§ 130. General Survey

Having set forth, so far as seemed to us necessary, the constitution of the Church, we now pass on to survey those rights which concern the proper administration of the Church itself, namely, how and on what grounds the Church exercises the power which it received from its divine Founder, in order to maintain its organism in strength.

The power of the Church is threefold: of teaching, of the performance of sacred acts, and of pastorship or governance (§ 58); it corresponds to the three offices of the Founder of the Church, who is Teacher,[1] High Priest,[2] and King,[3] and accordingly the Church too, of which He is the Head (§ 49) and which is His body, must first of all be a school, in which His pure teaching is taught and preserved; it must further be His temple, in which all are sanctified by means of the gifts of grace; it must lastly be His kingdom, in which His laws are interpreted and issued, in which righteous judgment is pronounced, and in which, on account of the Church’s existence upon earth, the material means necessary for attaining the Church’s general purpose are also disposed of. Accordingly this part of church law, too, must be divided into three sections, of which the first treats of the power of teaching (ἐξουσία διδακτική, potestas magisterii), the second of the power of the performance of sacred acts (ἐξουσία ἱερατική, potestas ordinis, ministerii), and the third of the power of governance (ἐξουσία διοικητική, potestas jurisdictionis).

CHAPTER ONE. The power of teaching.