Since the Catholic Church regarded itself as the successor of Christ, they claimed the power of the Holy Spirit to enable the church. This carried a semblance of following the same pattern as Ephesians 4:11. However, Ephesians 4:16 shows a working body that includes every member, and the gifts that were given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands were distributed to each one as the Spirit chose. Rather than limiting the gifts to the “church leadership,” the entire called out body received them. This illustrates the shift away from the church as the body of saved people to the church institution that is represented by its leadership. In this way, they could make a case for infallibility without including the masses of uneducated people. The Scriptures never use the word “ekklesia” is this way because it would drastically alter the nature of the body of Christ as described in the New Testament.
During the Reformation, Luther and Calvin did not limit the range of the Holy Spirit’s influence on Christians and their edification but working in the life of the hearer to produce faith. Rather than faith being the product of hearing the word (cf. Romans 10:17), it was the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit within the human heart that produced faith. (soteriological relevance but as a matter of instruction and information for the baptized.128) The move focused on the emotions more than on the intellect of the human heart so that the connection between Word and Spirit was the emphasis. This bond of Spirit and Word is evidenced in the confessional writings of the reformation.[1]
[1] The Augsburg Confession (1530), the Belgic Confession (1561) and the Second Helvetic Confession (1562-1564).129 in the first confessional writings of the reformation: the Augsburg Confession (1530), the Belgic Confession (1561) and the Second Helvetic Confession (1562-1564).129