Calvin's Institutes, 4.1.5-4.2.21. We are blogging alongside Ref21 since we are not satisfied with its comments; they are too brief and we expect more from men who are Pastors and Scholars; further, there was an un-nececessary swipe at the English Book of Common Prayer which, out of context, would mislead others. The latter was ill-advised. We commented on that. That prompted us to run alongside Ref21.
The subject under review is the True Church.
The Church is an educational institution which has a necessary value, demands our attention and calls for our loyalty. It is the place in the OT where believers assembled for instruction by the priest and where, for three annual feasts, the Assembly gathered as a nation. The authority of God's Word is not diminished though read and proclaimed by humans, or ministers.
God "consecrates tongues and mouths of men in order that his voice might resound in them." God has bound His Word to the ordinary means of reading and preaching; some wrongly despise the public worship believing that private reading suffices.
The Church is built solely "by the outward preaching, and that the saints are held together by one bond only." As such, Calvin is a (n) "High Churchman" with a (n) High view of Scriptures for the foundation and superstructure of a True Church.
The Spirit works and produces fruits by the preaching and hearing of God's Word. That was so in Elijah's day and the days of the apostles. St. Peter says that his congregations were born of an "incorruptible seed," the Word of God (1 Peter 1.23). Paul could and did say that the Corinthians were begotten "through the Gospel." They were the "seal" of Paul's "apostleship."
Paul never attributes any power to himself, but the entire and total sufficiency is attributable to God alone (2 Cor.3.4-11.). The Galatian churches (plural) "received the Spirit...by the hearing of faith." Paul did not credit himself--"not even a particle apart from God." 1 Cor.3.7 summarizes it: he who waters and he who plants are nothing; it is God who gives the increase.
Thus, we see the High Church view here. We see the High Scriptures view here. They go hand in hand. The importance of the Word of God delivered, read, heard, and preached was central not just to Calvin, but the Catholic Church from the beginning.
In addition to Calvin, see Martin Chemnitz's Examination of the Council of Trent, William Whittaker's Disputations on Holy Scripture, and William Goode's The Sole Rule of Scripture. The first book is be a Reformation Lutheran and the last two by Reformed Anglicans.
The question remains for Calvin. What are the "marks" of the Catholic Church?
He briefly comments about the Church Universal, invisible to the eye, but spread through the nations, villages and hamlets, known to God in precision. On terms with this, quoting St. Augustine from the Civitates Dei, "there are many sheep without and many wolves within." John Wycliffe constantly defined the Church as the Community of the Elect and Predestined. This is the Church Invisible and Church International.
However, there is a Visible Church. This is evident by a common confession of faith, examples of godly living, and by partaking of the sacraments. This is where the Word is "purely preached and heard." It is the place where the right administration of the Sacraments are administered. Of course, the term "purely" and "right" are important words.
Low views of preaching were common in the English Reformation. One gets the impression that that still prevails in many (understatement?) Episcopal Churches. It appears in "so-called" High Church Anglicanism where the LORD's Table is dominant and preaching rather poor. For Calvin, an High view of the Word involves an High view of the Church, since that's where Christ's sovereign sceptre is evident.
Calvin wrestles with some difficulties here. When should one remain in a church that has gone astray? A visible church that has defective doctrine and members? One thinks of liberal mainline liberal churches or charismatic congregations, both of which false and small doctrinal content. This will raise questions for the 17th century Puritans and those colonialists who emigrate to the U.S. and found Harvard University. Calvin observes that a true church will not fail to produce fruit and the LORD's Word will not fail nor return void.
Calvin champions church unity. Even if a church "otherwise swarms with many faults," if the principal marks are there, there is the Church and there is Christ. Involvement is not to turn on "petty discussions." We do not get a discussion of of what principal and secondary matter. Calvin does raise the issue of who are rash, lack kindness, and are given to "immoderate severity."
That question of John Knox at Frankfurt, Germany, amongst English exiles over the Book of Common Prayer comes to mind. It comes to mind in thinking of the English Puritans.
Errors existed at Corinth. It existed in the Old Testament Church with abundant corruptions, yet the Prophets did not establish new churches. The apostles faced invasions and contortions of biblical doctrine, e.g. the Galatian churches. Calvin will raise this point later.
One conclusion appears. One should not abandon a True Church if imperfect and if there is an abundance of ill-living wicked men.
Calvin comes at this from another angle, to wit, "forgiveness," the place where the "power of the keys are exercised." This is where Presbyters or Bishops exercise their ministry and where there is daily prayer "Forgive us our trespasses." Calvin speaks of the Anabaptists and the Novationists who professed "a almost perfection after the new birth" as grounds for separation. One thinks of dispensationalists who say "The Lord's Prayer" only applied to national Israel and "Forgive us our trespasses" does not apply to the post-Resurrectional Church. This certainly obtains in most Baptist and Pentecostal services where there is no corporate, congregational Confession of Sin, no minor error. They need correction and discipline on this point. This appears to be Calvin's subtext of the above.
In addition to the daily prayer for forgiveness, abundant evidence exists of grace in the Old Testament. Calvin reviews the Patriarchal history fror Abraham to Joseph as an exhibit. He handles this quickly but in a way that shows his capable understanding of the overall history. He adds references to Moses and the Prophets (Ez.18.23,32; 33.11). Abundant grace exists in the Newer Covenant Churches, notably the congregations of Corinth and Galatia.
In 4.2, the "False and True Church," Calvin gets us closer to a question of when to identify with or separate from a Church. Here's an excellent quote. "...falsehoods break into the citadel of religion, and the sum of necessary doctrine is overturned and the use of the sacraments is destroyed, surely the death of the church follows--just as a man's life is ended when his throat is pierced or his heart mortally wounded." Very strong language, but appropriate.
We would say that has happened to the Gospel in the Church of England, but others have chosen another reason for staying in C o E. One can think of Episcopal Bishops like Bennison who would never ordain a Calvinist Anglican...as one example. We know of a Professor denied admission on this very ground.
Dr. James I. Packer followed along the lines of remaining in C o E when Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones pressured Jim to break from it, the Church of England. Packer's response was that the official standards of the church continued to be the XXXIX Articles and the Book of Common Prayer. When those standards disappear, he would break with C o E. Never mind that liberalism had been choking the Gospel for decades. Jim finally got choked by a liberal Bishop in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Calvin notes that if the "foundation" is destroyed, how long can the building continue to stand? An excellent point. We see the demise of liberal mainline Protestantism in our time. Calvin says, "No church can exist where lying and falsehood have gained way." These are powerful words.
Calvin turns to Romanism. Here is where we find Ref21 weak, in failing to amplify. Romanism is a "government" where "lies prevail." It is where Romanism "partly extinquishes" and "partly chokes right doctrine." Romanism contains "schools of idolatry and ungodliness." One will never hear these words anywhere in modern centres of Christian advertisment, sermons, and churches.
It is our understanding that the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, and the Wisconsin Synod, Lutheran Church retains this Confessional sense.
He asks why Romanists extol themselves as if the only church, claiming their origins in Italy, France and Spain without reference to Africa, Egypt, or all of Asia? In Calvin's time, the Greeks were viewed as schismatics.
According to Calvin (and this scribe), Rome does not hear God's Word. Jeremiah 7.4: Do not trust in these lying words, saying, "The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these." While Rome has softened its language in the last forty years, the Council of Trent is and has been affirmed repeatedly by John Paul 11 and Benedict XVI. It is a false gospel.
In an interesting twist, Calvin refers to Romans 9-11 concerning Esau and Jacob. It is a meritorious argument. The descendants of Esau, a reprobated line, would persecute the Jacob-line. Given that Esau and Ishmael could boast of "antiquity," as Rome does, they were outside the Confessing Church. There comes times when branches are lopped off from the True Catholic Church, e.g. Cain, Ishmael, Esau, 10 northern tribes, churches in Revelation 1-3. Rome cut herself off from the one true, holy, and catholic church.
The true and ancient Church was founded on the Word of God. Rome was (and is) a chief adversary of Christ and His Word. By implication, Rome is an Esau-line, failing to hear God's Word, opposing it, and repressing it. Right here is where modern Protestantism, liberal and evangelical, fails in clarity.
By contrast, Christ's sheep hear Christ's Word. Jn.10.14; 10.27; 10.4-5. "He who is of God hears the words of God." The Church cannot exist apart from God's Word.
The "Papists" say that the Reformers are schismatical and heretical because have they fostered separate assemblies, preach a different doctrine, teach a different view of the Sacraments, and do not obey Roman laws. Calvin observes that this does not apply since they teach the Gospel truly.
To be continued, Lord willing.
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