John Calvin for Today: Every Pictorial Representation of God is Forbidden

Welcome to John Calvin for Today

THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG is to introduce today's reader to the writings of John Calvin. While most readers could never hope to read the thousands of pages he penned, Calvin's contribution to the Christian Faith is simply too profound to overlook. The posts you will read here (as if Calvin himself were posting them) are being carefully selected (by his modern-day "secretary") to provide you with simple yet weighty truths from this pivotal Reformer. Please check for new posts each Monday. It is hoped that these posts will be a blessing to many, and input is welcome. (Be sure to read "About John Calvin" for a brief bio.)

Friday, December 10, 2010

Every Pictorial Representation of God is Forbidden

God’s glory is corrupted by an impious falsehood whenever any form is attached to him. Therefore in the law, after having claimed for himself alone the glory of deity, when he would teach what worship he approves or repudiates, God soon adds, “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor any likeness” [Exodus 20:4]. By these words he restrains our waywardness from trying to represent him by any visible image, and briefly enumerates all those forms by which superstition long ago began to turn his truth into falsehood. (Institutes, I.11.1)

Of the prophets it is enough to cite only Isaiah, who is most emphatic in presenting this. He teaches that God’s majesty is sullied by an unfitting and absurd fiction, when the incorporeal is made to resemble corporeal matter, the invisible a visible likeness, the spirit an inanimate object, the immeasurable a puny bit of wood, stone, or gold [Isaiah 40:18–20 and 41:7, 29; 45:9; 46:5–7]. Paul also reasons in the same way: “Since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to judge the Deity to be like gold, and silver, or a stone, carved by the art or devising of man” [Acts 17:29]. From this it is clear that every statue man erects, or every image he paints to represent God, simply displeases God as something dishonorable to his majesty. (I.11.2)

For whence came the beginning of idols but from the opinion of men? Most just is that profane poet’s mockery [Horace, Satires I. 8:l–3]: “Once I was a little fig tree trunk, a useless bit of wood, when the workman, in doubt whether he should make a stool, preferred that I be a god.” But the Lord forbids not only that a likeness be erected to him by a maker of statues but that one be fashioned by any craftsman whatever, because he is thus represented falsely and with an insult to his majesty. (I.11.4)

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About John Calvin

When the name John Calvin (1509-1564) is uttered, it often gets one of two reactions: unending praise or unrelenting criticism. There has probably been no other Christian figure who has been both lauded and condemned as much as has been Calvin. Regardless of one’s opinion of John Calvin, however, his total commitment of heart and mind to the Lord and his uncompromising pursuit of the truth of God’s Word cannot be denied.

John Calvin was born in the small town of Noyon, France (about sixty miles northeast of Paris) on July 10, 1509. His lawyer father originally wanted him to become a priest and provided the funds to do so, but changed his mind and decided his son should study law instead. Calvin was very successful at this, but when his father died in 1531, Calvin turned to the study of the humanities and Theology at the University Of Paris.

Though we know little of the specifics, two years later Calvin experienced what he called a “sudden conversion.” With this conversion came a strong conviction of man’s depravity, God’s sovereignty, and the importance of following God’s will.

"After my heart had long been prepared for the most earnest self-examination, on a sudden the full knowledge of the truth, like a bright light, disclosed to me the abyss of errors in which I was weltering, the sin and shame with which I was defiled. A horror seized my soul when I became conscious of my wretchedness and of the more terrible misery that was before me. And what was left, O Lord, for me, miserable and abject, but, with tear and cries of supplication, to abjure the old life which Thou has condemned, and to flee into Thy Path? . . . God Himself produced the change. He instantly subdued my heart to obedience." (Cited by Elgin Moyer, Great Leaders of the Christian Church, pp. 322-323).

At first, Calvin had no thought of leaving the Roman Catholic church, rather he wanted to reform it. But it wasn’t long before his plea for reform and attacks against Roman Catholicism forced him to sever all ties with Roman Catholicism. In fact, after a strong oration on October 10, 1533 concerning evangelical views and a plea for reformation on the basis of the New Testament, he barely escaped Paris alive. He was never ordained in the Catholic Church but rather devoted his life to the Protestant Reformation.

Wanting a place to study in quiet, Calvin stayed briefly in Strassburg and then went to Basel, where he stayed for two years (till 1536). It was in Basel that Calvin wrote the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion at the age of 26. It was meant to be a clear and powerful presentation of Protestant doctrine. It went through several editions until, in 1559, it reached its present size, which is five times the size of the original.

The value of the Institutes was staggering. It heaped condemnation on the Roman Catholic church and was a powerful unifying force among Protestants. It is still of tremendous value today, although it has suffered greatly because of prejudice and misunderstanding. Not only do the Institutes present the Doctrines Of Grace, but numerous other topics: knowing God, the authority Of Scripture, an exposition Of the Ten Commandments, a marvelous section on prayer based on an exposition of The Lord’s Prayer, scathing attacks on Roman Catholicism, and even a discussion of Christian liberty and political liberty. The Institutes ought to be mandatory material in Bible schools and seminaries.

The Institutes were far from being Calvin’s only contribution. He wrote commentaries on almost every book of the Bible all the Old Testament (except material on Judges through Job, and Proverbs through Song of Solomon), and all the New Testament (except II and III John and Revelation). He also wrote several other volumes on various subjects, such as: the Lord’s Supper, the necessity of reforming the Church, superstitions, prayer, and even marriage.

Something often overlooked concerning Calvin was his preaching. He preached and lectured more than 300 times a year (over five times a week). He wrote over 2200 sermons, many of which still exist in numerous volumes. The pulpit, in fact, was the absolute heart of Calvin’s ministry. During his four years in Strasbourg, he preached almost everyday and twice on the Lord’s Day. In Geneva, from 1541 until his death in 1564, besides teaching Theology three times per week, he preached twice on Sunday, and every other week he preached each weeknight. His Sunday sermons covered the New Testament, his weeknight sermons the Old Testament. Those sermons were recorded by a stenographer and became, along with his other lectures, the basis of his many commentaries.

But still this was not all. Calvin is often accused of being a cold person. While he certainly wasn’t the warmest person who ever lived, “cold” is equally inaccurate. We find proof of this in his active correspondence, which eventually filled four volumes. Some 300 of these letters still exist and give the reader a deeper understanding of Calvin’s affection, compassion, and sympathy. History also bears out that he was friendly to people on the street and quite warm with those he pastored. (The reader's attention is called to The Letters of John Calvin [Banner of Truth Trust, 1980], a marvelous one-volume collection of seventy of Calvin's most outstanding letters.)

Calvin certainly was not perfect (no one is). There are things he said and did that we would not agree with. Critics of Calvin are quick to point out, for example, his sanctioning of the death of Michael Servetus for his anti-trinitarianism, and we do not defend this. In spite of these, however, the Church owes an immeasurable debt to John Calvin, regardless of whether it is willing to admit it. As one writer wrote in 1837:

"While we are unable to approve of every thing that he spoke and did, we would not forget, that to him and his noble [coworkers] in the glorious cause of the Reformation from Popery, we owe the dawn of that Scriptural light and liberty which we now enjoy, and which shall continue to spread, until there be heard a voice as the sound of many waters saying, 'Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth, is fallen, is fallen!'" ("The Life of Calvin" contained in The Best of John Calvin," compiled by Samuel Dunn [Baker Book House, 1983], p. 75.)

John Calvin was ushered into glory on May 27, 1564. Theodore Beza, the famed biographer of Calvin, wrote this epitaph:

"Why in this humble and unnoticed tomb

Is Calvin laid--the dread of falling Rome?

Mourned by the good, and by the wicked fear'd,

By all who knew his excellence, revered;

From who even Virtue's self might virtue learn,

And young and old it virtues may discern.

"'Twas modesty, his constant friend on earth,

That laid this stone, unsculptured with a name;

Oh! happy turf, enriched with Calvin's worth,

More lasting far than marble is thy fame."