Chapter 6: The Church's Authority in Doctrine

Thus, the Bible is bound up with the life and witness of the Church. The New Testament books were written by members of the Church; the Church decided which books should be in the Bible;^[1] the Church preserved the Bible by having copies of it made by hand before the invention of printing; the scholars of the Church translated the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament into English, and more recently into almost every known language. Unfortunately these facts are not always acknowledged by those who sometimes use the Bible to persuade people to renounce their allegiance to the Church in order to join some novel sect.

Biblical truth should be seen and taught as a consistent whole; it is not permissible ‘so to expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another’. There must no resort to favourite proof-texts bearing a construction and interpretation they were never intended to support; that is the way of the Church of Rome and the sects. It is the duty of the Church’s members, particularly of the Bishops, to safeguard the Faith^[2] and to preserve her doctrine from diminution or accretion.^[3] The early Church was suspicious of any novelty, for novelty was often tainted with heresy. The principal object of most of the early Councils of the Church was to condemn heresy and to preserve the ancient Faith. Hence, the words of St. Vincent of Lerins became a rule for testing doctrine: ‘We within the Catholic Church are to take great care that we hold that which hath been believed everywhere always and by all men (semper, ubique, ab omnibus) . . . and that we shall do if we follow universality, antiquity, consent’.^[4] Thus, when controversy arose, the Church had to exercise the functions of a judge, and it is this judicial authority (auctoritatem) in controversies of Faith that is asserted in the Article. As a judge has no legislative power to create new laws (that is the function of Parliament), but only authority to interpret and apply the law, so in matters of Faith the Church has no power to create new doctrines, but only judicial authority to determine what is true doctrine.^[5]

While the Article repudiates the Roman Church’s practice in adding new dogmas to the ancient Faith, by asserting the Church’s judicial authority, it repudiates also the ultra‑Protestant view that the Holy Spirit in the individual is the sole interpreter of Scripture (a doctrine which has produced innumerable Protestant sects). Article VI limits the Faith to ‘whatsoever’ is ‘read therein’ or ‘proved thereby’, but it does not state who is to decide what is proveable by appeal to Scripture. Article XX is therefore supplementary to VI, for it in fact declares that when a dispute arises as to the correct interpretation of Scripture, the Church has authority to decide the issue. The exercise of private judgement is also controlled by Article XXXIV. In interpreting Scripture we follow the traditional Catholic practice of interpreting difficult passages as they have usually been interpreted by the Church. ‘Let the Scripture, therefore, as sensed by the Primitive Church, and not by the private judgement of any particular man, be allowed and agreed by us to be the Rule of our Faith; and let that be accounted the true Church, whose Faith and Doctrine is most conformable and agreeable with the Primitive’.^[6]

^[1]At first the selection was made by the Bishop of each church who decided which books would be most edifying, but soon a tradition grew up as to which books were of apostolic origin and should be read. Amongst the books which were not included in the Canon are The Gospel of Nicodemus, The Gospel of Peter, The Epistle of Barnabas, The Revelation of Peter, etc., Cf. Excluded Books of the New Testament, p. x.

^[2]1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:13 f.; Tit. 1:9, 13, 2:1, 7; Jude 3.

^[3]2 Jn. 9.

^[4]Commonitorium, c.2. The general acceptance of this principle in the early days of the Church indicates that the Church then did not claim any power or right of adding to the Faith.

^[5]The Article thus denies the right of even the Church of Rome to add new dogmas to the ancient Faith, such as Transubstantiation (added 1215), Purgatory (1439), The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1854) and her Assumption (1950) or Papal Infallibility (1870).

^[6]Wm. Payne, Rector of Whitechapel (1650-1696). Cf. further on this point, W. G. Wilson, Church Teaching, pp. 30-34.


	The Church's Authority in Doctrine
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Title Contents Preface Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Site Search: powered by FreeFind Copyright & Credit	Thus the Church must ever be the teacher and discoverer of the truth which has always been hers in Christ, and never an inventor. All that is necessary for our redemption is to be found there, and however interesting or helpful beliefs and speculations on other subjects may be, they are not to be held essential to salvation. Thus, the Bible is bound up with the life and witness of the Church. The New Testament books were written by members of the Church; the Church decided which books should be in the Bible;^[1] the Church preserved the Bible by having copies of it made by hand before the invention of printing; the scholars of the Church translated the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament into English, and more recently into almost every known language. Unfortunately these facts are not always acknowledged by those who sometimes use the Bible to persuade people to renounce their allegiance to the Church in order to join some novel sect. Biblical truth should be seen and taught as a consistent whole; it is not permissible ‘so to expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another’. There must no resort to favourite proof-texts bearing a construction and interpretation they were never intended to support; that is the way of the Church of Rome and the sects. It is the duty of the Church’s members, particularly of the Bishops, to safeguard the Faith^[2] and to preserve her doctrine from diminution or accretion.^[3] The early Church was suspicious of any novelty, for novelty was often tainted with heresy. The principal object of most of the early Councils of the Church was to condemn heresy and to preserve the ancient Faith. Hence, the words of St. Vincent of Lerins became a rule for testing doctrine: ‘We within the Catholic Church are to take great care that we hold that which hath been believed everywhere always and by all men (semper, ubique, ab omnibus) . . . and that we shall do if we follow universality, antiquity, consent’.^[4] Thus, when controversy arose, the Church had to exercise the functions of a judge, and it is this judicial authority (auctoritatem) in controversies of Faith that is asserted in the Article. As a judge has no legislative power to create new laws (that is the function of Parliament), but only authority to interpret and apply the law, so in matters of Faith the Church has no power to create new doctrines, but only judicial authority to determine what is true doctrine.^[5] While the Article repudiates the Roman Church’s practice in adding new dogmas to the ancient Faith, by asserting the Church’s judicial authority, it repudiates also the ultra‑Protestant view that the Holy Spirit in the individual is the sole interpreter of Scripture (a doctrine which has produced innumerable Protestant sects). Article VI limits the Faith to ‘whatsoever’ is ‘read therein’ or ‘proved thereby’, but it does not state who is to decide what is proveable by appeal to Scripture. Article XX is therefore supplementary to VI, for it in fact declares that when a dispute arises as to the correct interpretation of Scripture, the Church has authority to decide the issue. The exercise of private judgement is also controlled by Article XXXIV. In interpreting Scripture we follow the traditional Catholic practice of interpreting difficult passages as they have usually been interpreted by the Church. ‘Let the Scripture, therefore, as sensed by the Primitive Church, and not by the private judgement of any particular man, be allowed and agreed by us to be the Rule of our Faith; and let that be accounted the true Church, whose Faith and Doctrine is most conformable and agreeable with the Primitive’.^[6] ^[1]At first the selection was made by the Bishop of each church who decided which books would be most edifying, but soon a tradition grew up as to which books were of apostolic origin and should be read. Amongst the books which were not included in the Canon are The Gospel of Nicodemus, The Gospel of Peter, The Epistle of Barnabas, The Revelation of Peter, etc., Cf. Excluded Books of the New Testament, p. x. ^[2]1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:13 f.; Tit. 1:9, 13, 2:1, 7; Jude 3. ^[3]2 Jn. 9. ^[4]Commonitorium, c.2. The general acceptance of this principle in the early days of the Church indicates that the Church then did not claim any power or right of adding to the Faith. ^[5]The Article thus denies the right of even the Church of Rome to add new dogmas to the ancient Faith, such as Transubstantiation (added 1215), Purgatory (1439), The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1854) and her Assumption (1950) or Papal Infallibility (1870). ^[6]Wm. Payne, Rector of Whitechapel (1650-1696). Cf. further on this point, W. G. Wilson, Church Teaching, pp. 30-34.
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