John Calvin: Man or Monster?

Perhaps one of the most controversial, ubiquitously hated and slandered characters in history is the great Reformer John Calvin. Mention his name in many circles, and the response of cold and bitter contempt will be unparalleled (often the same circles of such as who try to hide their worship of men like Rob Bell, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, John Wesley, etc, depending on their particular tastes and the demands of the worldly culture or philosophy in their particular situation). Suggest that you have read a book by this man, and measure how rapidly the accusation will arise that you are following a man instead of Christ!

But I prefer to leave such bigotry and Anabaptistic fanaticism (by which they would cut themselves adrift from all the saints in Christ who came before them - just as they cut off their children) with the attention it deserves. I recognise John Calvin, and many others like him as my spiritual fore-fathers in the faith once delivered unto the saints. And what is he but a minister by whom God brought many to believe in Christ at the time of the Protestant Reformation? The Holy Spirit attributes similar descriptions both the Apostle Paul and to Apollos, who were mere men, yet they were used by God in the ministry of the Gospel of Christ (I Cor. 3:4-9).

Usually Calvin is portrayed as the "Protestant Pope of Geneva", a cruel tyrant, the evil executor of Michel Servet, a prideful polemicist, and many other horrid depictions besides, such as know no end. Few others have been smitten with so many manifestly rotten and vile slanders, but what is the truth about this Reformer? Have those who take so great a delight, along with so little care in calumniating him ever endeavoured to explore this enigma? That is very doubtful in my experience. More often than not they hold merely to hearsay about twisted representations of his doctrine and life. This book dispels such misrepresentations, and demonstrates unequivocally from his actual correspondences, reviewed by an excellent student of his history, how deeply filled this man of God was with great compassion, zealous love, moving sympathy, and fierce devotion to God, the church, and his dear fellow saints, friends, wife, and family.

Since I finished the lengthy introduction, I've been craving an opportunity to write a review of this book. Now, a shock for everyone - it is neither doctrinal, not polemical. It is simply biographical. Last Saturday evening I read "The Humanness of John Calvin: The Reformer as Husband, Father, Pastor, and Friend" written by Richard Stauffer, and translated from the French by George Shriver. You will not find a study of Calvin's theology here, though a new book by Engelsma which I am persuaded by many, deals with this subject superbly (I hope to review this in due course too, though I've a heavy weight of other books to get through first).

The author portrays the Christian man Calvin, as a man deeply connected with both the greatest of joys and griefs of his friends. As I have read a number of Calvin's works this year (since it is after all the 500th anniversary of his birth), I have for the most part read a lot of his polemical works on various issues of quite practical importance for myself. I find much encouragement in his godly argumentation, lofty respect for Holy Scripture, powerful logic, and uncompromising detestation of all manner of blasphemies, idolatries, superstitions and heresies. Yet, I perhaps have greater joy in seeing the sweet love for God and the church from which his fierce polemics flow. From this he derives his steadfast tenacious commitment to the truth of Scripture, the grace of God by which his heart was bound to the lives of the saints.

Read this book, and see how deeply Calvin shared in the trials and troubles of his many friends. See how hard he worked in maintained these friendships over great distances, and great differences, and in great hardships. And perhaps then, you may see a glimpse of the fruit of that true theology which God had granted to him in a great measure of clarity. And then perhaps, see how difficult it would be to come close to emulating such an great example of genuine Christianity. May many think twice before blasting him with all the criticisms they can muster. May we first take the planks out of our own eyes, and remember that there is none that doeth good, and it is God that justifieth - and that, not by works, lest we should all perish everlastingly.

I thank God for faithful ministers and godly examples like John Calvin that He has granted graciously to His church, because I know that it pleases God to place such treasures in jars of clay (II Cor. 4:6-7). This book definitely wins my approval. I don't know where the best place to purchase the book is, but a simple web search should find it no problem.

Sam W.

P.S. I felt that a few quotes would also be appropriate, first one that cannot be found in this book, but found in Calvin's famous reply to Sadoleto's attempt to win over the Genevans:

"For then only do pastors edify the Church, when, besides leading docile souls to Christ placidly, as with the hand, they are also armed to repel the machinations of those who strive to impede the work of God."

And from the book itself, as a hint of its contents, wherein Calvin is writing to Guillaume Farel concerning the plague that had swept through Strasbourg, including his own household:

"To the cruelty of the sorrow has been violently added an anxious fear for those who survive. Night and day my wife is in my thoughts, deprived of advice since she is denied her husband's presence. Bereavement over my excellent Charles [that is, de Richebourg] torments me in a particular way - he, who in four days had been deprived of his only brother and of his teacher whom he loved as a father. These events bring me such sadness that they completely overwhelm my soul and break my spirit."

Try to call him "monster" after reading this little book.

Visit to the Protestant Reformed churches in Michigan!

It's just been about a week since I've been back in Ireland - and I have been hard at work! I recently visited the United States of America for the first time, and for two weeks. We spent two wonderful weeks with the saints in the Protestant Reformed churches in Michigan! There are so many aspects of this time that bring me great delight when I consider their memory. I'd like to record a few here - what I love about the Protestant Reformed churches and what in particular I loved in the time that we spent there. We met a lot of people, but I won't go into all those details.

"After 500 Years: John Calvin for Reformed Churches Today" - how much did I enjoy this conference? In many ways. First, of course, the speeches and lectures themselves, all of which will be available on the conference DVD which can be ordered now from the website. Each lecture was superb - but I admit that I enjoyed Prof. Engelsma's on "Calvin's Doctrine of the Covenant" the most. I hear that a lot of the speakers had much more material than they were able to squeeze into the time frame - so I hope that if a written format is released, this material will be available.

Rev. Chris Connors spoke with great insight on "Calvin's Doctrine of Predestination", exhorting us over and over - "thus far, and no further!" Should we draw back from the confession and proclamation of God's glory in unconditional election and reprobation, we are guilty of unbelief - yet should we attempt to go beyond what has been revealed to us in God's counsel by vain speculation - we are guilty of idolatry, crafting a false god of our own making. I had an opportunity to speak with Rev. Connors on a few occasions also, for which I am very thankful.

Rev. Stewart, endearingly referred to as "the Irish Bulldog", spoke of "Calvin's Doctrine of Justification", how any justification with which we cannot consider the Judgment Day "with singular delight" is not the justification revealed in the Gospel of Christ. We are greatly indebted to God's work through the frail, sickly, compassionate Reformer. Prof. Gritters reminded us at length of the example set for Reformed ministers in John Calvin, on how rarely God grants such gifts to His church, and what difference it would make if any today could come close to emulating the life and work of Calvin.

The other masterful lectures dealt with Calvin's struggle for church discipline by Prof. Cammenga, as church reformer by Prof. Dykstra, and as expositor and preacher by Rev. Keys. There was a lot that could be learnt from each of these. I was inspired to purchase a number of books while I was there - though I'll leave that discussion for more specific book reviews.

I greatly appreciated all the Protestant Reformed people that I was given the privilege of meeting at the conference too. They are certainly a "peculiar people"! Peculiar especially for their great kindness and love for the truth. Time would fail me to tell of all the wonderful virtues and treasures of God's glory I found among these people. Sure, they have their sins too, and certainly we only have the small beginnings of obedience, but those glimmers of pure light are enough to blind such people as myself who live amongst such deep darkness. These delightful and beautiful virtues are the fruit of true Spirit-filled preaching of the whole counsel of God in the lives of God's people. Of this I have no doubt.

Oh, and they were yet so quick to point to their faults! How often we heard the lament, "We are so ungrateful for what God has given us!" And how often they would tell us how we had encouraged them! What a glorious God we have that such earthen vessels as ourselves could yet be employed by the hand of our gracious Father for our mutual edification. Yet I am still quite certain that we were the more encouraged party.

Needless to say, we were so loaded with invitations to dinner, that our friend Martyn was soon to be employed as a full-time secretary to organise our busy social calendar. For two weeks we learnt the rules of "Dutch bingo", and experienced exquisite culinary delights (some more so than others, I am constrained to concede). But all this faded into nothing compared to the precious fellowship we were constantly greeted with. I miss everyone terribly, and I hope that God may grant to us that we could meet again soon. We made sure to give plenty of invitations to the British Reformed Fellowship Conference in Wales next year.

Perhaps the most shocking was how in the homes of these Reformed believers we could see a glorious manifestation of God's covenant with us and our children, maintained from generation to generation of them that fear Him. Seeing the beauty of this doctrine put in practice by the grace of God, serves to demonstrate how much we must detest the error of the Anabaptists for the sake of God's glory and love for His church for which Christ died, lambs as well as sheep.

There is much more that I could write – we were granted many more precious memories that could be shared. But for now I'll leave this here, and perhaps I relate more at another time. Hold your breath for episode two of our American escapades! Coming soon, with accounts of highly lauded seminary classes, and much more!

Sam W.

UPDATE: I've been informed by a certain PR gentleman that I have portrayed the PR folk in too favourable a light. This is quite possible, since he knows them far more intimately than I. But speaking of my experiences, and those particular people I met, I consider my representation faithful and accurate. I could have chosen to be more critical and tried to highlight their sins, but I am quite confident that they already have plenty of people around them to do this for them everyday. I feel the efforts of my criticism would be better employed elsewhere first - and of course first of all at myself.

God works in a mysterious way - His wonders to perform!

I have just finished reading one of the most outrageous, shocking, man-humbling, God-exalting, books ever compiled:

Calvin's Calvinism - including God's Eternal Predestination and Secret Providence, A Brief Reply, and Reply to the Slanderous Reports, written by that inescapably biblical Reformer, John Calvin, of unparalleled significance in that glorious work of God, the Protestation Reformation, and translated from the Latin by Henry Cole, first published in 1856, and now published again by the RFPA with absolutely essential and hugely helpful historical introductions by Prof. Russell J. Dykstra of the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary.

Anyone who has quarrel with Calvinism can turn here to read the man's own words as he demonstrates with candid language and compelling truth-power how thoroughly biblical and apostolic, not his doctrine, but God's doctrine of absolute, all-encompassing, unconditional, glorious, good, and perfect predestination is. Opponents of this doctrine need to take up their bitter argument with God Himself, and read His own Holy Word to be soundly refuted and silenced. Calvin, perhaps more capably and more clearly than others who have endeavoured to write on this subject defending the glory and majesty of the eternal and immutable God who works all things after His own good pleasure, wields the Sword of Spirit mightily, by God's grace to rend asunder all the calumnies and insane ravings given birth by the unbridled, astonishing pride, and bestial reasoning of heretics. Need I say, read it!

In this masterpiece of exegesis and apologetics, Calvin almost preempts the theodicy of the final judgment on the last day, so far does he see through this dark glass into that unapproachable light. Brandishing the revealed things of God as a mighty hammer, he crushes the unimaginable arrogance of those mere mortals of clay who presume to pontificate upon the supposed unrighteousness in God's secret things: "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" (Rom. 9:20).

Calvin says memorably that their purpose is nothing more than, "...to fabricate monsters of [their] own brain and to slaughter them in [their] own imagination, glorying to [themselves] in a mighty triumph..." He expresses the futility of their audacity and profanity very clearly, "Now, then, dog as you are, bark as loud as you will. You will no more obscure the glory of God by your revilings than you can obscure the brightness of the sun by spitting in his blazing face."

But this is not a subject for mere talk - it is massively practical. It changes everything in how we view everything that ever happens, or has happened, or will happen everywhere, without exception. And it changes how we live in that assured confidence - the confidence that God works all things for the good of them that love Him, who are the called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Calvin calls it one of the "first principles" of godliness.

Take for example, the recent atrocity committed by Mark Driscoll, reviewed perhaps as graciously as possible here: http://www.irishcalvinist.com/?p=3221

To put things in perspective, you can read an interview between Michael Horton and Robert Schuller here: http://www.whitehorseinn.org/free-articles/interview-with-robert-schuller.html

There's no question, Schuller is a wolf, teaching people to be lovers of themselves - that the ultimate condition of sin is not loving yourself - i.e. being proud of yourself. Now Mark Driscoll himself has some very objectionable views (some very dangerous!) - but I am still hoping that he will grow out of them. Maybe not - and for sure I would not recommend his preaching to anyone, even though he is a breath of fresh air compared to most. My own comments, were these:

Pragmatism is a heinous and evil sin – especially for a Calvinist. I’m trying to be gracious with Driscoll, because he’s come from terrible stuff, and improved a lot in many areas. I think he’s still got a lot to learn. But this is one lesson which I think he should have learnt before, and I hope that he will see this and not do likewise again.

It’s always difficult for onlookers I think – because we know people need to hear the Gospel – it’s always difficult for us to say that no matter what our ideas are or what we think would work, that He requires that we worship Him according to His commandments and no other way. Pragmatism is a [sic] evil philosophy – one for which Saul lost his kingship. This should be a warning for us.

But the other side of it is this. As Calvinists, while we ought to be confident in God’s unhindered purposes when we refuse to fall into pragmatism – however enticing it may be, we also can see that just as God uses all things for good – he can use even the sin of pragmatism for good. It may be that God used Driscoll’s sin here to bring life and light to members of that congregation.

Who are we to reply against God? Did not God cause David to count the number of the children of Israel? Did not God use the Babylonians to chastise His people? Did not God use the Jews and Gentiles and Pilate and the Sanhedrin to crucify Christ? God performed righteous acts in all these things – carrying out His good and perfect purposes – but there is still a warning.

Calvinism is the sworn enemy of antinomianism! Shall we sin that grace may increase? GOD FORBID! But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? GOD FORBID! And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil that good may come? Whose damnation is just. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

In love for Driscoll, we ought to have more than a raised eyebrow for him ("open rebuke is better than hidden love") – even though we worship God for having brought the Gospel to that congregation (even through such an instrument), and while we certainly do not foolishly charge God with Driscoll’s sin of pragmatism.

I just finished reading this book by Calvin – amazing how it deals with this: http://rfpa.org/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=59

“O the depth…!”

The point is this - that God works everything for good does nothing to justify the evil sins of the instruments He uses - including Mark Driscoll, as much as their sins do nothing to mar the supreme righteousness of God, and the guilt can only be ascribed to the sinner, not to the one who is just and true in all His works. Anyone who would try to deny this need only study the prophet Habbakkuk.

I have said it before that Arminianism is at base, Romanism, and atheism. Nothing could be more evident when we look at the doctrine of God's providence. Theodicy is not a concern of Arminianism, because in this hellish system, there is no God of providence. This is their insane and heretical "apologetic". I recently heard a man reasoning from the supposed free will of man, who went so far as to say that not God, but people are in control. One cannot argue with the validity of his argument - only with his premise. I am glad that the Bible denies this so strongly. So, I conclude this review of Calvin's best treatment of predestination with a memorable comment from Prof. David J. Engelsma:

"Always the gospel of salvation by grace alone provokes the response that this gospel denies the responsibility of man and makes God the author of sin (see Romans 3:5-8, 31; Romans 6:1; Romans 9:19). If the message of the church does not elicit this response, the church may well ask whether it is preaching the gospel of grace."

Do you believe the Gospel of grace? Is the defense of God's glory in all providence a concern for you? It certainly was for Calvin.

- Sam W.

P.S. This book has many other commendable merits, which at this point I'll only briefly mention. In it, Calvin's absolutely repudiates any notion of a "free offer" calling it a "puerile dream". He repeatedly, and emphatically, and logically, argues that God does not will that all are saved, and that it is a denial of the oneness, and immutability of God's will to teach such a thing. He touches on the subject of infant baptism - in denying the "absurdities" of Pighius, he also denies the imaginations of those who now currently teach a conditional covenant - proving unequivocably that the sacraments profit only the elect, just as the PRCA hold and teach.

Clarkians would appreciate also how Calvin never allows an inconsistency or contradiction. He often exclaims on how we can only see so far into those depths of God's wisdom, and frequently warns us of presumption and pride in trying to peer beyond the limits of our own feeble minds, but at the same time, he utterly denies any form of Van Tilianism - indeed defending God's providence by showing how it is logically consistent, and refuting his opponents by showing how their positions is logically inconsistent. Finally, in Reply to the Slanderous Reports, he also underscores, and exposes the profound idiocy of building upon human imaginations, instead of upon Scripture alone. At this point, I have to quote at length:

"As to your description of the nature of the true God, let readers judge how appropriately you argue concerning his divine being from the absurd fact that you make the beginning of all true knowledge of him to proceed from common sense. That there is a God is a truth received by the one consent of all nations and all ages, because the seed and principle of this knowledge is imparted by nature in every human mind. But how shall reason define what God is, when by its own power of sight, it can do nothing but turn the truth into a lie and adulterate whatever of light and understanding true religion and faith possess. The Holy Spirit commands us to become fools, if we would be the true learners of heavenly doctrine, because the natural man himself can neither receive nor taste anything of divine wisdom. On the contrary, you would have human reason and common sense to form a judgment of the great and adorable God. And you would not only set up reason, which by its blindness ever extinguishes God's glory as a leader and guide, but you would exalt that blind reason above Scripture itself. What marvel is it, then, if you should permit, without hesitation, religions of all kinds to be confounded together and should consider the Turk - who is enveloped in the deliriums of Mohammed and who adores as his deity no one knows what - as much a worshiper of God as he who calls upon the Father of Christ our redeemer, instructed by the sure word and faith of the everlasting gospel? Although you do not patronise infidels seriously is a fact proclaimed aloud by those sarcastic grins of yours, which show your teeth gnashing at every plainest and holiest article of our faith while the excuses that you make for the superstitions of all nations prove your malicious purpose to be to root out of the earth every doctrine of that holy religion that the sacred oracles of God reveal and teach."

Then Calvin places his finger on the vital point:

"Out of that very human reason that is the mother of all errors, you form that God of yours, who wills, without any election or predestination of his own, that all men should be saved. Has, then, the word election, which occurs so frequently in Scripture, no meaning whatever? Is it altogether a vain and empty term? Have the law, the prophets, and the gospel no meaning whatever when they everywhere proclaim aloud that all those chosen by the eternal counsel of God before the foundation of the world are called and illuminated unto salvation? We repeat, is the united and harmonious testimony of the law, the prophets, and the gospel an utter vanity when they pronounce, free from all ambiguity, that the source and cause of eternal life is the free love of God by which He has loved and embraced not all mankind, but those out of mankind whom He pleased? What will you gain after all, I ask you, by thus roaring against this truth a hundred times over? You dazzle the sight of the ignorant and the inexperienced by setting before their eyes as a shining cloud your doctrine that God will have all men to be saved."

Modern moderate "Calvinists", who everywhere boast the same doctrines as these heretics that Calvin is refuting, are manifestly not proper Calvinists at all. More importantly, they are not biblical - which is exactly what Calvin here exposes.