Subject: What are Calvins and Arminians? |
Bible Note: "CALVIN, JOHN (1509–1564) French Protestant reformer; generally regarded as second in importance only to Martin Luther as a key figure in the Protestant Reformation Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, regarded by historian Will Durant as among the world’s ten most influential works, gave birth to a distinctive “Reformed” theology, sometimes named after Calvin himself. CALVIN’S TEACHING AND INFLUENCE ON THEOLOGY The Huguenot scholar Joseph Scaliger in the generation after Calvin described him as “alone among the theologians.” Clearly he was the greatest theologian of his age. Yet he consistently tried to make the Scriptures, as interpreted by the Holy Spirit and experience, the source of his ideas. “Let us not,” Calvin admonished, “take it into our heads either to seek out God anywhere else than in his Sacred Word, or to think anything about him that is not prompted by his Word, or to speak anything that is not taken from that Word.” In the past some have said that the sovereignty of God was Calvin’s central teaching. Today many Calvin scholars argue that he made no attempt to reduce the biblical message to any one central idea, but rather appreciated and retained the biblical teachings in their complexity, affirming, for example, both human responsibility and God’s sovereign control, as well as other teachings that seem inconsistent when paired. Calvin’s system does possess unity. Behind everything that he wrote is the idea suggested earlier by Augustine of Hippo (345–430) that God created human beings for fellowship with himself. Lacking that fellowship, they are miserable and disoriented. Thus Calvin began his Institutes by stressing that all wisdom comes from a knowledge of God and of ourselves. The God-man relationship was so basic for Calvin that he argued that in knowing God we learn of ourselves, and vice versa. Knowledge meant much more to Calvin than intellectual exercise. Rather, theological knowledge requires a moral response by the whole human personality. The whole person, including mind and body, is engaged in the spiritual relationship. The one goal of that “knowing” experience is the worship of God in obedience and gratitude. Calvin also emphasized that what we know about God is strictly limited to what God has revealed. He has revealed in Scripture only what is profitable for human beings to know for a covenant relationship with him. Consequently, Calvin taught that Christians should not engage primarily in theological speculation but in moral edification. Knowledge that does not lead to piety is off course. Calvin followed his own advice in explaining the biblical doctrine of predestination, giving no priority to the rules of logic or philosophic discourse. The “why” of God’s actions has not been revealed but remains a secret bound up in his inscrutable counsel. The Christian must simply affirm with the Bible that God is intimately connected with the universe and that he “accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11, RSV). Calvin hoped that his main contribution would be guidance for the Christian’s spiritual pilgrimage. His theology was intended to be a worship aid. Yet he was also convinced that the worship of God must properly penetrate every aspect of societal life. To do that effectively the church must commit itself to a maximum use of the gifts God has given it for service in every area of life." PART 2 OF 2 Taken from Who's Who in Christian History |