Chapter 9
A Dialogue, Part mi, Tract 1 case; for if they had committed excesses in such things, then by reason of wrongdoing they would have been subject to Peter even in respect of those things, because by reason of wrongdoing those who are exempt receive a court,' and "he deserves to lose a privilege whe misuses the power permitted to him," Zxtra, De regularibus, c. Licet, and 4, g. 3, Privilegium.)
Student This attack seems to militate against the truth, because the apostles were not only preachers and teachers with power to baptize, bind, and loose, but they were also appointed by God as shepherds, as the Apostle testifies in Ephesians chapter 3.7? Speaking of Christ, he says, "And he gave some to be apostles and some prophets and others evangelists, and others shepherds and teachers." From these words we gather that Christ appointed the other apostles as shepherds in the same way as he appointed Peter, and consequently, in so many words or in substance, he said "Feed ary sheep" to every other apostle just as he did to Peter. From this it is inferred that he gave the others, like Peter, every power implied by the word "Feed," because he did not give such power more to anyone than to the apostles; therefore the aposties had the same authority in all things as Peter had.
Master To this objection of yours it is answered that Christ (who even Tow does not cease to govern the Church invisibly, according to the Apostle) appointed certain men as shepherds, using Peter as intermediary. The Apostle does not say that Christ gave some to be shepherds without the ministry of Peter, but that "he gave... shepherds," because he gave them by means of the ministry and authority of Peter. This is true.
Chapter 9 Student Say now, briefly, how answer is made to the text of the Apostle and the gloss which were brought forward te prove the equality in particular of blessed Paul to Peter.'""
Master All those texts are answered by means of the things said above. Although the other apostles besides blessed Peter were not S* That is, subject themselves to a court from which they had been exempt.
4 See Marsilius, p. 379.
William of Ockham appointed by Christ as shepherds of the universal Church and did not have the same power over the universal Church as Peter had, blessed Paul had the office of preaching immediately from Christ and exercised this office before he had seen Peter or Peter knew that he had been converted. For in Acts g[:18—20] it is written of him, "Rising up, he was baptized, and when he had taken food he was strengthened; and he was with the disciples who were in Damascus for some days. And immediately Paul went into the synagogues and preached Jesus, that he was the Son of God."
That he had then no authority to preach from Peter is seen from the things that follow, when it is said, "And when he had come to Jerusalem he tried to join himself to the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and told them how he had seen the Lord on the road and spoken to him and how in Damascus he had acted confidently in the name of Jesus."
As for the Apostie's statement" that the evangelization of the uncircumcised had been entrusted to himself, as to Peter that of the circumcised, some say that it was not said by the Apostle because Paul was teacher and preacher only to the gentiles and Peter only to the Jews, since this seems to conflict very plainly with canonical Scripture: both had authority and power to preach hoth to the uncircumcised and to the circumcised, that is, to both gentiles and Jews, and sometimes both did preach to both, (Of Paul, indeed, it is manifestly clear in Acts 9f:20], 13[:5}, and ra{-1] that he preached to the Jews, and he himself asserts in his epistles that he was also teacher of the gentiles, and the apostolic history
{Acts} also testifies this of him; concerning Peter the same is also clear, for he preached to the Jews, as is clear from many places, and he preached to gentiles, namely to Cornelius and others, as is clear in Acts 10.) Rather, the Apostle says that the evangelization of the uncircumcised was entrusted to him and that of the circum~ cised to Peter because Paul was more intent upon the conversion of the gentiles and Peter on the conversion of the Jews, so that often and in various provinces Peter preached to Jews alone, as Eusebius testifies in his Ecclesiastical History. In Book m1, chapter
A Dialogue, Part ut, Tract t 2, he says: "Peter is found to have gone around Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and other bordering provinces, preaching to Jews alone." And yet it was permissible for him to preach to gentiles, just as it was permissible for Paul to preach to Jews. The gloss that the holders of the above opinion quote'® in the answer we are now discussing manifestly asserts this. I¢ says: "However, the dispensing was distributed to them in such a way that Peter also preached ta the gentiles, if some reason demanded it, and Paul to the Jews." This is also gathered evidently from the Seclesiastical History, when it asserts that Peter and Paul founded the church in Rome (as will be said later).
When that gloss says that the evangelization of the uncircumcised was in that way chiefly entrusted to Paul, as the evangelization of ; the circumcised was to Peter, it is answered that the glass says this because Christ entrusted the office of preaching to Paul directly and without Peter, so that he did not have the office of preaching from Peter. And yet Paul was in some way subject to Peter even in respect of the office of preaching, for if in the office entrusted to him by Christ he had committed some excess, he would have had to be corrected by Peter.
When it is taken {as a premise] in the above answer'*! that neither Paul nor any other saint could have assumed that the Jewish people had been entrusted especially and chiefly to Peter from anything else except that Christ said to him, "Feed my sheep," it is answered that Paul said many things about Christ and the apostles that he did not get from the canonical Scriptures of the New
Testament. For he says in 1 Corinthians 15[:6], "Then he," namely Christ, "was seen by more than five hundred at the same time," and, as we read in Acts 20[:35], "[the word of the Lord Jesus, how he said:] It is more blessed to give than to receive"; and yet those things are not contained in the earlier writings of the New
Testament. So also he could have said, as one who for the great part had knowledge of Peter's deeds, that the evangelization of the circumcised had been entrusted to blessed Peter, even though he did not take this from the statement, "Feed my sheep," or from any thing else that anyone wrote before him.
™See Marsilius, pp. 379-80.
"4! See Marsilius, p. 780.
William of Ockham Chapter 10 Student Because, as 1 said before, many or all who hold that Christ appointed blessed Peter as head and ruler of the other apostles try to prove it chiefly hy means of those words of Christ,
"Feed my sheep," I would therefore like those words to be still further examined, so that I may better understand their truth.
It seems, therefore, first, that it cannot be proved (as others'** suggest} by those words that blessed Peter was appointed ruler and prelate of any persons whatever. For someone can feed others with words and examples, and also by physical support, even though he has over them no authority at all. Therefore by saying to Peter, "Feed," etc., Christ committed to him no authority at all over the others who had to be fed.'*?
Master It seems to very many that that answer is not at all satisfactory. Just as the grant of a benefice or privilege made indefinitely and simply is understood generally, Extra, De privilegits,
Quia circa, so also the entrusting of power or of an office made indefinitely and simply should be understood universally — namely so that all things are understood to have been granted or entrusted that are not prohibited, concerning which there is the same reason for entrusting or granting and concerning which it is not likely or probable that the one entrusting or granting specifically did not entrust or grant those things; for "he who excepts nothing" and could have made exceptions "seems to have granted or entrusted the whole," as the sacred canons testify.'* But in the words, "Feed my sheep," Christ entrusted to blessed Peter and enjoined on him something conveyed by the word "Feed," and that entrusting or enjoining was done indefinitely and simply; therefore all things are understood to have been entrusted that are not found prohibited, concerning which there is the same reason for entrusting, and concerning which it is not likely or probable that the one entrusting specifically did not entrust them.
But by the word "Feed" is conveyed not only feeding others with word and example and bodily maintenance, but also [feeding them] by way of power and with authority ~ especially as the word "Feed" is
"2 The people Marsilius is answering.
? See Marsilius, p. 378.
™The quotation marks are guesswork, the source has not been found.
A Dialogue, Part ur, Tract 1 taken in the sacred Scriptures and in the expositions ofthe holy fathers.
This can be proved abundantly, but Ict it suffice to bring forward « few passages}. Ezechiel, therefore, says — indeed, the Lord says through the prophet Ezechiel — in chapter 34[:2]: "Woe to you shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves . .. That which was weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, what was lost you have not sought." But to lead straying sheep back to the flock, to seek lost sheep, and to carry back again those found belongs to him who has power over the sheep. And truth himself, as we read in John 10[:2], says, "He who enters by the door is the shepherd ofthe sheep, the door keeper opens for him, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out; and when he has let out his own sheep he goes before them, and the shecp follow him." From these words of Christ, and from others that follow, we gather that in respect of his office the shepherd ofChrist's faithful is like the shepherd ofirrational sheep. But by his office he [the latter] has some superiority and power over his lord's sheep; therefore the shepherd also of Christ's sheep, who are the faithful, has by his office power and authority over them.
This is found so plainly in the expositions and assertions of the holy fathers that it seems that to prove it from them is quite superfluous.
Therefore Christ through his words to him, "Feed my sheep," entrusted to blessed Peter some power over his sheep; especially since he is not found to have forbidden him absolutely atl power and authority. There was, also, the same reason for granting him some authority and power over all as for entrusting to him the feeding of Christ's sheep by good words and examples, because they needed a guide and one with power over them just as they needed someone to build them up by means ofgood words and examples; it is therefore not likely or probable that he would specifically not have granted him such power. From these points it follows that by those words Christ granted and entrusted to blessed Peter some power.
Chapter 11 Student Here E could, by arguing from what has been said, undermine [the statement] that Christ entrusted to Peter all power over his sheep, even the fullness of power that the first opinion of the first chapter of