tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post6100144658187495217..comments2024-03-29T09:20:16.581-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: Scripture is sufficient. . .Pastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-62500260784029398992011-12-31T11:40:02.086-06:002011-12-31T11:40:02.086-06:00What's with Lutherans using Fr Florovsky to de...What's with Lutherans using Fr Florovsky to defend Lutheran doctrine?<br /><br />Protopresbyter Georges Florovsky (1893-1979) was an Eastern Orthodox priest, theologian, historian and ecumenist. He is recognized as one of the most important Orthodox theologians of the twentieth century.<br /><br />You can read Father Florovsky's teaching on the Holy Scriptures at the link http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/english/theology_bible_florovsky_e.htm.<br /><br />excerpt:<br /><br />Revelation is preserved in the Church. Therefore, the Church is the proper and primary interpreter of revelation. It is protected and reinforced by written words; protected, but not exhausted. Human words are no more than signs. The testimony of the Spirit revives the written words. We do not mean now the occasional illumination of individuals by the Holy Ghost, but primarily the permanent assistance of the Spirit given to the Church, that is "the pillar and bulwark of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). The Scriptures need interpretation. Not the phrasing, but the message is the core. And the Church is the divinely appointed and permanent witness to the very truth and the full meaning of this message, simply because the Church belongs itself to the revelation, as the Body of the Incarnate Lord. The proclamation of the Gospel, the preaching of the Word of God, obviously belongs to the esse of the Church. The Church stands by its testimony and witness. But this witness is not just a reference to the past, not merely a reminiscence, but rather a continuous rediscovery of the message once delivered to the saints and ever since kept by faith. Moreover, this message is ever re-enacted in the life of the Church. Christ himself is ever present in the Church, as the Redeemer and head of his Body, and continues his redeeming office in the Church. Salvation is not only announced or proclaimed in the Church but precisely enacted. The sacred history is still continued. The mighty deeds of God are still being performed. Magnalia Dei are not circumscribed by the past; they are ever present and continued, in the Church and, through the Church, in the world. The Church is itself an integral part of the New Testament message. The Church itself is a part of revelation — the story of "the Whole Christ" (totus Christus: caput et corpus, in the phrase of St. Augustine) and of the Holy Ghost. The ultimate end of revelation, its telos, has not yet come. And only within the experience of the Church is the New Testament truly and fully alive. Church history is itself a story of redemption. The truth of the book is revealed and vindicated by the growth of the Body.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-80592415629011302422011-12-29T19:24:04.744-06:002011-12-29T19:24:04.744-06:00Nothing to say but, "Amen and amen."Nothing to say but, "Amen and amen."Janis Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02947508427040251166noreply@blogger.com