John Calvin’s Institutes is one of the most prominent
– if not the most prominent – theological works ever written. Calvin, a French reformer,
spent most of his life in Geneva and finished
Institutes in 1559.
From the first day it was published, Institutes was
controversial because Calvin took a brand new spin on salvation and
the process by which one is saved. The plan and process of
salvation described by Calvin in Institutes is in many ways
substantially different than what is today referred to today as
“Calvinism,” however.
This paper is a response to what Calvin wrote in his
Institutes and not the five points of Calvinism later
constructed by subsequent theologians. In Book 3 of
Institutes, Calvin outlines and explains how a Christian
obtains the grace of Christ, justification by faith, prayer, and the
process of God’s election and man’s destiny.
The Grace of Christ
As Calvin wrote about how one obtains
the grace of Jesus Christ, he straightforwardly states that for
those who do not believe in Christ, “nothing which he did to achieve
salvation is of any use to us.” As a
result, central in Calvin’s theology is the tenet that Jesus died
only for those who believe in him and vice versa; the only people
who can benefit from Christ’s death on the cross and his
resurrection are those who believe in it.
Calvin’s view of faith is that faith is certain: One either
has it or they do not have it.
Writing just after Martin Luther posted his 95 theses, Calvin
was alarmed that so many people adhering to Catholicism wavered in
faith. As a proof text
for his view on faith, he quoted the apostle Paul and noted the
progression: Faith comes first, then confidence in this faith, and
finally boldness (Eph. 3:12).
This is why Calvin can write, “Faith is often used as a
synonym for confidence.”
Likewise, just as Calvin believed that faith is necessary for
one to truly know Christ, he believed the next step was regeneration
by and through faith in Christ. Repentance not only follows
faith, it is produced by it.
Regeneration and the process of sanctification are the result
of both faith and repentance brought about by Christ. Calvin tied both faith and
repentance together because you cannot have one without the other,
just as Paul preached in Acts 20:21.
Calvin was extreme when he talked
about faith. He
believed humans are so sinful that the only way one could come to
know God was if God drew the person toward him. Calvin wrote, “Some people
get it wrong, seeing that many submit to God because their
consciences are afraid or are ready to obey him before they know him
or anything about his love.” Even though God draws humans
to himself, once one believes in Christ, life is not perfect and
Calvin realized this.
He knew that even though a Christian is a new creation in
Christ, there is still the old sinful nature that lives in the
flesh. Personally, I
completely agree with this area of Calvin’s teaching; it is one of
the most profound theological ideas that has helped me understand
who I am in Christ.
Calvin on Christian
life
For Calvin, Christian life starts with doctrine. If one’s doctrine is not
sound, life is not sound.
He wrote, “Doctrine is not a matter of talk but of life. It is not grasped by
intellect alone, like other branches of learning …. We have given
doctrine first place because our salvation must start
there.”
Calvin believed that a person must know who Christ truly is
before they are capable of genuine conversion. Once a person knows the
doctrine of Christianity, the truth moves to their heart, then
accordingly on to the person’s behavior. Once this progression of
Christianity moves to behavior, he/she can then be fruitful as a
Christian. Calvin’s
writings on the subject of conversion stem largely from his
observation of people who profess to be Christians but whose lives
do not emanate the fruits of the Spirit.
I find it amazing how little things
have changed over the course of almost 400 years. One of the biggest
complaints about Christians today is that they are all talk and have
so little love. Calvin
is right on target in this portion of his Institutes. Professing believers need to
live out their Christianity with actions; however, for people to do
this they must have a firm foundation in the doctrine of Christ and
the church. In terms of
practical application, this will take different forms depending on
the demographics, age, and knowledge base of the individual or group
that one is instructing.
In my youth ministry, for example, I have been able to teach
basic theology to children as young as five years old.
When most people think of John Calvin they think of
predestination. His
third book on the way of obtaining grace, however, is balanced as
far as doctrine and how one lives this out in life. For Calvin, the sum of the
Christian life is in self-denial. In a sense, Calvin sounds a
lot like the early Catholic monks. According to Calvin,
self-denial starts with the renewing of the minds (Eph. 4:23). During the transformation of
the mind, a person also undergoes a reorientation in which they
realize that they now answer to God as Father instead of
themselves. “The
Christian ought to be disciplined to think that throughout his life
he is dealing with God.” Christ modeled
self-denial in his obedience to the Father (Matt. 16:24), and
Christians today should follow likewise.
In this doctrine, Calvin is right that
Christ denied himself and therefore Christians must also practice
discipline and restraint.
But Calvin’s writing tends to lean too far in a legalistic
fashion. He is patient
with non-Christians but is die-hard with Christians. His writing sounds much like
that of Paul, “ … it leaves no place for pride and ostentation. No room either for greed,
lust, self-indulgence, effeminacy or other vices.” However, many people do not
mature as quickly as Calvin.
While everything Calvin wrote in the terms of vices is true,
God extends a lot of grace for some Christians who struggle
throughout their lifetime to overcome some of their sins.
Calvin believed that if one is called to Christ, it is an all
or nothing commitment.
If one professed to be a Christian there should be
actions. “Those whom
the Lord has chosen and honored with his friendship must be prepared
for a hard, strenuous and testing life, full of many different
troubles.”
Calvin tends to overemphasize the troubles of following
Christ. Jesus never
said following him would be an easy task, but at the same time, the
Lord does bless those who follow him by giving them peace and other
blessings. Proverbs
10:22 says, “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no
trouble to it.” Calvin’s writing seems a direct contradiction to
Proverbs.
According to Calvin, the primary way for one to be strong in
his/her Christian walk is to meditate and focus upon the cross and
work of Jesus. “Even
the holiest of men would feel too secure in their own strength, if
they were not made to know themselves more thoroughly by the trial
of the cross.” Because of human’s sinful
nature, each person is apt to not trust Christ’s work on the
cross. Calvin called
this the “disease” and said the Lord will make people aware of the
futility by frequent proof of the world’s misery. Therefore, God allows people
to be disturbed by war, riots, burglary, disasters, preoccupied by
married life, etc., so that we will not become too satisfied with
this world.
While Calvin is right on the mark
concerning what one’s focus should be, he tries to turn God into a
mathematical formula.
Under Calvin’s doctrine, if a person steps out of God’s will,
God immediately will allow something bad to occur in order to
disturb the person back into the will of God. Had Calvin grown up in the
United
States in the 21st
century rather than during the reformation, it would be interesting
to see how his views would have changed. If he had grown up in the
states, he might have been mellower in his views; likewise, if he
had grown up in the war-ravaged country of Sudan, he might have been
even more extreme. He
is right when he said God wants people to follow him, but God does
not act in formulaic ways.
Justification by faith
One of the cries of the reformation was “justification by
faith.” Calvin strongly
believed that the only way to find salvation was through faith in
Jesus Christ and by no other route. Also, he believed that there
was no more important doctrine than justification because it is at
the basis of true religion.
Calvin believed that after justification by faith there was a
two-step result. “First, when we are reconciled by the righteousness
of Christ, God becomes a gracious Father instead of a judge. Second, when we are
sanctified by his Spirit, we reach after integrity and purity of
life.”
According to Calvin, justification occurs when a person is
considered righteous before God and is accepted because of that
righteousness. Because
sin is abhorrent to God, the sinner cannot find grace as long as
he/she is a sinner.
Where there is sin, there also is the wrath of
God.
The end result of justification is that a person is no longer
a sinner and stands acquitted at the judgment seat of God. To obtain justification, all
one must do is have faith.
Calvin wrote, “So I say that faith, which is only the
instrument for receiving justification, must not be confused with
Christ, who is the actual cause, as well as the Author and minister
of this great blessing.”
One of the many complaints that later theologians have levied
against Calvin’s Institutes is that he makes salvation too
easy. After all, Calvin
said that one is saved simply by faith. However, when one reads
Calvin’s entire Institutes, it is clear if someone truly has
faith, a number of other things accompany this faith. If one is justified, they
are righteous before God and exhibit fruit. “We must remember that the
object of righteousness is the service of God: nothing else will
do. The ungodly may
perform acts which seem good, but their motives are evil because
they are not seeking to serve God. So their deeds are sinful
…”
Other theologians of Calvin’s time
accused him of destroying good works because he said everything
centered around one’s faith.
He refuted their argument not by getting rid of good works in
the Christian’s life – he knew this was the natural result of
genuine faith because faith and works cannot be separated – but by
arguing that “we know that justification is based on faith, not
works.”
Prayer
Prayer is not a subject that made Calvin famous but it is
noteworthy to touch on the subject because prayer is what Calvin
called “the chief exercise of faith, by which we daily receive God’s
benefits.”
In Calvin’s theology, the purpose of prayer is for the person
praying. God wanted his
people to give due honor to his name by acknowledging that
everything comes from him.
Calvin says, “Although our heavenly Father never slumbers nor
sleeps, he often seems to do so, in order to train us in
prayer.”
While Calvin offers many great insights, he misses that God
uses prayer as part of his plan, listening to his people and acting
accordingly. I believe
that God works depending on what we ask for as evidenced in Matt.
21:12.
God’s election and man’s
destiny
On the subject of God’s election and man’s destiny, Calvin
wrote, “We will never be convinced as we ought, that our salvation
flows from God’s free mercy, until we understand eternal
election.”
Calvin’s view on election is perhaps his most notable
doctrine of theology because it is so contrary to human’s
nature. Calvin
understood that the doctrine of predestination is a difficult
doctrine to grasp since it is complicated by human curiosity. Second, it is impossible for
one to fully understand the doctrine of predestination and
eventually (like the Holy Trinity) we have to rely upon
mystery.
If a person has little or no foundation in scripture, he/she
will probably never understand how God alone can call one to be a
Christian, and will attack the doctrine. The doctrine of
predestination is firmly established in scripture, and it is by
scripture that Calvin supported his case. First, God has always been
free to shower his grace on whomever he wants. This is why Paul says in
Eph. 1:4 that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Elsewhere in Col
1:12, Paul gives thanks they had been made fit to share in the
inheritance of the saints.
In addition, 2 Tim. 1:9 says “by the power of God,
who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not
because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and
grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning
of time.”
Through scripture, Calvin understood the fullness of human
depravity. “The
stupidity of the human mind has to be punished with destruction
whenever it tries to aspire to divine wisdom in its own
strength. It is a
deadly temptation to which we are all prone.” Although I agree with
Calvin’s doctrine of predestination, I still struggle to make sense
of its philosophically.
However, I know that scripture is true and understand the
severity of people’s sinfulness, which necessitate that only by
God’s grace and calling could one ever come into a right
relationship with Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
In my opinion, John Calvin was the greatest reformer of the
reformation. Luther got
the ball rolling but it was Calvin who explained what true biblical
theology looked like in his Institutes. This third book on
justifying faith, election, and grace opened the eyes of many as to
how one is truly saved.
