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"\[I\]t is obvious that the councils are not only unequal, but also contradictory. The same is true of the fathers" (20). "\[B\]ecause it cannot be otherwise with the fathers (I am speaking of the holy and good ones) \-\- when they build without Scripture, that is, without gold, silver, and precious stones, then they will build with wood, straw, or hay \-\- we must, according to St. Paul's verdict, know how to differentiate between gold and wood, between silver and straw, between precious stones and hay; and we must not be compelled by those obnoxious \[council-\]screamers to believe that wood and \[gold\] are the same, that silver and straw are the same, and that emeralds and hay are the same" (50).

In Luther's view, then, councils "do not introduce anything new either in matters of faith or of good works; but they defend, as the highest judges and greatest bishops under Christ, the ancient faith and the ancient good works in conformity with Scripture. To be sure, they may also deal with temporal, transient, and changeable things in order to meet the need of their particular time; this, however, must also be done outside the councils in every parish and school. But But if they establish anything new with regard to faith or good works, you may rest assured that the Holy Spirit had no hand in it, but only the unholy spirit with his angels. . . . The Holy Spirit has not been given to teach or instill in us anything except Christ, but he is to teach and remind us of all that is in Christ 'in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' \[Col 2:3\]"(121 f.). "I hold that one should now be able to understand what a council is, its rights, power, office, and task; also, which councils are genuine and which false: namely, that they should confess and defend the ancient faith and not institute new articles of faith against the ancient faith, nor institute new good works against the old good works, but defend the old good works against the new good works -- because he who defends the old faith against the new faith also defends the old good works against the new good works. For as the faith is, so are also the fruits or good works." Consequently, "if you have all the councils you are still no Christian because of them; they give you too little. If you also have all the fathers, they too give you too little. You must still go to Holy Scripture, where you find everything in abundance, or to the catechism, where it is summarized, and where far more is found than in all the councils and fathers" (135 f.).

A final point concerning Luther's understanding of authority in this treatise is the authority he assigns to the lower level of the local church and school and to the schoolteacher as well as the pastor or bishop. Since the councils appeal to "the holy Christian church as to the true and supreme judge on earth," they "testify that they cannot judge according to their own discretion, but that the church, which preaches, believes, and confesses Holy Scripture is the judge." Therefore, a council is, "nothing but a consistory, a royal court, a supreme court, or the like, in which the judges, after hearing the parties, pronounce sentence, but with this humility, 'For the sake of the law.'. . . This law is God's word, the empire is God's church; the judge is the official or servant of both" (133). "Not only the council," however, "but every pastor and schoolteacher is also the servant or judge of this law and empire. Moreover, a council cannot administer this judicial office forever without interruption; for the bishops cannot forever remain assembled together, but must gather only in times of certain emergencies and then anathematize, or be judges.... \[T\]he council is the great servant or judge in this empire and law. Yet when the emergency has passed, it has done its duty \-\- just as, in temporal government, the supreme, great judges have to help when the lower, secondary courts prove too weak to cope with an evil, until the case is at last brought before the highest, greatest court, the diet, which cannot meet forever either, but must adjourn after the emergency is over and again leave matters to the lower courts." "That is why pastors and schoolteachers are the lowly, but daily, permanent, eternal judges who anathematize without interruption, that is, fend off the devil and his raging. . . . \[I\]f indeed we cannot have councils, the parishes and schools, small though they are, are eternal and useful councils"(133 ff.).