calvin's doctrine of god

THEOLOGY PROPER ACCORDING TO JOHN CALVIN

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A Paper

Presented to

Dr. Adam Harwood

The College at Southwestern

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In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for THE4203

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by

Wes Terry

March 26, 2009

THEOLOGY PROPER ACCORDING TO JOHN CALVIN

John Calvin is a well known figure in the field of theology. His writing

creatively explained things about God and moved doctrine from the world of academia to

the deepest chambers of the heart. This is not surprising because, for Calvin, “Doctrine is

not a matter of talk but of life.”1 Calvin opened his major work, The Institutes of

Christian Religion, with the doctrine of God. The following will set out to understand

Calvin in regard to his historical context, unpack his doctrine of God, and weigh Calvin’s

doctrine with what has become of it in academic circles today.

Who Was John Calvin?

Calvin lived at time when the health of the Christian church was in jeopardy.

No parts of the clergy were competent with the Scriptures nor were they teaching proper

doctrine or genuine piety.2 One gets a glimpse of Calvin’s frustration in his response to

Sadoleto’s letter to the Genevans. “Those who were regarded as the leaders of faith

neither understood thy Word, nor greatly cared for it. They drove unhappy people to and

fro with strange doctrines, and deluded them with I know not what follies.”3

Calvin was concerned with the Scriptural competency of his day and so he set

1John Calvin, The Institutes of Christian Religion, ed. Tony Lane & Hilary Osborne (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1987), 162.

2Randall C. Zachman, John Calvin: As Teacher, Pastor, and Theologian (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 11.

3John Calvin and Jacopo Sadoleto, A Reformation Debate: Sadoleto's Letter to the Genevans and Calvin's Reply, ed. John C. Olin (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976), 82.

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out to change that culture by writing books and teaching pastors. He accomplished an

impressive literary feat between 1535 and 1564 by producing five editions of his

Institutes, a New Testament commentary series, a commentary on the Pentateuch, Joshua,

Psalms, all the prophets, and preached through entire books of the Bible.4 Calvin was a

dedicated to ministry both as a pastor and a teacher.

Calvin is considered a reformer but his work stands on the shoulders of those

before him. Calvin scholar T.H.L. Parker writes, “Calvin was in the second wave of the

Reformers.”5 His passion for literature was drawn from men like Bude and Erasmus and

his passion for the Gospel from men like Luther and Melanchthon. Pulling from the hard

work of these men, Calvin taught the Gospel and interpreted Scripture in a way that was

unique to his time.6 Calvin also pulled from classical philosophers such as Plato and

Aristotle because he believed it was impossible to properly interpret Scriptures without

first having a working knowledge of classical literature.7

Calvin was eventually given (or forced into) the role of serving as

pastor/teacher in the restored church of Geneva by Guillaume Farel. Regarding this

position, Calvin wrote that Farel “forced me to stay in Geneva not so much by advice or

urging as by command, which had the power of God’s hand laid violently upon me from

heaven.”8 Under Calvin’s influence, students were taught the principles of reformation 4Randall C. Zachman, John Calvin: As Teacher, Pastor, and Theologian

(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 12.

5T.H.L. Parker, Calvin: An Introduction to His Thought (New York: Continuum, 2002), 1.


7Ibid., Pg 16.

8John Calvin, CO 31:23: Calvin Commentaries, 53; quoted in Randall C.

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doctrine and were then sent out as missionaries to influence the culture with their

newfound theology. In 1559 the Geneva Academy was established to serve as an

“intentional forum for the dissemination of Reformed principles throughout Europe.”9

Calvin pulled much of his ministry philosophy from Martin Bucer, and

resolved to bring about ecumenical unity, faithful Gospel preaching, and the restoration

of proper interpretation and application of Holy Scripture.10 At the center of these

pursuits was Calvin’s conviction that Christians were missing out on truly knowing,

worshiping, and enjoying their Creator. Calvin’s view of God drove everything he did.

Calvin’s Doctrine of God

Calvin maintained that the essence of true religion was not conditional to one’s

involvement in religious ceremonies but rather an accurate view of God and a willingness

to enter into relationship with him has he truly is.11 Knowing God truly was better than

following his rules. In other words, orthodoxy preceded orthopraxy in Calvin’s theology.

For Calvin, the knowledge of God would harvest in a person true pietas and

religio. “By pietas Calvin meant a revering and loving of God, brought about by the

knowledge of his blessings. Religio is faith combined with an earnest fear of God, a fear

Zachman, John Calvin as Teacher, Pastor, and Theologian (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 21.

9DeVries, Mark, Shepherd's Notes: Christian Classics, ed. Kirk Freeman, John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 7.


11DeVries, Mark, Shepherd's Notes: Christian Classics, ed. Kirk Freeman, John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 17.

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that contains a voluntary reverence and also carries with it true service and worship.”12

Two questions can be asked to summarize Calvin’s doctrine of God. One, how should

man understand God given his role in creation? Two, how should one understand God in

relation to his sovereignty? These questions seek to interact with several of God’s

attributes and will lead the reader to a general understanding of Calvin’s doctrine of God.

The question of creation will be explored first.

For Calvin, the nature of God was incomprehensible but one could see

glimpses of that glory by looking at the creation. The world shows God to be creative,

powerful, orderly, loving, caring, and providing. In the words of Calvin, “He [God] hung

up gorgeous banners on which we see his perfection clearly portrayed.”13 One will find it

hard to look at the created world and not see some of God’s beauty. Again Calvin writes,

“Wherever you look, there is no part of the world however small that does not show at

least some glimmer of beauty; it is impossible to gaze at the vast expanses of the universe

without being overwhelmed by such tremendous beauty.”14 Even though Calvin believed

that man was blind to God’s authorship in creation, God’s glory can and should be seen

in the context of the created world.

Romans one explains that God was the creator of everything but that man,

instead of worshipping God as creator, instead turned to worshipping specific parts of

creation. In Calvin’s words, “We draw the worship of justice, wisdom and goodness

away from the fountain-head, transferring it elsewhere… we either obscure or pervert

12T.H.L. Parker, Calvin: An Introduction to His Thought (New York: Continuum, 2002), 15.


14Ibid.

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God’s creation so that we rob it of its glory and withhold the praise due to him.” 15 Calvin

believed such ignorance to be damnable. Regardless of one’s education, location, or

logical problems concerning belief in God, the created world is enough to leave him

guilty before God.

The second thing one may ask of Calvin is how man should view God in

relation to his sovereignty. This question explores almost all of God’s attributes because

it frames how God exhibits those attributes within his relationship to humanity and the

rest of creation. However, Calvin’s main focus in discussing the sovereignty of God was

wrapped up in the doctrines of election and predestination. Such doctrines were hotly

debated in Calvin’s day (as they are today) and he described his opposition like this:

Why, therefore, are we to wonder if those who, like madmen, rush with violent force against God, hurl themselves into an abyss, or dash themselves on rocks? They accuse God of being a tyrant because he condemns men to destruction before they were born…They plead that it is useless to give moral precepts, that it is pointless to make laws, and that it is even unjust to carry out sentences for the punishment of criminals when all things are governed or rather rotated by fate.16

Calvin saw no point to this type of rhetoric for two reasons. One, he believed

that at the last day men would see God as a just judge despite his free choice and election

of those who would be saved. Two, he made a distinction between predestination and

fate. If all things were fated, in the Stoic sense of the word, then teaching about the

necessitated state of affairs would not change the outcome of subsequent linear history.

However, in God’s predestination, it is the very teaching and preaching of those concepts

that brings about the result that had been decreed by God. Calvin explains this by writing,


16John Calvin, Concerning Scandals, trans. John W. Fraser (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978), 53.

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“foolish men do not perceive how the works of God harmonize with each other in a

beautiful order. As a result, they rashly set up a conflict between teaching, which is

nothing else but the handmaid of his eternal will, and that will itself.”17

Calvin’s doctrine of God’s sovereignty is essentially at the heart of everything

he writes on the doctrine of God. Author John Murray submits that Calvin’s treatment of

God’s sovereignty in his Institutes has surpassed all others in “in depth of thought, in

reverence of approach, and in eloquence of expression.”18 Calvin’s idea of providence is

directly tied to his understanding of God’s sovereignty. Murray again explains Calvin’s

position by writing, “providence does not consist in a general motion of superintendence

but that all events whatsoever are governed by the secret counsel and directed by the

present hand of God.”19 Such providence insinuates that God oversees all the events that

happen on this earth whether those actions are in the past, present, or future. God is

sovereign over every act and every situation: both good and evil. Man receives both

blessing and curse under the sovereign hand of God.

According to Calvin, God’s sovereignty over man’s eternal destiny is

inextricably linked to his freedom and his mercy. “Equally, those whom he dooms to

destruction are shut off from eternal life by his perfect, but incomprehensible,

judgment.”20 There are many of God’s attributes wrapped up in the treatment of his

17John Calvin, Concerning Scandals, trans. John W. Fraser (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978), 53.

18John Murray, Calvin on Scripture and Divine Sovereignty (Welwyn: Evangelical Press, 1979), 55.

19Ibid., Pg 64.


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sovereignty over salvation and Calvin treated the pursuit of understanding sovereignty

with great care and Scriptural soundness. His emphasis on understanding God’s

sovereignty was rooted in his view of God being perfectly holy and man being totally

depraved. He appealed to the Scriptures repeatedly to support such claims.21In his pursuit

of understanding God, Calvin found God’s righteousness and freedom at the center of his

essence. To be God meant being able to do whatever one freely chooses to do and having

those free choices be the true meaning of righteousness. Whatever God chooses to do is

righteous. He is righteousness; even if man cannot make the logical connection.

A Response to John Calvin

In response to Calvin much could be said. The whole of Christendom is

indebted to his scholarship whether one agrees with his conclusions or not. Calvin’s high

view of God should never be looked at with disdain. His low view of man is troublesome

for some but since this response is in regard to his doctrine of God, nothing will be said

of that. Calvin was a responsible exegete. He was a man who let Scripture interpret

Scripture. He sought to formulate doctrines with great care and responsibility. He served

the city of Geneva (and the rest of the world) well through his rigorous pursuit of

resurrecting responsible and competent teachers and clergymen. Through his preaching

he fostered a love for Scripture and subsequently taught people the true nature of God

and what it meant to enjoy him fully. If there was one thing that stood out about Calvin it

was his concern for souls and their salvation.22

21Eph 1:4; Col 1:12; 2 Tim 1:9; Eph 1:9; John 15:16; Rom 11:35.

22Jean-Daniel Benoit, "Calvin the Letter-writer," in John Calvin: A Collection of Essays, ed. G.E. Duffield (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966), 83.

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However, recent criticism of Calvin’s views need to addressed. According to

this author, Calvin might be concerned with many of those who represent his teachings

today. Author J.I. Packer says explains it well.

In recent years, Calvinism has been seriously construed as a psychopathic phenomenon, a projection of sublimated cruelty, or disgust at human life, or an inferiority complex, or some other neurotic disorder, into a malevolent ‘anti-gospel’ whose main point was that God is fierce, and most men are irremediably damned;23

However, when one becomes familiar with Calvin’s writing that is clearly

shown to not be the case. It is the subsequent development of his thought to unhealthy

extremes that has given the historical Calvin a bad name. Regardless of the nature of

those perverted views, what is important to realize is that those views are contrary to the

true aim of Calvin’s work. To consider oneself a Calvinist means to first become familiar

with a way of thinking about God and reality. Only then can one subscribe to Calvin’s set

of theological convictions.24

23J.I. Packer, "Calvin the Theologian," in John Calvin: A Collection of Essays, ed. G. E. Duffield (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966), 150.

24Ibid., Pg 172.

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Unfortunately, one of Calvin’s greatest strengths also serves as somewhat of an

irreversible weakness. How is this? In essence, Calvin created such an appealing set of

intellectual and theological propositions that many who subscribe to them do so without

first understanding what drove Calvin to write them down. Subsequently, there is a lack

of humility. Concerning this paradigm shift, Basil Hall blames Calvin’s successors such

as Besa, Zanchius, and Perkins.25 Whatever the reason, the outcome is still unfortunate.

It is unfair to blame Calvin for these abuses because such actions are the last

thing that Calvin would want from his students. Again Packer’s words are appropriate.

“He [Calvin] lived as he preached and wrote, for the glory of God. Good theologians are

not always good men, nor vice versa, but Calvin’s life and theology were all of a piece.

Consistency was his hallmark, both as a thinker and as a man.”26 Of course, no one is

perfect. Calvin would certainly deny any goodness as coming from him. However, it is to

Calvin’s credit that he wedded theology and life. Calvin should be commended that he

seldom divorced orthodoxy from orthopraxy.

Lastly, and wrapped up in the two questions that were asked of Calvin in order

to understand his doctrine of God, Calvin is to be commended for the fact that he viewed

God as eternally existent, creator and sustainer of everything, and as the meaning

ultimate reality. This is seen in Calvin’s belief that God created everything out of

nothing and how he sovereignty moves his creation to an end that he has purposed for it.

John Piper writes that “Nothing mattered more to Calvin than the supremacy of God over

25Basil Hall, "Calvin Against the Calvinists," in John Calvin: A Collection of Essays, ed. G. E. Duffield (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966), 25.

26J.I. Packer, "Calvin the Theologian," in John Calvin: A Collection of Essays, ed. G. E. Duffield (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966), 173.

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all things.”27 And, even if a person wishes to disagree with Calvin, on this statement they

cannot part company. Additionally, and unfortunately, such of a view of God is not

present in many churches today. It could be argued that the American Evangelical scene

is not much different than what John Calvin responded to in his day. For this reason, it

would be wise to glean from his hard work.

The major gleaning that is necessary is the heart beat of what drove Calvin to

do everything that he did. What was that heartbeat? Again, John Piper gives a summation

by writing that, “mirroring the glory of God is the meaning of John Calvin’s life and

ministry.”28 Calvin understood that when something was esteemed more highly than God

and the person of Christ, everything else would begin to crumble. Doctrine would be

shallow, grace would be cheap, and man would be at the center.

Historically, the Christian church has needed men to rise up and warn of these

dangers when they are manifested in the Church. John Calvin was such a man. For that,

the Church is indebted and John Calvin is to be appreciated. However, Calvin would not

want that. He would want man to indebted and appreciative to God. That is what made

him so powerful. That is what makes his theology so appealing. It is God-centered and

Christ-exalting. There does remain one last question. If, historically, the Church has

needed men like John Calvin to bring her out of a drunken stupor, where are those men

today? And, even more importantly, are they being heard? May God grant it so.

27John Piper, The Legacy of Sovereign Joy (Wheaton: Crossway, 2000), 115.

28Ibid., Pg 120.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Benoit, Jean-Daniel. "Calvin the Letter-writer." In John Calvin: A Collection of Essays, ed. G.E. Duffield, 67-102. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966.

Calvin, John, and Jacopo Sadoleto. A Reformation Debate: Sadoleto's Letter to the Genevans and Calvin's Reply. Edited by John C. Olin. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976.

________. The Institutes of Christian Religion. Edited by Tony Lane & Hilary Osborne. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1987.

________. The Library of Christian Classics. Edited by John T. McNeill. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960.

________. CO 31:23: Calvin Commentaries. 53. Quoted in Randall C. Zachman, John Calvin as Teacher, Pastor, and Theologian. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.

________. Concerning Scandals. Translated by John W. Fraser. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978.

DeVries, Mark. Shepherd's Notes: Christian Classics. Edited by Kirk Freeman. John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998.

Hall, Basil. "Calvin Against the Calvinists." In John Calvin: A Collection of Essays, ed. G. E. Duffield, 19-38. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966.

Murray, John. Calvin on Scripture and Divine Sovereignty. Welwyn: Evangelical Press, 1979.

Packer, J.I. "Calvin the Theologian." In John Calvin: A Collection of Essays, ed. G. E. Duffield, 149-176. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966.

Parker, T.H.L. Calvin: An Introduction to His Thought. New York: Continuum, 2002.

Piper, John. The Legacy of Sovereign Joy. Wheaton: Crossway, 2000.

Zachman, Randall C. John Calvin: As Teacher, Pastor, and Theologian. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.

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