During the balmy summer days of July, 1536
the twenty-seven year old John Calvin (1509-1564)
was on his way from France into exile in Strasbourg,
Germany. As he quickly sped along the stone-paved
main highway with his younger brother Anthony
and his half-sister Marie perhaps he asked
himself, “Why are we fleeing?”
Calvin lived during the tumultuous days of
the Reformation when any man who rejected
the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church
was hunted-down, imprisoned, and often-times
martyred. The cruel death in Paris of Calvin’s
personal friend Stephen de La Forge in late
1534 made a significant impact upon his resolve
to continue defending the evangelical cause.
Thus, it was out of necessity that he flee
from his native country to the safe-haven
of Germany where he could write his books
and carryout his biblical studies. On this
hasty and clandestine journey Calvin was forced
to detour from his initial route and travel
a circuitous southern road through Geneva,
Switzerland. At this time the armies of King
Francis the 1st (1494-1547) were on extensive
military maneuvers and every Protestant reformer
(especially those of Calvin’s notoriety)
would want to avoid the French troops at all
costs. Calvin was rapidly becoming known as
the author of a newly published treatise,
Institutes of the Christian Religion (printed
in Basle, March 1536). This potent book of
only six short chapters was the clearest exposition
yet of the basic doctrines of the Reformation.
It was immediately identified as subversive
literature by Roman Catholic scholars, yet
the first edition sold out so quickly that
another printing was eagerly sought by sympathetic
readers. One modern theologian has thoughtfully
stated,
Even from the point of view of mere literature,
it holds a position so supreme in its class
that every one who would fain know the world’s
best books, must make himself familiar with
it. What Thucydides is among the Greeks, or
Gibbon among eighteenth-century English historians,
what Plato is among philosophers, or the Iliad
among epics, or Shakespeare among dramatists,
that Calvin’s Institutes is among theological
treatises. (Benjamin B. Warfield, Works, Vol.
5, 374)
Calvin’s unplanned trek through Geneva
figured to be one of the most significant
turning-points of his life for it was here
that he providentially met the zealous French
missionary-evangelist Guillaume Farel (1489-1565).
A few months prior to Calvin’s arrival
in Geneva both Farel and Pierre Viret (1511-1571)
participated in a formal debate with the leaders
of Roman Catholic Church. As a result, on
March 21, 1536 the city fathers voted decisively
to reject the Roman Catholic faith and to
recover the gospel as it was directly taught
from the pages of the Bible. Following that
signal victory Farel was strongly motivated
to build a team of earnest and learned pastors
to teach and preach biblical truth. He was
especially eager to encourage someone of Calvin’s
superior gifts to remain in Geneva to help
with the reform effort then currently underway
in the city. It was Calvin’s plan to
remain only one night in Geneva, and so while
eating dinner that evening at a local inn
Calvin innocently remarked to Farel that he
felt his place in life was to pursue a “quiet
life of scholarship” in Strasbourg.
Immediately, Farel stood up (some have suggested
that he actually jumped on the table sending
all of the dishes clattering to the floor
in a loud series of crashes!), and with fiery
eyes flashing and red-beard wagging he angrily
denounced Calvin with an accusing finger shouting,
You are following your own wishes, and I declare,
in the name of God Almighty, that if you do
not assist us in this work of the Lord, the
Lord will punish you for seeking your own
interest rather than his. (Theodore Beza,
Life of John Calvin, 29)
Calvin was horrified by this impassioned denunciation
and he timidly recoiled from the threat of
divine judgment. Nevertheless, after reflecting
on all that Farel had said, he determined
to remain in Geneva and from that point on
his ministry became inextricably tied to the
city. He wrote later in the Preface to his
Commentary on the Psalms, “I felt…as
if God had from heaven laid His mighty hand
upon me to arrest me from my course…I
desisted from the journey which I had undertaken.”
Thus, on September 5, 1536 when the Genevan
City Council providentially appointed Calvin
to be their “Professor of Sacred Literature”
they probably had no idea that they were beginning
a pastoral relationship with Calvin that would
make a significant impact upon the whole Protestant
world. Not all in Geneva were enthused about
Calvin’s arrival, since he was a religious
refugee from France, and they snidely referred
to him in the minutes of the Genevan City
Council as “ille Gallus” (or,
“that Frenchman”). Yet, the sovereign
Lord did indeed have a place of on-going ministry
for Calvin, although it proved to be turbulent
place filled with many troublesome people.
Calvin’s personal call to minister in
Geneva was put to a serious test during the
spring of 1538. The three pastors of Geneva,
Calvin, Farel, and the blind and elderly Elie
Courault (d. 1538), believed that the city
was in so much turmoil over the efforts of
reform that taking the Lord’s Supper
would “profane so holy a mystery”.
As Easter Sunday approached on April 21, 1538
the tension became so thick that Calvin reported
more than sixty musket blasts shot off in
front of his home late one night. Since the
ministers stubbornly refused to offer the
Lord’s Supper the Little Council voted
to ban Calvin, Farel, and Courault from their
pulpits. Despite this prohibition the ministers
preached and did not serve the Lord’s
Supper as they had been ordered to do. The
next day the Little Council voted to oust
the rebellious preachers. They gave them only
three days to get their affairs in order and
to leave the city. Theodore Beza recalls this
chaotic time with Calvin’s own words,
This decision being intimated to Calvin, “Certainly”,
says he, “…had I been the servant
of men I had obtained a poor reward, but it
is well that I have served Him who never fails
to perform to his servants whatever he has
promised.” (Theodore Beza, Life of John
Calvin, 33)
Therefore, on April 25, 1538 the three unwanted
ministers departed the city leaving behind
all of the angry denunciations, jeers, and
threats. After making unsuccessful appeals
in Berne and Zurich, Calvin was uncertain
of where to go next. He was eventually recruited
by the seasoned reformer Martin Bucer (1491-1551)
to come to Strasbourg and serve as pastor
to a congregation of French refugees. While
there Calvin married a lovely French widow,
Idelette de Bure, and further deepened his
ties to Strasbourg by representing the city
at the Colloquy of Hagenau (June, 1540), Worms
(November, 1540), and Ratisbon (April, 1541).
These three ecumenical conferences exposed
Calvin to the wider world of Reformation theology
and brought about a life-long friendship with
the irenic German reformer Philip Melanchthon
(1497-1560). While living in Strasbourg he
also regularly taught at an academy led by
Johannes Sturm (1507-1589), and penned his
first Bible commentary on Paul’s Letter
to the Romans (1539). Overall, these were
pleasurable and productive years, punctuated
with only a few sorrows.
The
Wall of Reformers, Geneva, Switzerland
It came as quite a surprise, then, when in the midst of this
happy period an official summons came from
the City Council of Geneva asking him to return.
This unexpected request brought up all the
deep personal wounds of his banishment and
required that Calvin seriously reflect upon
his ministerial call to serve the Lord in
Geneva. He confided in an agonizing letter
to Farel on October 27, 1540 his personal
fears about returning to that disorderly city,
I have no doubt whatever that you have taken
good care to apologize for me to those brethren
who advised that I should return to Geneva,
that I have not replied to them. For you are
well aware how on that account I was thrown
for two days into such perplexity and trouble
of mind that I was scarcely half myself …
Whenever I call to mind the state of wretchedness
in which my life was spent when there, how
can it be otherwise but that my very soul
must shudder when any proposal is made for
my return? … But, at the same time,
while I call to mind by what torture my conscience
was racked at that time, and with how much
anxiety it was continually boiling over, pardon
me if I dread that place as having about it
somewhat of a fatality in my case …
But now that by the favor of God I am delivered,
should I be unwilling to plunge myself once
more into the gulf and whirlpool which I have
already found to be so dangerous and destructive,
who would not excuse me? (Henry Beveridge
and Jules Bonnet eds., Selected Works of John
Calvin: Tracts & Letters, Vol. 4, 210-212)
Such frank correspondence continued back and
forth between Calvin and his close confidants,
Farel and Viret, for several months before
it finally culminated in the decision that
he would return to Geneva. There is little
doubt, however, that an open letter written
by Calvin from Strasbourg (September 1, 1539)
and sent on Geneva’s behalf to Cardinal
Jacopo Sadoleto (1477-1547) demonstrated the
sterling value of Calvin’s ministry
and scholarship. In it Calvin forcefully argued
for the cause of the Reformation and rejected
Sadoleto’s faulty reasoning as to why
the city of Geneva should return to the Roman
Catholic Church. Calvin began his reply in
this way,
You lately addressed a Letter to the Senate
and People of Geneva, in which you sounded
their inclination as to whether, after having
once shaken off the yoke of the Roman Pontiff,
they would submit to have it again imposed
upon them. In that letter, as it was not expedient
to wound the feelings of those whose favor
you required to gain your cause, you acted
the part of a good pleader; for you endeavored
to soothe them by abundance of flattery, in
order that you might gain them to your views.
(John C. Olin ed., A Reformation Debate: John
Calvin & Jacopo Sadoleto, 49-50)
What was Calvin’s motive to enter into
this theological disputation and contest of
wills? After all, he had been forcibly removed
from Geneva by the people’s rejection
of his plan of reformation. The following
autobiographical comment from his letter to
Sadoleto reveals that Calvin still felt a
very strong call by God to minister to the
people of Geneva. His personal resolve was
evident despite their rejection and his on-going
ministry in Strasbourg. He notes with some
passion,
But when I see that my ministry, which I feel
assured is supported and sanctioned by a call
from God, is wounded through my side, it would
be perfidy, not patience, where I here to
be silent and connive…For though I am
for the present relieved of the charge of
the Church of Geneva, that circumstance ought
not to prevent me from embracing it with paternal
affection---God, when He gave me the charge,
having bound me to be faithful to it forever.
Now, then, when I see the worst snares laid
for that Church whose safety it has pleased
the Lord to make my highest care, and grievous
peril impending if not obviated, who will
advise me to await the issue silent and unconcerned?
How heartless, I ask, would it be to wink
in idleness, and, as it were, vacillating
at the destruction of one whose life you are
bound vigilantly to guard and preserve? (John
C. Olin ed., A Reformation Debate: John Calvin
& Jacopo Sadoleto, 50-51)
Calvin went on further to challenge Sadoleto’s
claim that justification by faith was an unbalanced
doctrine that left no place in the Christian
life for good works. He showed Sadoleto’s
view to be an error in the following quotation,
You, in the first place, touch upon justification
by faith, the first and keenest subject of
controversy between us. Is this a knotty and
useless question? Wherever the knowledge of
it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished,
religion abolished, the Church destroyed,
and the hope of salvation utterly overthrown.
That doctrine, then, though of the highest
moment, we maintain that you have nefariously
effaced from the memory of men. Our books
are filled with convincing proofs of this
fact, and the gross ignorance of this doctrine,
which even still continues in all your churches,
declares that our complaint is by no means
ill founded. But you very maliciously stir
up prejudice against us, alleging that, by
attributing every thing to faith, we leave
no room for works. (John C. Olin ed., A Reformation
Debate: John Calvin & Jacopo Sadoleto,
66)
Having received this stinging reply from Calvin
nothing more was ever heard from the pen of
Cardinal Sadoleto regarding the “very
dear brethren” of Geneva. All efforts
at persuasion simply stopped. An opposite
effect though, and certainly one that was
completely unintended, came about when the
leaders of Geneva began to wonder if they
had made great mistake in 1538 by forcibly
removing Calvin from his office as Pastor
and “Professor of Sacred Literature”.
They earnestly began to make every effort
to get him back at all costs; and these exertions
finally paid off. Calvin returned to Geneva
on September 13, 1541. He picked-up his preaching
exactly where he had left off two and half
years prior. It appears that both Farel and
Bucer played key roles in bringing about this
favorable decision. Beza later remarks of
Bucer’s efforts, “He never would
have obtained Calvin’s consent, had
he not given warning of Divine judgment, and
appealed to the example of Jonah”. Surely,
Farel would have approved of such tactics
since he had used them before in 1536 with
such very good results.
Over the next twenty-three years of Calvin’s
ministry (1541-1564) the gospel steadily prevailed
and Geneva became widely known as the foremost
city of the Protestant Reformation. Calvin’s
continual ministry of preaching, teaching,
catechizing, writing, counseling, and discipling
brought about so many changes for good that
the general population in time came to greatly
appreciate him. Following the crucial elections
of 1555, when Calvin’s plans for reformation
triumphed, his value grew as an esteemed teacher,
pastor, and theologian. On December 25, 1559
the Council members gratefully extended to
him full citizenship in thanks for all that
he had given to the city. More than ever before
the motto of Geneva, Post Tenebrus Lux or
“After Darkness, Light”, reflected
the profound deliverance from darkness that
the entire city felt as a result of the gospel’s
progress in their lives. Think of it, in God’s
providence the simple act of one man taking
a different road proved to be such a great
benefit to so many. Moreover, by God’s
grace that same man endured and overcame the
numerous difficulties that arose in Geneva
and positively influenced the culture for
good. He was faithful to his ministerial call.
As a result, the Lord abundantly blessed the
entire city through one man’s indefatigable
labor and personal sacrifice. Soli Deo Gloria!
To God alone be the glory!
For Additional
Reading:
Beza,
Theodore. Life
of John Calvin. Edinburgh: Calvin Translation
Society, 1564, reprint 1844.
Beveridge, Henry and Bonnet, Jules
eds. Selected Works of John Calvin:
Tracts & Letters. 7 Vols. Edinburgh:
Calvin Translation Society 1844-1858. Grand
Rapids: Baker Books, reprint 1983.
Calvin, John. Institutes
of the Christian Religion. Philadelphia:
Westminster Press, 1559, reprint 1960.
Calvin, John. Commentary
on the Book of Psalms. Grand Rapids:
Baker Books, 1557, reprint 1998.
D’Aubigne, Merle. History
of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin.
Harrisonburg: Sprinkle, reprint 1863.
de Greef, Wulfert. The
Writings of John Calvin: An Introductory Guide.
Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993.
De Koster, Lester. Light
for the City: Calvin’s Preaching, Source
of Life and Liberty. Eerdmans, 2004.
George, Timothy. Theology
of the Reformers. Nashville: The Broadman
Press, 1988.
Hunter, A. Mitchell. The
Teaching of Calvin. Eugene: Wipf &
Stock Publishers, 1920, reprint 1999.
Olin, John C. ed. A Reformation
Debate: John Calvin & Jacopo Sadoleto.
Grand Rapids: Baker, 1966.
Parker, T. H. L. John
Calvin: A Biography. Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1975.
McNeill, John T. The
History and Character of Calvinism. London:
Oxford University Press, 1954.
Stickelberger, Emanuel. Calvin:
A Life. London: James Clarke & Company,
1959.
Van Halsema, Thea B. This
Was John Calvin. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1959.
Van Til, Henry R. The
Calvinistic Concept of Culture. Grand
Rapids: Baker Books, 1959, reprint 2001.
Wallace, Ronald S. Calvin,
Geneva, and the Reformation. Grand Rapids:
Baker Books, 1990.
Warfield, Benjamin B. Calvin
and Calvinism. Vol. 5. Grand Rapids:
Baker Books, 1932, reprint 2003.
Walker, Williston. John
Calvin: Organizer of Reformed Protestantism.
New York: Schocken Books, 1969.
Wendel, Francois. Calvin:
The Origins and Development of His Religious
Thought. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
Grand Rapids: Baker Books, reprint 1997.
Zachman, Randall C. John
Calvin as Teacher, Pastor, and Theologian.
Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2006.
