XXXIII.
True Order and Liberty
The church rejects human impositions on the conscience while upholding necessary discipline and the authority of Christ's teaching.
XXXIII. However, we exclude all human inventions and all laws that people would introduce under the pretext of serving God, by which they would bind consciences; we receive only what serves and is suited to nourish harmony and to keep everyone, from the first to the last, in obedience.✦✦1 In this, we must follow what our Lord Jesus has declared concerning excommunication, which we approve and confess to be necessary, along with all its accompanying procedures.✦2
Read the original French
XXXIII. Cependant nous excluons toutes inventions humaines, et toutes lois qu’on voudrait introduire sous ombre du service de Dieu, par lesquelles on voudrait lier les consciences; mais seulement recevons ce qui fait et est propre pour nourrir la concorde, et tenir chacun depuis le premier jusqu’au dernier en obéisance. En quoi nous avons à suivre ce que notre Seigneur Jésus a déclaré quant à l’excommunication; laquelle nous approuvons et confessons être nécessaire avec toutes ses appartenances.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.15.9 — But in vain do they worship me, teaching human commandments as doctrines.
- ↩Col.2.20-Col.2.22 — If you died with Christ to the elemental forces of the world, why, as though you were still living in the world, do you submit to regulations? Col.2.21 — Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch— Col.2.22 — which are all destined to perish with use, according to the commandments and teachings of men.
- ↩Matt.18.15-Matt.18.18 — If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. Matt.18.16 — But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. Matt.18.17 — And if they refuse to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if they refuse even to listen to the church, let them be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Matt.18.18 — Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Notes
French Confession of Faith (Confession de La Rochelle / Gallican Confession) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit