Hello George,
> -----Original Message-----
> From: george murphy [mailto:gmurphy@raex.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 10:22 AM
> To: Adrian Teo
> Cc: 'Robert Schneider'; asa@calvin.edu
> Subject: Re: Bear sacrifice
> Luther's best known statement about the fallibility
> of councils comes
> from the Leipzig debate
> of 1519, & he was referring especially to the Council of
> Constance a century
> earlier where Jan Hus was condemned. Among the articles that
> that council had
> condemned & which Luther had in mind was "The universal Holy
> Church is one, as
> the number of the elect is one", which is from Augustine.
The actual article that was condemned states:
1. There is only one holy universal church, which is the total number of
those predestined to salvation. It therefore follows that the universal holy
church is only one, inasmuch as there is only one number of all those who
are predestined to salvation.
It was this "strong" notion of predestination that was condemned (because it
would mean taht God predestined certain people to damnation), which IMO, is
quite different from that of Augustine, who also strongly affirmed free
will.
> Luther's positive attitude toward I Nicea, I
> Constantinople, Ephesus & Chalcedon is shown in his
> considerably later essay
> "On the Councils and the Church" (LW 41). He does not indeed
> say that they
> were infallible but simply that their doctrinal decisions
> were correct because
> they were in accord with scripture.
With all due respect, knowing that you are Lutheran, does this statement not
seem to suggest that Luther is acting as the final arbiter of what is in
accord with scripture and what isn't? I ask this question in the most
respectful manner, and I pray that you will not misundertand me and feel
offended.
> It is also worth noting that III Constantinople
> condemned Pope Honorius
> as a heretic, so it is not easy to maintain the infallibility
> of both popes and
> councils.
Pope St. Leo II was the one who condemned Pope Honorius I. But it was for
*negligence of duty* in the face of the heresy of Sergius. Honorius had not
spoken ex cathedra, so infallibility had not been involved.
Blessings,
Adrian.
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