chalcedon was granted only as a temporary and special concession, and that the ancient Fathers never bestowed the title of primate or universal bishop. Gregory himself, when the Bishop of Constantinople claimed the title of universal bishop, denounced it as profane, blasphemous, and a forerunner of Antichrist—while refusing to claim it for himself.

Readings:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 7, Sections 1–4

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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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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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Today’s Readings Podcast Description

Is it slander to call the Roman Pontiff Antichrist, or is it simply to speak with the apostle Paul? In these final sections of the chapter, Calvin argues that Paul’s description of the man of sin who sits in the temple of God, robbing God of his honour and using the name of Christ as a mask, can only be understood of the Papacy. The honour of the ancient Roman See cannot survive when the church itself has been destroyed and the office of bishop no longer exists. Modern pontiffs have been openly irreligious; one of them, John XXII, publicly taught that the soul is mortal until the resurrection. Neither the place once occupied by Peter nor the empty titles of cardinals can make a devil the vicar of Christ. Rome was once the first of churches; she no longer deserves to be counted among her least members.

### Today’s Readings:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 7, Sections 25–30

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