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Magisterium More Sufficient than Scripture? (Part 5)
[Cont’d from previous section] Is the Roman Catholic Magisterium More Sufficient than Sacred Scripture?Bryan Cross answered on the subject of the ability of the Scripture to interpret Scripture sufficiently, from Scripture, reason, and tradition. (Part 5) Continuing to analyze the problem with Bryan’s argument, we might characterize the problem as Bryan wanting to get a…
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Gregory of Nyssa on the Head of the Church
Another test as to Gregory of Nyssa’s affiliation is who he considered the head of the church. If he only views Christ as the head of the church, then he falls more in the Reformed camp. If he also (or instead) views the bishop of Rome as the head of the church, then he falls…
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Sola Fide in Gregory of Nyssa
Just so I have heard the sacred record laying blame upon the sons of Benjamin who did not regard the law, but could shoot within a hair’s breadth [Judges 20:16], wherein, methinks, the word exhibited their eager pursuit of an idle object, that they were far-darting and dexterous aimers at things that were useless and…
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Gregory of Nyssa on the Illustration of Divine Beauty
Gregory of Nyssa makes no reference to icons/statues/etc. but instead provides a very Reformed view of how the Divine Beauty is illustrated for us: “It is true, indeed, that the Divine beauty is not adorned with any shape or endowment of form, by any beauty of colour, but is contemplated as excellence in unspeakable bliss.…
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Terms One Doesn’t Find in Gregory of Nyssa
One of the interesting things about Gregory of Nyssa’s work are the things one does not find in the English translations of Gregory’s works: “pope” “papacy” “papal” “pontiff” “bishop of bishops” “vicar” “cardinal” “legate” “penance” (One might argue that the concept is there in Gregory of Nyssa the concept of penance, though not the term.)…
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Gregory of Nyssa on Rome
In a first post, we examined what Gregory of Nyssa considered to be inspired (link). In a second post, we discussed Gregory’s view of who was sinless: answer was Christ alone (link). In this post, we are going to examine Gregory’s view of Rome, to see whether he was some kind of proto-papist, or whether…
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>Gregory of Nyssa on Sinlessness: Only Jesus Sinless
>Some folks like to paint Gregory of Nyssa as though he were a Roman Catholic. Certainly, of course, there are points where his theology contains errors. His beliefs would not have squared with the Westminster Confession of Faith in every respect. So, to be clear, Gregory of Nyssa was neither a “Roman Catholic” nor a…
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What Gregory of Nyssa Considered Inspired
Over at the Beggars All Reformation blog, in the comment box, I encountered a commenter who was seemingly sure that Gregory of Nyssa viewed the council of Nicaea as inspired. My own research does not confirm this claim. On the contrary, Gregory of Nyssa practically always only uses “inspired” of the Scriptures themselves or the…