Conferring authority

[The_Vatican_Two]

In the July Tabletalk magazine from Ligonier Ministries & R.C. Sproul they briefly discuss “Authority and Canon”. In this article they say:

With regard to the New Testament, early church councils did discuss which books were to be received into the canon. However, as the canon was formed, the church did not speak of being the body that confers authority upon it. Rather, it was said that the church “receives” certain books as Scripture. Just as we receive Christ without conferring authority on Him, so too does the church receive Scripture as authoritative without conferring authority upon it.
(Tabletalk, July 2005, pg 40, Ligonier Ministries)

Is this a true statement? I keep remembering what St. Augustine wrote “I would not believe in the Gospels were it not for the authority of the Catholic Church.” This was written, of course, before the final Canon was decided. Are there other statements from the early Church Fathers that support this claim from Tabletalk?

 

[Pax]

I would say that there is a kernel of truth in the statement, but this is what makes it so deceptive. Obviously, the inspired word of God possesses a type of intrinsic authority. The problem is determining without error what is and is not the inspired word of God[scripture]. We know what is and is not scripture by the “authority” of the Church to make the definitive declaration. The bible itself does not do this. It does not contain a table of contents that informs us what is and is not inspired.

The bible did not simply fall from the sky with the Church “receiving” it like a forward pass in a football game. There was considerable controversy and a tremendous amount of discernment that went into assembling the bible. I believe R.C. Sproul’s statement is disengenuous and misleading.

Stick with St. Augustine…he has it all over R.C. Sproul and company.

 

[Fidelis]

The_Vatican_Two:

In the July Tabletalk magazine from Ligonier Ministries & R.C. Sproul they briefly discuss “Authority and Canon”. In this article they say:

With regard to the New Testament, early church councils did discuss which books were to be received into the canon. However, as the canon was formed, the church did not speak of being the body that confers authority upon it. Rather, it was said that the church “receives” certain books as Scripture. Just as we receive Christ without conferring authority on Him, so too does the church receive Scripture as authoritative without conferring authority upon it.
(Tabletalk, July 2005, pg 40, Ligonier Ministries)

Is this a true statement? I keep remembering what St. Augustine wrote “I would not believe in the Gospels were it not for the authority of the Catholic Church.” This was written, of course, before the final Canon was decided. Are there other statements from the early Church Fathers that support this claim from Tabletalk?

I notice that Dr. Sproul does quote the source of his assertion that the Church “recieves” the canonical books to the exclusion of the fact that someone had to make a determination as to whether that “recieved” book was canonical. He also has neglected to include reference to the very early Church councils like Hippo and Carthage that explicitly pronounced authoritative lists.

 

[Verbum]

Hi TheVat,

In this case, the Church is not, strictly speaking, an authority but a witness. In other words, the Bible is not considered inspired because the Church has examined it and found it “inspirational”, but because it has been handed down to her as the inspired word of God. This is why we say that the Church “receives” the Bible.

This terminology is used by the Council of Trent:

Decree Concerning The Canonical Scriptures

Following, then, the examples of the orthodox Fathers, it receives and venerates with a feeling of piety and reverence all the books both of the Old and New Testaments, since one God is the author of both…

Pius XII, in his famous encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu is very clear on the fact that the Bible does not derive its authority from the Church:

In our own time the [First] Vatican Council, with the object of condemning false doctrines regarding inspiration, declared that these same books were to be regarded by the Church as sacred and canonical "**not because, having been composed by human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority, **nor merely because they contain revelation without error, but because, having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God for their author, and as such were handed down to the Church herself."

The Second Vatican Council [Dei verbum] also uses “handed down”, which isthe same as saying that that the Church “receives” the Bible.

1. Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in sacred Scripture have been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother Church, relying on the belief of the Apostles (see John 20:31; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21; 3:15-16), holds that the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed as such to the Church herself.

Verbum