Continued....
There is a twist to all this however, because Rome at that time was under an occupying power, and enemies to the Byzantine emperor, it was necessary that the city be liberated before the pontiff could exercise his new found authority. Legal authority is issues unless it could be put into effect right? This is where prophecy comes to the fore. This took place in 538ad when Bellisarius defeated the Goths and that Arian kingdom could no longer exercise power over the bishop, for until that time the Gothic king Theodosius had the final say on appointing bishops. So you can mark 538ad on your prophetic calendar.................
The date of 538 is wrong and the Justinian Code made no difference to the to the power of the papacy which was already long recognized by the Empire.
Of interest to note from above is that there were in actual fact two Codes of Justinian: the first one was in force from 529 to 534, and the second one from 534 onwards. This is a useful fact when confronted with the anti-Catholic allegation that the Justinian code only came into effect in 538. In actual fact, the first Justinian Code was already being taken out of effect in 534. Yet the anti-Catholic sects say it only came into effect in 538.
Next we shall consider various aspects of the Justinian Code and its historical context, in order to show that the claims of opponents of the Catholic Church cannot use the year 538 in their prophetic calculations.
The standard Adventist and anti-Catholic claim is that the Justinian Code gave new powers to the papacy in 538, thus beginning the 1260 years of “papal power”. How true is this allegation?
It will be shown in this secton that the existence of an earlier Roman Law Code, the Theodosian Code and the Edict of the Three Emperors proves that the Code of Justinian did not make any difference to the power of the papacy which was already long recognized by the Empire.
From the The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (2001) we read:
Latin Codex Theodosianus, Roman legal code, issued in 438 by Theodosius II, emperor of the East. It was at once adopted by Valentinian III, emperor of the West. The code was intended to reduce and systematize the complex mass of law that had been issued since the reign of Constantine I. To a large extent it was based upon two private compilations, the Gregorian (Codex Gregorianus) and the Hermogenian (Codex Hermogenianus). The Theodosian Code was used in shaping the Corpus Juris Civilis.
These two private compilations date from the latter stages of the Emperor Diocletian’s reign (284-305) Though the Theodosian code was supplanted by the Justinian Code in 534, it served as the basis for most European law until the 12th century.
In the same year that it was issued (438 ) the code was forwarded to Valentinian III, the son-in-law of Theodosius, by whom it was laid before the Roman Senate, and confirmed as law in the Western empire.
From the Universite Pierre Mendes France we read:
The Theodosian Code has been composed between AD 429 and 438. In 429 the Emperor Theodosius ordered for the nine men commision to compose all imperial constitutions issuing from the time of Constantine. Together with the Codex Hermogenianus and Codex Gregorianus this collection had to be an actual law book and a model for teaching of jurists.… Codex Theodosianus received an official status together with the Codex Hermogenianus and Codex Gregorianus which before had only [the]character of the private collections. The Codex got in force 15 February 438 at the [Ea]st Roman Empire and 1 January 439 at the West Empire. There are 2529 imperial issues from Constantine to Theodosius II in it. The earliest constitution in the Codex is CTh.13,10,2 of 1 June 311 and the latest is CTh.6,23,4 of 16 March 437.
In an article on the Codex Theodosianus by George Long, M.A., on pp 302-303 of William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875 we read:
The laws relating to the Christian church are contained in the sixteenth and last book. It is obvious from the circumstances under which the Theodosian and Justinian codes were compiled, and from a comparison of them, that the Justinian code was greatly indebted to the Theodosian.
From these citations we see that in actual fact the Justinian Code of 529/534 was by no means revolutionary, in that it was merely a compilation of existing Roman law canons, being based, as we saw on the Theodosian Code and its predecessors. When we consider that as early as 380, where we read in the Edict of the Three Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius(issued on 28 Feb 380):
“[The Emperors demand that all people remain] ‘in the religion which the divine apostle Peter passed on to the Romans’ [and which has flowered to this day of (Pope) Damasus]”. Quoted in Stephen K. Ray “Upon This Rock” (Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1999), page 217.
it can be seen that the role and nature of the papacy did not in fact change under the Justinian Code. The papacy was already legally recognized by the Empire as having authority, as the Edict of the Three Emperors from 150 years earlier demonstrates.
Since the Code of Justinian made no new changes to the role of the papacy, it is pointless to try to use the introduction of this Code as the basis of some type of prophetic measurement, as the anti-Catholics are wont to do.
The date of 1798 is used as the end-point of the 1260 years, beginning, as they allegedly do, in 538.
1798 seems like a good date to use by Adventists and anti-Catholics, coming as it does, 1260 years after 538. However, just as the date of 538 is the wrong date for the introduction of Justinian’s Code, the date 1798 is also, to all intents and purposes, irrelevant from the point of view of Daniel 7.
(1260 and Justinian’s Code of 538) my emboldening
and from the same source
One (unofficial) Adventist apologist says the pope had, from 538, a “legal authority” so this amounted to the antichrist “papal power” of Daniel 7. I quote from his page below:
In an imperial rescript in 534 A.D. the Roman bishop was recognized as the head of all the churches, and given full authority as such. However the Gothic king Theodahad was reigning in Italy. That meant German law was the rule in Rome. Therefore the exaltation of the papacy in Rome was in decree only and could not be put into effect.
So, according to this logic, the “exaltation of the papacy” could only be put into effect in 538, when Rome was won back from the Goths. Right?
Wrong. Belisarius took Rome in December 536, not 538. Not to mention the fact that Justinian threw Pope Vigilius in prison between the years 547 and 555.Also the distinction between “effect” and reality is unworkable. If Belisarius took Rome in 536, how can the Goth law still apply? The anti-Catholic position can’t fit 534 or 536 into his theology, so he has to use 538.
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