Some 450 years ago, the Roman Catholic church firmly
established the rule that no one but 'holy mother church' shall interpret
the Scriptures. In other words, when reading the Scriptures, everyone must
understand their message precisely as did and does Rome. No one might come
to a different understanding than that reached by the 'unanimous consent' of
the church fathers.
Furthermore, to check unbridled spirits, it decrees
that no one relying on his own judgment shall, in matters of faith and
morals pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine, distorting the
Holy Scriptures in accordance with his own conceptions, presume to
interpret them contrary to that sense which holy mother Church, to whom it
belongs to judge of their true sense and interpretation, has held and
holds, or even contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers, even
though such interpretations should never at any time be published.—The
Council of Trent, 4th Session, the Canonical Scriptures, Rockford: Tan
(1978), pp. 18-19
The First Vatican Council, meeting in 1869-70, reaffirmed
Trent's position:
And as the things which the holy Synod of Trent
decreed for the good of souls concerning the interpretation of Divine
Scripture, in order to curb rebellious spirits, have been wrongly
explained by some, we, renewing the said decree, declare this to be their
sense, that, in matters of faith and morals, appertaining to the building
up of Christian doctrine, that is to be held as the true sense of Holy
Scripture which our holy Mother Church hath hel and holds, to whom it
belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy
Scripture; and therefore that it is permitted to no one to interpret the
Sacred Scripture contrary to this sense, nor, likewise, contrary to the
unanimous consent of the Fathers.—Philip Schaff, Dogmatic Decrees
of the Vatican Council, as found in The Creeds of Christendom,
Vol II, New York:Harper (1877), p. 242
What are the doctrines declared in the above decrees,
infallibly delivered by two RCC councils: There are but two:
1) Only the Roman Catholic church has the authority
to accurately interpret Scripture.
2) No one, not even the RCC herself, is to hold an
interpretation contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.
This is of major importance, for the RCC officially has
committed and bound itself, through two ecumenical counsels, to the
principle of unanimous consent relative to its teachings and its
interpretation of Scripture. In other words, Rome has given us a standard,
an authoritative Roman Catholic standard, which we may use in judging the
RCC.
This is where Rome stumbles, for by the very test she
established infallibly, much of the RCC's 'particular' doctrine fails to
measure up. Oh, sure. The Fathers did unanimously consent on the major
doctrines of the Christian creed, but there can be found no unanimous
consent for Roman Catholic tradition. As one Christian theologian wrote:
...this 'unanimous consent of the Fathers' on which
the Roman Catholic Church's authority rests is a complete illusion,
because such a consent is historically non-existent.—William Webster,
Op. cit., p. 31
I have no doubt that for some RCC 'apologists', the above
statement will trigger a knee-jerk reaction. Some might proclaim that the
Early Church Fathers were in complete accord with the many fantastic dogma
and doctrines that the Roman Magisterium has come up with over the
centuries. They might do this, despite having been provided a great many
examples on this board and others that this simple was not the case. Look to
the words of a Roman Catholic writer, if you will:
Sometimes, then, the Fathers speak and write in a
way that would eventually be seen as unorthodox. But this is not the only
difficulty with respect to the criterion of orthodoxy. The other great one
is that we look in vain in many of the Fathers for references to things
that many Christians might believe in today. We do not find, for instance,
some teachings on Mary or on the papacy that were developed in medieval
and modern times.—Boniface Ramsey, Beginning to Read the Fathers,
Darton, Longman and Todd:London (1986), p. 6
Though there may be some who would argue that the test of
unanimous consent is either unfair or unrealistic and, therefore, invalid
for judging the validity of RCC teaching. I would remind these persons that
Rome itself created the standard against which so many of its doctrines fail
the test of authenticity. Mother Church is,it would appear, hoisted on her
own petard. As Bill Webster wrote:
Both in the concept and in the content of tradition,
the Roman Catholic Church has departed from the teaching of the early
Church, with the result that it has departed from the practice of the
early Church regarding the authority of Scripture. The Roman Catholic
Church has repudiated the principle of 'sola scriptura' in order to
elevate its traditions to a position of authority equal to the Scriptures.
In so doing, it has embraced the heresy of Gnosticism, condemned by
Irenaeus and Tertullian as well as that of the Jews which was condemned by
Jesus.—William Webster, Op. cit., pp. 32-33
I urge all who look to the Magisterium for correct
teaching leading to salvation to instead look to God:
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth: for I am God, and there is none else.—Isaiah 45:22
