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 Sc ...