The Power of Binding and Loosing
Now as to the power — authority — of Christ, given by himself to his vicars, which is touched upon in the words, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” that is, the power to bind and to loose sins, — Augustine says, Com. on John 21: “The effects of this power are shown, when Christ adds, ‘And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ This power is a spiritual power. Therefore, it is to be noted, that spiritual power is a power of the spirit, determining its acts of itself so that a rational creature, so far as gracious gifts go, may be guided and have his own distinctive place both as determined from the standpoint of the subject and the object.” Every man, however, is a spirit, since he has two natures; as the Saviour in speaking to his disciples said: “Ye know not what spirit ye are of” [Luke 9 : 55], and “every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God,” I John 4:3. Here the spirit is subtle and heretical, denying Jesus to be very God and very man. And it is evident that whether power in respect to God and power in respect to rational creatures are analogous or the analogy is to be restricted to the powers of men and the powers of angels, it is true that all spiritual power is a power of the spirit. And, although a man does not give grace, he nevertheless administers the sacraments, so that the inferior is guided as to gifts of grace.
But although bodily power may be the result of gifts of grace, nevertheless it is immediate, so that the creature of
God is ruled according to the law of natural things or of fortune. So every man is seen to have a double power; for every man ought to have the power over the movements of his members, and therefore has the power of walking in grace, so also the spiritual power has manifold subdivisions, for there is one power of orders and another common to all. The power of orders is called the spiritual power. This is that which the clergy has to administer the sacraments of the church that the clergy may profit itself and the laity, and such power is the power of consecrating the mass, absolving and performing the other sacramental acts — sacramentalia. For the power of consecrating the mass exists of itself and immediately, that the priest may consecrate just as dispositions of moral virtue are ordained because of acts better than the dispositions. And as the priest, in order that he may consecrate worthily, is guided as to the gifts of grace, the above description holds.
But the spiritual power, which is common, is the power which every priest1 has in doing spiritual works whether in his own person or among others, and about these the verse reminds us:
Doce, consule, castiga, solare, remitte, jer, ora.
Teach, counsel, punish, console, remit, bear, pray.2
For as many as received Christ by faith to these hath he given the power to become the sons of God, so that they may guide themselves and their brethren in the way of their Father Christ, and by rebuking in love as Christ said: “If thy brother sin against thee, go show him his fault between thee and him alone,” Matt. 18 : 15.
1 Plebanus, the term common in the M. A. for the parish priest.
2 The seven spiritual gifts of mercy, namely, teach the ignorant, direct the doubting, reprove the erring, console the sorrowing, forgive those indebted to thee, bear the infirmities of others, pray for all — in opposition to the seven bodily works of mercy: Visito, poto, cibo, redimo, tego, colligo, condo, namely, I visit the sick, give drink to the thirsty, feed the hungry, release the imprisoned, clothe the naked, care for the stranger, bury the dead. See Huss, Super IV. Sent., p. 596.
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Secular power is twofold, civil and common. Civil power, which is authoritative, belongs only to the civil lord. But civil power, which is vicarious, belongs to officials or servants. But secular power, which is common to all, is the power by which a man is able to rule himself and his own according to the gifts of nature and of fortune. And thus, just as a man cannot be a whole man without body and soul, nor is the adopted child of God complete without the gifts of nature and of grace, so the pilgrim cannot get along as a pilgrim unless he has both secular and spiritual power which are common to all, although this is bound in the case of infants and the dead. But spiritual power is everywhere the more perfect and the sacerdotal power exceeds the power of kings in dignity as appears from Heb. 7:7: “Greater is he that blesses and less is he who is blest.”
Hence the spiritual power, which is sacerdotal, excels the royal in age, dignity, and usefulness. In age it excels, because the priesthood was instituted by God’s command, as appears from Ex. 28. Later at God’s command the kingly power was instituted by the priesthood, as appears from Deut. 17 and I Sam. 12. In dignity it excels, as already said, because the priest as the greater blesses, consecrates and anoints the king. And the usefulness is evidently greater for the reason that the spiritual power is in and of itself sufficient for the ruling of the people, as appears from the history of Israel, which down to the time of Saul was salubriously administered independent of the kingly authority. Therefore, the spiritual power, inasmuch as it concerns the best things — things having their sufficiency in themselves — excels the earthly power, since the latter is of no avail independent of the spiritual power which is the chief regulative force. On the other hand, the spiritual power may act by itself without the aid of the earthly power. And, for this reason, the priests who abuse this power, which is so exalted, by pride or other open sin, fall all the lower with the devil into hell, and this is in accord with the rule of St. Gregory and other saints: “The higher the position the deeper the fall.”