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Indefectibility of the Church

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Indagine, Johann de

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This subject has already been alluded to in the article CHURCH, (3); but Mr. Blunt (Theol. Cyclop 1,340) has treated it so much at length that we insert his remarks on this subject, which he treats under the two heads of (1) Perpetuity, and (2) Inerrancy and Infallibility. The former, he argues, frees the Church from failure in succession of members; the latter two free it from failure in holding and declaring the truth. "Both these flow from the constitution and nature of the mystical body of Christ. The Scriptures which speak to this point are John 15; 1 Corinthians 6:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 4:12; Ephesians 5:30; Colossians 1:18, and cannot be explained away into metaphor. As Christ's natural body was incorruptible, and yet before the resurrection was liable to human infirmities (Matthew 8:17), so his mystical body, yet unglorified, is liable in each one of its many members to sin and falling from grace; but nothing can touch the life of the body itself. As also the fullness of the Spirit dwelt in Christ, and Christ was the Truth, so the Spirit, by virtue of whose indwelling the body is one, and one with its Head, guides the Church into all truth."

I. Perpetuity of the Church. — "Plain promises of this are made in Isaiah 61:8-9; Daniel 2:44; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 28:20; John 14:16-17. There are also arguments to be drawn for it from the consideration of God's counsel and purpose. The consummation of all things is delayed only till God's servants are sealed (1 Corinthians 15:28; Revelation 6:9-11). When faith fails in the earth, the end will be (Luke 18:8). This is as regards God, in whose work we cannot suppose an interruption. So, too, as regards man. God will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. The Church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth, could not fail without a failure of God's mercy. So long as there are men capable of salvation (and all men are capable of salvation, since Christ died for all), so long will the Church be preserved, that to it may be added both οί σωζόμενοι and οί σωθησόμενοι. The promises of God are given to the Church as a whole. Each branch of the Church is on its probation, as is each individual member. And the law of probation, the law of their participation in the promise, is the same: ‘ He that hath, to him shall be given.' To argue that because each particular church may fail, therefore the whole may fail, is not only a fallacy in logic, but a denial of Christ's power to impart to the whole that which he does not impart to each particular member."

II. Inerrancy and Infallibility of the Church. — "The foregoing promises and arguments show that the Church will not fail either by dying out or by apostasy. As the work of the Spirit will not fail in bringing sons to God, so it will never fail in providing that there shall always be a body persevering in the faith according to the election of grace. This is to be considered more particularly as regards truth of doctrine. For this, also, there are promises, e.g. John 16:13; 1 John 2:27. The spirit which dwells in the Church is likewise declared to be the spirit of knowledge and understanding (Colossians 1:9; Colossians 2:3; Colossians 3:10). Less cannot be implied in these words than that the Church shall always have a tenure of the truth sufficient for salvation. They show, further, that any doctrine which can be said to be the deliberately ascertained voice of the Church must be from God, whose Spirit is in the Church. But they cannot be pressed so far as to prove that the Church may not for a time hold such an error as does not directly deny the foundation of faith, or does not directly deny Christ. Even an error, which by logical consequence denies the foundation of faith, is not to be taken as such a denial. The consequence may not be perceived, and if perceived the premises would be at once rejected. The case is doubtless of great improbability, but its possibility must be conceded. When, then, can we say that the voice of the Church is sufficiently ascertained? This leads us on from the inerrancy, or passive infallibility, to the active infallibility, or declaration of the faith. No actual limits of time can be set for which, if a doctrine has been held, it must be considered as the ascertained decision of the Church. The circumstances of the Church may not be such as to lead to investigation. Ten y ears in one period may cause more sifting of the truth than a hundred years of another period. It is the condition of the Church militant to be always under trial, sometimes by persecution from the world, sometimes by blasts of contrary doctrine within itself. In different degrees these are blended, and with very different degrees of speed will the truth emerge. The degree of holiness also, and above all, will regulate the discovery and reception of truth. For knowledge and understanding in spiritual things are the flower and fruit; the plant itself is holiness springing from the root of faith. The certainty, then, of a doctrine enunciated by the Church is a growing certainty, varying in amount with the time the doctrine has been held, the degree of investigation to which it has been subjected, and the degree of holiness in the Church. Thus the decrees of a council which we may believe to be ecumenical can only be known to be the genuine voice of the Church by their acceptance. We may agree to the abstract proposition that a truly ecumenical council cannot err; but the proposition is of little practical value at the time of holding a council, for none can prove that the council has not in some respects failed of ecumenicity. The authority of its decisions rests on their acceptance. For the Spirit of God is given to the whole body of the Church; and that can only be known to be the true voice of the Church which is expressed by sufficient deliberation of generation after generation. In this sense the infallibility of the Church is a reasonable doctrine, and one, in fact, which it would be unreasonable for any Christian to disbelieve."