We prove that the laity should read Scripture: First, from the divine command.
We prove that the laity should read Scripture: First, from the divine command.
§ 482. From this we conclude deductively against the Papists that the reading of Scripture must not be forbidden to “laymen,” as they call them, but that, instead, they must be invited and encouraged to do so. We prove this: (I) From the divine command. Whoever is bound by divine command to read and listen to Scripture must not be kept from such reading but be invited to it. Laymen are bound by divine command to read and listen to Scripture. Therefore. The minor premise is proved in general and in particular. (1) In general, from those passages of Scripture in which all laypeople are commanded to read Scripture. Deut. 6:6-8: “And these words that I command you this day will be upon your heart and you will teach them to your children and will talk of them. And you will bind them as a sign upon your hand and they will be as frontlets between your eyes, and you will write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” If they had to write God’s Law on their doorposts and on their gates, then certainly everyone also had to read it. As a result, the Jews allow no home of theirs to be without the sacred books. Deut. 31:11-12: “You will read this Law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people: men, women and little ones, and the sojourner within your gates, that they may hear and learn,” etc. Isa. 34:16: “Seek and read from the book of the Lord; not one of these shall be missing.” In these passages, the reading of the Book of the Law is commended to all people, and, by the same logic, the reading of the rest of the prophetic books is commended, because they were all written by the same Spirit and refer to one and the same end (Rom. 15:4; 2 Tim. 3:15). In accordance with that, Christ commands them to “search the Scriptures” (John 5:39). Paul says, “Above, I wrote briefly, just as you are able, when you read, to understand my prudence in the mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:3-4). In Col. 3:16 he requires that “the Word of Christ dwell in us richly (or among us abundantly) in all wisdom.” In Col. 4:16 he commands that when that letter to the Colossians had been read among them, “let it also be read in the church of the Laodiceans.” In 1 Thess. 5:27 he adjures the Thessalonians that “this letter be read before all the brethren.”
** Christ commanded us to “search the Scriptures” (John 5:39). David declares that those are blessed who “study the Law of the Lord day and night” (Ps. 1:2). Moses commanded that the Book of the Law be read in the presence of all the people (Deut. 17:19). The Book of Jeremiah is commanded to be read before the entire people (Jer. 36:3). The Bereans read the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). From boyhood, Timothy knew the sacred writings (2 Tim. 3:15). The Scriptures were always read in the synagogues publicly before all the people (Acts 15:21; Neh. 8:4). **
(2) In particular, from those passages of Scripture that speak about kings and princes, for the Papists also consider them to be among the laity. Deut. 17:18-19: “When the king sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this Law in a book from before the Levitical priests; and it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life so he may learn to fear the Lord, his God,” etc. Josh. 1:8: “This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night.”
Bellarmine makes the exception: (1) “The Papists do not deny that the Scriptures can be translated into common languages (that the laity may read them also); rather, they intend only this: that the Scriptures should not be read publicly in a common language nor be allowed to be read here and there to all people in a common tongue” (De verbo Dei, bk. 2, c. 16, resp. to 6). We respond. Actually the statements of Scripture that we have cited prove the contrary. After all, if the Scriptures are commanded to be read publicly in the presence of all people in a familiar and common language, they must certainly be permitted to be read in a common language. If the letter written to the Thessalonians should be read to all the brethren, then certainly that which Paul had written had to be read to all in a common language. You see, among parts of the same genus, we draw a correct conclusion from the nature of a part to the nature of the whole.
(2) Beza, Piscator, and Tossanus follow the Arian Erasmus Johannis and take the word 
[“search”] in Christ’s statement in John 5:39 in the indicative mood. By this explanation, one cannot prove a command to read Scripture from this passage. But it is more accurate to take it in the imperative mood. This is because: [a] The Jews with whom Christ is involved here indeed would read the Scriptures, though they did this incidentally, carelessly, perfunctorily, fostering their own preconceived opinions; however, they did not search them (Matt. 22:29). (Some claim that in the word 
there is a metaphor taken from a dog’s keenness of scent, to signify “searching for something carefully and bringing it out of its hiding place.” We claim, however, that He is speaking a metaphor taken from mining, for in this sense the word 
, or 
, is used in the Septuagint.) [b] In the Greek, the pronoun 
[“you”] is not added. [c] The interpretation with the indicative is tautological, for the text would have to have been formed in this way: 
, 
[“You search, because you think”]. If the pronoun had been omitted from either part, a suspicion about the indicative mood would more easily have a place. [d] Imperatives without pronouns are spoken in this way: 
[“rejoice and be glad”] (Matt. 5:12); 
[“think not”] (v. 17); 
[“seek”] (6:33); 
[“judge not”] (7:1); 
[“rejoice always”] (1 Thess. 5:16); etc. [e] The ancient and more recent interpreters explain it in this way. Chrysostom, homily 40 on John: “Christ called the Jews not simply to a reading of the Scriptures but to a careful investigation thereof. He did not say, ‘Read the Scriptures,’ but ‘Search them,’ for divine matters require the greatest diligence.”
** Origen, homily 2 on Ecclesiastes: “Would that we did what is written: ‘Search the Scriptures.’ “Basil, De bapt., bk. 2, c. 4: “Let us be obedient to the Lord when He says: ‘Search the Scriptures.’ “Cyril, 
, 1, “Christ cried out to the Jewish people: ‘Search the Scriptures.’ “The same, in Sermon 45 de verb. Domini, in the persona of the Church. **
Augustine, on Psalm 109: “He commanded us to search the Scriptures, not to run through them superficially.” Luther, Melanchthon, and Bugenhagen rendered it in the imperative mood. [f] The Syriac text takes it in the same mood. [g] Of the Calvinists themselves, the preachers at Zürich and Leo Jud in their version, Whitaker (Controv. de Script.), and even Piscator (Volum. thesium, p. 13, thesis 8) do the same as we do. Of the Papists, Emser and Dietenberger do likewise.
** Stapleton makes the exception: (1) “Christ is not speaking to the common crowd but to the Pharisees and chief men, for He says, ‘You sent to John.’ “(2) “This is a statement in the mode of indulgence rather than a general command.” These exceptions, however, are opposed to each other. The Pharisees and chief men were bound by their duty to read the Scriptures. Throughout the chapter, these people are called by the general name “Jews,” never “Pharisees” or “chief men.” **