In this enlightening episode, we discuss the nuances of conscience and confessional identity during the Reformation. Joined by Dr. Timothy Scheuers, we turn our attention to the transformative period of the 16th century, exploring how conscience acted not only as a catalyst for reform but also as a complex element influencing church unity, confessional standards, and the intricate relationship between church and state.

The core of our discussion centers around Dr. Scheuer’s book, Consciences and the Reformation: Scruples over Oaths and Confessions in the Era of Calvin and His Contemporaries (Oxford University Press), providing a fresh perspective on the role of conscience in driving forward the Reformation’s agenda. We explore the pivotal moments and figures of this era, including Calvin’s return to Geneva and the establishment of the Geneva Academy, to understand how these historical milestones continue to influence contemporary Christian thought and practice.

Through a blend of historical examination and practical application, this episode not only sheds light on the foundational aspects of Reformed theology but also invites listeners to reflect on the relevance of these principles in today’s ecclesiastical landscape. Whether you’re a theologian, a pastor, or simply someone interested in Christian history and doctrine, this episode offers valuable insights into the enduring legacy of the Reformation and its significance for the contemporary church.

Rev. Scheuers is the Associate Pastor of First United Reformed Church of Chino, CA, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of History at Providence Christian College (Pasadena, CA).

Chapters

• 00:00:07 Introduction
• 00:05:49 Discovering the Topic
• 00:12:57 Conscience and the Reformation
• 00:18:59 Church-State Relations
• 00:24:47 Dissimulation and Conscience in the Reformation
• 00:31:57 The Role of Conscience in Calvin’s Geneva
• 00:49:44 Calvin’s Return to Geneva and Changes in Approach
• 00:59:58 The Effect of Sin on the Conscience
• 01:15:27 The Geneva Academy and Confessional Subscription
• 01:20:48 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Dan Ragusa, Tim Scheuers

After recording a course on the subject for Reformed Academy, Dr. Carlton Wynne comes to the podcast studio to discuss John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. Topics covered include Calvin’s theology, the right ordering of knowledge, general and special revelation, the effects of the fall on human reasoning, natural theology, and comparisons to the thought of Thomas Aquinas and Cornelius Van Til. Carlton also shares about his experience as a pastor-theologian and his talk on maintaining true religion in a modernist world at the recent Reformation Worship Conference. The conversation touches on the legacy of J. Gresham Machen and the need for the church to guard the good deposit of faith.

Chapters

• 00:00:07 Introduction
• 00:05:41 Introduction to Carlton’s Course on Calvin’s Institutes
• 00:13:56 The Church and the Academy
• 00:20:58 Approaching a Course on the Institutes
• 00:30:30 The Natural Knowledge of God
• 00:37:52 Natural Theology, Ethics, and “Formal” Truth
• 00:49:48 The Reformation Worship Conference
• 00:57:28 Machen 2.0
• 01:10:39 Calvin and the Threefold Office of Mediator
• 01:12:52 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Carlton Wynne

Rev. Dr. David Noe joins us to speak about John Calvin, God or Baal: Two Letters on the Reformation of Worship and Pastoral Service (Reformation Heritage Books), which includes translations of two letters:

• We Must Flee the Forbidden Rites of the Wicked and Maintain the Purity of the Christian Faith
• The Christian Man’s Obligation to Fulfill or Renounce the Priestly Offices of the Papal Church

Calvin most likely wrote these letters in the fall of 1536. Both have a polemical tone and touch upon the subject of worship. These letters are Calvin’s first strong rebuke of two friends, men whom he had known for some time and had clearly expressed evangelical convictions and yet wanted to remain in the positions of privilege and power that they enjoyed within French Catholicism.

Dr. Noe is Professor of Classics at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has also published a translation of Franciscus Junius’ (1545–1602) De Theologia Vera (Reformation Heritage Books) and a translation of Theodore Beza’s (1519–1605) Plana et Perspicua Tractatio De Coena Domini (Reformation Heritage Books).

Links

• Latin Per Diem
• Ad Navseam podcast

Participants: Camden Bucey, David Noe

William Reddinger speaks about strands of resistance theory in the American Revolution, considering Lockean, Continental, and Anglo interpretations of Romans 13. Dr. Reddinger has authored “The American Revolution, Romans 13, and the Anglo Tradition of Reformed Protestant Resistance Theory” in the Summer 2016 issue of American Political Thought.

Some scholars argue that the theology of the American Revolution was fundamentally Lockean and largely incompatible with Christianity, a view that this article calls the Lockean view; more recently, others who advocate what this article calls the Lockean–Reformed view argue that the American Revolution was both Lockean and Reformed and that there is no incompatibility between these sources. This article critiques the Lockean–Reformed view and argues that there were two traditions of resistance theory in early Reformed Protestantism—the Continental tradition and the Anglo tradition. While these two traditions were not monolithic, the distinction is helpful in understanding how the theology of resistance during the American founding was different from the Continental tradition of resistance. It also allows one to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses both of the Lockean view and of the Lockean–Reformed view.

—Article abstract

Dr. Reddinger is Associate Professor of Government, History, and Criminal Justice at Regent University. Prior to coming to Regent, he taught political science at Wheaton College in Illinois and at South Texas College. He received his undergraduate degree from Grove City College in Pennsylvania before completing his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science at Northern Illinois University, where his studies focused on the history of political philosophy and American political thought.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, William Reddinger

We discuss how a return to sola scriptura through confessional Reformed theology spares us from the errors of Roman Catholicism and modernism. Reformed covenant theology, broadly considered, is facing a crisis regarding what constitutes “reformed” theology. The situation currently is one of chaos and confusion. Some claim that the way forward is by way of retrieving the theology of Thomas Aquinas, the angelic doctor of the Roman Catholic church, in the service of a so-called “Reformed” apologetic. The line of this argument is that if you follow the Roman Catholic theology and method of Aquinas, you will arrive at Protestant conclusions. Others enlist Aquinas in conversation with the likes of John Webster and Karl Barth, in the interest of retrieving “catholic” tradition in the development of a reformed theological identity. Still others, outside of our reformed circles, are engaged in ecumenical dialogue between Thomas and Barth (Bruce McCormack and Thomas Joseph White’s Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth: An Unofficial Dialogue, or Keith Johnson’s Karl Barth and the Analogia Entis, which helpfully to my mind points out the significant points of convergence between the two theologians). It is very much worth pointing out that Van Til virtually predicted this in advance in his sadly neglected but highly important work Confession of 1967, where he says, “If now we live in a dialogical age and if only the church as ecumenical can meet the needs of such an age, then surely the Roman Catholic too must learn to see this fact. As Martin Marty says, “If Protestants and Roman Catholics wish to make possible a creative coexistence, to enrich our pluralistic society, and to profit from each other’s separate histories, they will have to participate in dialogue.…” And what does such “dialogue” look like? Again, Van Til says, “It was Hans Urs von Balthasar who, more than anyone else, has helped Barth to see that Roman Catholicism also begins its theology from the Christ-Event. Roman Catholicism, says von Balthasar, does not believe in direct revelation any more than does Barth. To be sure, Rome does speak of “faith and works,” of “nature and grace,” of “reason and revelation.” But this “and” is not, as Barth thinks, fatal to the idea of the primacy of Christ and of faith in Christ. The whole discussion between Barth and the Roman Catholic position may therefore start from the idea that revelation is revelation in hiddenness. ”The difference between Barth and Roman Catholicism will therefore be not of principle but of degree” (Confession, 119).

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jim Cassidy, Lane G. Tipton

Jim Cassidy and Camden Bucey discuss theological methodology in light of Calvin’s view of natural theology. As a starting point for the discussion, they turn to Thiago M. Silva’s article, “John Calvin and the Limits of Natural Theology,” Puritan Reformed Journal 8, 2 (2016): 33-48.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jim Cassidy

God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

In developing this doctrine, Ragusa draws upon Cornelius Van Til’s Trinitarian theology, covenant theology, and representational principle. Ragusa writes,

According to Van Til’s representational principle, for man’s will to operate and for an act of his will to be significant and meaningful it must take place within an exhaustively personal environment, that is, it must take place within the sovereign and eternal plan of the self-sufficient triune God. The absolute freedom of God does not take away or limit man’s freedom, but rather establishes it in an analogical fashion.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Dan Ragusa, Jim Cassidy

Dr. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. speaks about Calvin’s views on the Sabbath. In this conversation, we look to Dr. Gaffin’s book Calvin and the Sabbath: The Controversy of Applying the Fourth Commandment (Mentor/Christian Focus), which is a revised version of his ThM thesis originally written under the supervision of John Murray at Westminster Theological Seminary in 1961–62. We also speak about Dr. Gaffin’s exegesis and theological development of Hebrews 3–4 in Pressing Toward the Mark: Essays Commemorating Fifty Years of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.  

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Richard B. Gaffin Jr.

Sections

1. Absurd fictions of opponents first refuted, and then certain passages of Scripture explained. Answer by a negative. Confirmation of the answer.

2. Another absurdity of Aristotle and Pelagius. Answer by a distinction. Answer fortified by passages from Augustine, and supported by the authority of an Apostle.

3. Third absurdity borrowed from the words of Chrysostom. Answer by a negative.

4. Fourth absurdity urged of old by the Pelagians. Answer from the works of Augustine. Illustrated by the testimony of our Saviour. Another answer, which explains the use of exhortations.

5. A third answer, which contains a fuller explanation of the second. Objection to the previous answers. Objection refuted. Summary of the previous answers.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Sections

1. Connection of this chapter with the preceding. Augustine’s similitude of a good and bad rider. Question answered in respect to the devil.

2. Question answered in respect to God and man. Example from the history of Job. The works of God distinguished from the works of Satan and wicked men. 1. By the design or end of acting. How Satan acts in the reprobate. 2. How God acts in them.

3. Old Objection, that the agency of God in such cases is referable to prescience or permission, not actual operation. Answer, showing that God blinds and hardens the reprobate, and this in two ways; 1. By deserting them; 2. By delivering them over to Satan.

4. Striking passages of Scripture, proving that God acts in both ways, and disposing of the objection with regard to prescience. Confirmation from Augustine.

5. A modification of the former answer, proving that God employs Satan to instigate the reprobate, but, at the same time, is free from all taint.

6. How God works in the hearts of men in indifferent matters. Our will in such matters not so free as to be exempt from the overruling providence of God. This confirmed by various examples.

7. Objection, that these examples do not form the rule. An answer, fortified by the testimony of universal experience, by Scripture, and a passage of Augustine.

8. Some, in arguing against the error of free will, draw an argument from the event. How this is to be understood.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

In his “Summary of Doctrine Concerning the Ministry of the Word and the Sacraments,” Calvin articulates the idea of union and communion with Christ through the means of grace.

The end of the whole Gospel ministry is that God … communicate Christ to us who are disunited by sin and hence ruined, that we may from him enjoy eternal life; that in a word all heavenly treasures be so applied to us that they be no less ours than Christ’s himself. We believe this communication to be mystical, and incomprehensible to human reason, and Spiritual, since it is effected by the Holy Spirit [by whom] he joins us to Christ our Head, not in an imaginary way, but most powerfully and truly, so that we become flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, and from his vivifying flesh he transfuses eternal life into us. To effect this union, the Holy Spirit uses a double instrument, the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. When we say that the Holy Spirit uses an external minister as instrument, we mean this: both in the preaching of the Word and in the use of the sacraments, there are two ministers, who have distinct offices. The external minister administers the vocal word, and the sacred signs which are external, earthly and fallible. But the internal minister, who is the Holy Spirit, freely works internally, while by his secret virtue he effects in the hearts of whomsoever he will their union with Christ through one faith. This union is a thing internal, heavenly and indestructible. In the preaching of the Word, the external minister holds forth the vocal word, and it is received by the ears. The internal minister, the Holy Spirit, truly communicates the thing proclaimed through the Word, that is Christ…. so that it is not necessary that Christ or for that matter his Word be received through the organs of the body, but the Holy Spirit effects this union by his secret virtue, by creating faith in us, by which he makes us living members of Christ, true God and true man.[1]

[1] Jean Calvin, Theological Treatises, ed. J.K.S. Reid (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2006), 170-77.

Three or four times a year, according to the will of the authorities, two tables are set up in the church, each covered with a tablecloth, and a lot of hosts are set on the left, and three or four cups or glasses on the right, with lots of pots full of either white or red wine below the table. And after the sermon the preacher comes down from the pulpit and goes to the end of the table on the side where the hosts are, and with his head uncovered and standing places a piece in each person’s hand, saying ‘Remember that Jesus Christ died for you’. Each person eats his piece while walking to the other end of the table, where he takes something to drink from one of the Lords, or another person deputized for this task, without saying anything, while sergeants with their head uncovered pour the wine and provide additional hosts if they run out. Throughout all of this, somebody else reads from the pulpit in the vernacular with his head uncovered the gospel of Saint John, from the beginning of the thirteenth chapter, until everyone has taken their piece, both men and women, each one at their different table.[1]

[1] Description taken from Christ’s Churches Purely Reformed.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

In Calvin’s commentary on this text, the Reformer makes the following observations about the signs and realities of the sacraments.

When [Paul] says that the fathers ate the same spiritual meat, he shows, first, what is the virtue and efficacy of the Sacraments, and, secondly, he declares, that the ancient Sacraments of the Law had the same virtue as ours have at this day. For, if the manna was spiritual food, it follows, that it is not bare emblems that are presented to us in the Sacraments, but that the thing represented is at the same time truly imparted, for God is not a deceiver to feed us with empty fancies. A sign, it is true, is a sign, and retains its essence, but, as Papists act a ridiculous part, who dream of transformations, (I know not of what sort,) so it is not for us to separate between the reality and the emblem which God has conjoined. Papists confound the reality and the sign: profane men, as, for example, Suenckfeldius, and the like, separate the signs from the realities. Let us maintain a middle course, or, in other words, let us observe the connection appointed by the Lord, but still keep them distinct, that we may not mistakenly transfer to the one what belongs to the other.

So Roman Catholics err by confounding the reality and the sign. Anabaptists err by separating them. Calvin argues that sign and reality must be kept distinct, but they must not be severed. The sacraments are signs, but they are not empty or bare signs, nor are they signs of something absent but of something present, given, and received. Ultimately, the reality signified by the signs is Jesus Christ himself and all the benefits of redemption which are found in him.

It’s not clear to me how the Confession of Sins and Prayer for Pardon [in Calvin’s liturgy] is compatible with the Reformed idea that man’s sins are completely forgiven at the moment of Justification and that God only views man in light of the Righteousness of Christ imputed to him. Why ask for forgiveness of sins every Sunday if you believe all your sins were already forgiven and that God never counts your sins against you?

It is true that Calvin’s liturgy—like the liturgies of Luther, Cranmer, Bucer, and Knox—included a Corporate Confession of Sin and Declaration of Pardon. In Calvin’s Strasbourg service, after the Confession of Sin, Calvin would deliver “some word of Scripture to console the conscience”; then, he would pronounce “the Absolution in this manner:”

Let each of you truly acknowledge that he is a sinner, humbling himself before God, and believe that the heavenly Father wills to be gracious unto him in Jesus Christ. To all those that repent in this wise, and look to Jesus Christ for their salvation, I declare that the absolution of sins is effected, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Calvin’s Strasbourg service followed the pattern of Martin Bucer’s liturgy, which began with a Confession of Sin followed by a “Word of Comfort” from holy scripture (1 Tim. 1:15; or John 3:16; 3:35–36; Acts 10:43; 1 John 2:1–2; etc.) and the “Absolution.”

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Let everyone, with St. Paul, truly acknowledge this in his heart and believe in Christ. Thus, in His name, I proclaim unto you the forgiveness of all your sins, and declare you to be loosed of them on earth, that you be loosed of them also in heaven, in eternity. Amen.

Bucer’s liturgy makes it clear that the Absolution is an exercise of the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16:19; 18:18). As excommunication declares that the impenitent are bound by sins, absolution declares that the penitents are loosed from them. We find a similar pattern of Confession of Sin followed by an Absolution in the liturgies of Luther, Cranmer and Knox. How is it that Nick and Stellman can see so clearly what all these Reformers failed to see? The Confession of Faith that Stellman at one time believed and defended clearly explains why praying for forgiveness of sins every Lord’s Day does not contradict the Reformed doctrine of justification.

God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified; and, although they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they may, by their sins, fall under God’s fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance (WCF 11:5)

J. G. Vos explains,

The justified person still can and daily does commit sin in thought, word and deed…. These “daily failings” cannot cancel his standing as a justified person; they cannot bring him into condemnation. But they can offend his heavenly Father, and cause him to withdraw the light of his countenance from the person’s soul for a time. They cannot destroy the believer’s union with God, but they can interrupt and weaken his communion with God. Therefore, the believer is daily to confess his sins and to pray for God’s pardon for his daily failings.

It is not uncommon for a drunken man to believe that he has a brilliant idea that no one else has ever thought of. His sober buddies, of course, realize that he’s making a fool of himself.

Here [in Geneva], like Moses and the prophets, whose speech lifted up and moved the Hebrew people; [here] like saint Ambrose or saint Chrysostom, those great bishops whose speech held the crowds of Milano or Constantinople in sway, at the foot of their pulpits; [here] like Savonarola, the reformer whose words, over a two-year period, transformed Florence, Calvin spoke. He spoke for 25 years! He spoke from his pastor’s or professor’s pulpit, sometimes every day, for month on end, sometimes two times per day, for weeks on end. He spoke with endless exhortations to the Consistory, to the Friday Congregation, to the Town Council. He spoke in his treatises, those ardent improvisations he dictated as though in a single breath. He spoke through his countless letters, letters of consolation, letters of a spiritual counselor, letters of a statesman, letters, especially, of a friend…. Here is the Calvin who seems to me the true one and the authentic Calvin, the one which explains all the others: Calvin, the preacher of Geneva, shaping the reformed soul of the 16th century by his word.[9]
Calvin was first and foremost a minister of the Word. And as T. H. L. Parker says, “he is not fully seen unless he is seen in the pulpit,” and “it is impossible to do justice to his work in Geneva unless preaching be given the main place.”[10]

Many of Calvin’s recent biographers agree that all of his labors were tethered to and structured around the pulpit. Bernard Cottret wrote,

Preaching was at the center of the Reformer’s activity; in his last years it utterly exhausted him and wore him down. His frail appearance, his short breath, his voice as if from beyond the tomb, and his back bowed by illness regained a sudden energy and a last grandeur under the impulse of the Spirit that animated and subdued them. Calvin was a man who spoke.[11]
For Calvin … preaching was not just one literary genre among others; it was the very essence of the Reformation.[12]

And so, in this presentation on Calvin, the servant of the Word, we will focus our attention on Calvin’s preaching. This is an area of Calvin’s work that has been largely neglected, at least until recent years. Thomas J. Davis observes,

When we speak of Calvin’s preaching, we approach one of the two final frontiers … in studies of Calvin; the other is exegesis. Calvin the theologian … has been the subject of a great tradition of scholarship. Within the last generation, however, many within that tradition find it no longer acceptable to study Calvin as theologian in the traditional manner: by reading solely the great Institutes of the Christian Religion. With great vigor, a number of scholars have begun the task of taking on the commentaries and are beginning to relate Calvin’s theology and exegesis in fruitful ways. Calvin’s preaching, however, is just now beginning to come into its own as an area of study.[13]

I have already mentioned Doumergue’s lecture on Calvin’s preaching delivered at the 400th anniversary in Geneva. This was indeed a rare topic in his day. At Calvin’s 500th anniversary, however, virtually every major conference on Calvin has included (or will include) a lecture on Calvin’s preaching. The first serious work on Calvin’s sermons was written by the German scholar, Erwin Mülhaupt in 1931, Die Predigt Calvins.[14] This is what led to the Supplementa Calviniana. “The editors of the Opera Calvini did not place a lot of value on the sermons,” so they only included less than half of them, but now, “almost all remaining sermons preserved in manuscript” have been “published in the Supplementa Calviniana. Occasionally new manuscripts of sermons are found and printed.”[15] For example, in 1994, another eighty-seven sermons on Isaiah were discovered in the library of the French Protestant Church in London.[16] Thus, the homiletical corpus of Calvin is expanding. The history of the sermon manuscripts is a tragic tale, and unfortunately, of all the sermons that he preached, only about one-third of them have been preserved.[17] In the English world, says Davis, pioneering work into Calvin’s preaching starts, in many ways, with T. H. L. Parker’s The Oracles of God (1947). “This represents the kind of historical spadework necessary to establish the actual work of Calvin’s preaching.”[18] First of all, Parker gives us the logistics of his preaching activity. He tells us how many sermons he preached on what book and when. Secondly, Parker analyses Calvin’s homiletical form and style. It is unnecessary to repeat here what can easily be found in hundreds of books, but just to give you an idea of the scope of Calvin’s homiletical activity—between 1549 (when a stenographer, Denis Raguenier, was hired to take down his sermons)[19] and 1564, Calvin preached over 2000 sermons, including: 123 on Genesis, 200 on Deuteronomy, 353 on Isaiah, 43 on Galatians, 86 on the Pastoral Epistles and 186 on 1 and 2 Corinthians. He also (in that time period) expounded Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, Job, Psalms, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Acts, Ephesians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. And beginning in 1559, he started preaching a Harmony of the Gospels, which series remained incomplete at his death in 1564.[20] Dr. Hughes Oliphant Old says, “In more than twenty years as preacher at Geneva, Calvin must have preached through almost the entire Bible.”[21] His normal practice was to preach New Testament books on the Lord’s Day—except, at times, he preached the Psalms in the evening service—and Old Testament books during the week, except for holy week, when he preached through the Passion narrative. With regard to his homiletical style, it is well known that Calvin adopted what has rightly been called the “Protestant plain style.” Calvin refused to embellish his sermons with rhetorical decorations. This was a matter of theological conviction. Dr. Old explains,

What surprises the modern reader of Calvin’s sermons is the simplicity of his sermons. We find no engaging introductions, no illustrative stories nor anecdotes, no quotations from great authors, no stirring conclusions. Although Calvin was one of the most literate men of his age and a master in the use of language, his sermons depend not at all on literary elegance. The forcefulness of his sermons is to be found in the clarity of his analysis of the text. Calvin seems to have no fear that the Scriptures will be boring or irrelevant unless the preacher spices them up. In fact, Calvin seems to have a horror of decorating the Word of God. Scripture does not need to be painted with artists’ colors! So confident is the reformer that God will make his Word alive in the hearts of his people, that Calvin simply explains the text and draws out its implication. The simplicity and directness of his style is based in his confidence that what he is preaching is indeed the Word of God. This simplicity is an expression of reverence.[22]

This is all the more significant when one realizes that Calvin was a master of classical rhetoric. Being educated in the schools of Christian humanism, he was greatly influenced by Cicero and Quintilian. His first published book was a commentary on Seneca’s De Clementia, in which he “shows himself acquainted with the whole of Greek and Latin classical literature, citing 155 Latin authors and twenty-two Greek, and citing them with understanding.”[23] Calvin may have even taken the name of his great theological work, the Institutes from Quintilian’s Institutes of Oratory. Lester De Koster remarked that the Christian humanists regarded the Ciceronian style as the equivalent of Christian beatitude.[24] “Cicero had distinguished among three types of style: the plain, the intermediate and the sublime. Calvin deliberately eschewed the use of the sublime and even of the intermediate styles and restricted himself severely to the plain” style.[25] According to Doumergue, Calvin’s language is “simple, more than simple, familiar, popular …. It is the tone, the true tone of the people.”[26] This is important for Calvin, and it is something that Reformed ministers ought to take seriously, but looking at Calvin’s homiletical activity or style is surely not where we should spend most of our time. Parker laid the foundation for the study of Calvin’s preaching, but unfortunately, it seems that few have advanced beyond it. If we are going to find something that constitutes a legacy in preaching, then we really need to look to something more substantive, something more significant than Calvin’s preaching activity or style. To discover Calvin’s homiletical legacy, we must, first of all, examine his understanding of preaching as divine worship. Preaching as Divine Worship One of the primary concerns of the Reformers was to restore the reading and the preaching of the Scriptures to a central place in the worship of the Christian Church. Thus, “for the twelve thousand people of Geneva, there were fifteen services with sermon every week,” distributed throughout the three parishes of Geneva.[27] In the Reformation, “preaching occupied a position which it had not held since” the ancient Church.[28] With Cyril of Jerusalem in the fourth century and his mystagogical catechesis and his plan to revitalize the city of Jerusalem by turning it into a pilgrimage center, the worship of the Church took a tremendous turn toward ceremonialism.[29] More and more, the reading and the preaching of Scripture in the worship of the Church receded into the background. Ceremonialism won the day, and preaching suffered greatly. In the middle ages, more and more frequently, public worship omitted even the simplest kind of sermon.[30] There were great preachers in the middle ages such as Bernard of Clairvaux, and there were efforts to revive preaching such as the preaching orders of the Franciscans and the Dominicans, but it is not until the Reformation that preaching was restored to its central place in the worship of the Christian Church. Calvin sums up the popular attitude toward preaching among the papists when he says, “The pope, his bishops and all his vermin” are busy with blessing organs, baptizing bells, consecrating vestments and ornaments, but preaching? “That’s trivial stuff, they’ll not deign to touch it. That’s for the mendicants, the friars.”[31] So, the Reformers sought to restore biblical preaching after the example of the apostles and the ancient Church. But it should be born in mind that “there is no credit due to Calvin in this recovery, for he was … a member of the second generation of Reformers, who entered into the work which the first generation had done.”[32] When Zwingli was called to Zurich in January of 1519, he began preaching through the Gospel of Matthew day after day, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, for a whole year.[33] This kind of systematic exposition of Scripture—the lectio continua or continuous reading—was patterned after the great preachers of the ancient Church. “Zwingli’s friend Johan Froeben, who at that time was Basel’s leading publisher, had sent him a copy of Chrysostom’s lectio continua sermons on Mathew shortly after they were off his presses.”[34] Adopting this systematic exposition used by the Church fathers and the homily form of the sermon, Zwingli restored the lectio continua to the worship of the Church. This was the very first liturgical reform of Protestantism. It is Zwingli’s great contribution to the Reformation.[35] “One by one the Christian humanist preachers of the Upper Rhineland began to follow his example.”[36] Of particular importance in terms of influence on Calvin are the Reformers of Strasbourg (Matthaüs Zell, Wolfgang Capito, and Martin Bucer) and also John Oecolampadius, who won the city of Basel for the Reformation by preaching through Isaiah. Calvin closely followed the example of the Church fathers, with the same devotion to expository preaching and to the lectio continua that his Rhenish predecessors had.[37] Like the other Christian humanists, Calvin was greatly influenced by the Church fathers. His admiration of Augustine as a theologian is well known, but with regard to preaching, he was more influenced by Chrysostom. In fact, he set out to translate all of the homilies of Chrysostom into French, but he did not get very far with that project; he never actually made it past the preface. Since Calvin rejected the Alexandrian school of exegesis in favor of the Antiochene school with its grammatical-historical approach, he thought that while Augustine was a better theologian, Chrysostom was a better exegete. John L. Thompson observes,

Calvin’s recommendation of Chrysostom above all other patristic writers points directly to one of his hallmarks as an exegete, namely, his avowed commitment to the “literal” or “historical” sense of the text. While Calvin admits that Chrysostom’s theology has its flaws, he lauds him above all for sticking in his interpretation with the plain meaning of Scripture and the simple meaning of its words (simplici verborum sensu). Calvin’s position here is hardly new or unique, of course, for he was preceded by many other reformers who felt that the church had been badly misled by fanciful and capricious exegesis, particularly the so-called “spiritual” or allegorical exegesis of many patristic and medieval writers.[38]

Now, in addition to his grammatical-historical exegesis, Calvin was also impressed by Chrysostom’s commitment to a contextual exposition of Scripture as exemplified in his use of the lectio continua. Chrysostom wrote, “How do we find [Paul] employed at Thessalonica and Corinth, in Ephesus and in Rome itself? Did he not spend whole nights and days interpreting the Scriptures in their order?”[39] By the phrase in their order, Chrysostom means lectio continua. It was this commitment to contextual preaching that impressed Calvin. When passages of Scripture, says Calvin, are seized on thoughtlessly and the context is ignored, it should not surprise us that mistakes arise everywhere.[40] Calvin saw that this was one of the problems with the lectionary of the Christian year. It cut up the Bible into unrelated scraps. Dr. Old writes,

It imposed an arbitrary arrangement on Scripture. As Calvin saw it, the pericopes of the lectionary often separated a text from its natural context. The texts of Scripture should be heard within the total message of a particular biblical author. A lectionary could not help but encourage over the years a stereotyped interpretation.[41]

Calvin declared, “We must not pick and cull the Scripture to please our own fancy,” but we “must receive the whole without exception.”[42] Again, commenting on Paul’s example of preaching the whole counsel of God, Calvin writes,

What order must pastors then keep in teaching? First, let them not esteem at their pleasure what is profitable to be uttered and what to be omitted; but let them leave that to God alone to be ordered at his pleasure. So shall it come to pass that the inventions of men shall have none entrance into the Church of God. Again, mortal man shall not be so bold as to mangle the Scripture and to pull it in pieces, that he may diminish this or that at his pleasure, that he may obscure something and suppress many things; but shall deliver whatsoever is revealed in the Scripture ….[43]

So, for Calvin, the lectio continua was not only to be preferred over a selected reading of Scripture, it was essential, for we have no right to pick and choose what we want to preach. The story is well known, but perhaps it is worth repeating here. One could hardly give a presentation on Calvin’s preaching without mentioning it. After Calvin was exiled from Geneva and returned three years later, he resumed his exposition of Romans at the exact place where he left off without saying anything about his banishment. In a letter to William Farel, Calvin wrote,

When I preached to the people, everyone was very alert and expectant. But entirely omitting any mention of those matters which they all expected with certainty to hear … I took up the exposition where I had stopped—by which I indicated that I had interrupted my office of preaching for the time rather than that I had given it up entirely.[44]

So, we see that Calvin—like the other Reformers—sought to restore the contextual preaching of Scripture to its central place in the worship of the Church. And this leads us to the main point that I want to emphasize. For Calvin, “the whole purpose of preaching is to glorify God, to worship him in Spirit and in truth.”[45]

He sees it as worship every bit as much as the celebration of the sacraments and every bit as much as the service of prayer. Calvin thought of the reading and preaching of Scripture in the midst of the assembly of God’s people as worship and worship at its most profound.[46]

Furthermore, preaching is not an act of worship on the part of the minister alone but on the part of the whole congregation when it hears the Word and receives it in faith and love. Hearing “the Word of God is of the essence of worship.”[47] Dr. Old sums up Calvin’s thought:

[It] is not only the preaching of the Word, but the receiving of the preached Word, which is worship. The whole congregation worships God by receiving his Word with humility and obedience. The ministry of the Word is not a solo sport, like a game of solitaire or playing tennis against the garage door. Preaching both honors God and builds up the Church. It is, as prayer, and in fact as all worship, the work of the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ to the glory of the Father.[48]

Again he writes,

The more Augustinian theology of the Reformers brought them to understand worship not as a human work but as a divine work. The reading, the preaching and the hearing of the Word was the work not of the minister or of the congregation or even of the Church as a whole, as it was the work of the Holy Spirit. That being the case, then, the minister of the Word was a listener just as much as the believing congregation.[49] The doxological nature and goal of preaching is clearly underscored by the fact that Calvin ended “virtually every one of his thousands of sermons [with these words] ‘And now let us bow down before the majesty of our gracious God…. ‘”[50] On this point, Sinclair Ferguson remarks that Calvin’s preaching “made God great and man bow down. By contrast, much modern preaching seems to have as its goal making man feel great, even if God Himself has to bow down.”[51]

There is much more that could be said about the subject of preaching as worship in Calvin’s pulpit, but we must move on to the next point in examining Calvin’s homiletical legacy, namely, the real presence of Christ in preaching.[52] The Kerygmatic Real Presence of Christ Richard Stauffer observes that for Calvin, preaching is not only a moment of worship, not only a task of the Church, but also something of a divine epiphany. In preaching, the Holy Spirit uses the words of the preacher as an occasion for the presence of God in grace and mercy.[53] Calvin says, “When the gospel is proclaimed to us, it is a manifestation of Jesus Christ.”[54] This concept of Christ’s living presence through the preached Word is at the very heart of Calvin’s gospel.[55] The preaching of the Gospel not only conveys information about Christ, but it conveys Christ himself.[56] Christ is present in the midst of the worshiping assembly clothed in his Gospel.[57] There are several angles from which we may examine this concept. We will limit ourselves to three. First, Calvin asserts that the minister is the mouth of God.

The word goeth out of the mouth of God in such a manner that it likewise “goeth out of the mouth” of men; for God does not speak openly from heaven, but employs men as his instruments ….[58] When a man climbs up into the pulpit, is it so that he may be seen from afar and that he may have a higher place than the rest? No, no! But so that God may speak to us by the mouth of man and be so gracious to us to show himself here among us and will have a mortal man to be his messenger.[59]

Thus, for Calvin, the voice of God is heard in the mouth of the minister. Therefore, the preaching of the Word is the Word of God. According to T. H. L. Parker, this is a claim advanced in the sermons times without number. There cannot be many sermons where it is not asserted explicitly or at the least implied.[60] Now, this raises the question, “In what sense did Calvin understand preaching to be the Word of God?” Mark Beach rightly notes that, for Calvin, there is a distinction between the Word of God as inspired and inscripturated and the exposition of that Word.

When the preacher preaches, his words are not verbally inspired; his message is not infallible or inerrant. In fact, the preacher’s message may have a number of errors and flaws or other shortcomings. That does not mean, however, that the voice of Christ does not come through or that Christ does not admonish his people in that sermon or instruct them or console them.[61] [Furthermore,] To call preaching the voice of Christ does not mean that God’s Word inscripturated is incomplete or that Christ is adding new chapters to the Bible through the Sunday sermon. God’s inscripturated Word is complete. Everything we need to know for our salvation has been given to us. However, although God’s revelation is complete, the administration of that message written in the Bible is not complete. That is why Christ instituted preaching.[62]

For Calvin, the preached Word is the Word of God because it is a transmission of the Word as inspired and inscripturated. It is the Word of God in a derivative sense, but this does not make it any less the Word of God in an actual sense.[63] The message of Scripture is the Word of God whether or not it comes from the lips of an inspired apostle or a non-inspired, post-apostolic minister. But in the post-apostolic era, preaching, ” ‘borrows’ its status of ‘Word of God’ from Scripture.”[64] The difference between apostolic and post-apostolic preaching is in the mode by which the message is mediated. The apostles preached the Word in a non-derivative fashion, but their successors do so only in a derivate fashion. The apostles spoke directly from God to the people. We, however, must take the text of Scripture and expound it for God’s people. But the second-hand nature of post-apostolic preaching does not alter the nature of the Gospel as God’s Word. Of course, “the all important factor,” says Parker, “is not whether the preacher has received the message directly from its giver or received it at second hand, but whether the message which reaches the recipient shall be the message originally given.”[65] Calvin explains,

[This is] the difference between the apostles and their successors: the former were sure and genuine scribes of the Holy Spirit, and their writings are therefore to be considered oracles of God; but the sole office of others is to teach what is provided and sealed in the Holy Scriptures.[66]

According to Calvin, God reveals himself by accommodation. He accommodates himself to human capacity. He stoops down, as Calvin says, and clothes himself in human form, which means, primarily, human words and, ultimately, a human being, the incarnate Christ.[67] What we want to point out here is that this concept of accommodation is also used by Calvin to explain what happens in the act of preaching. Ronald Wallace writes, “The preaching of the Word by a minister is the gracious form behind which God in coming near to men veils that in himself which man cannot bear to behold directly.”[68] Calvin says, “God has graciously condescended to stoop down to us, [so] let us not be ashamed to give this honor to [the preached] Word and [to the] Sacraments—to behold [God] there face to face.”[69] Again, he says, Christ, “the living image of God, is evidently set before our eyes in the mirror of the gospel!”[70] Calvin frequently employs this mirror analogy to describe how we behold the face of Christ and of God in preaching.[71] Commenting on 1 Corinthians 13:12, he writes,

[There can be no doubt that Paul’s mirror metaphor refers to] the ministry of the word [and Sacrament] … For God, who is otherwise invisible, has appointed these means for discovering himself to us … The ministry of the word, I say, is like a looking-glass. For the angels have no need of preaching, or other inferior helps, nor of sacraments, for they enjoy a vision of God of another kind; and God does not give them a view of his face merely in a mirror, but openly manifests himself as present with them. We, who have not as yet reached that great height, behold the image of God as it is presented before us in the word, in the sacraments, and … in the whole of the service of the Church … we walk by faith, not by sight. Our faith, therefore, at present beholds God as absent. How so? Because it sees not his face, but rests satisfied with the image in the mirror.[72]

Another angle from which we may examine the concept of the presence of Christ in preaching is by looking at the role of the Holy Spirit. And we could not very well do justice to Calvin’s theology of preaching without giving much attention to the Holy Spirit. Christ is present in the preached Word by the agency of the Spirit. The preaching of the Word is not merely a human work; it is a work of the Spirit. Preaching has a dual nature; it is a divine-human activity. Calvin says, “we see how God works by the Word which is preached to us, that it is not a voice which only sounds in the air and then vanishes; but God adds to it the power of His Holy Spirit.”[73] Again, he says,

For first, the Lord teaches and instructs us by his word. Secondly, he confirms it by the sacraments. Finally, he illumines our minds by the light of the Holy Spirit and opens our hearts for the Word and sacraments to enter in, which would otherwise only strike our ears and appear before our eyes, but not at all affect us within.[74]

Preaching, therefore, is powerless for salvation without the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that preaching is ever ineffectual. On the contrary, preaching is never in vain.[75] But without the Spirit, it cannot produce any saving effects. Although Calvin embraces the distinction between the Verbum Dei externum and the Verbum Dei internum, he rejects the notion of the Anabaptists that the external Word is powerless.

For delirious and even dangerous are those notions, that though the internal word is efficacious, yet that which proceeds from the mouth of man is lifeless and destitute of all power.[76]

So, for Calvin, preaching has a dual nature. God condescends to joins himself to the ministers of the Gospel and ” … shows that he uses them as his hands and his instruments.”[77] In the act of preaching, the minister is a co-laborer with God.[78] It is a divine-human activity, and Calvin consistently maintains this teaching without (on the one hand) blurring the distinction between the work of God and the work of man and (on the other hand) without separating the two. As John Leith explains, Calvin’s doctrine of preaching

enabled him both to understand preaching as a very human work and to understand it as the work of God…. From one perspective the human work of the sermon is critically important. The sermon’s fidelity to scripture, the skill of the syntax and rhetoric, the liveliness of the delivery, are of a fundamental importance that ought not to be minimized. From another perspective a sermon is a work of the Spirit of God, which may make a “poor” sermon the occasion of God’s presence and a brilliant sermon barren of [redemptive] power. Calvin unites the work of God and the work of man in the sacrament and in preaching without separation, without change, and without confusion.[79]

There is another angle from which we may examine the concept of the presence of Christ in preaching, namely, by comparing it with the presence of Christ in the sacrament. Standing in the Augustinian tradition, which defines a sacrament as a visible Word, Calvin posits the closest possible connection between Word and sacrament. The sacraments are “joined to [the Word] as a sort of appendix, with the purpose of confirming and sealing” the promises of the Gospel.[80] The sacraments cannot exist apart from the Word. The Word “throws life into the sacraments.”[81] Furthermore, the sacraments have the same office as the Word of God: to “offer and set forth Christ to us and in him the treasures of heavenly grace.”[82] Calvin’s explicit rejection of a memorialistic understanding of the Lord’s Supper and his insistence on the real presence of Christ is well known, but not many have made the necessary connection between the eucharistic presence of Christ and, what Dr. Old has called, the kerygmatic real presence of Christ in the Word.[83] I say this is a necessary connection because there can be no eucharistic presence of Christ apart from his kerygmatic presence. This is one reason why the sacrament cannot exist apart from the Word. The eucharistic presence of Christ is grounded in his kerygmatic presence. In both cases, Christ is really present by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Christ is near, says Calvin, “and exhibits himself to us, when the voice of the gospel cries aloud; and we do not need to seek far, or to make long circuits, as unbelievers do; for he exhibits himself [and by exhibits, he means nothing less than gives] to us in his word, that we, on our part, may draw near to him.”[84] The main point to remember here is that in the same way that Christ is present in the eucharist, he is also present in the preached Word. What is received in the sacrament is the same thing that is received in the Word. And just as Calvin denies that the sacrament is a bare sign, so too, the preached Word is never void of the reality it proclaims. The Word is efficacious; it gives what it declares, and that is nothing less than Christ himself, the whole Christ, the living Christ and all his saving benefits with him. In the Word, we receive the same Christ that we receive in the sacraments. Robert Bruce expressed the point perfectly when he said,

[We] do not get a different or better Christ at the supper than we get in the preaching of the Word; but because the supper-sign is added to the Word preached by God’s grace and the Spirit’s ministry, we may get the same Christ better.[85]

Thomas J. Davis has set forth the thesis that just as Calvin’s doctrine of the real eucharistic presence of Christ has largely been unappreciated or even rejected by his successors, so too his doctrine of the real presence of Christ in preaching has been virtually forgotten.[86] This is certainly something worth considering for those of us who claim to be Calvin’s spiritual heirs. Union and Communion with Christ through Preaching The third topic with regard to Calvin’s homiletical legacy is union and communion with Christ through preaching. For Calvin, the believer’s union with Christ is established and nourished through the preaching of the Word. Calvin’s entire soteriology is based on the notion of faith-union with Christ that is effected by the work of the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the Word.[87] Calvin underscores the importance of union with Christ in that famous passage from the Institutes, “As long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us.”[88] Calvin adds that this necessary union with Christ is brought about by “the secret energy of the Spirit, by which we come to enjoy Christ and all his benefits.” “The Holy Spirit,” he says, “is the bond by which Christ effectually unites us to himself.”[89] Now, what does this have to do with preaching? The preaching of the Word is the instrument through which union with Christ is effected by the Spirit.[90] The gospel is not merely an invitation to fellowship with Christ; it is a vehicle by which Christ is communicated to us or, to put it another way, “the effective means by which communion with Christ is brought about.”[91] Calvin says,

We ought … to understand that preaching is an instrument for effecting the salvation of the faithful, and though it can do nothing without the Spirit of God, yet through his inward operation it produces the most powerful effects.[92]

Again, he writes, God has “ordained his Word as the instrument by which Jesus Christ, with all his graces, is dispensed to us.”[93] The Holy Spirit establishes this union with Christ by working faith in the hearts of the elect. And for Calvin, there is a permanent relationship between faith and the Word; one could not separate them any more than one could separate the rays of the sun from the sun itself.[94] “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word” (Romans 10:17). Calvin says,

[T]his is a remarkable passage with regard to the efficacy of preaching, for he [declares that by preaching] faith is produced. He had indeed before declared, that of itself [preaching] is of no avail, but that when it pleases the Lord to work, it becomes the instrument of his power.[95]

Preaching is the mother, which conceives and brings forth faith.[96] Take away the preaching of the gospel, and no faith will remain.[97] The closest thing we have from Calvin to a treatise on preaching is his “Summary of Doctrine Concerning the Ministry of the Word and the Sacraments.”[98] In this document, we find the clearest statement regarding union and communion with Christ through preaching.

The end of the whole Gospel ministry is that God … communicate Christ to us who are disunited by sin and hence ruined, that we may from him enjoy eternal life; that in a word all heavenly treasures be so applied to us that they be no less ours than Christ’s himself. We believe this communication to be mystical, and incomprehensible to human reason, and Spiritual, since it is effected by the Holy Spirit [by whom] he joins us to Christ our Head, not in an imaginary way, but most powerfully and truly, so that we become flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, and from his vivifying flesh he transfuses eternal life into us. To effect this union, the Holy Spirit uses a double instrument, the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. When we say that the Holy Spirit uses an external minister as instrument, we mean this: both in the preaching of the Word and in the use of the sacraments, there are two ministers, who have distinct offices. The external minister administers the vocal word, and the sacred signs which are external, earthly and fallible. But the internal minister, who is the Holy Spirit, freely works internally, while by his secret virtue he effects in the hearts of whomsoever he will their union with Christ through one faith. This union is a thing internal, heavenly and indestructible. In the preaching of the Word, the external minister holds forth the vocal word, and it is received by the ears. The internal minister, the Holy Spirit, truly communicates the thing proclaimed through the Word, that is Christ…. so that it is not necessary that Christ or for that matter his Word be received through the organs of the body, but the Holy Spirit effects this union by his secret virtue, by creating faith in us, by which he makes us living members of Christ, true God and true man.[99]

The Present Reign of Christ through Preaching For Calvin, preaching is of the very essence of the kingdom of God; indeed, the kingdom “consisteth in the preaching of the gospel.”[100] Calvin goes so far as to call the pulpit “the throne of God” and the judgment seat of Christ from which he judges the world.[101] As the exalted Son of David, our Lord Jesus exercises his royal dominion mediately, through the preaching of the Word. Calvin says Christ calls himself Lord and King of heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18) because when he draws men to obedience by the preaching of the Gospel, he is establishing the throne of his kingdom on earth.[102] Indeed, “Christ does not otherwise rule among us than by the doctrine of his gospel.”[103] He exercises and administers his kingly authority by his Word alone.[104] Describing the messianic reign of the Son of David, Isaiah prophesied that Christ would strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he would kill the wicked (Isaiah 11:4). Calvin comments, The Prophet here extols the efficacy of the word, which is Christ’s royal scepter…. The Prophet does not now send us to secret revelations, that Christ may reign in us, but openly recommends the outward preaching of doctrine, and shows that the gospel serves the purpose of a scepter in the hand of Christ, so far as it is preached, and so far as it is oral … otherwise it would have been to no purpose to mention the mouth and the lips. Hence it follows that all those who reject the outward preaching of the gospel shake off this scepter, as far as lies in their power, or pull it out of the hand of Christ…. Here we must again call to remembrance what is the nature of Christ’s kingdom. As he does not wear a golden crown or employ earthly armor, so he does not rule over the world by the power of arms, or gain authority by gaudy and ostentatious display, or constrain his people by terror and dread; but the doctrine of the gospel is his royal banner, which assembles believers under his dominion. Wherever, therefore, the doctrine of the Gospel is preached in purity, there we are certain that Christ reigns; and where it is rejected, his government is also set aside.[105] Christ, therefore, has been appointed by the Father “not to rule after the manner of princes, by the force of arms … but his whole authority consists in doctrine, in the preaching of which he wishes to be sought and acknowledged; for nowhere else will he be found.”[106] “Whereas David ruled over his earthly kingdom by a golden scepter, Christ’s heavenly kingdom is presided over by the scepter of the preached gospel.”[107] It is through preaching, therefore, that Christ executes the office of a King; he advances his kingdom, subdues us to himself, rules, governs and defends us, restrains and conquers all his and our enemies and takes vengeance on all those who do not know God and obey the gospel.[108] It is in this context that Calvin understands the power of the keys of the kingdom. The keys have a double function: to loose and to bind, to remit and to retain (Matthew 16:19, John 20:23).

But when it is a question of the keys, we must always beware lest we dream up some power separate from the preaching of the gospel …. [A]ny right of binding or loosing which Christ conferred upon his church is bound to the Word. This is especially true in the ministry of the keys, whose entire power rests in the fact that, through those whom the Lord had ordained, the grace of the gospel is publicly and privately sealed in the hearts of the believers. This can come about only through preaching.[109]

Thus, when Christ promised the apostles that they would be given the keys of the kingdom and would be able to bind and loose and to remit or retain sins, “he was referring to the effect their preaching of the Word of God was to have on its hearers.”[110]

The comparison of the keys is very properly applied to the office of [preaching, for] there is no other way in which the gate of life is opened to us than by the word of God; and hence it follows that the key is placed, as it were, in the hands of the ministers of the word …. [And] as there are many, who not only are guilty of wickedly rejecting the deliverance that is offered them, but by their obstinacy bring down on themselves a heavier judgment, the power and authority to bind is likewise granted to ministers of the Gospel.[111]

T. H. L. Parker sums up Calvin’s thought,

The “legate of Christ” is the preacher. The “mandate of reconciliation” is the Gospel. The absolution is declared by the preaching of the Gospel. He that believes receives forgiveness; he that refuses forgiveness has his sin still “retained” to him. Because the Gospel preached is God’s Word, this is the verdict of God himself from, so to say, his judgment seat the pulpit.[112]

It is also in this concept of the present reign of Christ through preaching that Calvin finds the motive for missions.[113] “The world is to be formed, so far as may be, into the kingdom of Christ,” through the proclamation of the gospel to the nations.[114]

When our Lord Jesus Christ appeared, he acquired possession of the whole world; and his kingdom was extended from one end of it to the other, especially with the proclamation of the Gospel …. God has consecrated the entire earth through the precious blood of his Son to the end that we may inhabit it and live under his reign.[115]

It was through the preaching of the Word by Jesus himself that the kingdom was inaugurated (Mark 1:14-15), and after his ascension, Jesus continues this ministry through the apostles as his Spirit-empowered agents. When the apostles asked the risen Christ, “Lord, is now the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel,” they misunderstood the true nature of the kingdom.[116] They were still thinking of an earthly, geo-political kingdom, confined ethnically to the Jews and geographically to Palestine. “They dream,” says Calvin, “of an earthly kingdom, which should flow with riches, with dainties, with external peace, and with such like good things ….”[117] But, “the nature of the kingdom is of another sort than they judged it to have been.”[118] It is a Spiritual, heavenly kingdom; it is international in scope, encompassing all nations. And the means through which it is established and extended is the preaching of the gospel. Jesus tells the apostles that it is through their Spirit-empowered preaching that he will authoritatively exercise his rule as King and advance his kingdom throughout the world (Acts 1:8). Thus, “Christ reigns whenever he subdues the world to himself by the preaching of the gospel.”[119]

No set limits are allotted to them, but the whole earth is assigned to them to bring into obedience to Christ, in order that by spreading the gospel wherever they can among the nations, they may raise up his Kingdom everywhere.[120]

When Jesus “causes His Gospel to be preached in a country, it is as if He said, ‘I want to rule over you and be your King.'”[121] Even though the era of the apostles has ended, this worldwide effort to extend the kingdom of Christ through the preaching of the gospel continues. According to Calvin, the so-called great commission

was not spoken to the apostles alone; for the Lord promises his assistance not for a single age only, but even to the end of the world …. In like manner, experience clearly shows in the present day, that the operations of Christ are carried on wonderfully in a secret manner, so that the gospel surmounts innumerable obstacles.[122]

The ministry of the Word had transformed Geneva into “the most perfect school of Christ, which has been seen on earth since the days of the apostles,”[123] and Calvin longed to see the gospel have the same effect in other parts of the world. Although Calvin lived “before the era of self-conscious world evangelism,” Philip E. Hughes argues that Calvin may rightly be seen as a “Director of Missions.”[124] It is well known that in the generations following Calvin, the Reformed Church excelled in missions, and this may rightly be traced back to Calvin’s theology of preaching, particularly, his doctrine of the present reign of Christ through preaching.[125] This doctrine, therefore, is part of Calvin’s homiletical legacy. Having examined Calvin’s theology of preaching under these headings (preaching as divine worship, the real kerygmatic presence of Christ, union and communion with Christ through preaching, and the present reign of Christ through preaching), it should not surprise us to hear Calvin speak so highly of the ministry of the Word. The preaching of the Word is so critical to Christianity that:

If the gospel be not preached, Jesus Christ is, as it were, [still] buried.[126] If there be no preaching, the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ will come to nothing; the world will not know him to be the Redeemer of the world; it will avail us nothing at all, that he was delivered to death for us.[127] Of what advantage would it be to us that the Son of God had suffered death and risen again the third day [if there be no preaching]?[128]

Near the end of his life, when his poor health prevented his free movement, Calvin asked to be carried to St Peter’s in a chair in order to carry out his ministerial duties.[129] On February 6, 1564, he preached his last sermon. After that, he held on “for some months, growing slowly weaker, until he died in the evening of May 27. ‘Behold as in an instant,’ mourned Beza, ‘how that very day the sun did set, and the great light that was in the world for the building of the Church of God, was taken into heaven.'”[130] Calvin was truly, above all else, a servant of the Word of God.

[Calvin] saw himself to be the servant of the Word. God had called him to be such a servant, and he devoted all his energies to be faithful in that service …. John Calvin had such a strong sense of standing under the authority of Scripture that it kindled the devotion of a whole generation of preachers.[131]

And may God graciously grant his church a new generation of servants of the Word of God! Endnotes [1] David Wright and David Stay eds., Serving the Word of God: Celebrating the Life and Ministry of James Philip (Edinburgh: Rutherford House, 2000), 219. [2] John Murray, Collected Writings of John Murray (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1982), 1:308. [3] See Wulfert de Greef, The Writings of John Calvin, Expanded Edition: An Introductory Guide (Louisville; London: Westminster John Knox, 2008), 75-90. [4] See Wulfert de Greef (2008), 90-93 and Wright and Stay (2000), 219. [5] According to James H. Nichols, “This practice began in Zurich in 1525, and it was called prophesying …. A similar practice was followed … in à Lasco’s Church of the Strangers in London and in the English refugee congregation in Geneva.” See James H. Nichols, “The Intent of the Calvinistic Liturgy” in The Heritage of John Calvin, ed. John H. Bratt (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973), 92. [6] See Wulfert de Greef, “Calvin’s Writings” in The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin, ed. Donald K. McKim (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004) 45-46. Cf. Wulfert de Greef, (2008), 101-104. [7] John Dillenberger, John Calvin, Selections from His Writings (Scholars Press, 1975), 14. [8] This address was given at the 400th anniversary of the birth of Calvin at Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Geneva; “Calvin le Prédicateur de Genève,” Conférence faite dans la Cathédrale de Saint-Pierre, à Genève, par M. le Professeur E. Doumergue, Doyen de la Faculté de Théologie de Montauban (édition Atar, Corraterie, 12, Genève). I am indebted to the kind assistance of Mrs. Barbara Edgar for the English translation of this text. Je vous remercie pour votre aide, Madame Edgar! [9] Doumergue (1909), 8-9. [10] T. H. L. Parker, John Calvin (England: Lion Publishing, 1987), 114. [11] Bernard Cottret, Calvin: A Biography (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 288. [12] Ibid., 295. [13] Thomas J. Davis, This is My Body: the Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 94. [14] For a brief survey of Mülhaupt’s work, see Lester Ronald De Koster, Living Themes in the Thought of John Calvin: A Biographical Study (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Michigan, 1964), 294-296. [15] Wulfert de Greef in McKim (2004), 45. [16] Max Engammare, “Des sermons de Calvin sur Esaïe découverts à Londres,” in Calvin et ses contemporains, ed. Olivier Millet (Geneva, 1998), 69-81; “Calvin Incognito in London: the Rediscovery in London of Sermons on Isaiah,” in Proceedings of the Huguenot Society, XXVI 4 [1996]: 453-62. [17] For details see, Wulfert de Greef (2008), 93-100. Cf. Richard Stauffer, “Les sermons inédits de Calvin sur le livre de la Genèse,” in Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie, 3 ser., XV [1965]: 26-36; Lester De Koster (1964), 291ff.; and Bernard Gagnebin, “L’incroyable historie des sermons de Calvin,” in Bulletin de la Société d’Historie et d’Archéologie de Genève, 10/4 [1955]: 311-34. [18] Davis (2008), 94. [19] It should be pointed out that Calvin preached without manuscript or notes, with only a Hebrew or Greek Testament open in front of him. Wright and Stay (2000), 220. Calvin objected to the practice of “reading from a written discourse;” see his letter to Somerset, 22 October 1548, in Selected Works of John Calvin: Tracts and Letters, 7 vols., ed. Henry Beveridge and Jules Bonnet (repr. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983), 5:190. [20] For details, see T. H. L. Parker, Calvin’s Preaching (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1992), 153ff. [21] Hughes Oliphant Old, Worship: Reformed According to Scripture (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 76. [22] Ibid. [23] Allan Menzies, A Study of Calvin: and Other Papers (London: Macmillan, 1918); cf. Lester De Koster, Light for the City: Calvin’s Preaching, Source of Life and Liberty (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 28. [24] Lester De Koster (1964), 296. [25] Ibid., 299. [26] Doumergue (1909), 10-11. [27] James H. Nichols in Bratt (1973), 89. [28] T. H. L. Parker, The Oracles of God: An Introduction to the Preaching of John Calvin (London; Redhill: Lutterworth, 1947), 10. [29] For more on this subject, see Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and the Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 3-31. [30] Old, Worship (2002), 68. [31] Wright and Stay (2000), 232. [32] Parker (1947), 20. [33] Old, Worship (2002), 71. [34] Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and the Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 46. [35] Ibid., 43-46. [36] Ibid., 46. [37] Old, Worship (2002), 75. [38] John L. Thompson, “Calvin as a Biblical Interpreter” in McKim (2004), 63. [39] John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood, trans. W. R. W. Stephens, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 1st ser., vol. 9 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), 4.7 (emphasis added). [40] Cf. John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (vol. 1; Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005) 442 (Isa. 14:12). [41] Old, Worship (2002), 75. [42] From Calvin’s sermon on 2 Timothy 3:16, citied in LeRoy Nixon, John Calvin: Expository Preacher (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1950), 52. [43] John Calvin, Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles, vol. 2, trans. Henry Beveridge (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005), 251 (see Acts 20:26). Unless otherwise noted, all quotations from Calvin’s commentaries are taken from this series. [44] Cited in Parker (1947), 34. [45] Hughes Oliphant Old, “Preaching as Worship in the Pulpit of John Calvin” (Paper given at Calvin500 in Geneva, Switzerland, July, 2009), 29. Cf. Old, Preaching (2002), 132ff. [46] Ibid., 2. [47] Ibid., 12. [48] Ibid., 17. [49] Old, Preaching (2002), 76. [50] Sinclair Ferguson, “Preaching to the Heart,” in Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching, ed. Don Kistler (Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 2002), 197. [51] Ibid. [52] For more on the subject, see Hughes Old’s Calvin 500 Paper, “Preaching as Worship in the Pulpit of John Calvin,” (July, 2009). [53] Cited in John H. Leith, “Calvin’s Doctrine of the Proclamation of the Word and Its Significance for Today in the Light of Recent Research,” in John Calvin and the Church: A Prism of Reform, ed. Timothy George (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1990), 211. [54] John Calvin, Sermons on the Saving Work of Christ, trans. LeRoy Nixon (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1980), 14 (sermon on 1 John 1:1-5). [55] Cf. B. A. Gerrish, “John Calvin and the Reformed Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper,” McCormick Quarterly 22 [1969]: 92. [56] Cf. Dawn DeVries, Jesus Christ in the Preaching of Calvin and Schleiermacher (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1996), 17. [57] Jean Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2006), 3.2.6. [58] Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah 55:11. [59] Jean Calvin, Sermons on the Epistles to Timothy and Titus (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1983) 269. Quotations from this work are given in modern English. [60] Parker (1992), 41. [61] Mark Beach, “The Real Presence of Christ in the Preaching of the Gospel: Luther and Calvin on the Nature of Preaching,” Mid-America Journal of Theology 10 [1999]: 125. [62] Ibid., 126. [63] Parker (1947), 50. [64] Parker (1992), 23. [65] Ibid. [66] Institutes, 4.8.9. [67] See Ford Lewis Battles, “God was Accommodating Himself to Human Capacity,” Interpretation 31 [1977]: 38. [68] Ronald S. Wallace, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1957), 84. [69] Ibid., 26. Cf. Commentary on Haggai 1:12. [70] Calvin, Commentary on Genesis 32:30. [71] See Wallace (1957) 24ff.; cf. Davis (2008), 118ff. [72] Calvin, Commentary on 1 Corinthians 13:12. [73] Cited in Parker (1947), 55. [74] Institutes, 4.14.8. [75] “Whether the outcome be life or death, [the Word] is never preached in vain;” Calvin, Commentary on 2 Corinthians 2:15; cf. his comments on Isaiah 6:10, 34:16, 55:11 and Hebrews 4:12. [76] Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews 4:12. [77] Cited in Parker (1992), 28. [78] Calvin, Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:9; cf. Commentary on Malachi 4:6 and Institutes, 4.1.6. [79] John Leith in George (1990), 211-212. [80] Institutes, 4.14.3. [81] Calvin, Commentary on Ezekiel 2:3. [82] Institutes, 4.14.17. [83] Old, Preaching (2002), 133. [84] Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah 55:6. [85] Wright and Stay (2000), 216. [86] See Thomas J. Davis, “Preaching and Presence: Constructing Calvin’s Homiletical Legacy,” in The Legacy of John Calvin, ed. David Foxgrover (Grand Rapids: Calvin Studies Society, 2000). Cf. Randall Zachman’s response in the same work. [87] Cf. DeVries (1996), 9. [88] Institutes, 3.1.1. [89] Ibid. [90] Cf. B. A. Gerrish, Grace and Gratitude: the Eucharistic Theology of John Calvin (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 76ff. [91] Ibid., 84. [92] Calvin, Commentary on Romans 11:14. [93] Jean Calvin, “Short Treatise on the Holy Supper of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” in Tracts and Treatises on the Reformation of the Church, ed. Thomas F. Torrance (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1958), 2:165-166. [94] Institutes, 3.2.6. [95] Calvin, Commentary on Romans 10:17. [96] Calvin, Commentary on 2 Corinthians 13:5. [97] Calvin, Commentary on Acts 16:31. [98] Jean Calvin, Theological Treatises, ed. J.K.S. Reid (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2006), 170-77. Despite the questions concerning the authenticity of this document, there are several good reasons for attributing it to Calvin as does Beza; see Reid’s introduction, Ibid., 170. [99] Citations are from Ibid., 171-173. [100] Calvin, Commentary on Acts 1:8. On the relationship between the reign of Christ and preaching, see Wallace (1957), 85ff. Cf. Lester De Koster’s remark, “Calvin aptly profiles how the ruling Lord exercises his authority: the pulpit as Throne of the Christ in the midst of his City!” in Lester De Koster (2004), 19. [101] Cited in Parker (1992), 26; see Calvin, Commentary on John 16:8. [102] Calvin, Commentary on Matthew 28:18. [103] Calvin, Commentary on Micah 4:2. Cf. his Commentary on Psalms 96:10. [104] Institutes, 4.3.1. [105] Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah 11:4. [106] Ibid., 49:2. Cf. his Commentary on Hosea 1:11. [107] Ronald S. Wallace, Calvin, Geneva and the Reformation (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1998), 132. [108] Larger Catechism 45. [109] Institutes, 3.4.14. [110] Wallace (1998), 132-33. [111] Calvin, Commentary on Matthew 16:19. [112] Parker (1992), 43. [113] For Calvin’s view of missions, see the overview and bibliography in Lester De Koster (1964), 365ff. See also Philip E. Hughes, “John Calvin: Director of Missions,” and R. Pierce Beaver, “The Genevan Mission to Brazil,” in Bratt (1973), 40-73. [114] Lester De Koster (1964), 366. [115] From sermon no. 45 on Deuteronomy, cited in William J. Bouwsma, John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait (New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), 192. [116] “There are as many errors in this question as words,” says Calvin; Commentary on Acts 1:6. [117] Ibid. [118] Ibid., 1:8. [119] Calvin on Acts 1:8 as cited in Wallace (1957), 86. [120] Institutes, 4.3.4. [121] Calvin’s sermon on Acts 1:1-4 as cited in Wallace (1957), 87. [122] Calvin, Commentary on Matthew 28:20. [123] This was how John Knox described Geneva; cited in Bratt (1973), 44. [124] Ibid., 40-54. Hughes notes that in 1556, missionaries were sent from Geneva to Brazil, and although this missionary project was unsuccessful, it testifies “strikingly to the far-reaching vision Calvin and his colleagues in Geneva had of their missionary task,” Ibid., 48. [125] See Henry H. Meeter, “Why Calvinism Excels in Missions,” in Banner LXXVI [February 7, 1941]: 127ff. [126] Jean Calvin, The Mystery of Godliness: And Other Selected Sermons (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1950), 99. [127] Calvin, Sermons on Timothy and Titus, 951. [128] Ibid., sermon on 2 Timothy 1:9-10. [129] Theodore Beza, The Life of John Calvin (England: Evangelical Press, 1997) 101. Cf. Charles Washington Baird’s romanticized account of Calvin’s last communion service in Eutaxia: Or, the Presbyterian Liturgies (New York: M. W. Dodd Publisher, 1855), 43ff. [130] Parker (1947) 44. Beza (1997), 118. [131] Old, Preaching (2002), 131. This lecture was originally given at the pre-Assembly conference (held in honor of John Calvin’s 500th anniversary) of the Seventy-sixth General Assembly in 2009. It was first published in Ordained Servant.

Sections

10. A fourth Objection. Answer. Fifth Objection. Answer. Answer confirmed by many passages of Scripture, and supported by a passage from Augustine. 11. Perseverance not of ourselves, but of God. Objection. Two errors in the objection. Refutation of both. 12. An objection founded on the distinction of co-operating grace. Answer. Answer confirmed by the testimony of Augustine and Bernard. 13. Last part of the chapter, in which it is proved by many passages of Augustine, that he held the doctrine here taught. 14. An objection, representing Augustine at variance with himself and other Theologians, removed. A summary of Augustine’s doctrine on free will.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Reformed Forum turns to the mailbag, answering several of the questions we’ve received over the last few months. In this episode, we get into covenant apologetics, biblical theology, baptism, different translations of Calvin.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jared Oliphint, Jonathan Brack, Mark A. Winder

Sections

5. Though man has still the faculty of willing, there is no soundness in it. He falls under the bondage of sin necessarily, and yet voluntarily. Necessity must be distinguished from compulsion. The ancient Theologians acquainted with this necessity. Some passages condemning the vacillation of Lombard.

6. Conversion to God constitutes the remedy or soundness of the human will. This not only begun, but continued and completed; the beginning, continuance, and completion, being ascribed entirely to God. This proved by Ezekiel’s description of the stony heart, and from other passages of Scripture.

7. Various Objections.—1. The will is converted by God, but, when once prepared, does its part in the work of conversion. Answer from Augustine. 2. Grace can do nothing without will, nor the will without grace. Answer. Grace itself produces will. God prevents the unwilling, making him willing, and follows up this preventing grace that he may not will in vain. Another answer gathered from various passages of Augustine.

8. Answer to the second Objection continued. No will inclining to good except in the elect. The cause of election out of man. Hence right will, as well as election, are from the good pleasure of God. The beginning of willing and doing well is of faith; faith again is the gift of God; and hence mere grace is the cause of our beginning to will well. This proved by Scripture.

9. Answer to second Objection continued. That good will is merely of grace proved by the prayers of saints. Three axioms—1. God does not prepare man’s heart, so that he can afterwards do some good of himself, but every desire of rectitude, every inclination to study, and every effort to pursue it, is from Him. 2. This desire, study, and effort, do not stop short, but continue to effect. 3. This progress is constant. The believer perseveres to the end. A third Objection, and three answers to it.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Drs. Michael Haykin and Jeffrey Robinson Sr. join us to speak about John Calvin and Calvinism’s legacy in missions. Their book To the Ends of the Earth: Calvin’s Missional Vision and Legacy explores John Calvin’s theology concerning missions, the history of his involvement in foreign missions, and the influence of other Calvinistic missionaries of later times. Dr. Haykin is Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as well as the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies. He received his Th.D. in Church History from Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto and has written several books. Dr. Robinson is adjunct Professor of Church History at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, editor for The Gospel Coalition, and a senior fellow at the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies. He received his PhD at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and has contributed to the forthcoming volume from Crossway, One God in Three Persons.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jeffrey Robinson Sr., Michael A.G. Haykin

Reformed Forum founders Camden Bucey, Jim Cassidy, and Jeff Waddington speak about the Old and New Calvinisms. As the speaker for the annual Gaffin lecture, John Piper recently spoke at Westminster Theological Seminary (PA) on the topic, “The New Calvinism and the New Community.” The New Calvinism, a cross-denominational movement, recaptures many elements of the Old, but the two differ in some respects. Today’s panel reflects on the similarities and differences between the two, following up on several recent Reformed Forum blog posts. Links

• John Piper’s lecture.
• Collin Hansen’s book, Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists
• Jared Oliphint’s synopsis, John Piper’s Twelve Features of the New Calvinism
• Jim Cassidy, 5 Reasons Why I Am Not a New Calvinist

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy

• Ep. 265 – Gospels Harmonization with Vern Poythress
• Ep. 267 – The Reorganization of Old Princeton with Darryl G. Hart
• Ep. 268 – Regeneration and Redemption-History with Scott Wright
• Ep. 270 – Calvin’s Company of Pastors with Scott Manetsch
• Ep. 273 – Francis Schaeffer’s Spirituality with William Edgar
• Ep. 274 – The Plan of Salvation with Lane Tipton
• Ep. 277 – What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Qu’ran with James White
• Ep. 281 – The Polemical Theology of the Old Testament with John Currid
• Ep. 289 – Covenantal Apologetics with K. Scott Oliphint
• Ep. 291 – The DSM-V with Mike Emlet
• Ep. 299 – Jesus on Every Page with David P. Murray
• Ep. 300 – Communicating the Gospel through Hip Hop with Timothy Brindle
• Ep. 307 – Definite Atonement with Jonathan Gibson, David Gibson, and Carl Trueman

Participants: Camden Bucey, Carl Trueman, Carlton Wynne, Darryl G. Hart, David Gibson, David Murray, James White, Jared Oliphint, Jim Cassidy, John Currid, Jonathan Gibson, K. Scott Oliphint, Lane G. Tipton, Michael Emlet, Nick Batzig, Scott Manetsch, Scott R. Wright, Timothy Brindle, Vern Poythress, William Edgar

1. The intellect and will of the whole man corrupt. The term flesh applies not only to the sensual, but also to the higher part of the soul. This demonstrated from Scripture.

2. The heart also involved in corruption, and hence in no part of man can integrity, or knowledge or the fear of God, be found.

3. Objection, that some of the heathen were possessed of admirable endowments, and, therefore, that the nature of man is not entirely corrupt. Answer, Corruption is not entirely removed, but only inwardly restrained. Explanation of this answer.

4. Objection still urged, that the virtuous and vicious among the heathen must be put upon the same level, or the virtuous prove that human nature, properly cultivated, is not devoid of virtue. Answer, That these are not ordinary properties of human nature, but special gifts of God. These gifts defiled by ambition, and hence the actions proceeding from them, however esteemed by man, have no merit with God.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

21. Fourth argument. Scripture ascribes the glory of our adoption and salvation to God only. The human intellect blind as to heavenly things until it is illuminated. Disposal of a heretical objection. 22. Human intellect ignorant of the true knowledge of the divine law. This proved by the testimony of an Apostle, by an inference from the same testimony, and from a consideration of the end and definition of the Law of Nature. Plato obviously mistaken in attributing all sins to ignorance. 23. Themistius nearer the truth in maintaining, that the delusion of the intellect is manifested not so much in generals as in particulars. Exception to this rule. 24. Themistius, however, mistaken in thinking that the intellect is so very seldom deceived as to generals. Blindness of the human intellect when tested by the standard of the Divine Law, in regard both to the first and second tables. Examples. 25. A middle view to be taken—viz. that all sins are not imputable to ignorance, and, at the same time, that all sins do not imply intentional malice. All the human mind conceives and plans in this matter is evil in the sight of God. Need of divine direction every moment. 26. The will examined. The natural desire of good, which is universally felt, no proof of the freedom of the human will. Two fallacies as to the use of terms, appetite and good. 27. The doctrine of the Schoolmen on this subject opposed to and refuted by Scripture. The whole man being subject to the power of sin, it follows that the will, which is the chief seat of sin, requires to be most strictly curbed. Nothing ours but sin.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Dr. K. Scott Oliphint reviews Calvin, Classical Trinitarianism, and the Aseity of the Son by Brannon Ellis and published by Oxford University Press. In this excellent volume, Ellis investigates the various Reformation and post-Reformation responses to Calvin’s affirmation of the Son’s aseity (or essential self-existence). Listen as Dr. Oliphint, who wrote a more detailed review of the book for the Spring 2013 issue of The Westminster Theological Journal, describes the book’s salient features and provides his assessment of its worth.

Participants: Camden Bucey, K. Scott Oliphint

14. The power of the intellect, secondly, with regard to the arts. Particular gifts in this respect conferred on individuals, and attesting the grace of God.

15. The rise of this knowledge of things terrestrial, first, that we may see how human nature, notwithstanding of its fall, is still adorned by God with excellent endowments.

16. Use of this knowledge continued. Secondly, that we may see that these endowments bestowed on individuals are intended for the common benefit of mankind. They are sometimes conferred even on the wicked.

17. Some portion of human nature still left. This, whatever be the amount of it, should be ascribed entirely to the divine indulgence. Reason of this. Examples.

18. Second part of the discussion, namely, that which relates to the power of the human intellect in regard to things celestial. These reducible to three heads, namely, divine knowledge, adoption, and will. The blindness of man in regard to these proved and thus tested by a simile.

19. Proved, moreover, by passages of Scripture, showing, 1. That the sons of Adam are endued with some light, but not enough to enable them to comprehend God. Reasons.

20. Adoption not from nature, but from our heavenly Father, being sealed in the elect by the Spirit of regeneration. Obvious from many passages of Scripture, that, previous to regeneration, the human intellect is altogether unable to comprehend the things relating to regeneration. This fully proved. First argument. Second argument. Third argument.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

9. The language of the ancient writers on the subject of Free Will is, with the exception of that of Augustine, almost unintelligible. Still they set little or no value on human virtue, and ascribe the praise of all goodness to the Holy Spirit.

10. The last part of the chapter, containing a simple statement of the true doctrine. The fundamental principle is, that man first begins to profit in the knowledge of himself when he becomes sensible of his ruined condition. This confirmed, 1. by passages of Scripture.

11. Confirmed, 2. by the testimony of ancient theologians.

12. The foundation being laid, to show how far the power both of the intellect and will now extends, it is maintained in general, and in conformity with the views of Augustine and the Schoolmen, that the natural endowments of man are corrupted, and the supernatural almost entirely lost. A separate consideration of the powers of the Intellect and the Will. Some general considerations, 1. The intellect possesses some powers of perception. Still it labours under a twofold defect.

13. Man’s intelligence extends both to things terrestrial and celestial. The power of the intellect in regard to the knowledge of things terrestrial. First, with regard to matters of civil polity.

14. The power of the intellect, secondly, with regard to the arts. Particular gifts in this respect conferred on individuals, and attesting the grace of God.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Christ the Center is pleased to welcome Dr. Scott Manetsch to the program to speak about Reformed pastoral ministry and his book Calvin’s Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1536-1609, which is published by Oxford University Press. Dr. Manetsch is Professor of Church History at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and his scholarly expertise is in the area of late medieval and Reformation history, with particular interest in Calvin and French Protestantism, Theodore Beza, sixteenth-century Geneva, church discipline, and pastoral ministry in the Reformation era. Listen to this fascinating discussion of pastoral life in late 16th and early 17th century Geneva.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Carl Trueman, Jim Cassidy, Scott Manetsch

Just a few weeks ago, Carl Trueman introduced me to Scott Manetsch’s new book Calvin’s Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1536-1609. While initially interested, I was not expecting to be drawn into this type of historical study. It’s a fascinating book that rests upon careful scholarship. At Reformation21, Trueman writes that Manetsch’s research into the consistory records demonstrates, “that discipline in Geneva was not the Gestapo-style brutality of popular myth; rather it was nuanced and frequently took much account of the humanity and the individual circumstances of the individuals concerned.” The book reveals just how ridiculous are many of the caricatures of Calvin and his venerable company. The domine of Wheaton directed me to a particularly egregious example in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.

[Calvin] was appointed preacher and professor of theology and in 1536 published his Articuli de Regimine Ecclesiae. They contained severe regulations concerning admission to the Lord’s Supper and required from all Genevan citizens a profession of faith approved by the town council, the refusal of which was to be punished by exile. Despite strong resistance all citizens had accepted the oath by 1538; but his next step, the discipline of excommunication, together with his refusal to conform the usages of the Church at Geneva to those of the more powerful city of Berne, led to the expulsion of both Farel and Calvin later in that year. (p. 222)

So far, the entry is relatively tame. Though in light of the following material, we catch a whiff of the agenda.

In 1541 Calvin returned to Geneva, where his party had gained the upper hand, and during the next 14 years he devoted himself to establishing a theocratic régime on OT lines. This was effected by a series of ‘Ordinances’ which placed the government of the new Church in the hands of four classes of men, called pastors, doctors, elders, and deacons. They were assisted by a ‘consistory’ of ministers and laymen which, under Calvin, was chiefly a tribunal of morals. It wielded the power of excommunication and had far-reaching powers over the private lives of citizens. (p. 223)

Interesting—I didn’t know Calvin was a militant Old Testament theocrat. How then did Calvin execute this plan?

These were enforced by new legislation, which inflicted severe punishments even for purely religious offences and prohibited all pleasures such as dancing and games. This régime was resisted by a party incorrectly described as ‘Libertines,’ which Calvin succeeded in overcoming by force. Among the opponents executed after torture were Jacques Gruet (1547), Raoul Monnet (1549), and, best known, Michael Servetus (1553). By 1555, however, all resistance had ceased and Calvin was the uncontested master of the city. (Ibid.)

This brings new meaning to “militant church.” It gets even better:

From 1555 to his death he was the unopposed dictator of Geneva, which, through him, had become a city of the strictest morality. (Ibid.)

Manetsch’s book paints a different picture of Calvin and the pastors of Geneva—one backed up by years of painstaking research in Geneva. Calvin’s Company of Pastors lacks neither empirical detail nor readability. It’s a delightful read, and I encourage pastors to consider obtaining a copy. If you require additional persuasion, look for the forthcoming episode of Christ the Center on the subject. Trueman was kind enough to participate in an interview with Dr. Manetsch on the book. The conversation was insightful, and I only regret that we weren’t able to cover more of the material at hand. Even within the constraints of a one hour interview, Manetsch shines, and I trust listeners will see the usefulness of his study for contemporary pastoral practice.

Links

• Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. on Christ the Center, ep. 57 – Sanctification and the Gospel
• Ordained Servant
• Second Helvetic Confession

Bibliography

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jim Cassidy

Panel

• Peter Lillback
• Jim Cassidy
• Nick Batzig
• Camden Bucey

Bibliography

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jim Cassidy, Nick Batzig, Peter A. Lillback

Panel

• David W. Hall
• Jim Cassidy
• Lane Keister
• Nick Batzig
• Camden Bucey

Links

• The Calvin Quincentenary
• Lane Keister’s review of The Theological Guide

Bibliography

Participants: Camden Bucey, David W. Hall, Jim Cassidy, Lane Keister, Nick Batzig