Today’s Readings Podcast Description

What did the government of the Church look like before the rise of the papacy? In these sections of the Institutes, Calvin turns from the pure teaching of Scripture to the actual practice of the early Church. He shows that bishops and presbyters shared the work of teaching and discipline, that the bishop was a president among equals rather than a ruler by divine right, and that the first duty of every minister was to feed the people with the word of God. The offices of deacon and the care of the poor remained close to the apostolic pattern, all ordered under the single standard of Scripture.

Readings:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 4, Sections 1–5

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