Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig  I don't know if a Romanist would argue from presuppositionalism...but a friend of mine said presup was partly what led him to Rome. He constantly asked others "by what standard" when pushing them to see how their worldview failed an internal critique...he said he failed to ask himself "by what standard" when he came to doctrinal conclusions from private interpretation of scripture...he says that he realized that there wasn't any authority to his interpretation, that any unbeliever, if they thought of it, could have easily disarmed him by saying his views weren't binding given he had no authority to speak by. Lots of people affirm sola scriptura, yet we all seem to come to a million different conclusions...why is my view any more authoritative than someone else's given we say our starting point is the same, but our conclusions are different.
Ultimately, he says Rome stands the test as Rome has interpretive authority. |
It sounds like your friend decided that the Church of Rome should be the final standard. Since many say the Church has the authority to interpret Scripture, then it's only a matter of which Church. Once you start requiring a final authority that is not Scripture, then you must look to the Church, and then all you need to decided is which Church seems to have to greatest claim to authority.
The idea of private interpretation is not that men must subject themselves (by implicit faith) to the rulings of the church (this is
exactly what the Church of Rome teaches to justify itself as the final authority on the meaning of Scripture), but that the meaning of Scripture is one - the truths are the same for all men, and are not a matter of private interpretation.
The modern equivalent to "private interpretation" is the view that the Bible speaks a personal message to me that may be different than it speaks to you - that some verses can say different things to different people.
The
rejection of private interpretation implies that if what
you think Scripture says is very different that what other brothers (especially elders) are saying, then one of you is wrong. It doesn't say the elder brother is necessarily right -or that the church is right. A church, and an elder can be wrong, but you and the church can not both be right.
If these are brothers who have always agreed with Scripture before, then you should ask them to help you see where you may be wrong. But always remember that the teachings of any person or church must conform to Scripture, and not the other way around. You must be convinced by the Word and Holy Spirit, and never by the "authority" of men or church.
One of the signs that the Holy Spirit has guided us (individually) to a right understanding is the vast agreement we have on the meaning of the Word in basic and fundamental doctrines of faith. The fact is, the divisions in Reformed Churches are not great. And there are more fractions in the Roman Church. The appearance of unity in the Church of Rome is due to is hierarchical structure. And the problem with this structure is that errors of the few are forced upon the many. The Presbyterian system allows for a diversity of positions, but by it's nature, errors by a small group can not be forced upon the many - and the many can act to correct the errors of the few. (This is ideally how it works).
The Scripture is the final authority, but the individual still must be convinced himself of what Scripture says. The standards and the churches are always secondary. As reformed Presbyterians, we will often rest on the standards (WCF) because we agree that the standards convey the meaning of the Scriptures. But we can not rest on the churches or standards if we believe Scripture say otherwise. We must be convinced by Scripture that the church and the standards are correct. To bind the conscience of men against the Word would be a violation of conscience and Christian liberty and is why Luther said he can only go where the Scriptures took him - not the church or any other man.
We look to our elders for guidance in understanding what Scripture says. And the elders work with each other to try to settle questions of doctrine, to see if they are in accord to the Standards (and thus Scripture). But we always place Scripture as the final authority on determining if the churches are correct. Sometimes churches become apostate - and if not for the Scriptures as the final authority, the churches would take us all with them.
So please never say the "Church" has final authority over the meaning of Scripture. That places the church over the Word of God. The churches can never tell a man to believe against what he himself believes that Scripture says. The Scriptures themselves have to be the final authority. The Scriptures themselves are inerrant, not the churches. But we can be thankful that the unity of belief in the basic doctrines of the Reformed Faith (i.e. the Westminster Confession of Faith) demonstrates that the Holy Spirit has directed us to the fundamental truths of Scripture.