Arminius

The power of the Church consists in three things: 1. in the dogmas of faith and morals; 2. in legislation; 3. in jurisdiction. Of these three we shall treat briefly, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

The power of the Church in the dogmas of faith is a right conferred by God upon the Church: of receiving the dogmas of doctrine and of morals, delivered graciously and most perfectly by Jesus Christ through the prophets and apostles; of preserving them once received; and of faithfully communicating them to her children.

But concerning this power of the Church there is a great controversy between us and the Pontificians. For they, so that under the Church's title they may reign and exercise tyranny in the Church, and substitute their own human traditions in the place of Holy Scripture, raise the Church's power beyond measure, attributing to her a supreme right of determining by her own choice what is to be believed, hoped, or done. Hence they say: 1. that the Church can frame new dogmas of faith; 3. that the Scriptures are to be explained by her authority, and indeed have the force of a canon [only from it]. We, however, deny both, and say that the power of the Church is not so supreme and absolute, but is subject and subordinate to Christ and to his word, since of him alone it was said: hear ye him.

This is proved by the titles with which Christ everywhere distinguishes his Church: namely, that she is the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, of which body Christ is also the Head. Therefore, as the bride depends on her bridegroom and the body on its Head, and is subject to it, and hears its voice only: so the Church depends on Christ only, and is subject to him, and ought to receive nothing except what she has been taught by him.

Next, it is proved by the express mandate which the prophets and apostles had when they were called to their office: namely, that they should bring forward or teach nothing of themselves, but should speak from the mouth of the Lord. So the Lord to Ezekiel: Son of man (says God), I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. He who is commanded to hear from the Lord is forbidden to bring forward what is his own, and to devise anything of himself. So the apostles are commanded to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things which he had commanded them. And lest the Pontificians cavil that this does not pertain to them at all, let them hear the Apostle speaking not of himself only but of all the doctors, bishops and pastors of the Church, however many there are: Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and dispensers of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in dispensers, that a man be found faithful. And: These things teach. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing. Hence it is that the Apostle entreats the Romans to mark those who cause offences and divisions contrary to the doctrine which they had learned, and to avoid them. For they that are such, he says, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Indeed Christ himself imposed this law upon himself, and by his own example prescribes the rule we ought to follow in teaching, when he says: My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me, the Father's.

From these things, then, it is plain that the authority of the Church is below Scripture, but that the authority of Scripture is supreme, and that the dogmas of faith, and the things necessary to salvation, are fully and perfectly prescribed to us in Holy Scripture; since Christ, that only Sun of righteousness, has disclosed the perfect brightness of divine truth, such as is the clearness of the sun at noon. As the Apostle testifies, when he says that God at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, but in these last times has spoken by his beloved Son. By this he signifies that God will not hereafter speak, as before, by one and then another, but has so completed all the parts of teaching in the Son that this is to be held as the last and eternal testimony from him. Let this, then, stand firm: that nothing else is to be held as the word of God, and no other dogmas of faith, than what is contained first in the Law and the Prophets, and then in the apostolic writings; and that there is no other way of rightly teaching in the Church than according to the prescript and norm of that word. Let us come to the other part, namely the power of the Church in interpreting the dogmas of faith.

Concerning this the Pontificians determine that the supreme right of interpreting the Scriptures lies with the Roman Pontiff and the councils (which they say cannot err). They therefore demand that the Roman Pontiff be complied with in this matter, and that obedience be rendered to whatever at length he prescribes; and that it is in no way lawful to examine his decrees. Those who dare to open their mouths against them they pursue with sword and fire, because the determination of the Church is without appeal, and to doubt whether its interpretation is true is a crime. But we say, with the Scriptures, that the legitimate way of interpreting the Scriptures is that we interpret the Scriptures from the Holy Scriptures themselves, and that whatever we determine that pertains to faith and morals we always test by the rule and prescript of the divine words, and approve it only so far as it agrees with that rule. The apostles taught us this very thing by their example, who confirmed all their sayings by the authority of the prophets. The Bereans are praised because they did not rashly believe Paul, but tested his doctrine by Holy Scripture, whether it were true. So the Apostle commands that we rashly take up or believe nothing, but commands us to prove all things and test them by the line of Scripture. Ezra did this, who in expounding the law of God to the people gave the sense by Scripture itself. And so much for the first part. There follows the Church's power in making laws.

There is no doubt that some power has been granted to the Church herself of bringing in new laws for good order (εὐταξία). For since all things ought to be done decently (εὐσχημόνως) and in order (κατὰ τάξιν), certain laws are necessary, which are as it were bonds of the people for common peace and concord. But the Pontificians err in saying that the Pontiff, and the bishops by a power borrowed from the Pontiff, because they are spiritual legislators appointed by God (from which it follows that the government of the Church has been committed to them), whatever they command and prescribe must necessarily be observed by the Christian people; and that whoever violates it is guilty of a twofold disobedience, because he is a rebel against God and against the Church.

But we say: 1. that new laws can be enacted not by the Pontiff only, but by several particular churches gathered in a synod, or by the presbytery of some one church; and that they are to be introduced not by a magistrate's authority but by the common consent of the Church. 2. We deny that they in any way bind anyone's conscience as necessary to salvation. The first I prove from Acts 15, where they determined nothing whatever except what the whole Church decreed; for it is expressly said in verse 22: It pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, etc. The second, because whatever pertains to the rule of living well God has comprehended wholly in the prophetic and apostolic writings. Paul follows this out excellently in the Epistle to the Colossians: namely, that doctrine concerning the true worship of God is not to be sought from men, because the Lord has instructed us faithfully and fully how he is to be worshipped. To show this he says, in chapter ‹1›, that all wisdom is contained in the gospel, by which the man of God is made perfect in Christ; and then in verse 23, that in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and cognition. From this he concludes that each one should take heed lest anyone make spoil of them through philosophy or vain deceit, after the traditions of men, and not after Christ. Hence Peter, while he admonishes pastors of their office to feed the flock, says: not exercising dominion over the heritage (clerum), that is, over the Christian people.

Therefore the laws which are made by the Church do not concern things necessary to salvation, but consist in things indifferent, external and accidental. Their observance, therefore, is not simply or in itself necessary, but by reason of what is fitting (τοῦ πρέποντος), that is, of decency and order. Such are the public assemblies of the Church appointed for certain days and certain hours; the singing of psalms before and after; the public announcement from the pulpit of intended marriages; and other things of that kind. We therefore define these laws thus: Ecclesiastical laws are constitutions conformable to the word of God, concerning things in themselves indifferent, which look to decency and order; and which, although they are to be kept by all with a godly and ready zeal, yet do not bind the faithful except in the case of contempt and of scandal. And so much for laws.

There follows the power of jurisdiction, which is nothing else than an order arranged for the preservation of the spiritual polity; since to this end there were constituted by God in the beginning courts in the churches, which should exercise censure of morals, punish vices, and preside in exercising the office of the keys. The Apostle designates this order when he names governments. He likewise makes the elders twofold: some who labour in the word, others who do not discharge the preaching of the word, and yet rule well. This power depends wholly on the keys which Christ conferred on the Church, by which the kingdom of heaven is shut to sinners and opened to the penitent.

In this power, however, two things are to be observed. 1. That this spiritual power be entirely separated from the right of the sword; because this power consists not in fines, nor in prisons, nor in other civil punishments, but in the word of the Lord alone. 2. That it not lie with one man and depend on the choice of one alone (lest he do whatever he pleases at his own whim), but be exercised through a lawful assembly. Of this Cyprian says: From the beginning of my episcopate I resolved to do nothing without the counsel of the clergy and the consent of the people. From which it is plain how grievously the Pontificians err, who have claimed for themselves the right of the sword as well, and who further assert that this power was delivered supremely to Peter alone.

And as this jurisdiction flowed immediately from Christ for the edification of his Church, so too it is exercised only upon the Church and her citizens: whether they be those set over her, for we read that Peter was rebuked by Paul; or the magistrate as well, who, in so far as he is a member of the Church, is subject to this power, for Nathan rebuked David and John the Baptist rebuked Herod; or those of lower rank; in short, all, of whatever kind they are. It is not exercised upon those outside, such as Jews and Turks, and those who are not of the Church. The Apostle intimates this in these words: What have I to do to judge them that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. With what colour, then, will the Romanists dress up their assailing flies, locusts and little creatures of that kind with the thunderbolt of excommunication?