John Calvin, Reformer for the 21st Century

William Stacy Johnson

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780664234089
• eBook ISBN: 9781611640113
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Many would argue that a true understanding of contemporary Christian thought is impossible without a basic understanding of Calvin's contributions. William Stacy Johnson, a leading Presbyterian theologian, offers this clear and fundamental study of Calvin's insights as a primer for those with little or no knowledge of his work.

This volume, enhanced with questions for discussion and a handy glossary, is sure to be an invaluable resource for those who seek an accessible way into a deeper understanding of Calvin's impact on the development of Christian faith and on society.

Chapter 1

Calvin

His Life and Influence

Most of us know Calvin not as a man but as a set of doctrines. This is a shame. Calvin is too complex and interesting to be reduced to an abstract theological system. True, Calvin was a brilliant scholar. But he was also a practical man of the world, a theologian, pastor, biblical commentator, preacher, debater, and, to a certain extent, even an international diplomat.

In short, Calvin was a man much more interested in being faithful to God than in creating or following the dictates of a rigid theological system. To be faithful to God requires an always fresh, always open, always curious engagement with who God is and what God calls us to be and do. Did Calvin have strong theological convictions? He did. Could he sometimes be difficult and unbending? He could. But he was also absolutely convinced that God alone is Lord of the conscience, and that God alone calls people in each and every generation to bear witness to the light God has given them.

Over time, Calvin’s approach to Christianity came to be known as “Reformed.” What does “being Reformed” mean? In Calvin’s day, people struggled to provide a definition, because it was not always easy for the average person to follow the heady debates among theologians. Once Elizabeth I, that no-nonsense queen of England, was pressed to explain the difference between Calvin and Luther. The queen noted that the followers of Luther wanted reform, but the followers of Calvin were “even more reformed.”

This push to be “even more reformed” is the hallmark of the Reformed tradition. The best way to appropriate Calvin for today is to focus on what this business of “being Reformed” means—to ask ourselves how God is at work reforming both church and society today.

To put it another way, it is a mistake to limit “the Reformed tradition” to a set of beliefs from the past. Following Calvin does not mean repeating every detail of Calvin’s thought. What we need to recapture and imitate is Calvin’s reforming spirit—his willingness to follow God—even if that means believing and following God in new ways.

In order to understand Calvin, we first need to appreciate the many facets of Calvin’s career as a reformer. Once we know him better, we may begin to see why Calvin mattered then—and still does.¹

The Young Calvin (1509–1532)

John Calvin was born in 1509, the same year that Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel. He died in 1564, the year that Shakespeare was born. He was a product, in other words, of the Renaissance.

But Calvin was also a major figure in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. Given the complexity of those times, we should perhaps speak of many “reformations” rather than a single “reformation.” Be that as it may, Calvin was a second-generation reformer, following in the footsteps of Martin Luther. He was eight years old in 1517 when Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses, the event that launched the Protestant critique of the Roman Catholic Church.

Calvin’s contribution was not to generate the ideas of the Reformation but to organize them, make them compelling, and embody them in practical life. Although Calvin was by temperament and training a scholar, he also became an accomplished politician and statesman. The strength of his personality was just as important and powerful as the force of his biblical and theological reflections.

Calvin was born into a modest but respectable family in the town of Noyon, located in the region of Picardy, in the north of France. Calvin’s mother, Jeanne, died when he was around five or six years old. Calvin’s father, Gérard, remarried soon after Jeanne’s death.

As a boy, Calvin was sent away to be educated in the family home of local nobility. When Calvin was twelve, his father obtained a paid chaplaincy for his son in the Noyon Cathedral. Much as college scholarships do today, the stipend from this chaplaincy enabled young John to leave Noyon for the University of Paris, initially to train for the priesthood. There Calvin was immersed in the study of the liberal arts, and eventually became proficient in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.

In September of 1528, Gérard Calvin fell into trouble with church authorities and was excommunicated. This meant that Gérard was refused the sacrament of Communion, a public and humiliating form of spiritual exclusion. Consequently, entering the priesthood became a more problematic option for young John. So Gérard directed his son to study law. Since Paris did not have a law faculty, Calvin enrolled at the University of Orléans in north-central France. There he came to be considered a virtual peer of the faculty and was awarded a doctoral degree. He continued his legal studies at the Academy of Bourges, studying with one of the most famous legal scholars of the day. Later in life, Calvin’s legal training was to give him tremendous credibility in pursuing his agenda of reform.

In 1531 Calvin’s father died at the age of seventy-seven. Because Gérard was still out of favor with the church, his family had to pull strings to allow him a church burial. Although Calvin never had a warm relationship with his father, he had always obeyed him. Now, with his father’s death, Calvin acquired a new freedom to set his own course in life.

Being such an accomplished intellectual, Calvin found it only natural to return to Paris, where he had contacts with some of the leading thinkers of the day. He became close friends with Guillaume Budé, the lawyer and close advisor to the king of France. Contacts such as these demonstrate Calvin’s stature with influential people in Paris. In April of 1532 Calvin published his first book, a scholarly commentary on a treatise by the Roman Stoic Seneca entitled De clementia (On Clemency).

Reformation Ideas Take Root (1532–1535)

The process by which Calvin became committed to Reformation ideas is somewhat obscure. Apparently, Calvin’s mind was changed gradually. In any event, All Saints’ Day in 1533 was a turning point. Calvin’s close friend, Nicolas Cop, was being installed as rector of the University of Paris. Cop used the occasion to deliver an inaugural address that was woven full of Reformation themes, such as salvation by grace. This was a rather bold move, since eleven years earlier a monk had been burned at the stake in Paris for putting forward similar ideas. The faculty’s response to Cop’s speech was to charge him with heresy, and a few weeks later he fled to Basel. Some believe that Calvin had a hand in writing the speech, since his room was ransacked by Parisian authorities. From that day forward, Calvin’s days of safety in Paris were numbered.

For a year Calvin wandered from place to place, finding refuge with wealthy friends and pursuing his studies as best he could. In the meantime, Reformation sentiment continued to build in Paris. On October 19, 1534, in a single night, a flurry of printed placards rejecting the Catholic Mass appeared all over Paris and in four other cities. A placard even ended up mysteriously on the outer door of the bedchamber of the king. With the Affair of the Placards the personal safety of reform-minded scholars like Calvin was at risk. Indeed, a close friend of Calvin was arrested and later burned at the stake.

In January of 1535, Calvin left France and sought refuge in the Swiss city of Basel, where sixty-nine-year-old Erasmus (1466–1536), the greatest humanist scholar of the age, still lived. It was in the intellectual stimulation of Basel that Calvin wrote the book that would forever change his destiny, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. Published in 1536, this book was a response to attacks on Reformation beliefs. Calvin boldly defended the cause of the Protestants, summarizing Reformation views with simplicity and power. Not only did Calvin defend these views, but he wrote a preface to the work addressed to Francis I, the king of France. Calvin’s hope was not only to persuade ordinary people but to change the political situation through convincing the monarch.

He never succeeded in convincing the king, but the publication of the Institutes would immediately establish Calvin’s reputation as one of the leading religious minds of his day. The book was profoundly successful. Within a year of its appearance the first edition would completely sell out.

The Making of a Reformer (1536–1541)

After the publication of the Institutes, Calvin decided to move to the then German city of Strassburg (now Strasbourg, part of modern-day France). Why Strassburg? It was a reform-minded city. Calvin had already spent some time there and knew its Reformation leader, Martin Bucer. It was the city where Johannes Gutenberg had invented the printing press in 1440. At the time, it boasted the tallest building in the world. It would have been an exciting place for a young intellectual like Calvin. But Calvin’s life took a different turn.

Geneva: A Calling from God? (1536–1538)

As a prelude to journeying to Strassburg, Calvin took advantage of an announced amnesty and returned quietly to France to settle his affairs. It was a time of war, and armies were on the move. As he left France for Strassburg, it became clear that in order to bypass troop movement, Calvin needed to take a roundabout route. He stopped in Geneva, a city of about ten thousand inhabitants located between two mountain ranges in the region where modern-day France, Switzerland, and Germany come together. Its strategic location made it a kind of buffer zone between the major political powers of the day. Calvin’s intention was to stay there for only a single night.

However, a friend recognized Calvin in the local inn and immediately rushed out to find Guillaume (William) Farel (1489–1565) and tell him that the author of the Institutes had just arrived in town. A powerful evangelist with fiery red hair, Farel had been leading the cause of reform in Geneva and was in need of help. Interpreting Calvin’s presence as a providential gift from God, Farel burst into Calvin’s room and insisted that he remain in Geneva to work beside him in the cause of reform.

At first Calvin refused. He was not a practical reformer, he protested, but a scholar. He preferred a life of books, research, and academic pursuits. A bit angered by this impudence, Farel shot back that if Calvin refused and retired to his bookish self-indulgence, then God might see fit to curse him.

Calvin was shaken by Farel’s words. In the sixteenth century, talk of curses and divine judgment was something people took seriously. In addition, Farel was twenty-one years Calvin’s elder and spoke with authority. In the end, Calvin agreed to join Farel in the hard work ahead.

Even though he had written a major work in theology and was a celebrity in the scholarly world, Calvin was a complete unknown to the city council of Geneva. His intellect and proficiency with Scripture gained Calvin an appointment as a Bible teacher. However, the council minutes refer to Calvin simply as “that Frenchman.”

Looking back on his life, Calvin remarked that when he first came to Geneva there was plenty of preaching but not yet a reformation. This is an illuminating comment. Though he had little experience as an activist, it soon became clear that Calvin was not just about talk but about action. Reform meant more than agreeing with certain lofty ideas; it had to do with the transformation of life. Together Calvin and Farel put forward new laws concerning public morals, wrote a confession of faith to be endorsed by all city inhabitants, drafted a catechism for teaching the young, and sought greater control over who was admitted to (and excluded from) the sacraments.

Shortly after his appointment, in October of 1536, Calvin attended a public disputation (an open religious debate) in the nearby city of Lausanne. At issue was whether this city too would join the reform movement. Calvin dazzled all present with his knowledge of Scripture, the church fathers, and the art of debating. It quickly became clear that Calvin had few intellectual equals.

For eighteen months Calvin and Farel worked together, but suddenly things began to fall apart. Many of Geneva’s influential citizens balked at the extent of the reforms. Then a dispute arose about Communion. Geneva had a political alliance with the city of Bern and wanted the ministers of Geneva to write their Communion services according to Bernese practices. Calvin and Farel refused to compromise with the authorities. Very shortly thereafter, the two were banished from the city.

Calvin packed up his books and left in a pouring rain. His initial encounter with Geneva left him embittered. Little did he know that his relationship with the fickle city had only just begun.

Strassburg: Years of Contentment (1538–1541)

From 1538 to 1541 Calvin lived and worked in Strassburg, the place he had intended to go all along. By all accounts his years in Strassburg were the happiest of Calvin’s life. Interestingly, Farel’s challenge remained with him, for he did not retreat into pure scholarship. Though never officially ordained, Calvin became the pastor of a congregation of French refugees. He learned much from the Protestant leader there, Martin Bucer, about how to organize a church. He made many friends and often had persons living in his home. He also published significant works, including a commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Romans and an expanded edition of the Institutes.

In Strassburg Calvin also got married. Finding a suitable marriage partner was a difficult task for Calvin, who was finicky and often in ill health. Though he was brilliant, even Calvin’s greatest admirers knew it would be a challenge to find a love connection for their sometimes gloomy and difficult friend. A number of attempts to play matchmaker failed. In a letter to Farel, Calvin spoke of his requirements in a bride: “I am not one of those insane lovers … smitten at first sight with a fine figure. The only sort of beauty that attracts me is someone who is chaste, not too nice or fastidious, economical, patient and someone who will … be concerned with my health.”² However, with the encouragement of Bucer, Calvin managed to contract a marriage with Idelette de Bure. She was a widow, several years his senior, who had three children. The two were married on August 1, 1540, by Farel, who marveled that Calvin’s bride turned out to be pretty. By all accounts Calvin and Idelette were very happy in Strassburg.

Geneva: The Calling Reasserts Itself (1541)

In the meantime the political winds had shifted in Geneva. The city was having trouble keeping its ministers. After some struggle, a group came to power that had a good opinion of Calvin. In 1539 Calvin had published an articulate reply to a Catholic cardinal, Jacopo Sadoleto (1477–1547), who had written the city of Geneva imploring it to return to the Catholic faith. Though at the time Calvin was still smarting from the city’s rejection of him, his defense of Geneva’s Reformed faith was uncompromising. Not only did it become well known across Europe, it caught the eye of many of Geneva’s most prominent citizens. The city urged Calvin to return.

Although Calvin neither trusted nor much liked the Genevans, he eventually decided to continue the work he and Farel had started. As if to underscore the sense of continuity, when Calvin resumed his position as a Bible teacher on September 13, 1541, he began teaching from the very verse with which he had left off in 1538.

It is often alleged that Calvin established a “theocracy” in Geneva, a form of government in which religious powers ruled supreme. This was not the case. There were very clear lines drawn between earthly and ecclesial power. The city was governed by secular magistrates. For many years, Calvin did not even have voting rights in the city. As is true of ministers to this day, his power derived mainly from his gift of persuasion.

From the moment Calvin returned to Geneva, his top priority was to reorganize the Genevan church according to the things he had learned from Bucer in Strassburg. He drafted a constitution for the church, the Ecclesiastical Ordinances, which became a blueprint for doing things “decently and in order.” One of the key components of Calvin’s church order was the creation of the consistory in 1542. This was a governing council for the church, originally consisting of nine clergy and twelve lay elders, which oversaw the spiritual and moral discipline of the community. The consistory was the spiritual and organizational predecessor to modern-day church governing bodies, such as sessions, presbyteries, and the like.

The strength of the consistory was its potential to reshape the character of a people, to create a Christian citizenry. The danger was its tendency to become an overzealous organ of social control. Some of the native-born Genevans began to resent the consistory’s influence. Much of this resentment was directed personally at Calvin. Who was he, a mere French immigrant, to tell native-born Genevan citizens what to do? Social resistance increased. One man composed songs lampooning Calvin. Another feigned a coughing fit during one of Calvin’s sermons. Still another publically cursed Calvin. For spite, some people even named their dogs “Calvin.”

Turbulence and Triumph in Geneva (1542–1555)

Calvin preached and lectured almost every day. For the first fourteen years after Calvin’s return to Geneva, his personal life was beset by various tragedies and challenges. Idelette gave birth to a son who died in infancy. Then Idelette herself fell into a long illness and died in 1549, leaving Calvin to raise three children from her previous marriage.

On the profession...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface: Why Calvin?
• Chapter 1. Calvin: His Life and Influence
• Chapter 2. Calvin’s Vision of God
• Chapter 3. Grace Alone, Christ Alone, Faith Alone
• Chapter 4. Wellspring of Reform: Scripture Alone
• Chapter 5. Chosen and Called: Election and Predestination
• Chapter 6. The Workings of Sin and Salvation
• Chapter 7. Participation in God’s Ways: The Power of the Spirit
• Chapter 8. What Does God Require of Us? Law and Gospel
• Chapter 9. The Church: Meaning, Ministry, and Mission
• Chapter 10. Connecting to God: Worship and Sacraments
• Chapter 11. Politics, Economy, and Society
• Chapter 12. Reformed and Always Reforming
• Notes
• Glossary
• For Further Reading