On the Authority of Councils of the Church

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Many, perhaps willfully, misunderstand and misrepresent the meaning of Sola Scriptura. It is not an abandonment of patristics or tradition. Rather, it means that all things are subject to God’s own Word. Martin Chemnitz applies this truth to the question of the authority of Church Councils:

The authority of councils is most salutary in the church, as Augustine rightly says, that is, if they judge according to the rule and norm of the sacred Scripture. And when they prove their decisions by means of sure and clear testimonies of Scripture, the church owes them obedience with the greatest reverence as to a heavenly voice. Then also this statement of Christ applies (Luke 10:16): “He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me.” But when the mere name “council” is heard, it ought not at once turn us into rocks, treetrunks, and stocks, as though it were the head of Gorgo, so that we thoughtlessly embrace any and all decrees without examination, without inquiry and careful judgment. For the Scripture tells us that there are also councils of the wicked, Ps. 22:16; of vain persons, Ps. 26:4; of the ungodly, Ps. 1:1, whose assembly Jer. 15:17, on the basis of the psalm, calls an assembly of mockers, who have their name from their false interpretation. Such were the councils of the ungodly priests against Micah, Jeremiah, against Christ and the apostles. We have, however, the strict command of God, 1 John 4:1: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

1 Thess. 5:21: “Test everything; hold fast what is good.”

Matt. 7:15: “Beware of false prophets,” etc.

Therefore it is right, and it must of necessity be done according to the commandment of God, that we examine the decrees of the councils according to the norm of sacred Scripture, as the saying of Jerome has it: “That is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit: which is set forth in the canonical books. If the councils pronounce anything against this, I consider it wicked.”

Examination of the Council of Trent, vol. 1, p31

The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity 2025

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He’s dead. Her little boy. All she had. She’s a widow. What’s more, she’s a widow who trusted in God. She listened to His prophet Elijah.

Last week, we heard how Elijah came to her in the midst of a famine. She was literally preparing her last supper, her and the little boy. But at the Word of God’s prophet, the jug of oil did not run out, and the jar of flour did not empty. They survived the famine. Only for this to now happen….

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St. Matthew 2025

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St. Matthew’s Gospel ends with well-known words, the so-called Great Commission. Jesus says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations.”

There’s been a tremendous tension in American Christianity for the last half-century or more about the purpose of the church. The tension is sometimes presented as “mission” versus “maintenance.” Some churches and pastors are “missional,” meaning they want to make disciples. “Maintenance” churches and pastors don’t care about that, they just want to exist for themselves. Those are the caricatures.

The mistake in this way of thinking is that being a disciple is a binary thing, either you are or you aren’t. The switch is on or off.

It’s more complicated than that. The words St. Matthew put at the end of his Gospel say a little more: “Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.”

Baptism begins the life of the disciple, and it is accompanied by a continual teaching, an ongoing catechesis to observe everything Jesus commanded….

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