Rev. Cornelis Pronk: Calvin and the Church

Rev. Pronk is Visiting Professor of Church History and Systematic Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI and the author of Expository Sermons on the Canons of Dort.

Ephesians 4:11-16

Shortly before John Calvin passed away he dictated his last will and testament and referred to himself as the minister of the word of God and the church in Geneva and thus indicates what he believes to be his most important life’s work. Devoted most of his energy to building the church in Geneva. Calvin, however, looked upon all of Europe as his parish. He kept abreast of what was happening in many countries, especially his native country of France.

In France, believers were periodically exposed to severe persecution. Calvin often wrote to kings reminding them of their God-give duty to protect the Christians. He warned the kings not to close their ears or minds to the injustices being inflicted on his Protestant subjects.

Three Different Concepts of the Church

1. The view of Rome: the church was the divinely instituted body of Christ headed by his Vicar the Pope with grace mediated by the sacraments and worked closely with the state.

2. The Lutheran view: the assembly of all who were united to Christ by visible, justifying faith, governed by the state with the authority to excommuniate.

3. The Anabaptists: a voluntary gathering of believers who had experienced the new birth and testified to it through baptism and the Lord’s SUpper. Church discipline was strictly enforced. Strict view of separation of church and state.

Calvin borrowed from all three of these views. Agreed with Luther that the church was a visible body. He agreed with Rome that the church had to work with the state, but that the state should not control the church.

Calvin’s view of the church is fully developed in Book Four of his Institutes. The church is a divinely instituted. The distinctive system of church government that he developed. The NT church is governed by Christ through four permanent offices: Pastor, Elder, Teacher and Deacon selected by the church body. The church governed itself without relying on state support.

What made Calvin’s view of the church so unique?

1. The church is of divine origin, which is not the same as saying that the church is divine, which was the view of the Roman Church. Rome arrogates to itself a divine attributes. It equates itself with the role of the Holy Spirit, a position which Calvin empahtically denied. The church consists of human beings, who even when they get to glory will continue to be human.

The church is firmly rooted in God’s sovereign election which is the foundation of Calvin’s ecclesiology: God from eternity has chosen a people. The Holy Spirit makes use of certain means in the choosing of this people. “We need outward helps to beget and increase faith within us.”

For Calvin the visible church is an indispensable aid to the salvation of God’s elect. Not all the members of the visible church, however, are members of the invisible church. The visible church is a “mixed body” based on the parable of the wheat and the tares. The church is made up of true believers and hypocrites who cannot be effectively separated until judgement day. “The holy assembly is defiled by much filth.”

Church Discipline: Two Views

Anabaptists held to a narrow view of the church that the church could not be defiled with unrighteousness and worked to remove all impurities.

The Reformers understood that mixed into the church were many whose lives were anything but holy. These unholy members were subject to discipline, but the reformers were realistic in theire view that all of the impurities could not be removed. Church discipline was essential to the well-being of the church but not to the essence of the church.

This visible church, despite her many weaknesses, is still the true church and outside of her there is no salvation.

Which visible church comes closest to the invisible church? Calvin address this question by pointing out that the true church is identified by the pure and faithful preaching of the gospel and the faithful observation of the sacarament of the Lord’s Table. Calvin does not mention discipline as a mark of the church’s soundness. Calvin gave precedence to sanctification.

Calvin’s use of the term ‘mother’ to describe the church has an ancient precedent. “You cannot have God as your Father without the church as your Mother” is a direct quote from Cyprian. The church as a mother nurtures.

The Unity of the Church

The unity of the church is rooted in truth, but there is room for differences in opinion over non-esential doctrines and practices.

The Ministry of the Church

If God is our Father through regeneration, the church must be our mother who gives birth to us and nourishes us to spiritual life.

Calvin’s doctrine of the church is of great importance to us who live 500 years after his birth yet bears similiarities to his day. God still has his visible church on earth, and identifiable by the marks laid down by Calvin.

Calvin was keenly aware of the mixed composition of the visible church. We are not members of the church by our natural birth, but to be re-born to spiritual life takes place through the ministry of the church. There is a tendency to by-pass the official ministry of the local church in favor of looking for spiritual food elsewhere. Many get their spiritual highs at conferences (laughter). There are many people who love conferences but they do not show an equal or superior love for their own church. Can the blessing you receive at a conference be seen in your attitude toward your own local church and pastor who has been given to you by Christ for your spiritual welfare? The local church is not given the attention and devotion that the Bible insists upon.

One mark of the church is her apolosticity: the church adheres to the doctrine as given to her by the apostles. And we must be in harmony with what the apostles taught, striving to understand the word of God with the help of those who have been taught the word of God and have a call to nurture the church in the word.

If God in his gracious providence has placed us in such a sound church consider that as a great and inestimable privilege – think of the church as your spiritual mother who gives us spirtual life and birth and then lovingly feeds us first with the milk of the word and then later with meat, then faithfully disciplines us through the ministry of the men whom God has appointed as its leaders.