CONCLUSION
ESSAY 3
WHAT REALLY CAUSED THE GREAT DIVIDE?
W. Robert Godfrey
Why did the Reformation take place? Historians have sought to answer that question from a wide variety of perspectives. They have given attention to the political, social, and economic circumstances of the sixteenth century to understand the setting of the Reformation. They have studied the cultural and intellectual developments of the late medieval and Renaissance periods as crucial backdrop for the Reformation. But ultimately it was not these factors that divided the church. These factors may have contributed in a variety of ways to the success of the Reformation, but they were not the heart of the Reformation. The heart of the Reformation was a distinct spiritual and theological vision—quite different from the one that had dominated the medieval church.
During the Middle Ages many reformations had occurred in the life of the church. But all of them were movements for moral reform. They sought to address various moral abuses and corruptions of the personal and institutional life in the church. The great Reformation of the sixteenth century also addressed various moral problems in the church. But the essence of the Reformation was doctrinal. The Reformers were persuaded that the spiritual and moral corruption of the church stemmed from doctrinal error that needed to be reformed by the Word of God.
Martin Luther expressed his concern for doctrinal reform in many of his writings. In 1520 he wrote two of his most powerful treatises calling for reform: “The Appeal to the German Nobility” and “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church.”
Philipp Melanchthon effectively summarized Protestant concerns for reform in the Augsburg Confession of 1530. Part I of the Confession in twenty-two articles stated positively the Reformation doctrine. Part II in seven detailed articles described the abuses of the old church that needed to be reformed.
John Calvin, as a second-generation Reformer, also wrote in many different ways about the need for and character of the reform of the church. His famous Institutes of the Christian Religion was the fullest systematic presentation of Reformation theology prepared in the sixteenth centuiy. This chapter will examine Calvin’s own understanding and defense of the Reformation by looking at three treatises in which he specifically addresses that subject. These treatises were written over a ten-year period in Calvin’s life and are directed to the needs and circumstances of those years. But taken together they give a fine picture of Calvin’s reforming concern. The three treatises are “The Reply to Sadoleto” (1539), “The Necessity of Reforming the Church” (1543), and “The True Method of Reforming the Church and Healing Her Divisions” (1548). By listening to Calvin speak in these works, we can hear the deepest concerns of the Reformation.
“REPLY TO SADOLETO”
The first of these writings—“The Reply to Sadoleto”1—was written in peculiar circumstances. In 1538 John Calvin was exiled from Geneva after less than two years of ministry there. He settled in Strassburg, where he continued to work as a pastor and to write. In 1539 Jacopo Sadoleto, a bishop and cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, wrote to Geneva urging the city to abandon the Reformation and return to the Roman obedience. Leaders in Geneva decided that the only person who could effectively answer Sadoleto was the very John Calvin they had exiled. With good grace Calvin was willing to take up the task of replying to Sadoleto and completed the work with remarkable speed in only six days.
This “Reply” is the most personal of Calvin’s defenses of the Reformation and displays most fully the deep spiritual concerns at stake in the Reformation. The personal quality of the “Reply” was unusual in Calvin’s writings. Calvin was by nature a very private person, little given in his writings to saying much about himself. It has often been observed that a few paragraphs in the preface to his Commentary on the Psalms are the only autobiography that we have from the pen of Calvin. Yet “The Reply to Sadoleto” does have a very personal dimension to it.2 This personal quality probably results from the personal character of Sadoleto’s attack on the Reformers in his letter to the Genevans. Near the beginning of his response Calvin notes that the strategy of Sadoleto was to praise the Genevans and to lay the blame for separating the Genevans from Rome on the ministers. Sadoleto further stated that the ministers had been motivated in their opposition to Rome by a desire for worldly advancement. This personal attack evoked a quite personal response from Calvin.
Calvin begins and closes his reply by scoffing at the notion that material gain had motivated the ministers in Geneva. He argued that in every case they would have been better off materially by staying in the Roman Church. He insists that he and other ministers were motivated only by their responsibility to God to be faithful pastors. Out of his continuing pastoral concern for Geneva he takes up the pen against Sadoleto. The work of the pastors is to “edify the Church, when, besides leading docile souls to Christ placidly, as with the hand, they are also armed to repel the machinations of those who strive to impede the work of God.”3
Although Calvin’s “Reply” is intricately constructed and responds in a variety of ways to Sadoleto’s work, its central concerns are three: justification, the Word of God, and the church. Calvin writes of justification as “the first and keenest subject of controversy between us.”4 As he begins his discussion of justification, he explains that the Reformation position begins with an evaluation of man’s plight as a sinner:
First, we bid a man begin by examining himself, and this not in a superficial and perfunctory manner, but to cite his conscience before the tribunal of God, and when sufficiently convinced of his iniquity, to reflect on the strictness of the sentence pronounced upon all sinners. Thus confounded and amazed at his misery, he is prostrated and humbled before God; and, casting away all self-confidence, groans as if given up to final perdition.5
This theme of self-examination, which must result in profound recognition of sin and liability to eternal condemnation, is not an incidental matter for Calvin. Rather it is absolutely central to Reformation theology and spirituality. The doctrines of the Reformation are born of the hopelessness and helplessness of sinners. For Calvin the complete lostness of man was not only a teaching of the Bible and all sound Augustinian theology but was also his own experience. Scattered throughout this “Reply” are indications that Calvin had personally struggled with his own sin and the terrible judgment that awaited him apart from Christ. For example, he writes, “I observe, Sadoleto, that you have too indolent a theology, as is almost always the case with those who have never had experience in serious struggles of conscience.”6 Such a statement surely implies that Calvin had experienced torments of conscience and so had not fallen into the trap of a lazy, self-indulgent theology.
At two points in the “Reply” Calvin rhetorically presents prayers that a Protestant might address to God in answer to attacks on the Reformation. A part of one such prayer states, “ T anticipated a future resurrection, but hated to think of it, as being an event most dreadful. And this feeling not only had dominion over me in private, but was derived from the doctrine which was then uniformly delivered to the people by their Christian teachers.’” The prayer continues speaking of efforts to satisfy God with works of righteousness,
“When, however, I had performed all these things, though I had some intervals of quiet, I was still far-off from true peace of conscience; for, whenever I descended into myself, or raised my mind to thee, extreme terror seized me—terror which no expiations nor satisfactions could cure. And the more closely I examined myself, the sharper the stings with which my conscience was pricked, so that the only solace which remained to me was to delude myself by obliviousness.”7
Although this prayer is written in the first person, it is not strictly autobiographical. Calvin is not simply presenting his life experience. But the language is so intense and personal that it must reflect some of the experiences that Calvin had had in his own conversion only six or seven years earlier. The recognition of the desperate condition of man was foundational to Reformation truth and experience.
The struggle with the reality of sin led to a desire to know God’s way of salvation. Hope was to be found only in God and His work since the work of man was utterly futile. Calvin wrote (again as part of a hypothetical prayer), “ ‘Being exceedingly alarmed at the misery into which I had fallen, and much more at that which threatened me in the view of eternal death, I, as in duty bound, made it my first business to betake myself to thy way, condemning my past life, not without groans and tears.”8 That way of God is the way of Christ. The second teaching related to justification is salvation in Christ: “Then we show that the only haven of safety is in the mercy of God, as manifested in Christ, in whom every part of our salvation is complete.”9 In Christ are displayed all the promises of God concerning the Savior who would fully bear the sins of His people on the cross and impute the saving benefits of His work to them. These promises bring salvation through faith alone. Faith is the link between the Savior and the sinner: “Paul, whenever he attributed to [faith] the power of justifying, at the same time restricts it to a gratuitous promise of the divine favor, and keeps it far removed from all respect to works.”10
The result of the justifying work of Christ, which is received by faith, is great peace and assurance for the Christian:
There is nothing of Christ, then, in him who does not hold the elementary principle, that it is God alone who enlightens our minds to perceive His truth, who by His Spirit seals it on our hearts, and by His sure attestation to it confirms our conscience. This is, if I may so express it, that full and firm assurance commended by Paul, and which, as it leaves no room for doubt, so not only does it not hesitate and waver among human arguments as to which party it ought to adhere, but maintains its consistency though the whole world should oppose."
Calvin stresses the “confident hope of salvation . . . both enjoined by thy Word, and founded upon it.”12
A key concern for Calvin throughout this treatise is answering Sadoleto’s challenge to the Reformation as to the authority on which its doctrine of justification and assurance rests. For Sadoleto, correct doctrine is found by following the teaching authority of the church, which is “the greatest authority among men.”13 He expands on the authority of the church in these terms:
First, because the Church errs not, and even cannot err, since the Holy Spirit constantly guides her public and universal decrees and Councils. Secondly, even if she did err, or could have erred (this, however, it is impious to say or believe), no such error would be condemned in him who should, with a mind sincere and humble toward God, have followed the faith and authority of his ancestors.14
Sadoleto claims the authority of the Holy Spirit, the church, the universal councils and his ancestors as the foundation of the gospel that he follows.
How does Calvin respond? He begins by recognizing the need for a certain authority that stands above anything doubtful or human: “Christian faith must not be founded on human testimony, not propped up by doubtful opinion, not reclined on human authority, but graven on our hearts by the finger of the living God, so as not to be obliterated by any coloring of error.”15
For Calvin this certain authority can only be found in the Scriptures. He fully embraced the sola scriptura of the Reformation and eloquently presented it. In the Word of God alone could certain truth and clear direction for faith be found: “We hold that the Word of God alone lies beyond the sphere of our judgment.” All other claims to authority must be evaluated by the Scriptures. He insists “that Fathers and Councils are of authority only in so far as they accord with the rule of the Word.”16
Calvin does not treat the authority of Scripture as simply a sparring point with Sadoleto. Scripture is at the heart of the life and experience of the Christian community. The pastor can only nourish and develop the people of God with the Word. Calvin asks those who would call themselves pastors and teachers to examine themselves on this point: “I will only exhort these men to turn for once to themselves, and consider with what fidelity they feed the Christian people, who cannot have any other food than the Word of their God.”17
Calvin does not dismiss Sadoleto’s concern for the authority of the church in a cavalier or individualistic fashion. He makes clear that he loves the unity and harmony of the church. But that church must honor the Word of God above itself.
Ours be the humility which, beginning with the lowest, and paying respect to each in his degree, yields the highest honor and respect to the Church, in subordination, however, to Christ the ChurcII’s head; ours the obedience which, while it disposes us to listen to our elders and superiors, tests all obedience by the Word of God; in fine, ours the Church whose supreme care it is humbly and religiously to venerate the Word of God, and submit to its authority.18
In this same vein, he prays, “ ‘My conscience told me how strong the zeal was with which I burned for the unity of thy Church, provided thy truth were made the bond of concord.’”19 The Word is the power of life and peace within the church.
Calvin acknowledges that asserting the authority of the Word is not a simple solution to all problems. The Word itself is sometimes misunderstood. But whatever the problem or difficulty, the Word is a better and clearer and safer guide than some supposed inerrancy in the church. “I only contend that so long as they insist on the Word of the Lord, they are never so caught as to be led away to destruction, while their conviction of the truth of the Word of God is so clear and certain that it cannot be overthrown by either men or angels.”20 In his prayer he expresses the conviction that the Word is the only path to peace and unity in the church: “ ‘The only thing I asked was that all controversies should be decided by thy Word.’”21
For Calvin the Holy Spirit teaches the truth of justification through the Scriptures in the church. His great concern for justification, the Word of God, and the church is united and energized for Calvin by the Holy Spirit. For this reason he reacts sharply to Sadoleto’s improper appeal to the Spirit as a guide for the church apart from the Word:
The Spirit [has] been promised not to reveal a new doctrine, but to impress the truth of the gospel on our minds. . . . And you, Sadoleto, by stumbling on the very threshold, have paid the penalty of that affront which you offered to the Holy Spirit when you separated Him from the Word. . . . The Spirit goes before the Church, to enlighten her in understanding the Word, while the Word itself is like the Lydian state, by which she tests all doctrines.22
In the “Reply” we can feel as well as read Calvin’s passion for the cause of the Reformation. We see the deep personal struggles of conscience for Calvin that were satisfied only in the Christ of the Scriptures who justified him through faith alone.
“THE NECESSITY FOR REFORMING THE CHURCH”
Only a few years after writing the “Reply,” another request came to Calvin to write on the character of and need for reform. The circumstances were quite different from those that inspired the “Reply” and enable us to see other dimensions of his defense of the Reformation. Emperor Charles V was calling the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire to meet in the city of Speyer in 1544. Martin Bucer, the great Reformer of Strassburg, appealed to Calvin to draft a statement of the doctrines of and necessity for the Reformation. The result was remarkable. Theodore Beza, Calvin’s friend and successor in Geneva, called “The Necessity for Reforming the Church” the most powerful work of his time.23
Of the three works we are considering in this chapter, the “Necessity” is the oily one that is not a reply to a previous work. In a reply much of the form and content of the work is determined by the work being answered. But in the “Necessity” Calvin was free to present the cause of the reform in the way he regarded as most balanced and effective in communicating to the emperor.
Calvin organizes the work into three large sections. The first section is devoted to the evils in the church that required reformation. The second details the particular remedies to those evils adopted by the Reformers. The third shows why reform could not be delayed but, rather, how the situation demanded “instant amendment.”24
In each of these three sections Calvin focuses on four topics, which he calls the soul and body of the church. The soul of the church is worship and salvation. The body is sacraments and church government. The great cause of reform for Calvin centers in these topics. The evils, remedies, and necessity for prompt action all relate to worship, salvation, sacraments, and church government. The importance of these topics for Calvin is highlighted when we remember that he was not responding to attacks in these four areas but chose them himself as the most important aspects of the Reformation.
That worship is the first topic discussed by Calvin may surprise us, but he is adamant as to its importance:
If it be inquired, then, by what things chiefly the Christian religion has a standing existence amongst us, and maintains its truth, it will be found that the following two not only occupy the principal place, but comprehend under them all the other parts, and consequently the whole substance of Christianity, viz., a knowledge, first, of the mode in which God is duly worshipped; and, secondly, of the source from which salvation is to be obtained.25
Proper worship is Calvin’s first concern. He stresses the importance of worship because human beings so easily worship according to their own wisdom rather than God’s. He insists that worship must be regulated by the Word of God alone:
I know how difficult it is to persuade the world that God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by His Word. The opposite persuasion which cleaves to them, being seated, as it were, in their very bones and marrow, is, that whatever they do has in itself a sufficient sanction, provided it exhibits some kind of zeal for the honour of God. But since God not oily regards as fruitless, but also plainly abominates, whatever we undertake from zeal to His worship, if at variance with His command, what do we gain by a contrary course? The words of God are clear and distinct, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.”26
This conviction is one of the reasons that reform was required: “Since . . . God in many passages forbids any new worship unsanctioned by His Word; since he declares that He is grievously offended with the presumption which invents such worship, and threatens it with severe punishment, it is clear that the reformation which we have introduced was demanded by a strong necessity.”27 By the standard of God’s Word Calvin concludes of the Roman Catholic Church that “the whole form of divine worship in general use in the present day is nothing but mere corruption.”28
For Calvin the worship of the medieval church had become “gross idolatry.” The issue of idolatry was for him as serious as the issue of works-righteousness in justification.29 Both represented human wisdom replacing divine revelation. Both represented a pandering to human proclivities, rather than desiring to please and obey God. Calvin insists that no unity can exist in worship with idolaters: “But it will be said, that, though the prophets and apostles dissented from wicked priests in doctrine, they still cultivated communion with them in sacrifices and prayers. I admit they did, provided they were not forced into idolatry. But which of the prophets do we read of as having ever sacrificed in Bethel?”30
The Reformers, like the prophets of old, needed to attack the idolatry and the “external show” of the worship of their time. The antidote to the theatrics of the church in Calvin’s day was a godly simplicity of worship, as reflected in the order of service in the church of Geneva. Such simplicity encouraged worshipers to give mind as well as body to worship: “For while it is incumbent on true worshippers to give the heart and mind, men are always desirous to invent a mode of serving God of a totally different description, their object being to perform to him certain bodily observances, and keep the mind to themselves.”31
Calvin next turns to the subject of justification. Here he grants that disagreements have been the sharpest: “There is no point which is more keenly contested, none in which our adversaries are more inveterate in their opposition, than that of justification, namely, as to whether we obtain it by faith or by works.”32 On this doctrine depends “the safety of the Church,” and because of errors on this doctrine the church has incurred “a deadly wound” and “been brought to the very brink of destruction.”33
Calvin insists that justification is by faith alone: “We maintain, that of what description soever any man’s works may be, he is regarded as righteous before God, simply on the footing of gratuitous mercy; because God, without any respect to works, freely adopts him in Christ, by imputing the righteousness of Christ to him, as if it were his own.”34
This doctrine has a profound effect on the life and experience of the Christian: “By convincing man of his poverty and powerlessness, we train him more effectually to true humility, leading him to renounce all self-confidence, and throw himself entirely upon God; and that, in like manner, we train him more effectually to gratitude, by leading him to ascribe, as in truth he ought, every good thing which he possesses to the kindness of God.”35
Calvin’s third topic is the sacraments, which he examines in detail. He complains that “ceremonies devised by men were placed in the same rank with the mysteries instituted by Christ” and that the Lord’s Supper in particular had been transformed into “a theatrical exhibition.”36 Such abuse of God’s sacraments is intolerable. “The first thing we complain of here is, that the people are entertained with showy ceremonies, while not a word is said of their significancy and truth. For there is no use in the sacraments unless the thing which the sign visibly represents is explained in accordance with the Word of God.”37
Calvin laments that the simplicity of sacramental doctrine and practice that prevailed in the early church has been lost. This is most clearly seen in the Lord’s Supper. Eucharistic sacrifice, transubstantiation, and the worship of the consecrated bread and wine are unbiblical and destroy the real meaning of the sacrament. “While the sacrament ought to have been a means of raising pious minds to heaven, the sacred symbols of the Supper were abused to an entirely different purpose, and men, contented with gazing upon them and worshipping them, never once thought of Christ.”38 The work of Christ is destroyed, as can be seen in the idea of eucharistic sacrifice, where “Christ was sacrificed a thousand times a-day, as if he had not done enough in once dying for us.”39
The true meaning of the Supper is summarized by Calvin simply: “We exhort all to come with faith. . . . We . . . preach that the body and blood of Christ are both offered to us by the Lord in the Supper, and received by us. Nor do we thus teach that the bread and wine are symbols, without immediately adding that there is a truth which is conjoined with them, and which they represent.”40 Christ truly gives Himself and all His saving benefits to those who participate in the Supper by faith.
This brief overview of Calvin’s discussion of the sacraments gives us only a taste of his treatment of this important subject. He devotes considerable attention to baptism as well as to refuting the Roman position that there are five additional sacraments.
Finally, Calvin turns to the subject of the government of the church. He notes that this is potentially a huge subject: “Were I to go over the faults of ecclesiastical government in detail, I should never have done.”41 He focuses on the importance of the pastoral office. The privilege and responsibility of teaching is at the heart of this office: “No man is a true pastor of the church who does not perform the office of teaching.”42 One of the great accomplishments of the Reformation is the restoration of preaching to its proper place in the life of God’s people. “None of our churches is seen without the ordinary preaching of the Word.”43 The pastoral office must link holiness to teaching: “Those who preside in the Church ought to excel others, and shine by the example of a holier life.”44
Calvin complains that instead of teaching and pursuing holiness the leadership in the Roman church exercises “a most cruel tyranny” over the souls of the people of God claiming powers and authority not given to them by God. The Reformation brought a glorious liberty from unbiblical traditions that had bound the church. “As it was, therefore, our duty to deliver the consciences of the faithful from the undue bondage in which they were held, so we have taught that they are free and unfettered by human laws, and that this freedom, which was purchased by the blood of Christ, cannot be infringed.”45
The Roman church made much of its apostolic succession, especially for ordination. Calvin insists that reformed ordination follow the genuine teaching and practice of Christ, the apostles, and the ancient church. He observes, “No one, therefore, can lay claim to the right of ordaining, who does not, by purity of doctrine, preserve the unity of the church.”46
Calvin concludes this treatise with a reflection on the course of reformation. He attributes the beginning to Luther who with “a gentle hand” called for reform. The response from Rome was an effort “to suppress the truth with violence and cruelty.”47 This warfare did not surprise Calvin for “the uniform fate of the gospel, from its first commencement, has been, and always will be, even unto the end, to be preached in the world amid great contention. ”48
Calvin justifies this trouble in the life of the church because of the importance of the issues in dispute. He does not permit any minimizing of the fact that the “whole substance of the Christian religion”49 is at stake. Since the Reformers acted in obedience to the Bible, he rejects any suggestion that they are schismatic:
The thing necessary to be attended to, first of all, is, to beware of separating the Church from Christ its Head. When I say Christ, I include the doctrine of his gospel, which he sealed with his blood. . . . Let it, therefore, be a fixed point, that a holy unity exists amongst us, when, consenting in pure doctrine, we are united in Christ alone.50
It is not the name church that provides unity, but the reality of the true church that abides in the Word of God.
Calvin then turns to the practical question of who could properly lead the cause of reform in the church. He rejects the idea that the pope could lead the church or the reform in the strongest language:
I deny that See to be Apostolical, wherein nought is seen but a shocking apostasy —I deny him to be the vicar of Christ, who, in furiously persecuting the gospel, demonstrates by his conduct that he is Antichrist—I deny him to be the successor of Peter, who is doing his utmost to demolish every edifice that Peter built—and I deny him to be the head of the Church, who by his tyranny lacerates and dismembers the Church, after dissevering her from Christ, her true and only Head.51
He knows that many call for a universal council to solve the problems of the church, but he fears that such a council can never meet and that, if it does, it will be controlled by the pope.52 Therefore, he suggests that the church should follow the practice of the ancient church and settle the matters at various local or provincial councils.53 In any case, the cause must ultimately be left to God, who will grant what blessing He sees fit to all reform efforts: “We are, indeed, desirous, as we ought to be, that our ministry may prove salutary to the world; but to give it this effect belongs to God, not to us.”54
“THE TRUE METHOD OF GIVING PEACE TO CHRISTENDOM AND REFORMING THE CHURCH”
The third treatise in which Calvin defends the Reformation is written in response to the imposition of the Augsburg Interim on the Holy Roman Empire by the emperor in 1548. By a series of stunning military victories the emperor broke Protestant military resistance and imposed a religious settlement on the empire that temporarily granted some small concessions to Protestant practice as well as some liberty of private conscience, but largely required a return to Roman Catholic practice in the externals of religion.
The Interim document was officially titled “The Interim, or Declaration of Religion of His Imperial Majesty Charles V being a constitution prescribing the mode in which the states of the Holy Roman Empire should mutually conduct themselves and treat each other until the decision of a general council.” It dealt with three large areas of theology and practice: justification, the church, and the sacraments. One-third of the treatise was given to justification and the church. Two-thirds were given to the sacraments.
In “The True Method of Giving Peace to Christendom and Reforming the Church,” John Calvin followed the same topics and proportions as the Interim except that in the section on justification and the church he added a section on worship.
Calvin began and ended the treatise with his own evaluation of the legitimacy of submitting to the Interim. Throughout his life Calvin had insisted that there must be no compromise with idolatry or false doctrine. He sharply reiterated that passion here: “Let it be our resolute determination to listen to no terms of peace which mingle the figments of men with the pure truth of God.”55 He elaborated on his opposition to the compromise offered in the Interim with these stirring words:
For as Christ always recommends peace to us as a primary object, so he teaches that the truth of his Gospel is the only bond of peace. Wherefore, it is of no use for those who are trying to seduce us from the pure profession of the Gospel, to gloss it over with the name of Concord. What then? Peace is indeed to be longed for and sought with the utmost zeal; but rather than it should be purchased by any loss of piety, let heaven and earth, if need be go to confusion! I am . . . here debating with ... the contrivers of a kind of specious PACIFICATIΟΝ, who leave us a half Christ, but in such a manner that there is no part of his doctrine which they do not obscure or bespatter with some stain of falsehood. . . . They bargain concerning the eternal and immutable Truth of God, how far it is to prevail! They say—provided what is fundamental remains safe, the loss of other things is tolerable. They speak thus just as if Christ had given himself up to be divided at their pleasure. It is something, I admit, when the entire renewal of piety cannot all at once be obtained, to secure at least the principal heads, provided we cease not to follow after what is still wanting. But when the Son of God has given us the doctrine of his gospel to be enjoyed entire, to rend it by compact, in order to preserve some part for ourselves, is most sacrilegious.56
Calvin turns to the specifics of the disputed doctrines beginning with justification. He writes with the same conviction that we have seen in the other treatises. He says that it is not enough to speak generally of justification by faith, but one must give it a “distinct explanation.” The freedom of the human will must be rejected and a clear distinction made between the “nature of man and the grace of God. ” The blind man lost in sin must be “illuminated by the Spirit of God.” Justification “wholly consists in the forgiveness of sins,” not at all in works. Justification is by an imputed righteousness, not an infused one. “We say, therefore, that we are justified by faith, because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us.”57
Works are indeed a necessary part of the Christian life, but their role must be understood properly. “If any one, on the other hand, objects that we are made partakers of Christ only by being renewed by his Spirit unto the obedience of law, this must be acknowledged to be true; but let Regeneration [Sanctification] be what it may, we deny Justification is to be placed in it.”58
Calvin again makes clear in this treatise that the imputation of righteousness is the only way to true assurance and peace of conscience: “If conscience cannot rest in anything short of certain righteousness, who can doubt that the whole righteousness on which man ought to lean, is contained in the remission of sins.”59 Calvin sees this peace as a central part of biblical religion: “Making no mention of works, [Paul] tells us that righteousness must be sought without [i.e., outside] us; otherwise that certainty of faith, which he everywhere so strongly urges, could never stand.”60
For Calvin, faith is the Christian’s link to the righteousness of Christ: “Faith, I say, is a firm certainty of conscience, which embraces Christ as he is offered to us by the gospel.”61 In this treatise Calvin offers a marvelous summary in five points of the role of faith in justification:
With regard, then, to the obtaining of Righteousness before God, I say that we must necessarily hold the following five points concerning Faith:—First, that it is an undoubting persuasion, by which we receive the word brought by Prophets and Apostles as truth sent from God. Secondly, that what it properly looks to in the Word of God is the free promises, and especially Christ, their pledge and foundation, so that, resting on the paternal favour of God, we can venture to entertain a confident hope of eternal salvation. Thirdly, that it is not a bare knowledge which flutters in the mind, but that it carries along with it a lively affection, which has its seat in the heart. Fourthly, that this faith does not spring from the perspicacity of the human mind, or the proper movement of the heart, but is the special work of the Holy Spirit, whose it is both to enlighten the mind and impress the heart. Lastly, that this efficacy of the Spirit is not felt by all promiscuously, but by those who are ordained to life.62
This doctrine of justification must be maintained and cannot be negotiated away in the Interim. Those who compromise justification “are laying deadly snares against the salvation of men. . . . Hear Christ admonishing us,—“Walk in the light.” (John xii, 35.) For if we allow the least cloud to obscure the clear light darkness will overtake us sooner than we suppose.”63 Both human salvation and the divine honor are at stake: “We must, in asserting the doctrine of free Justification, give proof not only how dear our salvation, but also how precious the glory of Christ is to us.”64
Although the topic of worship was not singled out for discussion in the Interim, Calvin shows his great concern for this subject by treating it separately: “To debate about the mode in which men obtain salvation, and say nothing of the mode in which God may be duly worshipped, is too absurd.”65 The Interim implicitly tries to reach a compromise by saying that one may believe internally whatever one wants at worship as long as one conforms outwardly to Roman Catholic practice. Calvin will not consent to seeing true worship as only interior:
There are two principal branches [of worship]. First, we must hold that the spiritual Worship of God does not consist either in external ceremonies, or any other kind of works whatsoever; and, secondly, that no Worship is legitimate unless it be so framed as to have for its only rule the will of him to whom it is performed.66
God will not tolerate any form of worship not explicitly established by His Word: “All modes of worship devised contrary to his command, he not only repudiates as void, but distinctly condemns.”67
The next topic that Calvin takes up, following the order of the Interim, is the church. One focus of his concern again is Rome’s claim of apostolic succession. He insists that doctrine, not office, is our real link to the apostles: “If the Church resides in the successors of the Apostles, let us search for successors among those only who have faithfully handed down their doctrine to posterity. . . . For we deny the title of successors of the Apostles to those who have abandoned their faith and doctrine.”68
Calvin again sharply criticizes the pretensions of the pope to be the leader of the church:
Will our mediators then have the audacity to give the name of Christ’s Vicar to one who, after routing the truth of Christ, extinguishing the light of the gospel, overthrowing the salvation of men, corrupting and profaning the worship of God, and trampling down and tearing to pieces all his sacred institutions, domineers like a barbarian?69
Calvin’s passion against the pope is entirely sincere. But he no doubt also hoped that his rhetoric might move the emperor to act against the papal tyranny.
Calvin next turns to the subject of the sacraments. This topic was the one most extensively treated in the Interim, and Calvin similarly devotes the most space to it. Calvin holds to only the two biblical sacraments and explains their meaning briefly:
Christ instituted the Sacraments to be not only symbols of the true religion, which might distinguish the children of God from the profane, but also evidences, and therefore pledges of the divine favour toward us. In Baptism, both forgiveness of sins and the spirit of regeneration are offered us; in the Holy Supper we are invited to enjoy the life of Christ along with all his benefits.70
The sacraments are intended to draw us to God and lift our minds from earth to heaven: “Christ invites us to himself. As we cannot climb so high, he himself lends us his hand, and assists us with the helps which he knows to be suited to us, and even lifts us to heaven, as it is very appropriately expressed by those who compare the Sacraments to ladders.”71
The greatest error of the Roman view of the sacraments is that they tie the Christian to earthly things rather than to Christ. This fault is especially clear in the Roman practice of worshiping the consecrated bread and wine of the Supper: “When celebrating the Supper, we shall indeed worship him as present, but with minds upraised to heaven, whither faith calls us, not fixed down on the bread, which were not less at variance with the right rule of faith, than with the glorious majesty of Christ.”72
The Interim devotes great attention to the subject of the sacrifice of the Mass. Calvin answers that doctrine at length. He summarizes his concern when he writes, “In short, those who pretend that Christ is now offered for the salvation of souls, deny that God has been reconciled to men. Can we subscribe to the Blasphemy which transfers the proper office of Christ to a human action?”73
The recurring theme of this treatise is the centrality of Christ in true religion and how medieval developments have undermined the proper glory of Christ. He develops this concern as he looks at numerous ceremonies and practices of the Roman church. One example is his opposition to praying to saints: "We shall find that whosoever goes about seeking for other patrons or intercessors, is not contented with the patronage of Christ.”74 Christ must be all in all for the Christian.
At the close of the treatise Calvin reiterates his passionate concern that there be no compromise of the gospel for specious notions of peace. He knows that the victory of the emperor presents a great danger to all Protestants who will not embrace the Interim. But true faith is courageous. “Do we hope for salvation from the gospel while no man is willing to run any risk in asserting its truth?”75 Calvin urges Christians to remember that it is always ultimately safer—whatever the appearances—to be on the side of God than on the side of His enemies. To strengthen the faithful, he writes, “And that their courage fail not, let them doubt not that it is far happier for them to cast in their lot with the Church when smitten and in distress, than by acting with excessive caution, and consulting their private tranquillity, to seek a lot apart from the children of God.”76
He ends the treatise on a personal note of commitment: “For myself, conscious as I am of my own weakness, still, by the help of God, I trust, that when the occasion demands it, I shall be able to shew how firmly I have believed, and do believe, that ‘blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.’ ”77
CONCLUSION
Our study has shown that for Calvin five prime theological concerns stood at the heart of the Reformation: (1) the Bible as the only religious authority; (2) pure worship as God has commanded; (3) justification by faith in the imputed righteousness of Christ; (4) the two biblical sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; (5) the true pastoral teaching office for the church. Rome had fundamentally corrupted all five of these points and, therefore, had corrupted the spirituality and morality of the church. The great concern of the Reformation was to restore them.
Were Calvin to evaluate Rome today from the perspective of these five points, what would he conclude? He would surely conclude that Rome is worse off today than it was in the sixteenth century. The Word of God is compromised not only by church traditions but also by corrosive criticism of its reliability. Worship has become even more syncretistic. Justification still rests on human cooperation, but it is often understood in a universalistic sense. The sacraments, after Vatican II, may be administered somewhat more simply, but they continue to be understood in an idolatrous and magical manner. The church continues to insist on the authority of its pope and traditions.
Calvin would no doubt equally lament the sad state of much of Protestantism today. It too is often far from the scriptural religion that Calvin and the Reformers taught. Calvin would appeal to all to return to the Bible and submit to its teaching. His final word to us might well be:
It is the will of our Master that his gospel be preached. Let us obey his command, and follow whithersoever he calls. What the success will be it is not ours to inquire. Our only duty is to wish for what is best, and beseech it of the Lord in prayer; to strive with all zeal, solicitude, and diligence, to bring about the desired result, and, at the same time, to submit with patience to whatever that result may be.78
Notes
1. Quotations of Sadoleto’s letter to the Genevans and Calvin’s reply are taken from A Reformation Debate, ed. John C. Olin (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1966).
2. In ibid., 7 η. 1, Olin observes that several of Calvin’s biographers have seen autobiographical elements in the “Reply. ”
3. Taken from A Reformation Debate, 53.
4. Ibid., 66.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., 78.
7. Ibid., 87, 88.
8. Ibid., 90.
9. Ibid., 66.
10. Ibid., 67.
11. Ibid., 79.
12. Ibid., 83.
13. Ibid., 37.
14. Ibid., 45.
15. Ibid., 78f.
16. Ibid., 92.
17. Ibid., 91.
18. Ibid., 75.
19. Ibid., 86.
20. Ibid., 79.
21. Ibid., 86.
22. Ibid., 61.
23. Willem F. Dankbaar, Calvin, Sein Weg und Sein Werk, 2d ed. (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1966), 167.
24. John Calvin, “The Necessity of Reforming the Church,” in Selected Works of John Calvin, Tracts and Letters, ed. H. Beveridge and J. Bonnet (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983), 1:126.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid., 128f.
27. Ibid., 152f.
28. Ibid., 132.
29. The importance of the issue of idolatry to Calvin is discussed very well in Carlos M. N. Eire, War Against the Idols, The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1986).
30. Ibid., 213.
31. Ibid., 153.
32. Ibid., 135.
33. Ibid., 137.
34. Ibid., 161.
35. Ibid., 160.
36. Ibid., 137.
37. Ibid., 139.
38. Ibid., 166-68.
39. Ibid., 195.
40. Ibid., 169.
41. Ibid., 140.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid., 170.
44. Ibid., 141.
45. Ibid., 176.
46. Ibid., 174.
47. Ibid., 183f.
48. Ibid., 185f.
49. Ibid., 187.
50. Ibid., 213, 215.
51. Ibid., 219f.
52. Ibid., 226.
53. Ibid., 223.
54. Ibid., 233.
55. John Calvin, “The True Method of Giving Peace to Christendom and Reforming the Church,” in Selected Works of John Calvin, Tracts and Letters, 3:242.
56. Ibid., 240-42.
57. Ibid., 243-44.
58. Ibid., 244.
59. Ibid., 245.
60. Ibid., 247.
61. Ibid., 250.
62. Ibid.
63. Ibid., 257.
64. Ibid., 260.
65. Ibid.
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid., 261.
68. Ibid., 264f.
69. Ibid., 274.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid., 279f.
72. Ibid., 281.
73. Ibid., 313.
74. Ibid., 320.
75. Ibid., 343.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid.
78. Calvin, “The Necessity of Reforming the Church,” 200.