Does the quest for religious certainty overrule the quest for religious truth?
If one answers yes, then by all means, unless he's persuaded by the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture, he should simply submit his conscience to the authority of another man or, if he's not so inclined to feign humility, himself. That is the surest way to certainty.
But if one answers no, then he should never submit his conscience to any man. Instead, he should be guided by his own conscience as well as the multitude of others who have wrestled with God's special revelation doing the hard work of exegesis, guided by the Spirit throughout history. That is the means God has ordained by which his visible church might have the blessing of understanding religious truth with certainty.
Defaulting to the authority of a single man (whether himself or another, like the pope) may be the easiest way to attain certainty, but it is a false certainty. The more difficult and only true way is to search the Scriptures for oneself in concert with the historic search of the catholic church.
True, the visible church hasn't yet understood all doctrines with certainty (1 Cor. 13:12). And she may hobble a bit due to her wrestling with God's Word, just as each believer does if he's honest with himself. But she is nonetheless blessed because of the struggle.
If one answers yes, then by all means, unless he's persuaded by the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture, he should simply submit his conscience to the authority of another man or, if he's not so inclined to feign humility, himself. That is the surest way to certainty.
But if one answers no, then he should never submit his conscience to any man. Instead, he should be guided by his own conscience as well as the multitude of others who have wrestled with God's special revelation doing the hard work of exegesis, guided by the Spirit throughout history. That is the means God has ordained by which his visible church might have the blessing of understanding religious truth with certainty.
Defaulting to the authority of a single man (whether himself or another, like the pope) may be the easiest way to attain certainty, but it is a false certainty. The more difficult and only true way is to search the Scriptures for oneself in concert with the historic search of the catholic church.
True, the visible church hasn't yet understood all doctrines with certainty (1 Cor. 13:12). And she may hobble a bit due to her wrestling with God's Word, just as each believer does if he's honest with himself. But she is nonetheless blessed because of the struggle.
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