I recently wrote a post [link] on how Roman Catholic apologists often try to make it look as if Reformed Protestants are ignorant of the church fathers (some are, to be fair) in order to advance their ideas into the minds of those Protestants who are not learned in the relevant issues and arguments being discussed.
Recently, I was reading through John Calvin's address to the King of France at the beginning of his Institutes of the Christian Religion and I noticed something which caught my eye. Here, Calvin is commenting on some of the tactics being utilized by those who were opposed to the Protestant Reformation. It ultimately made me realize that the Reformers dealt with the same tactics that are being used by groups like Catholic Answers and many others today.
"It is a calumny to represent us as opposed to the Fathers (I mean the ancient writers of a purer age), as if the Fathers were supporters of their impiety. Were the contest to be decided by such authority (to speak in the most moderate terms), the better part of the victory would be ours. While there is much that is admirable and wise in the writings of those Fathers, and while in some things it has fared with them as with ordinary men; these pious sons, forsooth, with the peculiar acuteness of intellect, and judgment, and soul, which belongs to them, adore only their slips and errors, while those things which are well said they either overlook, or disguise, or corrupt; so that it may be truly said their only care has been to gather dross among gold. Then, with dishonest clamour, they assail us as enemies and despisers of the Fathers. So far are we from despising them, that if this were the proper place, it would give us no trouble to support the greater part of the doctrines which we now hold by their suffrages. Still, in studying their writings, we have endeavored to remember (1 Cor. 3:21-23; see also Augustin. Ep. 28), that all things are ours, to serve, not lord it over us, but that we axe Christ’s only, and must obey him in all things without exception. He who does not draw this distinction will not have any fixed principles in religion; for those holy men were ignorant of many things, are often opposed to each other, and are sometimes at variance with themselves." (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 'Prefatory Address to the King of France' , 4)
Calvin then goes on to show examples of the ways in which Roman Catholic theology and practice is actually in strong opposition to the teachings of the patristics. I will not post the entire quotation here but will direct everyone to Christian Classics and Ethereal Library where you can read this portion for yourselves [link]
"Claiming that the true religion is that which has been handed down in
the Scriptures, and arguing against implicit faith in 'the authority of Holy
Mother Church' and 'the primacy of the Apostolic See,' Calvin answers
the charge of newness on the part of the Protestant Reformers by citing
their agreement with many of the early church fathers on various of the
doctrines and practices at issue. In a section running five pages on the 'Misleading Claim That the Church Fathers Oppose the Reformation
Teaching,' he states, 'If the contest were to be determined by patristic
authority, the title of victory—to put it very modestly—would turn to our side.” Calvin acknowledges that one cannot agree with the Fathers in
everything, which is an allegiance owed only to Christ. But then he cites a
litany of the Fathers to show that the Church of Rome has imposed many
things that the ancient church did not accept (such as abstaining from
meat, the begging of monks, images of Christ or saints, transubstantiation,
participating in only one kind in the mass, many canons and doctrines
without any word of God, laws of fasting, and celibacy of the clergy.
Among those cited are Jerome; various bishops mentioned in Eusebius
or in the histories by Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret (late fourth and
fifth centuries); Ambrose (twice); Augustine (four times); Epiphanius,
bishop of Salamis; the Council in Spain (c. 305); Gelasius (twice); John
Chrysostom; Cyprian (twice); and Tertullian)." (William S. Barker, "The Historical Context of the Institutes as a Work in Theology, in A Theological Guide to Calvin's Institutes, pg. 4-5)
If I entered the above citation incorrectly, please let me know!
