Institutes of the Christian Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)
CHAPTER XI.
THE JURISDICTION OF THE CHURCH, AND ITS ABUSE UNDER THE PAPACY.
We come now to the third branch of the power of the
Church, and that which is the principal one in a well regulated
state, which we have said consists in jurisdiction. The whole
jurisdiction of the Church relates to the discipline of manners,
of which we are about to treat. For as no city or town can
exist without a magistracy and civil polity, so the Church of
God, as I have already stated, but am now obliged to repeat, stands
in need of a certain spiritual polity; which, however, is entirely
distinct from civil polity, and is so far from obstructing or
weakening it, that, on the contrary, it highly conduces to its
assistance and advancement. This power of jurisdiction, therefore,
will, in short, be no other than an order instituted for the
preservation of the spiritual polity. For this end, there were from
the beginning judiciaries appointed in the Churches, to take
cognizance of manners, to pass censures on vices, and to preside
over the use of the keys in excommunication. This order Paul
designates in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, when he
mentions “governments;”[1028]
and to the Romans, when he
says, “He that ruleth,” let him do it “with diligence.”[1029]
He
is not speaking of magistrates or civil governors, for there were
at this time no Christian magistrates, but of those who were
associated with the pastor in the spiritual government of the
Church. In the First Epistle to Timothy, also, he mentions
two kinds of presbyters or elders, some “who labour in the
word and doctrine,” others who have nothing to do with
preaching the word, and yet “rule well.”[1030]
By the latter
class, there can be no doubt that he intends those who were
appointed to the cognizance of manners, and to the whole
exercise of the keys. For this power, of which we now speak,
entirely depends on the keys, which Christ has conferred upon
the Church in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, where he
commands that those who shall have despised private admonitions
shall be severely admonished in the name of the whole
Church; and that if they persist in their obstinacy, they are to
be excluded from the society of believers.[1031]
Now, these admonitions
and corrections cannot take place without an examination
of the cause; hence the necessity of some judicature and order.
Wherefore, unless we would nullify the promise of the keys,
and entirely abolish excommunication, solemn admonitions, and
every thing of a similar kind, it is necessary to allow the Church
some jurisdiction. Let it be observed, that the passage to which
we have referred, relates not to the general authority of the
doctrine to be preached by the apostles, as in the sixteenth
chapter of Mathew and the twentieth chapter of John; but that
the power of the sanhedrim is for the future transferred to the
Church of Christ. Till that time, the Jews had their own
method of government, which, as far as regards the pure institution,
Jesus Christ established in his Church, and that with a
severe sanction. For this was absolutely necessary, because the
judgment of an ignoble and despised Church might otherwise be
treated with contempt by presumptuous and proud men. And
that the readers may not be embarrassed by the circumstance
of Christ having used the same words to express different things,
it will be useful to solve this difficulty. There are two places
which speak of binding and loosing. One is in the sixteenth
chapter of Matthew, where Christ, after having promised Peter
that he would “give” him “the keys of the kingdom of
heaven,”[1032]
immediately adds, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt
loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.” In these words he
means precisely the same as he intends in other language
recorded by John, when, being about to send forth his disciples
to preach, after having “breathed on them,” he said, “Whose
soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose
soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”[1033]
I shall offer an
interpretation of this passage, without any subtlety, violence,
or perversion, but natural, suitable, and obvious. This command
respecting the remission and retention of sins, and the promise
made to Peter respecting binding and loosing, ought to be
wholly referred to the ministry of the word, which when our
Lord committed to the apostles, he at the same time invested
them with the power of binding and loosing. For what is the
sum of the gospel, but that, being all slaves of sin and death,
we are loosed and delivered by the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus, and that those who never receive or acknowledge
Christ as their Deliverer and Redeemer, are condemned and
sentenced to eternal chains? When the Lord delivered this
embassy to his apostles, to be conveyed to all nations, in order
to evince it to be his, and to have proceeded from him, he
honoured it with this remarkable testimony, and that for
the particular confirmation both of the apostles themselves,
and of all those to whom it was to be announced. It was of
importance, that the apostles should have a strong and constant
assurance of their preaching; which they were not only to
undertake and execute amidst immense labours, cares, troubles,
and dangers, but were at length to seal with their blood. That
they might know this ministry not to be vain or ineffectual,
but full of power and energy, it was of importance for them, in
circumstances of such great anxiety, difficulty, and danger, to
be persuaded that they were employed in the work of God;
amidst all the hostility and opposition of the whole world, to
know that God was on their side; and though Christ, the
Author of their doctrine, was not present to their view on earth,
to be certain that he was in heaven to confirm the truth of the
doctrine which he had delivered to them. On the other hand,
also, it was necessary that the most unequivocal testimony
should be given to their hearers, that the doctrine of the gospel
was not the word of the apostles, but of God himself; not a
voice issuing from the earth, but descended from heaven. For
these things, the remission of sins, the promise of eternal life,
and the message of salvation, cannot be in the power of man.
Therefore Christ has testified that, in the preaching of the gospel,
nothing belonged to the apostles, except the ministration of it;
that it was he himself who spoke and promised every thing by
the instrumentality of their mouths; and, consequently, that the
remission of sins which they preached was the true promise of
God, and that the condemnation which they denounced was
the certain judgment of God. Now, this testification has been
given to all ages, and remains unaltered, to certify and assure us
all, that the word of the gospel, by whomsoever it may happen
to be preached, is the very sentence of God himself, promulgated
from his heavenly tribunal, recorded in the book of life, ratified,
confirmed, and fixed in heaven. Thus we see, that the power
of the keys, in these passages, is no other than the preaching of
the gospel, and that, considered with regard to men, it is not so
much authoritative as ministerial; for, strictly speaking, Christ
has not given this power to men, but to his word, of which he
has appointed men to be the ministers.
