G
GratiaCorpusChristi
Guest
Where does the notion come from that Christ intended that the disciples would develop his message through arguing among themselves until some compromise or consensus was achieved?
John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
And since Galatians and Acts show that truth came about through discussion and prayer as well as direct prophetic inspiration, I think this makes pretty clear that Jesus expected the Christian community to experience a development of doctrine that included all the various means that are attested, first within the New Testament and the New Testament era, and then in the subapostolic era and the second century, and perhaps even into the era of the ecumenical councils and the church fathers.
Of course, I think the later go in that process, the father we are from the initial outpouring of that same Spirit on Pentecost. And therefore, the further we are from Pentecost, the more we need to be cautious of blindly accepting new truths (and I think the church fathers recognized that when they condemned the New Prophecy/Montanism). But I don't think the development of doctrine through discussion and consensus contradicts Christ's expectations for the church; indeed, in a limited way, they follow through on the same processes he set in motion by sending the Spirit.
Upvote
0