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Nurturer and Ground of the Truth (Vol.4 Chapters 1 &2 of John Calvin’s The Institutes of the Christian Religion*) by Viola Larson John, the pilgrim in C.S. Lewis’s story, The Pilgrims Regress, asks Mr. Broad if it is true that he needs Mother Kirk to carry him across the chasm on his journey. Mr. Broad replies: Ah, Mother Kirk! I love and honour her from the bottom of my heart, but I trust that loving her does not mean being blind to her faults. We are none of us infallible. If I sometimes feel that I must differ from her at present, it is because I honour all the more the idea that she stands for, the thing she may yet become. For the moment, there is no denying that she has let herself get a little out of date. Surely, for many of our generation, there is a truer, a more acceptable, message in all this beautiful world around us?1But, of course the reverse is true, as C.S. Lewis knew, it is not the world or the message of the world we need to guide and carry us but the Church. To live as Christians in this time, the twenty first century, a seemingly dark and ominous century, as was the last, is to long for the unity, peace, holiness and fellowship of the Church. Not just in an abstract sense, but in our own particular church and among those we work and fellowship with as Christians. We long for nurture, we hope for fellowship, even for discipline. We desire that the Church, our church, His Church, offer to us the word of God and as well as the sacraments. And we desire fellowship from the wider communion of saints, the Church in the world; the communion of those who are meant as lights to the world. Yet, to truly experience unity, peace and holiness as well as fellowship, the Christian needs a clear biblical picture of the Church. John Calvin offers such an account of the church in The Institutes of the Christian Religion. He lived in an age alike ours, as does every generation, with wars and natural disasters, with church debates, un-holiness, unfaithfulness and ecclesiastical corruption. The Roman Catholic Church had become extremely corrupt in both doctrine and ministry. Nearly two hundred years before Calvin, the writer Giovanni Boccaccio in one of his stories portrays a Christian who is grieving over his friend, a Jew, who has traveled to Rome: I have wasted my time which I had employed so well, believing that I might convert him, but if he goes to the court of Rome and sees the wicked and filthy lives of the clergy, not only will he not change from a Jew to a Christian, but if he had already become a Christian before, he would, without a doubt, return to being a Jew.2Exactly a hundred years before the birth of Calvin, beginning with a council in Pisa in 1409, three popes vied for the position of Vicar of Christ.3 Before and during Calvin’s lifetime Church offices were bought and sold, and salvation, given by Christ as the gift of grace, was generally ignored and overshadowed by the buying and selling of indulgences. Many priests were illiterate and communion became an almost magical rite without meaning or content since it was disconnected from the reading of scripture or the preaching of the word. During Calvin’s lifetime the new Reformation churches were splintering, some into groups which rejected preaching and sacraments; at the same time some individuals left the church altogether rejecting any ministry in the Church. Facing the needs of his time, Calvin, in the first chapter of book four of The Institutes of the Christian Religion, addresses the nature of the church, the ministry of the church, and the relationship of believers to the church and to one another. He deals with the problem of sin in the church and how that affects the taking of communion for the believer. In the second chapter, Calvin makes a distinction between those who are considered sects, the ones breaking unity with the body of Christ, and those considered apostates, those who “corrupt the purity of the faith by false dogmas.” (Chap. 2, Sec.5) These chapters are excellent teaching for present day members of the Presbyterian Church USA struggling with both the need for biblical doctrine about the church as well as unity in the body. In the first chapter, Calvin offers a two-fold picture of the church. There exists, first, the church that is only truly known by God, the church of the elect, those engrafted into Christ, as Calvin states, “made truly one by living together under the same Spirit of God in one faith, hope and charity.” (Chap.1 Sec.3) And this includes not only present day members but also those in heaven. This is sometimes referred to as the church invisible. There is on the other hand, the church visible, the external church. This is the Church which includes all those who “profess to worship one God and Christ, who by baptism are initiated into the faith; by partaking of the Lord’s Supper profess unity in true doctrine and charity, agree in holding the word of the Lord, and observe the ministry which Christ has appointed for the preaching of it.” (Chap.1, Sec.7) Calvin insists that in the external church, among the elect, exist those who only profess but do not truly belong to the Church, but still we are called into communion with all in the external church, since only God can know those who are truly his. In fact, we are to use what Calvin calls “the judgment of charity, by which we acknowledge all as members of the Church who by confession of faith, regularity of conduct and participation in the sacraments, unite with us in acknowledging the same God and Christ. (Chap.1 Sec.7) His conclusion on this matter is that wherever the preaching of the word and the offering of sacraments “exists entire and unimpaired, no errors of conduct, no defects should prevent us from giving the name of Church,” adding that, “trivial errors in this ministry ought not to make us regard it as illegitimate.” (Chap.2 Sec.1) Calvin explains the importance of the church in the name he gives her, our Mother. First he writes that if God is Father to sons and daughters the church must be their Mother. (Chap.1 Sec.2) Then he explains that the children of the church are “conceived” in her “womb” and take nourishment from her. They must receive that nourishment for their whole journey. (Chap.1 Sec.4) Quoting Psalms 106:4,5, “Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto they people: O visit me with thy salvation; that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance,” Calvin writes of this relationship between the believer and the church, “By these words the paternal favour of God and the special evidence of spiritual life are confirmed to his peculiar people, and hence the abandonment of the Church is always fatal.” (Chap.1, Sec 4) Calvin holds up the preaching and teaching of the word as well as the taking of the Lord’s Supper as the means of nourishment for those in the church. In the context of Church as the mother who gives nourishment, Calvin writes a great deal about those who insist on leaving the church altogether. He mentions those who do not go to church gatherings and instead insist on “reading and meditating in private.” They, according to Calvin, reject the preaching of the word because it comes from the mouth of a mere human. But as Calvin reminds the reader, God “requires his presence to be recognized in his own institution.” It is God’s word in the mouth of the preacher. In addition, Calvin writes that those who leave the Church easily fall into errors and he considers this a punishment for their rejection of the ministries of the Church, in particular the preaching of God’s word. Calvin wholly insists “that the Church can only be edified by external preaching, and that there is no other bond by which the saints can be kept together than by uniting with one consent to observe the order which God has appointed in his Church for learning and making progress.” (Chap.1 Sec.5) In the second chapter, Calvin addresses the problem of apostasy. He first answers the questions raised by the Roman Catholic’s insistence that they represent the one true church because of what is considered a succession of bishops from the original apostles. Calvin, points out that the Greek Church is not counted a part of the Roman Catholic Church and yet they also have a succession of bishops. (Chap.2 Sec.2) Bishops do not make a faithful Church but rather proclaiming faithful doctrine that upholds the lordship of Christ mark out the true Church. Calvin considers the Catholic Church during this period of her existence to be apostate although he believes there are still particular churches and individuals within her which are a part of the true Church. Quoting Paul, “that the Church is, ‘built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone,’” (Eph. 2:20) Calvin writes of how the Church is destroyed and becomes apostate. He writes: If the Church is founded on the doctrine of the apostles and prophets, by which believers are enjoined to place their salvation in Christ alone, then if that doctrine is destroyed, how can the Church continue to stand? The Church must necessarily fall whenever that sum of religion which alone can sustain it has given way. Again, if the true Church is “pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), it is certain that there is no Church where lying and falsehood have usurped the ascendancy. (Chap.2 Sec.1)It should be noted here that the verse Calvin quotes, I Timothy 3:15, precedes the beautiful early confession of faith, “By common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (16). Enclosed in this verse is the truth which the Church is the “pillar and support” of, therefore, all that denies the unique incarnation, the deity of Christ, his bodily resurrection and the proclamation of the Gospel of salvation to every tribe and people group, is “lying and falsehood” which usurps the pre-eminence of Christ. Since Roman Catholics at the time insisted that the Reformation Churches were both heretical and schismatic, Calvin points to Augustine’s definition, that is, that heretics “corrupt the purity of the faith by false dogmas, whereas the latter sometimes, even while holding the same faith, break the bond of union.” He believed it was the Catholics who were corrupting the purity of the faith by false dogma concerning the gift of grace. Calvin goes on to emphasize the basis for unity when he writes, “whenever ecclesiastical unity is commended to us, the thing required is, that while our minds consent in Christ, our wills also be united together by mutual good-will in Christ.” After quoting Paul, Eph.4:5 and Phil.2:2, 5, he insists that, “where the word of the Lord is not, it is not a union of believers, but a faction of the ungodly.” (Chap 2 Sec.5) That is if the Sacraments are administered with out the preaching of the word, without the gospel, there is no Church. The Christian experiences God in the words of Holy Scripture written and preached. Calvin’s teaching, in these two chapters, addresses many important issues in the contemporary church. Clearly one can see Calvin’s pastoral concerns with those who wish to leave the Church. Some are discouraged with the sinfulness of the Church and with doctrinal disputes in the Church; others are rejecting the authority of the Church and her ministers. Some are seeking empowerment and are attempting to find it outside of the Church. Still, there is that group who must leave behind the false worship and false doctrine of an apostate church or apostate institutions who no longer teach and preach the word nor offer the sacraments properly, that is with the word. These are complex issues but there is much that Calvin offers to the perplexed. The issue of the Christian’s attitude toward their particular church and denomination over peripheral theological issues and fellow member’s sinfulness has a long history in America. In constant pursuit of the pure church, a Church more like the New Testament Church, many Churches and some cultic groups were birthed in America from the early eighteenth century into the late nineteenth century. Martin E. Marty writes of attempts to found purer churches. In Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America, he writes of Barton W. Stone, a Presbyterian revivalist, who in 1803 was one of the early founders of a movement which was to become the Disciples of Christ. Marty writes: . . . he [Barton Stone] joined four others in signing a document in which they agreed to “bid adieu” to their old presbytery and formed a new one. An associate said this move cleared away the rubbish of human opinions, turned the Westminster Confession, a Presbyterian creed, over to the bats and moles, and let the new Christians build on original rock of ages. After hardly more than nine months of gestation, their movement next produced a sarcastic “Last Will and Testament.” In it the founders dissolved also their own presbytery and headed back for their model to the ideal primitive church. Stone wanted his Christian union to have no “authoritative creeds, party names, and party spirits.5Certainly, there are theological issues which do not effect the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith. Calvin writes that there are doctrines which are “the subject of controversy among the churches” and yet they “do not destroy the unity of the faith.” He writes of one such controversy which seems to be unique to his time. His example is about the location of the spirit after death and before the restoration of all things. (Chap.1: Sec.12) Because the Church’s unity and purity is based on the foundational beliefs such as salvation by grace, the unique Incarnation, the sinfulness of humanity and the Trinity, believers should not separate over other trivial matters. Another problem, which can cause splits and splintering in the Church, is the sinfulness of believers. Calvin reminds the church, although here he is writing about preaching, that “God, who might perfect his people in a moment, chooses not to bring them to manhood in any other way than by the education of the Church.” (Chap.1, Sec. 5) And as he points out that perfection will take a lifetime so we may not leave the Church since she is our only means of education. (Chap.1, Sec. 4) Two things are important in these statements. None are sinless, all are being perfected, and, on the other hand, although all are sinners we are meant to move toward perfection and may not stay in sin. Therefore no Church is without sin, but all true Churches will be busy in the perfecting of saints. In our post-modern society, as in Calvin’s day, many have left the Church, rejecting her absolutes, to practice a kind of spirituality that has no connection to the authority of the Church or Scripture. In fact, this is a greater problem then in Calvin’s day. That is because the term spirituality is becoming more important than the term Christian or even religion and has invaded the whole of Western culture. Because most western spirituality practiced by individuals and spiritual groups outside of the Church is vague, amoral, in flux and concerned with the self and power, much of it is anti- Christ or anti-Christian in nature.6 Since there is a large spirituality movement pervading most of society, it often filters back into the Church. Various groups within the Church may, unintentionally, tap into alternative spirituality. For instance, some may use a questionable consulting group that promotes human potential or new age ideology; some might study a popular book as a group which contains a vague kind of spirituality that is disconnected from the word of God. Others may practice spiritual technologies such as Yoga or labyrinth walking and encounter misguided leaders who fill-in the questions about the meaning of these technologies with unbiblical spirituality. Still others are intentionally using this spirituality to import into the Church beliefs that will eventually touch the foundations of faithful doctrine. Calvin points the contemporary Church back to the teaching and preaching of the word as a remedy to this invasion. His emphasis is: When the preaching of the gospel is reverently heard, and the sacraments are not neglected, there for the time the face of the Church appears without deception or ambiguity and no man may with impunity spurn her authority, or reject her admonitions, or resist her counsels, or make sport of her censures, far less revolt from her, and violate her unity.” (Chap. 1, Sec. 10.)_________________ *All text references to The Institutes of the Christian Religion are from Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Grand Rapids, MI at www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.html. 1. C.S. Lewis, The Pilgrims Regress: An Allegorical Apology for Christianity Reason and Romanticism, (New York: Sheed & Ward INC 1944) 148. 2. Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Trans, Mark Musa & Peter Bondanella, intro, Thomas G. Bergin, reprint, (1350-1352, New York: Mentor Book, New American Library 1982) 34. 3. See Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation, Vol. 1, In Quest of Reformation,” (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco 1985) Chapter 33. On the corruption in the Church see also, “Church Fails to Reform Itself,” A Concise History of the Catholic Church, Thomas Bokenkotter, revised edition, (Garden City, New York: Image Books, Doubleday & Company 1979), 207-216. 4. John Calvin paraphrases Augustine, Lib. Quaest. In Evang. Mt. 5 Martin E. Marty, Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America, paperback, reprint, (Penguin Books & Little Brown & Company 1988), 196. 6 A recent and interesting book on this subject is Selling Spirituality:
the Silent Takeover of Religion, by Jeremy Carrette and Richard King,
however the author’s post-modern solutions are not very helpful.
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