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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
It has become almost a commonplace in Calvin studies to assume that his teaching was distorted by later theologians who professed to be his disciples, notably Beza, Zanchi and Turretin. It is held that they transformed his vital teaching into a rigid intellectual and dogmatic scheme whose central tenet was the doctrine of election whereby God by his own inscrutable decree predestined a fixed number to salvation and reprobated all others to damnation. It is claimed that once the shell of this Protestant scholasticism is broken and once the later confessional declarations lose their mesmeric hold then Calvin's teaching can be studied afresh and he will be revealed as a theologian whose central theme is God's saving action in Christ. It will be seen, so it is claimed, that Calvin only dealt with the doctrine of election in the context of his exposition of the Person and Work of Christ, and when it is realised that Christ was the proper man who did a work for all mankind then it will be clear that all are elected in Christ and that the offer of salvation is made to all. Moreover, it is claimed that when due regard is paid to Calvin's pastoral concern for the people of Geneva and to his practical advice given to scores of correspondents then he can no longer be seen as the relentless theologian but as the generous shepherd of the flock.
page 147 note 1 Smith, P., The Age of the Reformation (London, 1920), p. 166.Google Scholar
page 148 note 2 Institute, I, vi, 2.
page 149 note 3 Ibid., I, vii, 1.
page 149 note 4 e.g. Wallace, R. S., Calvin's Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament (Edinburgh, 1953). PP. 111–114.Google Scholar
page 149 note 5 Institute, I, vii, 5; III, ii, 33.
page 149 note 6 Calvin, , Sermons on Isaiah's Prophecy of the death and passion of Christ, ed. Parker, T. H. L. (London, 1956), pp. 44, 134, 152.Google Scholar
Calvin, , Sermons stir les livres de Jéremie et des Lamentations (Supplementa Calviniana, 1971), pp. 14 (line 51), 57 (line 107).Google Scholar
page 150 note 7 Sermons (ed. Parker), p. 51.
page 150 note 8 Ibid., p. 72.
page 150 note 9 Ibid., p. 81.
page 150 note 10 Ibid., p. 121.
page 150 note 11 Ibid., p. 141.
page 150 note 12 Ibid., p. 144. Dr R. T. Kendall, in Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649 (OUP, 1979), has brought together a number of passages from Calvin's works on the basis of which he concludes that Calvin's fundamental belief was that ‘Christ died indiscriminately for all men’ (p. 15). However, he can then proceed to an assertion which further illustrates the tantalising nature of Calvin's thought; he says that Calvin taught that ‘while Christ died for all, his intercession was for the elect only’ (p. 17).
page 150 note 13 Institute, III, xxi, 5.
page 151 note 14 Aquinas, Sutntna Theologica, I, Question 23, Article 3.
page 151 note 15 Ibid., Article 4.
page 151 note 16 Ibid., Article 5.
page 151 note 17 Ibid.. Article 7.
page 151 note 18 Sermons (ed. Parker), pp. 39–42, 49, 62.
page 151 note 19 Parker, T. H. L., John Calvin (London, 1975), p. 134.Google Scholar
page 151 note 20 Institute, III, xxi, 4.
page 152 note 21 Sermons (ed. Parker), 39–42.
page 152 note 22 Institute, I, vii, 5.
page 152 note 23 Calvin, J., Concerning Scandals, translated by Fraser, J. W. (Edinburgh, 1978), p.Google Scholar
page 153 note 24 Question 20.
page 153 note 25 Questions 86 & 31.
page 153 note 26 Sermons (Supplemenla Calviniana), op. cit., p. 62 (line 16–17).
page 153 note 27 Ibid., p. 71 (line 1).
page 153 note 28 Ibid., p. 8 (line 20).
page 154 note 29 Institute, III, vi, 5.
page 155 note 30 Sermons (ed. Parker), p. III.
page 156 note 31 Jewel, D., Duke, (Sphere Edition), p. 24.Google Scholar