we were working through Augsburg Confession XXIII: the marriage of priests. It struck me how utterly powerful the Scriptures were to these men and how what the papal party was proposing simply could not overcome the clarity of God's own express words. Think of it:
from 1 Corinthians 9: "Have we not power to lead about a sister a wife as other Apostles, and as the brethren of The Lord, and Cephas?"
from 1 Corinthians 7: "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband... But if they cannot contain, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn."
from 1 Timothy 3: "A bishop, then, must be blameless, the husband of one wife..."
from 1 Timothy 4: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils...forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving."
from Hebrews 13: "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled."
Just as exactly with their challenge in Article XXII to the withholding of the chalice, so here: Scripture is simply abundantly, expressly, incontrovertibly clear. And if someone in the name of the Church dares to controvene what Scripture expressly teaches, so much the worse for that fellow. We abide by the Sacred Scriptures.
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