within the church, but none of these could claim absolute authority over it. Power in the church was necessarily shared among different people, and there had to be a system of “checks and balances” to ensure that no single person could arrogate to himself the kind of dictatorial role that many believed the pope had seized. 2. The church must be subject in all things to the Word of God, that is to say, to the teaching of Holy Scripture. Whatever was not taught in the Bible could not be imposed by