Listening to the Giants

                                            L imited Atonement   Definition: Christ’s death actually paid for the sins of those whom He knew would ultimately be saved (i.e. the elect) Did John Calvin teach this doctrine? Yeah…I don’t know about this one. Here are a couple excerpts from his commentaries:  Commentary on Romans 5:18 "Paul makes grace common to all men, not because it in fact extends to all, but because it is offered to all. Although Christ suffered for the sins of the world, and is offered by the goodness of God without distinction to all men, yet not all receive him."   Commentary on I Timothy 2:5 "This clause is of a similar import with the former; for, as there is one God, the Creator and Father of all, so he says that there is but one Mediator, through whom we have access to the Father; and that this Me...

                                                                 U nconditional Election Definition: God does not base His election on anything He sees in the individual. He chooses the elect according to the kind intention of His will (Eph. 1:4-8; Rom. 9:11) without any consideration of merit within the individual. Did John Calvin teach this doctrine? Ummm…yeah, definitely. Calvin asserts, “Do they ask how it happens that of two men indistinguishable in merit, God in his election passes over one but takes the other? I, in turn, ask: “Do they think that there is anything in him who is taken that disposes God to him?” If they admit that there is nothing, as they must, it will follow that God does not consider the man but seeks from His own goodness the reason to do him good. The fact that God therefo...

Many individuals (both Christian and non-Christian) connect John Calvin (or his followers) to the invention of the acronym TULIP. Yet the truth is its origin should be placed on the followers of Jacob Arminius, who presented the five Remonstrances (which were constructed to oppose the teachings of Calvin’s followers and the Dutch church), at the Synod of Dort in 1618-1619 (roughly 8-9 years after Jacob Arminius died and 54 years after Calvin died). Then, because of the challenge of the followers of Arminius, the followers of Calvin responded to their “five points”, which began the “germinating process” (pun intended) of the infamous TULIP. If this is true, then when and where did the actual acronym TULIP originate? It is hard to say. Richard A. Muller states, “As far as we know, both the acrostic and the associated usage of “five points of Calvinism” are of Anglo-American origin and do not date back before the nineteenth century . It is remarkable how quickly ...

One of the reasons I love to read biographies is the joy of finding new information. The new information about John Calvin is that he really cared about Christian unity.  Here is a quote from Calvin’s latest biographer:  “It had been an extraordinary gamble to come to Zurich, and Calvin had risked humiliation in his bid to succeed where Bucer and others had failed. He wanted to move the Swiss, and in particular Zurich, out of their isolation and make them part of the wider Reformation movement. The only way to bring this about, he had recognized, was to be flexible for the sake of unity. What the events of the 1540’s clearly demonstrate is that Calvin never regarded his theological formations as non-negotiable.” It is shocking to see the words Calvin, flexible and unity in the same sentence. I probably need to back up and set the context of why Calvin was travelling to Zurich. The Protestant Reformation had central areas of influence. Zwingli and Bullinger...

The typical caricature of John Calvin is of a rigid, stoic, relentless tyrant, who taunted the unregenerate, reminding them of their reprobation and their inability to come to God. Not only is this caricature slanderous; it is also unfair and without historical warrant. This blog post will reveal a softer, more human side of John Calvin. A man who was not only was greatly influenced by his friends, but needed them and cherished them. Calvin’s latest biographer writes,  “These relationships could be complicated and might have to weather many storms, but no one worked harder than Calvin to preserve them.” Really, John Calvin? Yep, this biographer is actually talking about the infamous Calvin. So, who are these friends? Who are the ones who stood by the great Frenchman? Martin Bucer Church history speaks highly of this primary mentor of John Calvin, who was 18 years his senior. The summary below helps explain his place in the Protestant Reformation of...

These blog entries are going to be somewhat challenging because of one glaring fact: John Calvin did not like to talk or write about himself. Here is an excerpt from the biography I am currently reading:  “The location of Calvin’s grave is unknown, and that was the way he wanted it. Nothing would have horrified him more than the monument to the Reformation in Geneva with its enormous image of the Frenchman. He deliberately wrote next to nothing about himself and his life. ” You might ask, “And yet this is the “giant” you want to write about?” You bet it is. So what made this man great? Well….there were a lot of reasons, but what I want to focus on in the next few paragraphs is the discipline of John Calvin. Now it should not be a shock to any student of church history that every “giant” was disciplined to a certain degree. Theodore Beza (Calvin's spiritual son in the faith) wrote, “He (Calvin) worked hard at his university studies and there are still trustworthy men ali...

Born July 10, 1509 in Noyon, France, Jean Calvin was raised in a staunch Roman Catholic family. The local bishop employed Calvin's father as an administrator in the town's cathedral. The father, in turn, wanted John to become a priest. Because of close ties with the bishop and his noble family, John's playmates and classmates in Noyon (and later in Paris) were aristocratic and culturally influential in his early life. At the age of 14 Calvin went to Paris to study at the College de Marche in preparation for university study. His studies consisted of seven subjects: grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Toward the end of 1523 Calvin transferred to the more famous College Montaigu. While in Paris he changed his name to its Latin form, Ioannis Calvinus, which in French became Jean Calvin. During this time, Calvin's education was paid for in part by income from a couple of small parishes. So although the new theological teachings of indiv...