Power and Primacy of the Pope (1537): Smalcald Theologians - 5 views
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calls himself [and boasts that he is] the vicar of Christ on earth
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false, godless, tyrannical, and [quite] pernicious to the Church.
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necessary for salvation
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decrees
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arrogates to himself the authority to make [all kinds of] laws
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alone
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arrogates
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arrogates
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arrogates
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shows how much corrupt the Church became over time. surely, they weren't manipulative in the beginning!
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necessary to believe all these things in order to be saved
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can the people who call themselves 'Christians' even be considered as one?
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there shall not be lordship or superiority among them
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no supremacy; all apostles should be treated equal = contradicts the Church's teachings
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signifying that among ministers there is not to be sovereignty
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No power dispute amongst the ministry (sovereignty = supreme power/authority); another contradiction
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disciples on an equality, without any distinctio
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From this start by a human law, i.e. the resolution of the Council, the authority of the Roman bishop first arose
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shows that the power of Church officials did not appear from the Bible, but from human affairs
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bishops should be elected by their own churches
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synods
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how can the Pope be over the entire Church by divine right when the Church has the election, and the custom gradually prevailed that bishops of Rome were confirmed by the emperors
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if popes were to be divine, how come they have to fight for power? why don't they just automatically rise to power? - good point!
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In all these passages Peter is the representative of the entire assembly of apostles [and does not speak for himself alone, but for all the apostles],
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states that Peter spoke for all, when did the church start to think that Peter was divine?
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Yeah, i agree. Peter is a representative, but not a superior power. But it is understandable that people would have misunderstood. If we weren't understanding this event from Luther, I would most likely to have misunderstood that Peter was greater than everyone else! However, I don't think power goes via him because that would mean he's 'different' than others, thus resulting in his superiority. Then it ruins the purpose of equality, right?
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promise of the Gospel belongs certainly and immediately to the entire Church, so the keys belong immediately to the entire Church
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Peter is the representative of the entire assembly of the apostles
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Upon this rock I will build My Church, certainly the Church has not been built upon the authority of man, but upon the ministry of the confession which Peter made, in which he proclaims that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
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dispersed throughout the whole world,
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Christ was not sent to bear the sword or possess a worldly kingdom
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From this persuasion horrible darkness has been brought into the Church, and after that also great commotions have arisen in Europe
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this refers to indulgences, behavior of church members, religious rituals, interpretation of Bible, etc...
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but has also tyrannically exalted himself above all kings
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actually at some point, the pope had more power than the king (investiture contest)
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Pope rules in the Church,
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the doctrine of the Pope conflicts in many ways with the Gospel, and [thirdly] the Pope assumes to himself divine authority in a threefold manner
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Things Luther does not like about the Church: 1. Pope has all the power 2. the doctrine conflicts with the spiritual aspect 3. Pope assumes that he is divine when he is not
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Lastly, these errors so horrible, and this impiety, he defends with the greatest cruelty, and puts to death those dissenting.
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partakers of the godless doctrine, blasphemies, and unjust cruelty of the Pope
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just a insight: Luther really does not mind what he writes, whether it is offensive or not...
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But divine authority commands all not to be allies and defenders of impiety and unjust cruelty
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The doctrine of repentance has been utterly corrupted by the Pope and his adherents
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They nowhere teach that sins are remitted freely for Christ's sake, and that by this faith we obtain remission of sins.
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Thus they obscure the glory of Christ, and deprive consciences of firm consolation, and abolish true divine services, namely, the exercises of faith struggling with [unbelief and] despair [concerning the promise of the Gospel]
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what the roman catholic church did, in Luther's opinion - is he like the new Peter?
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have altogether extinguished the doctrine concerning faith
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Then to these errors two great sins are added
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create sins to justify their mistakes? hm.... sins: 1. trying to amend errors by using cruelty and death penalties 2. not permitting new ideas, altogether taking power
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defends these errors by unjust cruelty and death-penalties
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wrests the decision from the Church, and does not permit ecclesiastical controversies
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he defends his errors by force and by murders, and forbids judicial examination
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...maybe Luther is exaggerating to prove his point right? These acts seem really harsh for anyone to do
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Pope should hold Synods
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Pope suffers nothing to be decreed contrary to his will
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decisions of Synods are the decisions of the Church, and not of the Popes
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bishop of Rome had the primacy by divine right, yet since he defends godless services and doctrine conflicting with the Gospel,
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Manifest also is the cruelty
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God's command that we flee idolatry, godless doctrine, and unjust cruelty
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From the Church's misbehavior, people start to become distant from the Church
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detract from the glory of Go
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the command to excommunicate those whose crimes are known, and again to absolve those who repent.
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when the regular bishops become enemies of the Church, or are unwilling to administer ordination, the churches retain their own right
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if the church and the bishop/elders start to disagree, then the church retains their own rules and should not follow the bishop's ideas
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there is the authority [command] to administer the Gospel
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Church to retain the authority to call, elect, and ordain ministers
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given to the Churc
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Paul also testifies
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States that men were given gifts, but the Church were given special gifts only belonging to the Church for helping Christ - proves that when somebody stops helping Christ, no longer within the Church
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keys have been given to the Church, and not merely to certain person
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it is clear that the Church retains the right to elect and ordain ministers
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r schism
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It is certain that the common jurisdiction of excommunicating those guilty of manifest crimes belongs to all pastors
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But what tyranny is it for the officials in the states to have arbitrary power to condemn and excommunicate men without due process of law!
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bishops have tyrannically transferred this jurisdiction to themselves alone, and have basely abused it, there is no need, because of this jurisdiction, to obey bishops.
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interesting thought process that bishops are no longer related to Christ because they have corrupted the Church, thus being able to rebel against them
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bishops have only by human right, and that, not a very old one, as appears from the Codex and Novellae of Justinian that decisions concerning marriage at that time belonged to the magistrates
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jurisdiction it is not necessary to obey bishop
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It is sufficient to have recited this, that there are many unjust laws of the Pope concerning matrimonial subjects on account of which the magistrates ought to establish other courts.
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It is true that what the Roman Catholic Church did was unjust. Yes, it was very manipulative and wrong for the Church to change many aspects of the original Church to support their power. However, I don't believe that it is ethically right for the rebels to respond so aggressively. This would most likely lead to physical violence, which it actually did.
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Therefore [since the Holy Spirit in that connection utters dire threats] let those who defraud the Church know that they will pay God the penalty for this crime.
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- before, popes were considered divine or chosen by divine, thus justifying their power
