Religion, Chapter XVII, 4

The word of a lawful interpreter of Scripture is the word of God.

17 It is not, in truth, the lifeless voice or letter of God's word that serves as the canon of Christian doctrine, but its true and authentic determination. Scripture cannot govern the mind unless it is understood. An interpreter is therefore needed to make Scripture a canon. From this, one of two conclusions follows: either the interpreter's word is God's word, or the canon of Christian doctrine is not God's word. The latter must be false. The rule of a doctrine that can be known only by divine revelation, not by human reason, cannot be less than divine; and if we acknowledge that someone cannot discern whether a doctrine is true, we cannot possibly regard his opinion as its rule. The former conclusion is therefore true: the word of an interpreter of Scripture is the word of God.

The authority to interpret Scripture is the same as the authority to decide controversies of faith.

18 The interpreter whose determination is honored as the word of God is not simply anyone who translates Scripture from Hebrew and Greek into Latin for Latin listeners, French for French listeners, or the native languages of other nations. Translation is not interpretation. Speech has this nature in general: though it holds first place among the signs by which we communicate our thoughts, it cannot do that work alone, without the assistance of many circumstances. The spoken word has interpreters present with it: time, place, facial expression, gesture, the speaker's purpose, and the speaker himself, explaining his meaning in other words whenever necessary. Recovering these aids to interpretation, so sorely missed in ancient writings, is beyond an ordinary intelligence and even the keenest without extensive learning and deep knowledge of antiquity. Understanding the language in which Scripture speaks is therefore not enough to interpret it. Nor is everyone who writes a commentary on Scripture its authoritative interpreter. People can err; they can bend Scripture to serve their ambition, or wrest it, even against its resistance, into bondage to their preconceptions. An erroneous judgment would then have to be held to be God's word. Even if this did not happen, once those commentators were gone their commentaries would need explanations; in time those explanations would need expositions, and those expositions fresh commentaries, without end. Thus no written interpretation, whatever its kind, can supply a canon or rule of Christian doctrine for settling religious controversies. There must consequently be a canonical interpreter whose lawful office is to end disputes by explaining God's word in the judgments themselves. His authority must be obeyed no less than the authority of those who first commended Scripture to us as the canon of faith; and the same person must be the interpreter of Scripture and the supreme judge of doctrines of every kind.

The various meanings of a Church.

19 The word ecclesia, or Church, originally means what concio, a congregation, means in Latin; just as ecclesiastes, or churchman, means concionator, or preacher: one who addresses a congregation. In this sense we read in the Acts of the Apostles of a confused Church and a lawful Church (Acts xix, 32-39): the first is a crowd gathered in tumult, the second a duly summoned assembly. But in holy Scripture a Church of Christians sometimes means the assembly and sometimes the Christians themselves, even when they are not assembled, provided they are allowed to enter the congregation and share communion with it. For example, “Tell it to the Church” (Matth. xviii. 17) refers to an assembled Church; otherwise it would be impossible to tell the Church anything. But “He laid waste the Church” (Acts viii. 3) refers to a Church not assembled. Sometimes Church means the baptized, or those who profess the Christian faith, whether Christians inwardly or only in pretense—as when we read of something said or written to the Church, or said, decreed, or done by it. Sometimes it means only the elect, as when the Church is called holy and without blemish (Ephes. v. 27). Yet the elect in their present struggle are not properly called a Church, for they have no way to assemble; they are a future Church, destined to triumph on the day when they are separated from the reprobate. Again, Church can mean all Christians collectively, as when Christ is called the head of his Church (Ephes. v. 23) and the head of his body, the Church (Coloss. i. 18). Sometimes it means its parts: the Church of Ephesus, the Church in his house, the seven Churches, and so forth. Finally, when Church means an assembly actually gathered, its meaning varies with the purpose of meeting: sometimes those gathered to deliberate and judge, in which sense it is also called a council or synod; sometimes those gathered in a house of prayer to worship God, as in 1 Cor. xiv. 4, 5, 23, 28, and elsewhere.

CHAPTER XVIII. CONCERNING WHAT IS NECESSARY TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

What a Church is when we attribute to it rights, actions, and other qualities proper to a person.

20 A Church to which we attribute personal rights and actions, and of which we must understand such expressions as “Tell it to the Church” and “He who does not obey the Church,” must be defined as a multitude of people who have made a new covenant with God in Christ: that is, a multitude who have received the sacrament of baptism, whom someone can lawfully call together in one place and who, when called, are bound to attend either in person or through representatives. A multitude unable to assemble when required cannot be called a person. A Church can speak, discern, or hear only as a congregation. Whatever individuals say—almost as many opinions as there are heads—is the speech of each individual, not of the Church. Moreover, an unlawful assembly must be treated as null. None of those present in a tumult is therefore bound by the others' decree, especially if he dissents. Such a Church can make no decree, for a multitude is said to decree something only when everyone is bound by the decision of the majority. In defining a Church to which we attribute the qualities of a person, we must therefore require not merely the ability to assemble, but the ability to do so lawfully. Furthermore, even if someone can lawfully summon the rest, the Church is not one person if those summoned may lawfully stay away, as can happen among people who are not subject to one another. For if those who meet when called to a given time and place form one Church, others who gather at a different place of their choosing form another by the same right. Every group sharing an opinion is then a Church, and there will be as many Churches as there are divergent opinions; the same multitude will thus be at once one Church and many. A Church, therefore, is not one unless there is a definite, recognized—that is, lawful—power by which everyone can be obliged to attend the congregation, either personally or by proxy. It becomes one and capable of acting as a person through the union conferred by a lawful power to convene synods and assemblies of Christians, not through uniformity of doctrine. Otherwise it remains a multitude, persons in the plural, however closely their opinions agree.

A Christian city and a Christian Church are the same thing.

21 It follows necessarily from what has already been said that a city of Christians and a Church are precisely the same thing: the same people under two names for two reasons. The matter of city and Church is one—the same Christian people—and their form, consisting in a lawful power to assemble them, is also one. Plainly, every subject is obliged to go wherever his city summons him. What is called a city insofar as it is composed of people is called a Church insofar as they are Christians.

Many cities do not constitute one Church.

22 Another conclusion follows from these same points: several Christian cities do not together constitute one Church acting as a person. By mutual agreement they could indeed become one Church, but only by also becoming one city. They cannot assemble except at an appointed time and place; and persons, places, and times fall under civil right. No subject or foreigner can lawfully set foot anywhere without the permission of the city that governs the place. What cannot lawfully be done without the city's permission, when done lawfully, is done by the city's authority. The universal Church is indeed one mystical body, with Christ as its head, but only in the same way that all people together, acknowledging God as ruler of the world, are one kingdom and one city: such a body is nevertheless not one person, and has no common action or decision. Moreover, when the Apostle calls Christ the head of his body, the Church, he is plainly speaking of the elect. While they remain in this world they are a Church only in potential; they will not actually be one until they are separated from the reprobate and gathered together on the day of judgment. The Church of Rome was once very great, but it did not extend beyond the bounds of its empire and so was not universal, except in the sense in which it was said of the city of Rome, “The conquering Roman now held the whole world,” when he did not yet possess a twentieth part of it. After the civil empire was divided, each city that arose from its divisions was a separate Church. Whatever power the Church of Rome retained over them may perhaps have depended entirely on the authority of those Churches, which, having cast off the emperors, remained willing to accept Rome's teachers.

Who are clergymen.

23 Those who hold public office in the Church may be called churchmen. Of these offices, one kind was ministry and another teaching authority. Ministers served at tables, tended the Church's temporal possessions, and, at a time when private property in wealth had been abolished and people were fed in common, distributed each person's share. The teachers, according to their rank, were called apostles, bishops, or presbyters—that is, elders. But presbyter distinguished an office, not an age: Timothy was a presbyter though he was young. Since elders were usually admitted to this teaching office, the word for age came to denote the office. The same teachers were called apostles, prophets, evangelists, or pastors and teachers according to their different tasks. The apostle's work was universal; the prophet's was to declare his own revelations in the Church; the evangelist's was to preach, or publish the gospel among unbelievers; and the pastor's was to teach, strengthen, and govern the minds of those who already believed.

The election of churchmen belongs to the Church; their consecration to the pastors.

The statement of a lawful interpreter of Scripture is the word of God.

17 The standard of Christian teaching is not the lifeless sound or letters of God's word. It is a true and genuine decision about its meaning. Scripture cannot govern people's minds unless they understand it. So an interpreter is needed to make Scripture a standard. One of two things follows: either the interpreter's statement is the word of God, or the standard of Christian teaching is not the word of God. The second possibility must be false. Teaching that human reason cannot discover, but that can be known only through divine revelation, must have a divine standard. We cannot treat someone's opinion as a standard for a teaching if we acknowledge that person cannot tell whether the teaching is true. So the first possibility is true: the statement of an interpreter of Scripture is the word of God.

The authority to interpret Scripture is the same as the authority to settle disputes about faith.

18 Not everyone who translates Scripture from Hebrew and Greek into Latin for Latin speakers, French for French speakers, or the native language of any other people is an interpreter whose decision must be accepted as God's word. Translation alone is not interpretation. Speech is the most important of the signs by which we share our thoughts with others. Yet speech cannot do that job on its own, without help from many circumstances. When someone speaks aloud, the listeners have aids to interpretation right there: the time and place, the speaker's face, gestures, intentions, and the speaker himself, who can restate his meaning whenever necessary. Recovering those aids, which are so badly missed in ancient writings, takes more than ordinary intelligence. Even the cleverest person needs great learning and extensive knowledge of antiquity. Understanding the language of Scripture is therefore not enough to interpret it. Nor is everyone who writes a commentary on Scripture an authoritative interpreter. People can be mistaken. They can also twist Scripture to serve their ambition, or even while resisting it, force it into submission by imposing their preconceived views. Then a mistaken judgment would have to be accepted as God's word. But even if this did not happen, commentators would die and their commentaries would need explanations. In time those explanations would need interpretations, and those interpretations would need new commentaries, without end. No written interpretation, then, can serve as a standard of Christian teaching that settles religious disputes. There must instead be an authoritative interpreter whose lawful office is to settle disputes by explaining God's word in the decisions themselves. The interpreter's authority must be obeyed just as much as the authority of those who first commended Scripture to us as the standard of faith. The interpreter of Scripture and the supreme judge of every kind of doctrine must be the same person.

The different meanings of Church.

19 The word ecclesia, or Church, originally means what the Latin concio means: a congregation. Likewise, ecclesiastes, or churchman, means what concionator means: a preacher, or someone who speaks to a congregation. In this sense the Acts of the Apostles speaks of a confused Church and a lawful Church (Acts xix, 32-39). The first was a crowd gathering in a riot; the second was an assembly called together. But in Scripture a Church of Christians sometimes means the assembly and sometimes means the Christians themselves, even when they are not actually assembled, if they are allowed to enter the congregation and share in its worship. For example, “Tell it to the Church” (Matth. xviii. 17) means an assembled Church. Otherwise it would be impossible to tell the Church anything. But “He laid waste the Church” (Acts viii. 3) means a Church that was not assembled. Sometimes Church means baptized people, or people professing the Christian faith, whether they are Christians sincerely or only in appearance. This is the sense when we read that something was said or written to the Church, or was said, decreed, or done by the Church. Sometimes it means only the elect, as when the Church is called holy and without blemish (Ephes. v. 27). Yet the elect, while they are still struggling in this world, are not properly called a Church, since they do not know how to gather together. They are a future Church. They will become one when they are separated from the rejected and triumph together. Again, Church can mean all Christians taken together, as when Christ is called the head of his Church (Ephes. v. 23) and the head of his body, the Church (Coloss. i. 18). Sometimes it means a part of that whole: the Church of Ephesus, the Church in his house, the seven Churches, and so on. Finally, when Church means a group actually assembled, its meaning depends on why they meet. Sometimes it means people meeting to deliberate and judge, in which case it is also called a council or synod. Sometimes it means people meeting in a house of prayer to worship God. That is its meaning in 1 Cor. xiv. 4, 5, 23, 28, and elsewhere.

CHAPTER XVIII. CONCERNING WHAT IS NECESSARY TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

What a Church is when we attribute to it rights, actions, and other qualities of a person.

20 We must define a Church that has its own rights and actions, a Church meant by such phrases as “Tell it to the Church” and “the person who does not obey the Church.” It is a multitude of people who have made a new covenant with God in Christ. In other words, they have undertaken the sacrament of baptism. This multitude can lawfully be summoned by someone to a single place, and when summoned its members are obliged to attend, either personally or through representatives. A multitude of people who cannot meet in an assembly when necessary cannot be called a person. A Church cannot speak, decide, or hear except as a congregation. What individuals say, expressing nearly as many opinions as there are people, is the speech of individuals, not of the Church. Moreover, an unlawful assembly counts as no assembly at all. Nobody present in a riot is bound by the decision of the others, especially if that person disagrees. Such a Church cannot make a decree. A multitude makes a decree only when everyone is bound by the majority's decision. So the definition of a Church to which we attribute the qualities of a person must include not just the possibility of assembling, but the ability to assemble lawfully. Also, even if someone can lawfully summon the rest, the Church is not one person if those summoned can lawfully stay away. This can happen when they are not subject to one another. Those who meet at one appointed time and place form one Church by the same right that others meeting at a different place they have chosen form another. Every group sharing an opinion would be a Church. Consequently, there would be as many Churches as there are different opinions. The same multitude would turn out to be both one Church and many Churches at once. A Church, then, is not one unless there is an established and recognized power—that is, a lawful power—that can oblige everyone to attend the congregation in person or through a representative. It becomes one and can act as a person through the union created by a lawful power to summon Christian synods and assemblies, not through agreement in doctrine. Otherwise it is a multitude of separate persons, however much they agree in their views.

A Christian city is the same thing as a Christian Church.

21 It follows necessarily from what has been said that a city of Christians and a Church are exactly the same thing: the same people called by two names for two reasons. The people who make up a city and a Church are the same Christians. Their form, the lawful power to assemble them, is also the same. Every subject must go where the city summons that subject. So what is called a city when considered as a group of people is called a Church when considered as a group of Christians.

Several cities do not make one Church.

22 It also follows that several Christian cities do not together form one Church that can act as a person. They can become one Church by mutual agreement, but only by becoming one city as well. They cannot assemble without an appointed place and time. People, places, and times fall under civil law. Neither a subject nor a foreigner may lawfully enter a place without the permission of the city that governs it. Anything that can be done lawfully only with a city's permission, when done lawfully, is done by its authority. The universal Church is indeed one spiritual body with Christ as its head. But it is one in the same way that all people who acknowledge God as ruler of the world are one kingdom and one city. That kingdom or city is not one person and has no single common action or decision. Moreover, when the Apostle says that Christ is the head of his body, the Church, he plainly means the elect. While they are in this world, they are a Church only potentially. They will not actually be one until the day of judgment, when they are separated from the rejected and gathered together. The ancient Church of Rome was very large, but it did not extend beyond the limits of its empire. So it was not universal, except in the sense in which it was said of Rome, “The victorious Roman now held the whole world,” though the victorious Roman did not yet hold a twentieth of it. After the civil empire was divided, each separate city that arose was a separate Church. The Church of Rome's power over them may have depended entirely on the authority of those Churches. They had rejected the emperors but were still willing to accept the teachers of Rome.

Who the clergy are.

23 People who hold public office in the Church may be called churchmen. There were two kinds of office: service and teaching authority. The servants attended to tables, cared for the Church's material goods, and allotted everyone a share when private ownership of wealth had been abolished and all ate from a common supply. The teachers were called, according to their rank, apostles, bishops, or presbyters, meaning elders. Presbyter distinguished the office, not a person's age: Timothy was a presbyter though he was young. But because elders were usually admitted to the office of teacher, a word for age came to mean the office. According to their different work, these same teachers were called apostles, prophets, evangelists, or pastors and teachers. The apostles' work was universal. The prophets declared their own revelations in the Church. The evangelists preached or spread the gospel among unbelievers. Pastors taught, strengthened, and guided the minds of those who already believed.

The Church elects churchmen; the pastors consecrate them.