The Character of John Calvin

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Roberta Roberts
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1 The Character of John Calvin David S. Petrie 2009 marked 500 years that the Christian church has been tutored by John Calvin. Churches, colleges, and seminaries have been named after him. His name has even been adopted as a brand for Reformed Theology. Born on July 10, 1509, John Calvin was all about living in response to God s grace. Calvin s Christ-centered godliness is perhaps what best defined his character and was certainly the main theme behind his thinking. Non scholae sed vitae discimus - as his father had John memorize in Latin, translates: It is not for school, but for life, that we learn. With this foundation, Calvin shaped the reformed faith and worldview. Piety. Now this was a focal point of Calvin s writings. This comes as a surprise to some, as most outside the reformed camp know little about the man. His name alone conjures up a host of preconceptions. The most notorious is that of a hardened, in-compassionate man, who taught a cold doctrine of predestination; a man who taught of a God who arbitrarily

2 chooses to save some and simply reject the majority of mankind (mainly our close family members) to an eternity in hell, a hell that certainly no good person should deserve. Well, besides a warped misunderstanding of the sovereignty of God (and the reformed faith), we have a marked man. A man marked as cold, hard, insensitive, and unloving (and this includes all of us who consider ourselves Calvinists ). So what s in a name? Quite a bit actually. Well, since I know that Calvinist is a nick-name, personally, I try to avoid it. Reformed, yes; I am a reformed Christian. Yet even here, I am saddened that we must use a pre-qualifier such as reformed, as if it is a mere strain of Christian thought, and therefore, arguable. Yes, I did digress, but I felt it had to be done (I always do!). So, let s get back to that word: Piety. This is the mark of a man. This was the mark of John Calvin. This is what happens to a man who is keen to his human condition, and is aware of the gentle call that can only be described as paternal. This is what defines the mindset of a man. Calvin lived in joyful response to this call.

3 A good indicator of a man s heart condition is his prayer life. When John Calvin was lecturing on the Old Testament, he always opened with this prayer: Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of Thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to Thy glory and our own edification. Amen.¹ Calvin was well aware of his shortcomings and his need for piety. Regarding his 1 st edition of the Institutes (1536), Calvin had commonly referred to this work as a summa pietatis the sum of all piety.² It is no coincidence then, that one of the largest sections in the Institutes is the section on prayer. For Calvin, prayer nurtured a warmhearted devotion to God. As we read from the opening paragraph on his section on prayer, Calvin gives a beautiful picture of God s amazing grace:. The Lord willingly and freely reveals Himself in His Christ. For in Christ He offers all happiness in place of our misery, all wealth in place of our neediness; in Him He opens the heavenly treasures that our whole faith may contemplate His beloved Son, our whole expectation depend on Him, and our whole hope cleave to and rest in Him.³ Calvin s thinking was rooted in grace. His teaching was rooted in grace. He knew life itself was rooted in grace. Reflecting on these words from the Apostle Paul: I urge you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, to

4 present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God (Romans 12:1), Calvin wrote We ought to meditate on holiness throughout the whole of our life.⁴ In his Institutes, Calvin defines piety: I call piety that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of His benefits induces (1.2.1). Reverence for God coupled with a deep love this is the real deal. This is true Christian piety. Perhaps the most revealing look into the heart of this theologian is found by considering the volumes he had to say in Book 3 of his Institutes regarding how we may cultivate our Christian piety. Here we have six chapters dedicated to The Life of the Christian Man ;⁵ twenty-eight pages on this topic. This is more than he spends on election, or baptism! Here, we read Calvin s motivation for piety: Now this scriptural instruction of which we speak has two main aspects. The first is that the love of righteousness, to which we are otherwise not at all inclined by nature, may be instilled and established in our hearts; the second, that a rule be set forth for us that does not let us wander about in our zeal for righteousness (3.6.2) The pursuit of righteousness, Calvin admits, does not come naturally. The love for righteousness must be cultivated. As we discussed earlier, Calvin couldn t stress prayer enough. Calvin was a man of prayer. Calvin was a man

5 immersed in the Scriptures. Calvin was a man who devoted his life to cultivating piety within the Christian church and he led by example. May those of us who identify with the title Calvinist demonstrate the same zeal for growth in Godliness, true growth in Biblical pietas. Notes ¹ Reformed Theological Seminary, Ministry & Leadership, Spring/ Summer 2009, 9. ² Ibid. ³ John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Westminster, 1960, ⁴ John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, Eerdmans, rpt. 1973, 263. ⁵ Condensed into a pocket-book, Baker books has reprinted the Golden Booklet Of The True Christian Life. Cherished since the publication of the Institutes, this booklet contains in true devotional form, The Life of the Christian Man, published separately. (Baker Books, 1952, rpt. ISBN: ). Highly recommended!

Lesson #9: The Doctrine of Predestination

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