Institutes of Christian religion - Calvin - LXV - Chapter 9 of Book 4

Required reading
Institutes of Christian religion by John Calvin (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 9 of Book 4.

My summary
Today Calvin focuses on the Roman Catholic councils and their authority.

Calvin is critical of the Roman Catholic councils because:
(i) pastors in council are not always faithful pastors;
(ii) the councils are known to have erred according to the Roman Catholic church;
(iii) the councils are known to have erred in their interpretation of Scripture.

What grabbed me
I appreciated Calvin's caution about pastors: 'All I advise is, to exercise discrimination, and not suppose, as a matter of course, that all who call themselves pastors are so in reality. But the Pope, with the whole crew of his bishops, for no other reason but because they are called pastors, shake off obedience to the word of God, invert all things, and turn them hither and thither at their pleasure; meanwhile, they insist that they cannot be destitute of the light of truth, that the Spirit of God perpetually resides in them, that the Church subsists in them, and dies with them, as if the Lord did not still inflict his judgments, and in the present day punish the world for its wickedness, in the same way in which he punished the ingratitude of the ancient people—namely, by smiting pastors with astonishment and blindness (Zech. 12:4). These stupid men understand not that they are just chiming in with those of ancient times who warred with the word of God. For the enemies of Jeremiah thus set themselves against the truth, “Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet” (Jer. 18:18).'

While the pastoral office does deserve respect, just because someone is a pastor does not mean they don't err.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 10 of Book 4.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.