XXXIII: Of the Number, Antiquity, Scope, Authority, and Interpreters of the Books of Holy Scripture explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Sovereignty and Absolute Power

  Hobbes argues that only the sovereign has the legislative authority to make the Scriptures law, reducing the question of canon to the sovereign's power.

• Religion and Civil Authority

  The chapter examines the relationship between religious texts and civil law, asserting that without sovereign approval, Scripture has no legal force.

• Liberty and Obligation

  Hobbes discusses the obligation of subjects to obey God versus the sovereign, and how natural reason guides them to obey their commonwealth's authority.

Characters to notice

• Moses

  Moses is discussed as the traditional author of the Pentateuch, though Hobbes questions this attribution based on textual evidence such as the mention of Moses' sepulchre.

• St. Jerome

  St. Jerome is cited for his classification of the Old Testament books, distinguishing canonical from apocryphal works.

• Jesus Christ

  Christ is referenced as the one who represented the person of God during His life on earth, and as the subject of the Gospels and prophecies.

• Holy Ghost

  The Holy Ghost is mentioned as descending on the Apostles at Pentecost and as the third person in the kingdom of God.

• Alexander the Great

  Alexander the Great is noted for his conquest of Asia, after which many learned Jews became proficient in Greek.

• Ptolomaeus Philadelphus

  Ptolemy, king of Egypt, is mentioned as the one who commissioned the Septuagint translation of the Jewish law into Greek.

Key passages

• “By the Books of Holy 'Scripture,' are understood those which ought to be the 'canon,' that is to say, the rules of Christian life. And because all rules of life, which men are in conscience bound to observe, are laws; the question of the Scripture is the question of what is law throughout all Christendom, both natural and civil.”

  Hobbes defines Holy Scripture as the canon or rule for Christian living, and since such rules are laws, the debate over Scripture is essentially a debate over what constitutes law in all Christian lands, covering both natural and civil law.

  This establishes the central argument that the authority of Scripture is a legal question.

• “The question truly stated is, 'by what authority they are made law.' As far as they differ not from the laws of Nature there is no doubt but they are the law of God, and carry their authority with them, legible to all men that have the use of natural reason: but this is no other authority, than that of all other moral doctrine consonant to reason; the dictates whereof are laws, not 'made,' but 'eternal.'”

  The real question is what authority makes the Scriptures law. When they align with natural law, they are clearly God's law and accessible to reason, but this authority is no different from any other rational moral teaching—these are eternal, not enacted, laws.

  Hobbes distinguishes between the inherent authority of natural law and the enacted authority of written law.

• “So that the question of the authority of the Scriptures, is reduced to this, 'whether Christian kings, and the sovereign assemblies in Christian commonwealths, be absolute in their own territories, immediately under God; or subject to one vicar of Christ, constituted of the universal church; to be judged, condemned, deposed, and put to death, as he shall think expedient, or necessary for the common good.'”

  Thus the authority of Scripture boils down to whether Christian sovereigns are absolute under God in their own territories or are subject to a universal vicar of Christ who can judge, depose, and execute them for the common good.

  This frames the debate as a conflict between royal supremacy and papal authority.