Thursday, September 04, 2008

An Inconvenient Conciliar Truth - Part 02

An Inconvenient Conciliar Truth - Part 02

Some folks seem to find relying on councils a comfort. For these folks, there are some inconvenient facts that they must face. This post is the second in what, Lord willing, will be a multi-part series.

Council of Trent (1545 to 1563) - Not Prior to the Reformation

Those who oppose Reformation theology sometimes act as though the Council of Trent, and its teachings against Sola Scriptura and against Justification by Faith Alone, were dogmatically defined teachings prior to those who are thought of as the first generation reformers. The inconvenient facts are that:

1) Luther died about the time the council of Trent started (it started December 1545, and he died February 18, 1546); and

2) Calvin died about the time the council of Trent ended (it ended December 4, 1563, and he died May 27, 1564).

Meanwhile other Reformers, like Ulrich Zwingli (1484 - 1531), died even before Trent was assembled.

And, of course, this list excludes those Reformers who themselves pose an inconvenient truth by predating Luther - such as Huss (c. 1372 - 1415) and Wycliffe (c. 1325 - 1384).

-TurretinFan

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The same for Origen. Care bringing him up too in the near future? Why not?

Turretinfan said...

Lucian,

Origen also castrated himself. That was a mistake. So was using graven images in the worship of God, if he did so. I cannot recall any definitive proof of that being offered that Origen did so. But, if he did, I'd simply disagree with him.

But that does not mean we have to ignore everything he said, simply because he erred to some degree. His thoughts on the Church were quite good: “But that we may win over to the reception of our views those who are willing to accept the inferences which flow from our doctrines, and to be benefited thereby, we say that the holy Scriptures declare the body of Christ, animated by the Son of God, to be the whole Church of God, and the members of this body—considered as a whole—to consist of those who are believers; since, as a soul vivifies and moves the body, which of itself has not the natural power of motion like a living being, so the Word, arousing and moving the whole body, the Church, to befitting action, awakens, moreover, each individual member belonging to the Church, so that they do nothing apart from the Word.” Origen, Against Celsus, Book VI, Chapter xlviii.

-TurretinFan