System of Sacred Theology · §1.7.15 · Ludwig Crocius

Reasons against papal sole interpreter; circular argument; triune interpretive principle

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The reasons for our judgment are these. (1) We must continually fear what is said in Prov. 30:5–6: Every word of God is purified: it is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. Therefore no one ought in interpreting to put forward anything there is danger of addition, nor propose as God's infallible word what he is not again and again sure carries no charge of falsehood from himself. (2) Eccl. 5:2–3: do not speak rashly, and let not your heart be swift to utter a word before God; God is in heaven, you on earth; therefore let your words be few. (3) Above all the anathema spoken by Paul against those who evangelize anything beyond what he had evangelized must be dreaded (Gal. 1:8–9).

Against the Jesuits who say only the Pontiff holds infallible authority to interpret the Scriptures, one must proceed thus: their argument in form commits a circle and begs the principle. Let the rule be noted: whatever the Holy Spirit teaches through canonical Scripture in the serious struggle is of infallible and most certain truth, in which the conscience can safely rest as on a rock (Matt. 7:24–25). This is the triune principle of all theological interpretation. Scripture indeed contains the truth by itself, but without the Spirit it is not rightly understood, and without the Spirit's power (1 Cor. 2:4) it is discerned only in the struggle against flesh and Satan (Gal. 5:17; Eph. 6:12), according to each person's age and capacity (1 Cor. 3:2).

Latin

RATIONES vero sententiae nostrae sunt istae. 1. Quia perpetuo timere nos oportet, quod dicitur Prov. 30.5.6. Totus sermo Dei purgatissimus est: scutum est recipientibus se ad ipsum. NE ADDITO AD VERBA EJUS; si non corripiat te, neque mendax efias. Quapropter nemo aliquid interpretando proferre debet, in quo sit additionis periculum, neque adeo tanquam infallibile Dei verbum proponere, in quo non sit etiam atque etiam certus, nullum falsi crimen a se contrahi. 2. Quia dicitur Eccl. 5.2.3. ne temere quid loquaris, neque cor tuum sit velox ad proferendum sermonem coram Deo. Deus enim in caelo, tu vero in terra. Idcirco sunto verba tua pauca. 3. Quia inprimis etiam reformidandum est anathema dictum a Paulo in Euangelizantes aliquid praeter ea, quae ipse Euangelizaverat, Gal. 1.8.9. Contra Jesuitas, qui dicunt solum Pontificem obtinere infallibilem auctoritatem interpretandi Scripturas, ita procedere oportet. Argumentum eorum in forma circulum committit & principium petit. Notetur regula: quicquid per Scripturam canonicam Spiritus sanctus in seria lucta docet, id infallibilis, certissimaeque veritatis est, in qua, tanquam petra conscientia tute acquiescere potest, Matth. 7.24.25. Hoc est principium triunum omnis theologicae interpretationis. Scriptura quidem per se veritatem continet, sed sine Spiritu non recte intelligitur, & sine potentia Spiritus 1. Cor. 2.4. non nisi in lucta adversus carnem & Satanam Gal. 5.17. Ephes. 6.12. pro cujusque aetate & captu, 1. Cor. 3.2. cernitur.

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Ludwig Crocius's System of Sacred Theology (Bremen, 1636), all four books: theology and its rule in Scripture; man's last end, death and the resurrection; God, the Trinity, creation, providence and sin; and the grace of Christ, the Word and sacraments, faith, the Christian life and prayer.

Ludwig Crocius (1586–1655) taught theology and philosophy at Bremen and sat as a delegate at the Synod of Dort (1618–1619). A Calvinist of the irenic school, he spent his career seeking common ground between the Reformed and Lutheran churches.

His System of Sacred Theology (Bremen, 1636) is a full Reformed dogmatics in the high-orthodox style: precise definitions, ordered questions, objections raised and answered.

Date1636 AD (Bremen; Reformed professor)

EditionSyntagma sacrae theologiae (Bremen: Berthold Villerian, 1636)

English follows the 1636 Bremen Latin (Berthold Villerian), read chapter by chapter from the SLUB Dresden page images, with a machine reading of the same pages as a check. No modern English was copied. The author index at the end of the volume is not translated.

Reference

VD17 14:684303C. SLUB id335860389.

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