Pastor's Blog

Calvin's personal motto was Cor meum tibi offero domine prompte et sincere , "I offer you my heart, Lord, promptly and sincerely." His emblem featured a heart held in a hand and presented to God. Everything in his life testifies that this was no empty platitude, but the rule by which he lived.

Whatever greatness belongs to Calvin is in no doubt due (humanly speaking) to the fact that he was standing on the shoulders of giants. He was particularly fond of Augustine among the ancient fathers of the church. Among those in his own day, he thought very highly of Martin Luther. Luther was his elder by nearly 26 years and was mightily used of God to begin the work of Reformation. The two never met in person, but Calvin gladly acknowledged his indebtedness to him and expressed his appreciation for Luther's work a number of times. "It was a great miracle of God," he said, "that Luther and those who worked with him at the beginning in restoring the pure truth were able to emerge from it little by little." He also stated that, even if Doctor Martin should call him a devil, he would "nevertheless hold him in such honor [and] acknowledge him to be a distinguished servant of God."

John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509, in Noyon, a small town about fifty miles northeast of Paris. He had two brothers and two sisters. His father, Gerard, intended that he should enter the priesthood, and to that end enrolled him in the College de Montaigu in Paris (1521), where he received a classical education. He later studied at Orleans, Bourges, and Basle. He received training in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin and earned the equivalent of a master's degree. Calvin's father persuaded him to abandon his pursuit of the priesthood in favor of a more profitable career in law. He studied under some of the most able teachers, not only of France, but of all Europe. His legal training came in especially handy when he moved to Geneva and advised that city's council as they moved toward a republican form of government. Had it been left up to him, Calvin would have chosen the quiet life of a scholar over the active life of a pastor, preacher, and reformer. His first publishing ventur...

Calvin's work was quite extraordinary not only in terms of the impact it's had on subsequent generations, but also in the sheer amount of ink he devoted to paper. His collected works fill fifty-nine volumes and include tracts, pamphlets, sermons, catechisms, church manuals, biblical commentaries, letters, a commentary on Seneca's De Clementia , and of course his magnum opus: The Institutes of the Christian Religion, which has gained for him a lasting reputation as one of the Church's greatest theologians. His genius is recognized by friend and foe alike. His prodigious output is all the more remarkable given his rather short life (July 10, 1509 - May, 27, 1563). What might he have done had he lived another 20 years?

The new year marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of that brilliant but controversial man, John Calvin, whose name has taken its place among the isms that fill the vocabulary of systematic theologians. It might not be too much of an overstatement to say that Calvin has been the most misunderstood, the most misrepresented, and the most maligned figure of Protestant Christianity. This is unfortunate because his contribution to Western Civilization has been enormous, not only in terms of systematizing the theology of the Reformation and developing the science of biblical interpretation, but also in terms of his impact on the wider culture. One need not subscribe to the particulars of Calvinism to appreciate his genius and to be thankful for his lasting legacy. Many of the the blessings of Western Civilization that we often take for granted are attributable to the work of Calvin. During the course of 2009, I'll be reading a number of things by and about Calvin, and I'll be post...