Required reading
Institutes of Christian religion by John Calvin (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 11 of Book 4.
My summary
Today Calvin looks at the gradual change of church discipline in the Roman Catholic church.
Calvin shows us:
(i) New Testament warrant for church discipline;
(ii) the early church use of elders for church discipline;
(iii) the gradual abandonment of discipline even amongst clergy for moral corruption;
(iv) the movement to individual bishops administering church discipline;
(v) the Pope assuming supreme authority in church discipline.
What grabbed me
I liked what Calvin said about the keys of the kingdom in relation to Matthew 16: 'We now understand that the power of the keys is simply the preaching of the gospel in those places, and in so far as men are concerned, it is not so much power as ministry. Properly speaking, Christ did not give this power to men but to his word, of which he made men the ministers.'
Every time we share the gospel, people are entering or not entering the kingdom.
Next week's reading
Read Chapter 12 of Book 4.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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