Blogging The Institutes

It is a fact often cited (too often?) that Calvin did not regard church discipline as a mark of the church, insisting instead on two marks: faithful preaching and the right administration of the sacraments. This is often said to make Calvin differ from, among others, the Scottish brothers as seen...

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 the possible forms from the ancient world, but in fact as a matter of logic there are only thee - rule...

Calvin concludes his discussion on vows by discussing a misinterpretation of 1 Timothy 5:12 regarding widows who married, and whom Paul accuses of abandoning the faith. Calvin's view of this passage is that they renounce the promise of their commitment to Christ only if marrying prevents them from...

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 being of the church, and what is necessary for its well-being. For his first aim is to secure in the existence of churches...

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 is no explicit NT command. Such precedents 'ought to serve in lieu of a precept'. As in several other places in the Institutes he...

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. For example, the establishing of governors, that is, elders, overseers, is a permanent requirement of the church...

Calvin's broad-scale attack on the abuses of the Roman Church continues with his criticisms of monks, priests, deacons, and other clerics. The Geneva Reformer had little time for monks who claimed to fulfill a priestly function. Whatever virtues monastic life may hold, it is not a pastoral ministry...

The Protestant Reformation was not a renewal of doctrine only, but just as much (if not more so) a renewal of practice. This helps to explain why Book IV--which primarily concerns the sacraments, government, and ministry of the church--is by far the longest book in Institutes. Calvin believed that...

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 canon lawyer?) Once more, his aversion to disorder disturbs the mind of the aristocratically-minded Reformer...

To demonstrate the unique headship of Jesus Christ over the church--a headship he does not share with the pope or any other earthly figure--Calvin makes an argument from biblical silence. Ephesians 4 celebrates the ascension of Jesus Christ, who is always and everywhere present with his church. In...