Today in Turretin's Institutes I read over a discussion of how reason is to be used in making judgment about theology. The historical example that was at the forefront of the discussion was the debate between the Lutherans and the Calvinists over what happened to Christ's physical body after He ascended. The Lutherans claimed that Christ's physical body took on divine attributes and is now ubiquitous (everywhere). This is how Lutherans explain that Christ's physical body is present in communion. The Reformed argued that this is contradictory because if Christ's physical body were everywhere, then (like other physical bodies) we would see it and feel it. The Lutheran response to the Reformed objection was: reason can not make judgments about theology.

Turretin (in 1.1.10) does a wonderful job of explaining how the Bible requires us to use reason when making judgments about theological propositions. This does NOT mean that reason leaves its ministerial role. It is NOT there to question the scriptures or the faith. It is NOT there to make judgments about what the Bible says. It IS there to make judgments about what someone says about the Scriptures. In paragraph IV, he points out that the Bible calls on us to use judgment, the design of the Scriptures presupposes that we will use reason in this way, and the example the Bereans and the Corinthians (he could have added the commands giving to the Galatians) praises the use of reason and judgments. The Bereans had to sit down with the Old Testament, hear the gospel preached, and make a judgment about the consistency of the Old Testament and the gospel.

He points this out too: if we do not use judgment in this way how will the church be protected from the myriad of heresies that will come. In his discussion, we see the outlines of the distinction between the Reformed and other branches of the church in the use of reason. This is the establishment of what we could call the distinctive Protestant principle. If this is not how reason is to be used, then the only other choices is the fall back on something like the Catholic approach to Luther at Worms: "Believe this because we say so!"