Calvin’s Institutes, IV.7.19-22: “Later Papal claims contrary to principles of Gregory 1 and Bernard, 19-22”
IV.4.7.20: “New Forgeries Support Extravagant Claims”
Observations:
1. Rome “substitutes” the names of "ancient pontiffs" in later forged decretals, as if the ancients ruled like the modernists (of Calvin’s day). A reading back into history what did not exist. This entire section is an unhappy tableaux about a very unhappy family, Romanism. Their outdoor plans for victory rallies envisioned by modern popularists are "rained out" by Calvin's muscular review of chaos. The gilded resume of the Papacy is infrequenty addressed.
2. Calvin cites a forged letter from Anastasius, bp. of Constantinople, which states that Rome is supreme and all cases are to be reviewed and appealed to her. It's all very Clintonesque. ECT devotees, like Colson and Packer, are mum on the issues although the history of the Papacy is bollixed by the truth and light of day.
3. Calvin says: “Antichrists be carried to the point of madness and blindness…” He includes Gregory IX, the Gratian Decretals (previously noted), the Clementines and the Extravagantes of Martin. The long term effect 0f Calvin's argument thus far has been to silence the sacrileges of Papal pride.
4. Although not cited by Calvin, another figure calls Gregory IX an “Antichrist.”
Eberhard II von Truchsees, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Council of Regensburg (1241), declared that Gregory IX was "that man of perdition, whom they call Antichrist, who in his extravagant boasting says, `I am God, I cannot err'" [emphasis added]. See below.
5. Calvin says: “…still more openly and boisterously breathe out everywhere an unrestrained fury and tyranny like that of barbarian kings.”
6. Papal claims during Calvin’s times: “The Pope cannot err, that the pope is above councils, that the pope is the universal bishop of all churches and the supreme head of the church on earth.”
Benedict XVI has perfect “lip sync” with the past, but sings pianissimo. Petrine supremacy was and still is the backbone of the Romanist Creed. Benedict XVI is a "taped vocalist" for his predecessors.
7. Calvin: “I forebear to mention their more absurd follies, which the stupid canonists babble in their schools, and which, the Romanist theologians, to flatter their idol, not only assent to, but even applaud.” Calvin is ruthlessly clear here. It reminds of the clarity of still-standing confessional document of Confessional Lutherans, The Smalcald Articles, 1537.
The Papacy is a tangle of a pernicious undergrowth that chokes healthy plants, if allowed.
Correlations:
1. We take a brief tour of Pope Gregory IX to whom Calvin refers. (Pope: 1227 to 1241). We will summarize highpoints from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_IX.
As the successor of Pope Honorius III (1216–27), he inherited the traditions of Pope Gregory VII (1073–85) and his uncle, Pope Innocent III (1198-1216).
Gregory IX zealously continued the policy of Papist supremacy. As the Cardinal of Ostia and as a close man in the pope's shop of bishops and archbishops, close to Pope Honorius III, he was aware of Honorius’s policy of accommodation with the formidable Hohenstaufen Emperor, Frederick II (1220–50). Gregory would not embrace his predecessor's policy of accommodation.
Frederick asserted his position as universal temporal ruler after the mold of Constantine.
Gregory IX, however, began his tub-thumping pontifications by suspending the Emperor. Other Papist bobbleheads in Rome agreed to the political burlesque. Threats of deposition and excommunication followed while Frederick was delaying in Sicily over the Sixth Crusade.
Frederick II controlled the Sicilian Church along with holding other feudal obligations to the Pope (e.g. Naples, Capua). Where's the Pepto Bismol? As if St. Peter and St. Paul acted like this.
Gregory IX denounced Frederick II as a heretic and summoned a council to Rome. Frederick II attempted to capture or sink as many ships carrying prelates to the synod.
Eberhard II von Truchsees, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, at the Council of Regensburg declared that Gregory IX was "that man of perdition, whom they call Antichrist, who in his extravagant boasting says, I am God, I cannot err." [emphasis added]
He argued that the Pope was the "little horn" of Daniel 7:8. Protestant Reformers by no means were the original claimants of such.
Based on Daniel 7.8, Eberhard said of Gregory IX: “…the little horn has grown up with eyes and mouth speaking great things, which is reducing three of these kingdoms--i.e. Sicily, Italy, and Germany--to subserviency, is persecuting the people of Christ and the saints of God with intolerable opposition, is confounding things human and divine, and is attempting things unutterable, execrable." [emphasis added] It is to be remembered that 98% of the people were uninvolved and that this burlesque involved aristocrats and Popes--a day when communication was very limited. Some players who were involved, like Eberhard 11, were more than clanging cymbals and noise-makers. They saw the gilded turd--one kick reveals the hot, steamy interior.
The struggle ended Gregory IX’s death (August 1241).
A learned lawyer, Gregory caused to be prepared the Nova Compilatio decretalium in 1234. This New Compilation of Decretals was the culmination of a long process of collecting the mass of pronouncements on Petrine sovereignty made earlier. (A point rigourously denied by Gregory the Great, 590-604.) This had come to fruition in the Decretum started earlier with the papist lawyer, Gratian (1140); this further advanced the foundation for papal legal theory.
In 1231, he initiated the Papal Inquisition to handle heresy.
Gregory IX institutionalized Church teaching that condemned Jews to an inferior status in Christendom. In the 1234 Decretals, he authorized the doctrine of perpetua servitus iudaeorum – perpetual servitude of the Jews. The Jews would remain in a condition of political servitude and humiliation until Judgment Day.
This papist doctrine found its way into the legal code under the Emperor's authority; this was promulgated by Frederick II. The status of condemnation and political subjection of Jews would last until the 19th century.
As a minor aside to the larger issue of Petrine sovereignty, Gregory IX's papal letter, Vox in Rama (1232), identified “cats” as instruments of the devil and as symbols of heresy. Another claim ab ignorantia et ad ignorantiam. This led to a great reduction in the number of cats, which, a hundred years later, contributed to the quick spread of the Black Death plague, which killed 1/3 to 1/2 of the population of Europe. (Cf. Dr. Daniel Robinson’s lecture on “Witchcraft,” Great Ideas in Philosophy, Teaching Company for similar allegations.)
Interpretation:
Calvin's summary of the Papacy continues apace and debreeds the Gordian knot of supremacistic tub-thumping for Petrine supremacy. Calvin speaks with boldness, majesty, and strong presumptive evidence, unlike Romanist mountebanks and unlike the discreditable pragmatists, enthusiasts and obscurantists of our day (Colson, Christianity Today, etc., contemporary evangelicals).
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