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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 January 2009
The late medieval synthesis reflected in the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) generally and in the doctrine of transubstantiation in particular established an understanding of the nature of the church and authority that was to be varied and wide in its effects. Transubstantiation as doctrine and as coalescor of Church worship laid the groundwork for a particularly formative understanding of the ekklesia of Christ. It issued in a view of immanental, divine authority and grace that would come to manifest itself in the indulgences, the treasury of merits, invocation of saints, relics, etc. To be critical of the Mass was to bring into question the entire hierarchy of the Church and its authority on earth. In this context of strong ecclesiological authority, God was reckoned primarily as immanent and immediate through the papal head. In the face of this development, John Calvin asserted that Christ, as center of all true Christian reality, is the necessary focus and the preeminent authority in and to the Church through the Word of God, the Scriptures.
page 465 note 1 Ford Lewis Battles, ‘The Theology of John Calvin,’ tape series presented at Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, VA, 1973.
page 466 note 2 Calvin, John, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols., ed. by McNeil, John T., translated by Battles, Ford Lewis (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960). vii–xi.Google Scholar
page 466 note 3 Ibid. IV, x, 1.
page 466 note 4 Ibid.
page 466 note 5 Ibid. Note on this issue the significant discussion of Bouwsma, William J., John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 191–229.Google Scholar
page 467 note 6 Calvin, , Institutes, IV, viii, 9.Google Scholar
page 467 note 7 Cf. Calvin's use and exposition of Matt. 15:9 in the Institutes, IV, x, 15–24.
page 467 note 8 Ibid., IV, viii, 10.
page 467 note 9 Ibid.
page 467 note 10 Ibid.
page 467 note 11 Ibid. IV, viii, 10 and 12; and IV, ix, 9.
page 468 note 12 Ibid., IV, ix, 8, 12 and 13.
page 468 note 13 Parker, T.H.L., John Calvin: A Biography (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975), pp. 59–60.Google Scholar
page 468 note 14 Ibid. p. 60.
page 468 note 15 Calvin, , Institutes, IV, x, chapter heading.Google Scholar
page 469 note 16 Ibid., IV, x, 1.
page 469 note 17 Ibid., IV, x, 3.
page 469 note 18 Ibid., IV, x, 3, 4 and 6.
page 469 note 19 Ibid.
page 470 note 20 Ibid.
page 470 note 21 Ibid., IV, xi, 1.
page 470 note 22 Ibid., IV, xi, 6.
page 470 note 23 Ibid.
page 471 note 24 Ibid., IV. xi, 11. cf. The discussion in this paragraph on the rise and method of papal power.
page 471 note 25 Ibid.
page 471 note 26 Ibid., IV, vii, 2.
page 472 note 27 Ibid., IV, viii, 2–3.
page 472 note 28 Ibid., I, viii, 4.
page 472 note 29 Ibid., IV, viii, 6.
page 472 note 30 Ibid., IV, viii, 9.
page 473 note 31 Ibid.
page 473 note 32 Ibid., IV, viii, 10.
page 473 note 33 Ibid., IV, viii, 9.
page 473 note 34 Ibid., IV, viii, 11. cf, IV, viii, 13, on the vital relation of the Spirit and the Word in Calvin's thought” ‘…inasmuch as the church is governed by the Spirit of God, it can proceed safely without the “Word” (says “papist” dogma)’, but Calvin responds by saving that ‘If we grant… that the church cannot err in matters necessary to salvation then here is what we mean by it: the statement is true insofar as the church, having forsaken all its own wisdom, allows itself to be taught by the Holy Spirit through God's Word. This, then, is the difference.’ Our opponents locate the authority of the church outside God's Word; but we insist that it be attached to the Word, and do not allow it to be separated from it. cf, also IV, x, 14, and Ronald 5. Wallace, , Calvin's Doctrine of Word and Sacrament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957), p. 100.Google Scholar
page 474 note 35 Ibid., IV, ii, 4.
page 474 note 36 Ibid.
page 474 note 37 Wallace!, Word and Sacrament, p. 101.Google Scholar
page 474 note 38 Calvin, John, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. IV, translated by Owen, John (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 368Google Scholar. cf., also Calvin, JohnOpera Selecta, vol-. 1, ed. by Niesel, W. and Barth, P. (Munich: 1926–1352), 1 465Google Scholar, cited in Bouwsma; cf., also Calvin, John, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians. Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, translated by Parker, T.H.L. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1965), pp. 179–180Google Scholar; and Calvin, , Institutes, IV, x, 7, 9–22, 23, 26 and 30.Google Scholar
page 474 note 39 Ibid., IV, xi, 1.
page 475 note 40 Ibid.
page 475 note 41 Ibid.
page 475 note 42 Ibid.
page 475 note 43 Calvin, John, Commentaries on the Prophet Ezekiel, translated by Myers, Thomas (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1948), pp. 306–307.Google Scholar
page 475 note 44 Bouwsma, p. 50.
page 475 note 45 Ibid., pp. 220f.
page 475 note 46 Calvin, , Institutes, IV, xi, 1.Google Scholar
page 476 note 47 Ibid., cf., Bouwsma, pp. 215, 218–219; Institutes, IV, vii, 21.Google Scholar
page 476 note 48 Ibid., IV, xi, 2.
page 476 note 49 Ibid., IV, xi, 8.
page 476 note 50 Cf. discussion in Parker, p. 58.
page 476 note 51 Ibid., cf. Opera Selecta, l:235ff.
page 477 note 52 Ibid., p. 59.
page 477 note 53 Bouwsma, p. 44.
page 477 note 54 Note Calvin's exposition on the question and issue of the Incarnation as it relates to this question in his commentary on I John chapter one. Cf. Calvin's statement about Christ's person and purpose in The Gospel According to John, vol. II, translated by Parker, T.H.L. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1959), p. 78Google Scholar. cf. also Calvin, John, The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews and the First and Second Epistles of St. Peter, translated by Johnston, William B. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1963), p. 6Google Scholar; and Institutes, I, i, 1Google Scholar.
page 478 note 55 Calvin, , Institutes, IV, viii, 1.Google Scholar
page 478 note 56 Ibid., IV, viii, 4.
page 478 note 57 Ibid.
page 478 note 58 Ibid., IV, viii, 7.
page 479 note 59 Ibid., IV, x, 2.
page 479 note 60 Ibid., IV,
page 479 note 61 Ibid., IV!
page 479 note 62 Note here Calvin's Christological and cosmological discussion speaking to this larger issue in his commentary on Ephesians 1:20–23. cf. also Institutes, IV, x, 14.Google Scholar
page 479 note 63 Ibid., IV, x, 17.
page 480 note 64 Ibid.
page 480 note 65 Ibid., IV, x, 23.
page 480 note 66 Ibid., IV, x, 32. cf. Eberhard Jüngel's brief but helpful discussion regarding Calvin's point against Osiander that Christ, in all of his relatedness to us, is ‘the event of fellowship with Christ constituted by his coming’ In his work, God as the Mystery of the World”: On the Foundation of the Theology of the Crucified One in the Dispute between Theism and Atheism, translated by Guder, Darrell L. (Grand Rapids: Wm. 3. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1983), p. 296.Google Scholar
page 480 note 67 Ibid., IV, xi, 1.
page 480 note 68 Ibid., IV, xi, 5.
page 480 note 69 Calvin, Gospel of John, vol.
page 481 note 70 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 53, cf. also Institutes, IV, xi, 8Google Scholar and
page 481 note 71 Wallace, , Word and Sacrament, pp. 99–101Google Scholar. Cf. Wallace, Ronald, Calvin's Doctrine of the Christian Life (Tyler, TX: Geneva Divinity School Press, reprint 1982), pp. 206–218.Google Scholar
page 481 note 72 Calvin, John, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, vol. 1, translated by Pringle, William (Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans “Publishing Company, 1958), pp. 381–382Google Scholar. It must be carefully noted that for Calvin the relationship between Word and spirit is vital for a number of reasons, not least among which is stability in contrast to what Calvin perceives among the ‘Anabaptists’. Cf. Calvin, , Institutes, IV, viii, 13.Google Scholar
page 482 note 73 Calvin, , Gospel of John, vol. 1, pp. 46, 128Google Scholar. Cf. also Calvin, John, A Harmony of the Gospels Matthew. Mark and Luke, vol. 1, translated by Morrison, A.W. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 145Google Scholar. Note also the important discussion in Willis, E. David, Calvin's Catholic Christobgy: The Function of the So-Called Extra Calvinisticum in Calvin's Theology (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1966), p. 137.Google Scholar
page 482 note 74 Willis, , Calvin's Catholic Christology, p. 137Google Scholar. Note additionally the significant discussion of Christ's Lordship in the sovereign purposes of God and, particularly for our discussion here, in the church in McDonnell, Killian, John Calvin, the Church and the Eucharist (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1967), pp. 169–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
page 483 note 75 Ibid., p. 154. Cf. additionally K. McDonnell, pp. 249–252, 279.
page 483 note 76 Bouwsma, p. 114.
page 483 note 77 Ibid., pp. 32–36.
page 483 note 78 Calvin, , Institutes, II, xiv, 1Google Scholar, and IV. xvii, 30, wherein Calvin sets forth his historical and theological response to the communicatio idiomatum.
page 484 note 79 Bouwsma, p. 35.
page 484 note 80 Calvin, , Institutes, IV, viii, 13.Google Scholar
page 484 note 81 Bouwsma, p. 2.
page 484 note 82 Ibid., p. 99.
page 485 note 83 Calvin, John, Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, translated by Reid, J.K.S. (London: James Clarke and Company Ltd., 1961), p. 133.Google Scholar
page 485 note 84 Partee, Charles, Calvin and Classical Philosophy (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1977), p. 133.Google Scholar
page 486 note 85 Note that this biblical concept of mediated divine-human relation is hardly absent from Calvin's thought, indeed it is a critical theme in his theology. Yet it is not used as it could be here. Cf. also the helpful schematic discussion of this issue in Frame, John M., The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company. 1987), pp. 13–16.Google Scholar
page 486 note 86 Calvin, , Institutes, IV, viii, 1Google Scholar.