Francis Pieper

“Christian liberty consists in this, that Christians are freed from their own will and are now servants of God (Rom. 6:22). Likewise, doctrinal liberty consists in this, that Christian teachers are freed from human opinions and bound only by the Word of God. That is Christ’s own definition of the freedom of doctrine: “If ye continue in My word, then … ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31 f.). When the theologian accepts and regards as Christian doctrine what the human Ego, his own or that of other men, has produced, he has become the slave of men. Under the watchword “academic freedom” our age demands for the theologians freedom from the bondage of the Word, Holy Scripture, “submission to the letter,” “shameful academic coercion,” “legalism,” etc. But this is the liberty of the flesh, the license demanded by the “superman,” who sets himself above God’s Word and will.”
― Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics: Volume 1

“1. Until the end of time the Christian Church has but one Teacher, Jesus Christ. “One is your Master (), even Christ, and all ye are brethren. One is your Master (), even Christ” (Matt. 23:8, 10). What He, Christ, has commanded His disciples, they are to teach all men to the end of time (Matt. 28:20). Even though Christ in the state of exaltation has withdrawn His visible presence from the Church, He is and remains the one Teacher of His Church; through His Word, which He gave the Church in the Word of His Apostles, He teaches the Church to the end of time (John 8:31-32; 17:20). The Apostles, too, declare that Christ is the sole Teacher of the Church. They bind the Christians to their doctrine (2 Thess. 2:13-15; Gal. 1:6-9), but do that only because they know that their word is Christ’s Word (1 Cor. 14:37: “… the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord”; 2 Cor. 13:3; 1 Tim. 6:3). And after the days of the Apostles all orthodox teachers of the Church viewed the situation in the same way. Luther: “If any man would preach, let him suppress his own words. He may speak them in the family and State. But here in the Church he must speak nothing but the Word of the rich Head of the family; else it is not the true Church. In the Church the rule should be: God is speaking.” (St. L. XII: 1413.) It is thus a monstrous thing when men who would be the teachers of Christendom demand “academic freedom.” Whoever demands doctrinal license places himself on a level with Christ and, eo ipso, in opposition to Christ. For that reason all false teachers are called antichrists (1 John 2:18): “Even now there are many antichrists.”
― Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics: Volume 1