Calvin's Theology
We have been redeemed by Christ at so great a price... so... we should not enslave ourselves to the wicked desires of men much less be subject to their impiety.
—John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
Calvin’s Theology
ohn Calvin is considered one of the greatest theologians of the
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Protestant tradition, oftentimes seen, along with Martin Luther, as one of the fundamental thinkers of Protestantism. In a broader view, he is often portrayed as one of the most influential theologians of the Western Christian tradition. In histories of Christian theology, he often holds a prominent place. Catholics as well as Protestants write now on Calvin’s theology. Courses on Calvin’s thought are offered in Catholic universities. Of course, not everyone agrees with the things Calvin believed (Protestants or Catholics), but there is no getting away from the fact that, since his lifetime, Calvin has been one of the major theological voices in Western Christianity.
A theologian is one who attempts to present a coherent and compelling understanding of God and God’s relationship to the world. Calvin wrote many books that present his view on these matters. Some were biblical commentaries; others were treatises on particular problems, such as the Eucharist. His letters contain much theology.
Historically, however, Calvin’s primary influence has come through his Institutes of the Christian Religion. Indeed, it was once said and widely accepted that “The whole of Calvinism is in the Institutes.” 36 Whereas those in Calvin studies today generally believe that more than the Institutes must be read to understand Calvin himself, it is still true that, for most of history, Calvin has been associated with the Institutes. Indeed, even today, the Institutes remain foundational (though not exclusively so) for a study of Calvin’s theology. Because Calvin himself claimed that the work contained “almost the whole sum of piety and whatever it is necessary to know in the doctrine of salvation,” it serves as a good introduction to Calvin’s religious thought.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE INSTITUTES Whereas the earliest edition of the Institutes (1536) contained only six chapters, the final Latin edition (1559) used a different system of organization. The work was divided into four books; each book was divided into chapters; each chapter had numbered JOHN CALVIN
sections. Because of its systematic arrangement, it is common now when citing the Institutes to do so in that order: book number, chapter, and section number. Thus, when reading a book about Calvin that refers to his Institutes, this system, rather than citing page numbers, is used, and this works whether the edition being cited is in Latin, English, or some other language. Thus, for example, when Calvin states that “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves,” it is cited this way: Institutes 1.1.1. This means that the sentence is found in book one, chapter one, section one.
Before chapter one, however, one finds two addresses: one to the reader and one to King Francis I. In speaking to the reader, Calvin testifies that the order of the topics was important to him; he says he was never satisfied until this latest edition with the arrangement of themes. This says something important about the way Calvin thought about theology: the order of topics, and their relationship to one another, is important. To properly understand true doctrine, Calvin thought, one had to grasp its parts in the correct order. For example, one could not appropriately grasp the meaning of the church unless one had first correctly understood the work of Christ. Arrangement mattered.
Also important is Calvin’s stated purpose: to teach candidates in theology to so grasp the Christian religion that they can then properly understand and interpret the Bible. The Institutes serve as the doctrinal foundation for his biblical commentaries.
Even though King Francis I had died more than a decade before 1559, Calvin kept his letter to him in his Institutes. Though a different ruler sat upon the throne, Calvin believed the principles articulated in his original dedicatory letter still applied: that the reform movement represented true Christianity, a return to the old faith of the Apostles; that charges of immorality against the reformers were false; that the king should give to the reformers a fair hearing; and, finally, that, fair hearing or not, God would vindicate the innocent.
Calvin’s Theology
THE FOUR BOOKS Calvin divided his 1559 Institutes into four books. The first deals with God as creator, the second with God as redeemer, the third with the way the grace of Christ is received, and the fourth has to do with external aids by which God joins the Christian to Christ.
Book One: The Knowledge of God the Creator Calvin believed that the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self are interrelated. To truly know God is to know God’s greatness; to really understand self, humans must recognize their shortcomings and failings. Compared to God, humanity is nothing.
Though related, Calvin thought that “the order of right teaching requires” that one first turn toward the knowledge of God.37 Here, Calvin emphasized that he meant, in a sense, the practical knowledge of God. He was less interested in philosophical questions about God and God’s essence and much more interested in a knowledge that flows from piety, or knowledge based in love and reverence for God. This is an attitude that places trust in God and seeks to worship God. The pious approach to the knowledge of God is one that simply receives what God offers, and God, Calvin believed, offered the knowledge of himself that was necessary for salvation. To seek beyond this knowledge, Calvin thought, represented vain speculation.
God implanted knowledge of himself into the minds of all human beings. Everyone, according to Calvin, has some sense of God, yet that knowledge has been corrupted. People turn away from God; some engage in superstition; others build idols; hypocrites look to God only when they are in trouble and want something. Indeed, humans “entangle themselves in such a huge mass of errors that blind wickedness stifles and finally extinguishes those sparks which once flashed forth to show them God’s glory.”38
Furthermore, Calvin taught that the knowledge of God can be seen in the work of God’s creation, including the creation of JOHN CALVIN
humankind. Indeed, as Calvin wrote,“We must therefore admit in God’s individual works but especially in them as a whole that God’s powers are actually represented as in a painting.” 39 Because true knowledge of God is the goal of what Calvin called the blessed life, the display of this knowledge throughout the created order renders inexcusable humans’ lack of knowledge. Calvin felt that humans truly lacked knowledge of God, as evident in a world full of false worship, superstition, and vain speculation.
In accommodation to human weakness and failing, then, God created an aid for humanity—the Scripture. Here is where one finds Calvin’s famous metaphor of the Bible as “spectacles,” that is, as eyeglasses by which the universe might be read rightly.40 Thus, God as creator might be known.
As the Word of God, Calvin believed that Scripture had its authority directly from God. This means that the church, far from being the judge of Scripture, is itself always to be grounded in and judged by the Scripture.
True Christians will heed the Bible, for the Holy Spirit, Calvin taught, seals the truth of Scripture upon the hearts of all believers. Christians know the Bible to be true, and its doctrines to be trustworthy, because the Holy Spirit of God teaches them so. Furthermore, although there are many credible proofs, according to Calvin, of the reliability of Scripture, in the end it is the testimony of the Holy Spirit that matters most.
From Scripture, then, one learns about the one true God who is to be worshiped. Therefore, there is no reason to bow down before false idols. As part of defining the true God, Calvin affirmed the traditional Christian belief in the Trinity: the notion that God is one God in three persons, historically identified as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all sharing, however, the same essence.
The Institutes then move to a discussion of human nature. Calvin believed that humans were created pure by God, each person being composed of a body and a soul. Within the soul resides the image of God in each and every human being. That
Calvin’s Theology
image has been tarnished, however, and can only be truly seen by looking at a person’s redemptive state in Christ.
The parts of the human soul are understanding (the intellect) and the will (the faculty by which choices are made). Because of the will, humans had the ability to choose eternal life, yet, this did not happen. Calvin believed that there was a “Fall,” a time when the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, turned away from God. Thus, humans have the stain of original sin, which has affected and damaged the will. Calvin will have more to say of this later on in his book.
Finally, in dealing with the notion of God the Creator, Calvin set forth the doctrine of providence: the idea that God continues to oversee the entirety of creation as well as individual lives. Calvin believed that nothing that happened in the world occurred apart from God’s will; although God’s purpose in events might be hidden, the Christian could take comfort in the belief that God supervises creation. God uses the instruments of his will, the godly and the godless alike, to accomplish his purposes. For Calvin, this was a doctrine of comfort. The Creator continues to rule over creation in all circumstances.
Book Two: The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ To redeem means to buy back; more specifically, it can mean to free or liberate by paying a ransom price. In Calvin’s theology, just as in most traditional Christian teaching, Christ is the Redeemer, the one who pays the price for Christians that they may be liberated from sin and death.
Since Calvin wanted to explain God the Redeemer in Christ, he first had to spell out why it is that humans need redemption. Again following the interpretation of numerous Christians before him, Calvin read the story about Adam and Eve (found in Genesis, the first book of the Bible) as a literal fall from grace. They turned from God and brought sin into the world. From that point forward, sin became part of human nature. Though, of course, there might be individual acts of sin (lying, JOHN CALVIN
murder, etc.), sinful human nature was the basis of those acts; according to Calvin, the human being, after the Fall, is an essentially flawed creature.
As a result, both the understanding and will of humankind is warped. What should shine forth from nature—God’s goodness and power—is neither seen nor understood, and the will to act in accord with God’s goodness is twisted in the human soul. As a result, humanity can do nothing to please God or to properly glorify God. This means that all true knowledge of God is lost.
It is only through Christ the mediator, and through faith in him, that proper knowledge of God and God’s goodness can be restored. Only through God the Redeemer in Christ can God the Creator be truly known. Thus, faith in God can only come through faith in Christ, for, according to Calvin, without Christ, God is unknowable.
For Calvin, the whole of Scripture points to Jesus Christ. The prophets of the Old Testament (how Christians refer to the Jewish Bible) foretold Christ; events within the sacred history of Israel foreshadowed Jesus; and the Law, the moral commands of the Old Testament, also showed forth the promise of salvation in Christ. Although Calvin thought the Law functioned in a number of ways to hold back the wicked, to convict of sin, to set forth punishment, its positive function was to hold forth the promise of a savior. Moreover, while the Law’s power to condemn is nullified for those redeemed by Christ, it continues to be useful to Christians as a guide to grateful behavior. Hence, Calvin expounded at length on how the Ten Commandments—especially when one finds broad principles at work behind the specific commands—serve as helpful aids in living a holy life after redemption by Christ.
Although Calvin considered the whole Bible to bear witness to Christ, he taught that the fullest, clearest revelation of Christ came in the New Testament, in the gospel message. Whereas there are points of continuity between the Old Testament and the New—that Christ is the subject of both, that grace is revealed in both, that faith is the main point of both—Calvin thought
Calvin’s Theology
that there were also some differences. Most of these have to do with the fact that the New Testament, according to Calvin, is a fuller, clearer revelation of Christ. It is as if the Old Testament were a pencil sketching and the gospel were a full-color picture.
Finally, Calvin used the rest of Book Two to write specifically about Christ and how to understand him. Christ is the mediator between God and humanity, sharing both a fully divine nature and a fully human nature. This is especially important for Calvin in that Christ is meant to bridge a gap between God, who by nature is above and beyond his creation, and humanity, who, even if there had never been a Fall, could not have reached God in his transcendence. As Calvin explained it, Jesus Christ is really and truly “Immanuel,” a word that means “God with us.” This, as Calvin understood it, is accomplished “in such a way that his divinity and our human nature might by mutual connection grow together. Otherwise the nearness would not have been near enough... to hope that God might dwell with us.”41
This is the reason that Christ took on true human flesh. Without so doing, he could not have been the mediator between God and humanity, could not have been the Redeemer, and that, according to Calvin, was the whole purpose of Christ’s incarnation: redemption. Thus, of necessity, Christ must be seen as fully human as well as fully divine: human that the distance between God and humanity could be bridged; divine that the power of God’s righteousness could be bestowed on believers through Christ.
Calvin believed that Christ fulfilled his function as redeemer under a threefold office: prophet, priest, and king. As a prophet, Christ witnesses God’s grace. As a priest, he intercedes on behalf of believers, making atonement for sin; as king, he rules a spiritual kingdom of the redeemed, forever caring for their needs.
Calvin was adamant that Christ’s obedience unto death on a cross functioned to redeem. Christ’s death served as the payment for sin; his descent into hell (something found in the statements of belief that date from the early church, for example, in the JOHN CALVIN
Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed) represented the spiritual torment Christ was willing to endure to save his people. Through obedience and death, Christ merited God’s grace and salvation for Christians. Why? Calvin answered simply: “God’s grace... has ordained this manner of salvation for us.” 42 Further speculation, Calvin thought, was simply an exhibition of ingratitude toward God.
Book Three: The Way in Which We Receive the Grace of Christ In Book Three, Calvin wrote at length about how grace is received, what benefits flow from it, and what effects follow.
Calvin insisted that the Holy Spirit works to seal the work of Christ on the heart of the Christian. It is “the secret energy of the Spirit, by which we come to enjoy Christ and all his benefits.”43 The primary work of the Holy Spirt is the creation of faith. As with other Reformers of the sixteenth century, Calvin taught that Christians were saved by “faith alone.” What, then, is this faith that the Spirit imprints upon the Christian?
“We hold faith to be a knowledge of God’s will toward us, perceived from his Word.”44 The complicated way Calvin understood the concept of “God’s Word” has been shown, but to pull all of the meanings together: The living Word (Christ) testified to in the written Word (Scripture), pronounced in the preached Word (the sermon), and exhibited through the visible Word (the Eucharist) all point to a loving God who promises grace. Thus, faith is the “firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence [good will] toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”45 Such faith, made possible through Christ, indeed, made real by a joining to Christ through the Holy Spirit, receives the grace of God’s redemption.
Calvin believed that such faith, worked by the Holy Spirit, evoked repentance, a turning away from sin and toward God. Thus, once accepted by God through grace received in faith, the process of change starts, one that Calvin calls regeneration. The
Calvin’s Theology
Christian lives a life more in accord with God’s will as a result of redemption because, as a child of God filled with thanksgiving, the Christian desires to live life in imitation of Christ. Having been justified by Christ, the Christian begins a life of sanctification, of holy living. So, for Calvin, the process of redemption was not simply a matter of “belief,” at least not in just an intellectual way. As he declared, the gospel “is a doctrine not of the tongue but of life. It is not apprehended by the understanding and memory alone... but it is received only when it possesses the whole soul, and finds a seat and resting place in the inmost affection of the heart.”46
Calvin proceeded to speak about Christian freedom; with rebirth, the Christian is free from the law because it is now written on the Christian’s heart. The law can no longer condemn or produce guilt—it is now a guide by which the Christian’s heart learns its true desires to serve God and fellow human beings.
Within the context of faith, Calvin teaches about prayer, relying heavily upon the Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father, who art in heaven.. .”) as a model. Prayer is a communion with God, a sign of trust, an instrument of perseverance.
Much has been made of Calvin’s doctrine of predestination, which appears near the end of Book Three. It is a thorny and complicated topic, with a long history in Christian thought. The word means that God chooses who will be redeemed. Almost all of the early Protestants held to some form of this teaching. Some of the most respected teachers of the Catholic tradition—St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, for example—also defended the doctrine. Calvin himself thought it properly understood from within the context of faith; that’s why it is in Book Three. Calvin thought many passages in the Bible supported the notion of predestination, and he thought the concept also explained some things in the world around him (such as, if everyone thought the gospel a good thing, as most said, why did everyone not live in a way consistent with the gospel?). If God’s grace, as Calvin thought, was truly absolutely free, then there could be no question of earning it, not even by JOHN CALVIN
taking so little a step as accepting grace as a gift by one’s own will power. Calvin believed even the acceptance of salvation involved the work of the Holy Spirit working within the Christian, rather than the Christian choosing for him or herself.
Though many have a difficult time accepting or understanding predestination—whether it is Calvin’s version or some other—it should be said that Calvin himself always found it a doctrine of comfort, for he believed that God had chosen him, and having chosen him, God would always abide with him no matter what. He likewise thought it would be a comfort to all true Christians, for it placed their salvation not in their own weak hands but in God’s almighty hand.
Book Four: The External Means or Aids Though this section takes up a large portion of the Institutes, the concerns of the book can be easily cataloged.
Within this part, Calvin dealt with what helps a Christian in his or her life of faith. How has God provided, once union with Christ has taken place, for the Christian to find support in that new life?
First of all, God has ordained that there should be a gathering of Christians known as the church. Calvin understood the church to be, in a sense, the schoolhouse of the Christian, where he or she learned the fundamentals of the faith and then progressed to greater and greater maturity, understanding, and love.
Within the church, God provides for the ministry of the Word. That is, God calls forth preachers whom God uses to proclaim the good news of the gospel.
Intermixed with the many constructive things Calvin has to say about the church and its ministry is the condemnation of the practices of the Catholic Church. Though Calvin never denies that there are Christians in the Catholic Church, he does insist that the structure, practices, and ministry of the Catholic Church had attached to them hundreds of years of accumulated human-made traditions. The whole purpose of reform, in Calvin’s mind, was to strip those human traditions away so
Calvin’s Theology
that only the gospel dictated what true worship, ministry, and church would be like.
For Calvin, the true church existed wherever the Word of God was preached and the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) rightly administered. He also believed the church needed to discipline its members, but he did not make that a mark of the true church.
The sacraments, according to Calvin, are those rituals instituted by Christ that attest to the promises Christ has made having to do with salvation, and they do so in such as way as to impress upon the believer’s heart the truth of those promises. In baptism, there is the promise that sin can be washed away and that one can be raised to new life with Christ. The water serves as a symbol of cleansing.
The Eucharist, the memorial meal that reenacts Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples, promises forgiveness of sin. The breaking of the bread and the pouring of wine symbolize the breaking of Christ’s body on the cross and the outpouring of his blood—redemptive acts, according to Calvin. Furthermore, by eating the bread and drinking the wine, Christians are assured that Christ has joined himself to them in the most intimate way, so that they partake of Christ himself, to the point that there is a communion between the two wherein Christ shares his righteousness with the believers.
After Calvin explained how he understood the sacraments, he attacked the Catholic Church’s teaching on the sacraments, and he argued that the number of sacraments is only two, not seven, as the Catholic Church taught.
Calvin ended the Institutes with a very interesting chapter on civil government. Just as the work began addressing a king, so it ends speaking about government. Calvin, like many of his time, was afraid of anarchy—the absence of rulers and government. Nor did he trust democracy, because of his dim view of human nature. He believed rulers held their positions directly because God has so ordained. He thought citizens should obey their rulers. Despite this outlook, however, Calvin would not cede absolute authority to civil government.
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Once called “The Constructive Revolutionary,”47 Calvin did allow that, whereas citizens could not rise up against their government, there were those who could lawfully depose a tyrant—those who served beneath the ruler. Those who lawfully held positions of authority under a ruler could be used by God to overthrow a government. In other words, Calvin allowed for a transfer of power within government, even one by force, if undertaken by the right people.
Still, no government or ruler had absolute control. In the last section of the book, Calvin warned that God, rather than human rulers, must be obeyed. As he declared in the very last line of the Institutes, “We have been redeemed by Christ at so great a price... so... we should not enslave ourselves to the wicked desires of men much less be subject to their impiety.”48 On that note, then, Calvin closed his great work on the sum of all piety.