John Calvin for Today: The Sum of the Law

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, April 1, 2011

The Sum of the Law

Now it will not be difficult to decide the purpose of the whole law: the fulfillment of righteousness to form human life to the archetype of divine purity. For God has so depicted his character in the law that if any man carries out in deeds whatever is enjoined there, he will express the image of God, as it were, in his own life. For this reason, Moses, wishing to remind the Israelites of the gist of the law, said: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord... , to walk in his ways, to love him, to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep his commandments?” [Deuteronomy 10:12-13, cf. Vg.]. And Moses did not cease to harp on this same thought to them whenever he had to point out the aim of the law. Here is the object of the teaching of the law: to join man by holiness of life to his God, and, as Moses elsewhere says, to make him cleave to God [cf. Deuteronomy 11:22 or 30:20].

Now the perfection of that holiness comes under the two headings already mentioned: “That we should love the Lord God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength” [Deuteronomy 6:5 p.; cf. ch. 11:13], “and our neighbor as ourselves” [Leviticus 19:18 p.; cf. Matthew 22:37,39]. First, indeed, our soul should be entirely filled with the love of God. From this will flow directly the love of neighbor. This is what the apostle shows when he writes that “the aim of the law is love from a pure conscience and a faith unfeigned” [1 Timothy 1:5 p.]. You see how conscience and sincere faith are put at the head. In other words, here is true piety, from which love is derived.

It would, therefore, be a mistake for anyone to believe that the law teaches nothing but some rudiments and preliminaries of righteousness by which men begin their apprenticeship, and does not also guide them to the true goal, good works. . . . For those who follow only dry and bare rudiments — as if the law taught them only half of God’s will — do not at all understand its purpose, as the apostle testifies. (Institutes, 2.8.51)

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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."