The Church Fathers and Lutheranism
The opinion of these fathers is that a thing should not be believed or accepted because someone of the fathers either thought or said so, unless he proves what he says from the canonical Scriptures, that the fathers could have thought differently from what truth demands, and that we have been called by the Lord to that liberty that we may freely judge about the writings of any and all persons according to the canonical writings, and that when we disapprove of anything in the writings of the fathers which does not agree with the Scripture and reject it, this is done without rashness but by a just judgment, without injury or disgrace to the fathers, without prejudice to their honor, and with their consent, and this is done by those also who are incomparably inferior to the fathers.
Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, I:261
Speaking of which, am I misreading, or does Irenaeus of Lyons err in today’s snippet in the Treasury: “But man, being endowed with reason, and in this respect like to God, having been made free in his will, and with power over himself, is himself *the cause to himself, that sometimes he becomes wheat*, and sometimes chaff.
The best of the Fathers said the same thing as Chemnitz in regard to the authority and sufficiency of scripture; they didn’t foresee their writings becoming as authoritative as the Orthodox claim them to be. I have a list of such quotes on my website if anyone is interested.
Timothy, I also had the same thought.
Timothy, read the quotation to the end:
“Wherefore also he shall be justly condemned, because, having been created a rational being, he lost the true rationality, and living irrationally, opposed the righteousness of God.”
@Mark Henderson
Mark,
I would be interested in seeing those quotes. I have seen them from Augustine and Aquinas. I would like to see others. Can you post your website?
Oops!
Sorry Mark. Figured it out. Click on your name!
Thanks!
Rob
@robert buechler
Thanks for your interest Rob, and glad to see you found the site!
Feel free to cut and paste and use them as you wish – that’s why I’ve collated them.
There are more to come and in other categories as well.