Chapter 32: One Nation under God?

One nation under God

            Calvin in the  very last chapter of his Institutes deals with government and how it reflects both God’s plan for humanity and the human need for organization.  He begins by describing the twofold government that rules humanity.   This is the spiritual kingdom and the civil government. The spiritual kingdom is embedded in God’s law as love and faith.     Those who follow God’s law therefore do not need  secular law.  This is “superfluous, if God’s Kingdom, such as it is now among us, wipes out the present life.” (4.20.2) Yet, humans, in their fallen nature need law in order to provide a platform for the practice of Christian freedom. (4.20.1) A system of laws and lawgivers needs to be in place for humans to provide them with a safe and just environment to live. 

Paying More than We should?

The cost of political campaigns keeps growing. As we see additional levels of poverty in our country and in our world, how do we react when political candidates and government officials spend large sums of money to further their own interests? How do we justify the amount of money that government officials receive for performing the duties of their office?

When You've Gotta Go...

Wil Reinowski

Americans nationwide have found ourselves in the midst of a huge debate in the aftermath of North Carolina’s HB2. The Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act became law just last month by a majority vote, and it sets a precedent for similar laws to appear in other states. Reformed Christians directly and indirectly affected by it have a duty to understand the ways in which we may respond. Let us suspend for a moment the absurdity with which outside nations must view American politics and delve instead into a Reformed understanding of the conversation that has been dubbed "Bathroom Wars."

On the one hand, Calvin says that the duties of elected officials are “to cherish and protect the outward worship of God, to defend sound doctrine of piety and the position of the church, to adjust our life to the society of men, to form our social behavior to civil righteousness, to reconcile us with one another, and to promote general peace and tranquillity.” The institution of government — not to be confused with the people of government — is thus a Divine-Ordained office, the primary purpose of which is to protect Godly things and our interactions with our neighbor (4.20.2). The line in the sand between church and state is drawn when one attempts to establish legislation solely according to his own understanding of God (4.20.3). Hence, the institution of government in the Reformed understanding is the highest, Godly calling of them all. (4.20.4) Our elected officials should in turn respect their duties as these duties are ordained by God. (4.20.6). Elected officials are bound to God and their elected office to uphold the image of God while carrying out their duties (4.20.6). Calvin qualifies his position further by noting that God instructs humanity to mind everything we do so as not to make baseness of our actions (4.20.6). 

26 "The Roman Church and the Christian Ministry"

Lane Chapter 26:  The Roman Church and the Christian Ministry

             In sections (4.2.1)-(4.3.9) Calvin denounced the Roman Church, provided a blueprint for leadership in the True Church and described the manner in which the Roman Church fell into apostasy and abuse.  In a broad sense, this section might be called the “Reformation” chapter as the vision of Calvin, his Reformed contemporaries and his reforming predecessors such as Martin Luther, Johannes Bugenhagen, Johannes Spangenberg, and Ulrich Zwingli, sought to restore the “True Church” of God or reform it according to scripture.  Therefore, Calvin began his chapter by virulently attacking the Roman Catholic Church where he compared the Roman practices as not only “corrupt and debased” but also as having a “grosser idolatry” than the lapsed Jews under King Jerobaum. (4.2.9) Specifically he called the Roman Mass an “unbearable mass of superstitions” and labeled the pope,  the “Antichrist.” (4.2.2, 4.3.12) After discrediting Roman Catholic practices, Calvin presented a scripturally based outline on how God ordained and ordered the True Church.  The Institutes, in this section, included church organization, leadership, and expectations with a special emphasis on church offices. Scripture, he noted, named the one-time or rarely prescribed offices of apostle, prophet and evangelist as well as permanent offices of pastor and teacher. Because of the importance of the pastor, Calvin included an expanded description of the office’s call and duties for “he entrusted to men the teaching of salvation and everlasting life in order that through their hands it might be communicated to the rest “(4.3.1).  Finally, Calvin provided a history of the early church, its organization, and the means in which the papacy debased the True Church.

            In response to this section, Lang posed a couple of questions.  First,” How does Calvin view the Roman Catholic Church?”  Calvin considered the Roman Catholic Church to be corrupted by evil and that the leaders were “perverse,” the doctrine “buried” and the Worship of God, “deformed.” (4.2.2) Because the word of God was so corrupted, Calvin believed that continued association with the Roman Church actually endangered Christians who worshipped.   However, Calvin was careful not to undermine the sovereignty of God and noted that even within a church that where the light of God is “choked” (4.2.2), the promise of God remained, and baptism, even if performed by illegitimate priests, was still valid. (4.2.5) Such a position is central in mainline churches today that recognize one baptism across denominational lines. 

            Lang’s second question is  “What are the offices of the ministry in the postapostolic church and their functions?”  In asking this question, Lang is asking how closely Calvin’s definition of leadership parallels the early church as prescribed in the Bible.  Perhaps the most important statement about the ministry is that human beings hold God’s church together.  In this way, God’s Will is carried out through God’s creation.  In doing this, God acknowledges that humans have different gifts that are carried out in different ministerial roles.  In the post-apostolic church, the specific roes of the church are the pastors who preach the Word and administer sacraments (4.3.4).  There are also “governors” or elders in charge of church discipline a “senate, chosen from godly, grave and holy men, and deacons who care for the poor. (4.3.8)

           

Question:  The 500^th anniversary of the Reformation will take place on October 31, 2017 (500 years after Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral).  How should the PCUSA (or other Protestant denominations) treat the anniversary?  How would you treat it?  Should we emphasize the points made by Calvin, drawing attention to his understanding of the Roman Catholic perversion of the church?  Or should we work towards shared values and reconciliation? 

One of many reformation era woodcuts depicting the Pope as Antichrist  Lucas Cranach the Elder c. 1521.  Depicting the pope as "Antichrist" was part of the Protestant propaganda throughout the Reformation.  This was therefore not unique to Calvin but would have been well-known by 16th century Genevans.  

            

The Missing Link (Wild Card)

Wil Reinowski

I am a bit surprised that Lane’s guide to the Institutes glazes over Book 3 Chapter 15, and while it may be true that this does not contain information central to Calvin’s theology this chapter is worth some discussion.

 In section 2, Calvin notes that the word “merit” is not Biblically-based. Here, we have another of Calvin’s contradictions. Calvin does find that the term was used in ancient church writings, that God assigns some value to our works, but we should never see our works  as a type of Divine currency.

Section 3 is a discussion of grace. Calvin asserts that nothing that we do is meritorious enough to receive the gift of grace that God gives, and yet God bestows grace on us. Calvin says in the first sentence of this section, “Scripture shows what all our works deserve when it states that they cannot bear God’s gaze because they are full of uncleanness.” Humans cannot perfectly follow the law, but God bestows his good works on us anyway and calls them “ours.”

Wild Card 14-16: Calvin, Modern skepticism and Big-time Doubt

           I was particularly captivated by Lane Chapter 15 on Saving Faith, so most of my Wild Card discussion pertains to this section of the book. As I dove into reading this, I thought about the sixteenth-century reader who undoubtedly has ideas about faith and at least if atheism did exist, it was a rare and distant idea.  What struck me was how readily Calvin identified doubt but how much confidence he placed into faith and that God’s “promise of grace” can be a place where the “heart of man can rest.” (3.1.7)  He defined faith then as “a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed, to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy spirit.”  (3.1.7)  While Calvin continues to counter the other definitions or ideas regarding faith, he nevertheless is living in an age of faith where truth is still embodied in faith, even if theologians disagreed as to the nature of that faith. But, what about the modern age when truth, for many, is not necessarily defined by faith but perhaps by unbelief.  How does a modern reader understand Calvin in this context?  And how might we as pastors help the modern non-believer find truth in faith? 

            Calvin does treat those lacking belief briefly in his Institutes, but he looks at them as the non-believers and really keeps them out of his discussion other than to note that they are “no better than the devils” and even more “they stupidly listen to and understand things the knowledge of which makes even the devils shudder.” (3.1.10) While in the sixteenth-century it is perhaps easy to write them off, what about the wide-acceptance of unbelief as the cornerstone of truth?  In a way, it seems as if Calvin would have us write-off these people as hopeless and unnecessary for the church, yet as unbelief becomes the basis for truth in the modern world will the church die? (Stanley Hauerwas might have us think so)  In the sixteenth-century, this was such a small group of people that the theologians could write them off, but it was still an age of faith.  What about today when non-belief is an accepted societal truth? Or in other words, there is a visible atheist presence.   While I do believe that “faith will ultimately triumph over those difficulties which besiege and seem to imperil it,”  (3.2.18), I think it is harder to find faith to those not introduced to the church or to those confident in modern rationalism.  As Calvin notes our own “ignorance is an obstacle and a hindrance” to faith, and if people aren’t experiencing the “hope of the faithful, their ignorance will stifle them.”  So, Calvin can't account for those who today who live growing non-Christian reality, but certainly their "ignorance" is a disheartening commentary  on  the modern world.   (Perhaps this is our very urgent call friends).  

           This question arises from my discussion:  How do we as heirs of Calvin help the modern non-believer find truth in faith and not lose heart in their disbelief?   This is prompted by two experiences of my own in response to my own doubt.  1.  From a Methodist minister and college chaplain:  “You can pretend you believe and still enjoy the community of the church.  I actually don’t believe any of it myself.”  Or 2.  (Presbyterian minister) “If you doubt, then you aren’t saved by God, so don’t doubt.”

Christy Dempsey

14: “Who do you say that I am” a summary of the roles and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ

The question of the roles and even the identity of Jesus has long been a part of our Christian heritage and even the history of the world. Some people see Jesus as merely a good teacher while others see Jesus as the savior for those who believe in Him. These questions are central to the Christian faith. Jesus himself first prompts the question in Matthew 16:13-20 when he asks his disciples “who do people say that the Son of Man is?” and “Who do you say that I am?”

15. Saving Faith

Sharon Rees

What is faith?

Calvin writes a beautiful Trinitarian definition of faith in the Institutes - "A firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit." (2.2.7) Father to Son to Holy Spirit to us. Calvin uses many images to describe how the Holy Spirit links us to faith. The Holy Spirit is like secret water that cleanses, a schoolteacher who brings Jesus' lessons to our minds, and an engraver with a seal for our hearts (2.1.1-2).

What is faith's object, and on what is faith based?

Just as the Holy Spirit and faith are inseparable, so, too, is the Word and faith. In Chapter 2, Section 6, Calvin explains that God gave us the Word in order to learn of God's will toward us. Calvin does not rein faith in so tightly as to be bound only to the Word, but without the Word, faith will surely fail. Calvin takes pains to emphasize that reading the Word must come from a conviction of its truth, and must go deeper than top-of-the-head knowledge that God exists.

Despite Calvin's propensity for describing the difficulties that face Christians, he has an incredibly light message regarding the way in which to seek God in faith through the Word. He advises against passages such as dashing babies against rocks, and weeping and gnashing of teeth. Those verses should be unpacked at a later point in the faith journey. Instead, we should concentrate on God's grace, benevolence, and mercy in the Bible.  God wants us to find and dwell in Christ.

13. Wholly Human, Holy Divine

Wil Reinowski

Lane asks one very brief but very loaded question for these three chapters of the Institutes, “How does Calvin portray the person of Christ?” The short answer to this would be that Christ is both fully human and fully divine. His one being is a storehouse of qualities that can be attributed to his divine nature and his human nature. All of these qualities are at the same time separated and united in a paradox Calvin calls “the communicating of properties.” 

Calvin uses Chapter 12  of Book 2 to discuss three main reasons that God took on the person of Christ. The first reason he notes is that humanity is steeped in sin.  Calvin says that because each of us are so far gone and so unclean, we would never reach God without someone to mediate. The next reason Calvin gives that God took on the person of Christ is simply because God wanted to do it.  Calvin summarizes here that Christ is the total package, and that he contains at the same time God qualities and human qualities; he’ll list each of these qualities in the next chapter. While it is true that Christ had a threefold task - to blaze the path to eternal life, to show us how to live a life free from sin, and to save us from our own destruction - we should not be too prideful to think it was necessary for Christ to be born. This all happened because God wanted it to happen. The third reason is to teach us how to be obedient to God. The only way to counter disobedience is with obedience, and so Christ was a hundred percent obedient to God. 

God's Providence

1.   Summary of the portion of the Institutes.

            In chapter XVI of the Institutes Calvin writes about God’s providence, where God provides overseeing care of all of creation directing nature to unfold in accordance with God’s plan and guiding humanity especially to live in it and for it.  He writes, “God the ruler and governor of all things, who in accordance with his wisdom has from the farthest limit of eternity decreed what he was going to do, and now by his might carries out what he has decreed.  From this…. the plans and intentions of men, are so governed by his providence that they are borne by it straight to their appointed end. “  (Calvin, Institutes  Chapter XVI, 8, p. 207). In crafting this argument, Calvin subdivides the chapter into sections which not only define his overriding principle but counter the objections by philosophers and an ancient reliance of fortune First,  he discusses the relationship between Creation and providence claiming that God not only made the world but continues to provide for it, sustain it and guide it.  While a fleeting knowledge of God might lead to an understanding of a God who created the heavens, it is through faith that we recognize God’s constant care of the universe. (Calvin, 197) It is God’s “special care” for creation.  Second, he teaches dispels the belief in fortune and chance.  He recognizes that humans have  believed in fortune in “all ages,”  but that such an incongruous with not only providence but creation itself  for to do so is to “defraud God of his glory.” (Calvin, 200) He does recognize, however,  that we do not know God’s “special plan” and may therefore assume events may seem random, but even in this, God had authority. (Calvin, 209)  Finally, he shows that despite the apparent randomness of the world, the providence of God is revealed in scripture. 

 2. Reflection on why that portion is important and relevant. 

 

     In the overall scheme of theology, understanding God’s role in creating and purpose for the universe is central to how we live.  If we believe that all of life is left to fortune, would we not become obsessed with superstition and be paranoid about every event?  We would not live freely in God’s love but remain fearful.  If we believe that God merely created the word and left it to run, would we feel abandoned?  Is it not God’s love for ours for God, our faith, that holds us up that directs us to love and kindness for others?  So, when we understand and have faith that God has not only created us but continues to guide our world, we can live in God’s love. 

 

3.      Lane:   Does God’s providence leave any room for chance or uncertainty?  

 

No.   According to Calvin, there is NO room for chance.  However, because we are unaware of God’s larger plan, we are unable to understand events which might seem like chance.  It is important for us to know in our hears that  God is carefully guiding the events in the world. 

4.   One question you have about the material

How do we as pastors make sense of genocide or suicide bombings in accord with God’s providence?  How can we say, “oh that was part of God’s greater plan?”   How do we deal with it from the pulpit? 

 

3: God and Creation

Wil Reinowski

In Chapter 5 of Book 1 of the Institutes, Calvin discusses the two main ways that God is revealed in creation.  The first of these Calvin divides this into two sub-parts: 1. Creation acts as a type of mirror by which we can begin to see God (Section 1) and 2. the complex way in which creation is ordered (Section 2). To see evidence of God’s wisdom requires us to look no further than the intricate way humans are designed (Section 3). The second way God is revealed is through the governing order of society (Section 7).  This essentially means that God is just.  All of this should give humanity the desire to worship God. “Indeed, no one gives himself freely and willingly to God’s service unless, having tasted his fatherly love, he is drawn to love and worship him in return,” he writes. I think this chapter is very relevant to the discussion of the origin of life, or the question of “who” versus “how.”

2: God and Humanity

Kate Kolmodin

Calvin speaks to the  interconnection of God and humanity in chapter 1. He states, “Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves”. He breaks this down though to show the importance of our knowledge of self already coming from God. Our knowledge cannot come from within, because we are a fallen and broken world, it can only come from God. The only way to attain full knowledge of self is to be in relationship with God. We are always looking outward and upward which will define and direct our very being, according to Calvin.

Chapter 2 is an attempt to inform the reader what it actually means to know God, not just an idea of God. The knowledge of God the Creator is defined by Calvin as the Being who has created all things including humans – and when we come to recognize this we come closer to understanding and comprehending the knowledge of God. He does not say these words, but it sounds like Calvin is trying to make a claim about the embodiment of God. When we believe that God has already made us to be who we are we can understand God better – and all honor and glory are directed toward God. The knowledge and awareness we receive constantly is turning us back to our Creator rather than ourselves. Calvin uses an illustration of the Epicureans by stating, “The effect of our knowledge rather out to be, first, to teach us reverence and fear; and, secondly, to induce us, under its guidance and teaching, to ask every good thing from him, and, when it is received, ascribe it to him”.

Calvin found the God of the Atheists

Rick Watson

Knowledge of self, knowledge of God, and even the very existence of God are three topics which can elicit a wide variety of discussions and even arguments in our modern time. There are those who would say that God no longer matters. There are those who would say that God is at the center of their world. How do we reconcile these differing views? Does John Calvin have anything to say about these topics?