Paul Helm

Calvin’s sensitivity to the different circumstances in which people live lead him to flip-flop, or at least to be somewhat ambivalent in his attitude to the magistrate. Citing the case of…

Calvin borrows the idea of a just war from Augustine. Everything is to be tried in order to preserve the peace before war is declared, though waging war obviously means…

Calvin here shows two things – his concern about the dangers of tyrannical government, and also his apparently relaxed attitude regarding forms of political government. You may say that he derives…

Another aspect of ecclesiastical order is the election of bishops. (Calvin shows considerable knowledge of the early church, perhaps reflecting the days when his father had him trained as a…

Yesterday we ended with a question. The answer to it is: that Calvin offers ecclesiastical advice to places other than Geneva by using the contrast of what is necessary for the…

Part of Calvin’s idea of church order is to see it as following ‘apostolic precedent’ (in the matter, for example, of ordination by the laying on of hands) where there…

A read through these sections makes it clear that the establishing and preservation of order is a main Calvinian criterion for the various ecclesiastical rules he proposes at this point.…

Justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ is the true doctrine of acceptance. But is it necessary, vital? How serious should we be about it? Does it matter? Is it…