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8/12/2019 1994 Issue 1 - Book Review: Calvin's Preaching by T.H.L. Parker - Counsel of Chalcedon
1/9
I have appreciated T.H.L. Parker
since the late 1960's when I read two
ofhis books, Calvin's
Sermons on Isaiah
53 and
Calvin s Doctrine
o
il Knowledge
o
God.
In reading these books, and
now in reading his newest book,
Calvin s Preaching, several things have
impressed me about Parker: (1).
His
thorough knowledge of
Calvin's
ministry and theology; (2). His love
for Christ and the Word of
God;
(3).
His boldness in rebuking clitics of the
Word of God; and (4). His desire that
his readers understand him
and that they apply thenuth
delivery and context. The best way to
present the powerful content of Parker's
book is to give you his outline of his
study of Calvin's preaching, and then
to fill in
the outlines with some oflucid
quotes by Calvin and Parker. I make
no apology for giving you so many
Calvin quotes, because I want you to
see the God-centered theological
richness, as well as the literary beauty,
of
Calvin's wliting, with the prayer
that you will be persuaded to read as
much
ofJohn Calvin as you can.
in his books to their lives.
ook Review
memory'). Therefore, SCripture has
no other claim to full authority with
believers than their conviction that
it
has flowed from heaven. It is as if the
actual tones
of
God's voice were heard
in it. (pg. 1-3)
There is only one who can prove
that God is the author
of
Scripture,
and
that is God Himself: 'I reply that
the witness
of
the Sphit transcends all
reasoning. For even as God alone is
sufficient witness to Himself in His
Word, so also that
Word
will not find
belief in the heans of men
before it is sealed by the
inward witness
of
the Spirit.
It is therefore necessary that
the same Spirit
who
spoke
As
a
member
of
the
Church of England he is
not afraid to cliticize her
and
to
call
her
to
repentance. Speaking of he
disastrous doctlinal
and
moral
failure of that
denomination, Parker
wlites, What wonder that
a Church which picks
and
chooses what it wants out
eal\7in :)
reaching
by the mouth of he Prophets
shall penetrate
into
our
heans to convince
us
that
what had been
divinely
commanded
had
been
faithfully declared.' (Lvii. 4)
(pg.4)
by T.H.L. Parker, 1992, Westminsterl John
Knox
Press, Kentucky, 202 pages)
The
Pulpit as the
Throne
of God
Review
by
Joe Morecraft;
11
God has no commerce
with men
apart from
Scripture. (pg. 4)
f
the
Bible
should become
confused in its theology,
flabby in its morals, and with little to
state but the worldly obvious---the
day after worldly liberals have stated it
more convincingly? (pg. x). This gives
you the flavor
of
Parker's attitude
revealed in his book This subject of
preaching is not academic
to
him. His
studyisnotanotherinelevant historical
study. Parker wants things to change;
and he wants John Calvin's preaching
to bethemodel forthatchange, because
he wants the Church to experience
again the transforming power of the
Word of God.
Calvin sPreaching was a particular
encouragement to me. I underlined
sentence after sentence, and have gone
back time and again to nourish my
soul on these highlights of the book
Parker not only analyzes the message
Calvin preached, he also analyzes his
motive, goal, preparation, method,
THE THEOLOGICAL IMPULSION
THE
DIVINE MESSAGE
Sunday after Sunday, day after
day Calvin climbed
up
the steps into
the pulpit. There he patiently led his
congregation verse by verse through
book after book
of
the
Bible.
t is our
task .to ask what impelled him to
preach and to preach as he did. -
Why this verse by verse exposition?
--- The impulsion,
or
compulsion, to
preach
was theological . Calvin
preached because he believed. He
preached in the way he did because he
believed what he did. It is that this
single-minded concentration
on
the
Holy Scliptures could come only from
a panicular view of the Bible. --- It is
in
the SCliptures alone that the Lord
has been pleased to
give a pelmanent
form to his
truth
(literally, to
consecrate His
tluth
to a perpetual
It
is quite
true that
SClipture can be a dead letter, giving
no
life. But this is when
it
is separated
from Christ
and
His grace.
Thenit
will
merely meet the eyes as printed words,
the ears as spoken words, without its
message penetrating to brainandheart.
If
however, the message
of
Scripture
is implinted in the
hean
by the Holy
Spirit and so reveals Christ, then it is
the word of life, convening the soul.
(pg.5)
'''The autholity of the Church
is
therefore not unbounded but subject
to the Word of God and so to say is
enclosed within it.' (N.vii.4) (pg. 5-6)
..the Teacherof he Old Testament
Church is the same Christ as the
Teacher of he New Testament Church,
that the Patriarchs, Law-givers, and
Prophets were illumined and inspired
by the same Holy Spirit as were the
Apostles. (pg.
7
January/February 1994 THE COUNSEL of Cbalcedon ;. 25
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 1 - Book Review: Calvin's Preaching by T.H.L. Parker - Counsel of Chalcedon
2/9
THE PASTORAL INTENTION
T h ~ two forces, the theological
impulsion
and
the pastoral impulsion,
are
so
n t w i n e d that it is impossible to
separate
them
without
destroying'
both
." (pg. 8)
"This high view o preaching did
not
meet
with
universal approval either
outside Geneva or within. Some, he
now
says, have wanted the Law cast
out of the Church and be
no
more
named. 'There were some disgusting
scoundrels whoa little while back
disgorged their it s fulfilled
and
that
in
all the taverns I had to resistihem.
very vehemently in my preaching): so
that these rascals made
up
a common
slogan in theirc-"synagogues" --their
taverns: No more Law or
Prophets
for
us ' (CO 54.283)" (pg. 9). Things
haven't changed
much
have they? .
"' . .ifwe want to show
our
faith and
obedience to God, the Law and the
Prophets should rule over us and we
should
make them OUT rule
and
know
that
it
(that is, the teaching ofthe Law
and
the Prophets)
isa pennanent
and
immortal truth, not decaying, not
variable. God did not deliver a
temporary teaching to serve a particular
age;
he
intended
it
to have its force
today, and would rather the world
perished
and
heaven andeanh lay
in
ruins than that the authority of either
the
Law or the Prophets should be
abolished.' (CO 54 .284)" (pg. 10)
"The faithful
pastor
must
use
vehemence
and
vlvacfte, "to give vigor
and power to the Word of God. --
What is this the way to teach?
Ho
we
Want to be
wonby
sweetness.
You
do?
Then
go
and
teach God his lessons --
Ho we want to be taught in another
style. Well then, go to the devil's
school he
will
flatter
you
enough---and
destroy you.'
(CO
54.291)" (pg. 14)
"".righteousness of life must
accompany right thinking. To be
good theologians
we must
lead a holy
life. The Word of God is not to teach
us (0 prattle, not to make
us
eloquent
and subtle and I know
not
what. It is
. to reform our life, so that
it
is known
that we desire to serve God, to give
ourselves entirely to him and to
conform ourselves to his good will.'
(CO 54.292)" (pg, 15)
SCRIPTURE AND
SERMON
"... Calvin
considered
that the
preacher's primarytaskwas to expound
Holy Scripture,which is, so to say,the
voice of God Himself." (pg. 17)
In bringing out Calvin's
understanding of
the sacramental
relation of
Scripture
and
sermon,
Parker contrasts Calvin's view with
that of
other later
Reformed
theologians,
such
as Bullinger and
Hooker, before he discusses "Calvin's
clear-cut and well thought through
view of the relationship between
Scripture and the preaching of the
Church." (pg.22). He begins his
discussion
of Calvin's
. view by .
reminding his.
e ~ e r s of
"Calvin's
insistence that the preacheristo invent
nothing of his own
but
declare only
what has been revealed and recorded
in
Holy Scripture." (pg. 22)
"The all-important factor is
not
whether the preacher has received the
message directly from its giver or
received it atsecondhand,butwhether
the message which reaches the
reclpientshallbe the message originally
given. In other words, God revealed
the ttuthaboutHimselfandthus about
men
and his world to
cenain
prophets
in
the Old Testament, to apostles
in
the New, This was the prinlary giving
of
the message; the prophets and the
apostles were thus in the position of
being
immediate reCipients, a
possibility that ceased with the
'sealing-up' of he New Testament. In
future there
could be only the
secondary
recipients, those who
received frotn the first reCipients, But
what if the message was understood
26 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon annary/Febmary 1994
and faithfully handed on? Does
it
cease to be the message because it is at
second hand?
"For the general word 'message'
which we have been using throughout,
substitute 'Word of God', or 'Gospel',
or
(its
in
the Pastoral Episdes) 'sound
doarine.
' It is hard to see
how
any
of
these terms has to change its character
orlose part ofits strength by the fact of
repetition, so long
as
the repetition is
faithful td the anginal.
"This is
not
to elevate preaching to
an
equality with Scripture. Scripture
is definitive and sovereign; preaching
must
be
derivative and subordinate.
Obviously Scripture does not have to
conform to preaching; preachingmust
conform to Scripture. It is the humble
positionofpreachingas derivative and
subordinate that is precisely its glory.
"According to Calvin, then,
preaching so to say 'borrows' its status
of Word of God' from Scripture. It is
theWord of Godinasmuchas
it
delivers
the Bl'biicalmessage, which is God's
message or Word. But God's Word'
means, for Calvin, that whichisspoken
by
God;
not
simply
in
its first giving
but
in
its every repetition. It does not
somehow
become
weakened by
repetition so
as
to become less and less
God's Word." (pg. 23-23)
"And when somethingis putbefore
us, we have always to ask ourselves
whether
it
is God who has spoken
or
not' esc 89-90), In this last clause
Calvin is not telling
the
people that
theymustremind themselves that God
has spoken in Scripture,but that, while
listening to a sermon, they
must
ask
themselves whether they are listening
to God or a man, If the teaching is
faithful to Scripture, then it is God
who is speaking, and that precisely
because His teaching remains His
teaching irrespective of the purveyor
ofthe
teaching." (pg. 24)
In his sermon XXII on I Timothy
3:2 Calvinsays: "For St. Paul does
not
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 1 - Book Review: Calvin's Preaching by T.H.L. Parker - Counsel of Chalcedon
3/9
mean
that one should
just
make a has ordained them as instrumentsand fonner case, the final sentences here
parade here orthat a manshould show that He employs them in Hisservice in use the language
of
revelation
and of
offso that everyone applauds him and such a way that they do nothing by the activity of the Spirit. What is daily
says, 'Oh well-spoken Oh what a their own power; it is the Master who preached in Geneva, Calvin is saying,
breadthofleamingl Oh what a subtle leads them. --- is that Godis gradous, that
esus
Christ
mind ' All that is beside the pOint... "ltissaidthattheministersaresent has made the satisfaction for our sin.
When a man has climbed up intO the to enlighten the blind, to deliver the Butwhen this message is preached, its
pulpit, is
it
so that
he
maybe seen fmm captives, to forgive sins, to conven reality is present and (how could it
afar,
and
that he may be preeminent? heans. What these are things which therefore be otherwise?) effective. It
Not at all. It
is
that God may speak to belong
to
God alone.... For there is was not simply declared that God is a
us by the mouth of a man." (CO nothing more properly His own than gracious God; in His Word God was
53.266) to
pardon sins;
He
also reselves to being gracious to St Pierre and
La
Calvinfrequentlyused two Himself the convening
of
the heart. Madeleine
and
St Gervais
in
may
1555.
images
to
make this point
r .
The reality was present,
more clearly: "the school of however, not thmugh vivid
God" and "the ambassador
of The pulpit is the
imagination
or
the power
of
God". language,
but
by the working
First, regarding "the school throne of 60d, from of the Holy Spilit. -- The
of
God." "Whydowecometo message
of scripture, and
the sermon? ... It is that God
where
l e
wills to
hence the message of the
may govern us and that
we
~
Church
in
so far as t is a
may have our Lord Jesus g o ~ e r n
1
T ~ o u ~ " faithful handing on of what
Christ as sovereign Teacher." ' v y Y , has been once delivered, is
(Dt. 1:17.
CO.25.647) (pg. God's declaration of His will
26)
The pUlpit is 'the
thmne of
God,
from where He wills to govern our
souls.' (CO
53 .520) --
The school is
God teaching in Holy Scripture; the
preacher delivers to his congregation
what he has been taught. -- God
presides; the pulpit is His throne, He is
in the midst,
as
if visible, face to
face;
the Church is joined to Him. In other
words, granted the distinction of
primary andsecondary which must be
maintained between Scli ptu re and
preaching, the same message is
powerful and effective in the one as in
the other." (pg. 27
Second, regarding "ambassadorsof
Christ." "When a man is the envoy of
his prince and has complete authority
to do what
is
committed to his charge,
he will so to say borrow the prince's
name. He will say, We are doing this;
we instruct;
we
have commanded;
we
want that done. Now, when he speaks
like this; he is not intending to take
anything from his master. o
it
is with
God's servants. They know that God
Now, nevenheless it is the case that He
impansall these qualifications to those
whom
He
appoints to conveyHisWord
and
declares
to
them that He does not
separateHimselffrom them, but rather
shows that
He
uses them
as
His hands
and His instruments.'
(CO 26.66-67)
(pg.27-28)
"Thus the minister who faithfully
hands on what he has received from
those who were taught directly by God
is God's ambassador. No doubt an
ambassadorbecause hehasbeencalled
by God
and
commissioned by God for
this work, but also (and this is the
point here) because his message
is
the
message given byGod,it is the will and
mind
of
the Sender. Thepreacherisan
ambassador by vinue ofhis message."
(pg.29)
"It has become quite clear that with
'the school of God' we are not to think
of preaching as a purely educative
exercise,
and
with 'ambassadors for
Christ' we are not to consider only a
repetition of instructions. As in the
and thus possesses the power
ofGod's activity, which is the power
of
God Himself. The
Word of
God is
never to be separated from the Spirit."
(pg. 29)
"'It is as if he (Paul) were saying, If
anyone thinks that when the
Word of
Godis preached the air is being beaten
with an emptysound,
heis qUite
wrong.
It is a living reality and full
of
a
hidden
energy which leaves no pan of a man
untouched.
CO 55.50) Our
immediateinterest in thispassage fTOm
Calvin) is not in the twofold action
of
the Word of God in condemning
and
saving, but only with the efficacy
and
validity of the
Word of
God. But it is
clear that Calvin
is
using the term, 'the
Word ' to refer primarily to any
preaching, granted, of course, that it is
in accord with Holy Sclipture. Thus
the proclamation of God's Word by
way of exposition
and
contemporalY
application is itself God's
Word
in a
. twofold sense: first, because the same
message that was revealed . to the
Biblical writers is delivered by the
]anuary/February
1994 t
TH
COUNSEL
of
ChaIcedon 27
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 1 - Book Review: Calvin's Preaching by T.H.L. Parker - Counsel of Chalcedon
4/9
preaching Church,
and
that message is
God's message or Word; secondly,
because the same Spirit of Cod who
gave the message continues to ensure
that that message shall accomplish in
any generarion what He had originally
intendedin
giving it. (pg. 30-31)
The message
of
the
Gospel is the
living Word coming unto His own;
preaching
is
God calling and
summoning men.
All
that we have
heard
in
this chapter must be regarded
in
this
active
and
forceful way: God
speaks,
God
teaches; God governs;
Christ comes to His people; Christ
offers Himself; the Church preachesin
obedience to the commission and
command; the preacher delivers the
message from his prince; men submit
andbelieve, ortheyreject the light and
remain in darkness. Whatever the
terminology used , whatever the
imagery,all isascene of divine activity,
and of
human
activity drawn into the
divine. Certainly
not
a feverish or a
disordered activity; on the contrary, it
appears with a certain steadiness and
orderliness; but activity nevertheless,
God's activity of redeeming the world,
of fonning the Body of Christ, of
restoring all things. (pg. 31-32)
THE
WORD
IN ACTION
THE PREACHER
.. the preacher is the servant of
that
message. As preacher he is
committed completely
to
the Bible
.
(pg.35)
'We must before everything else
guard our tongue so that
it speaks
nothing but what is printed
in our
heart.' (CO 35.43-44) (pg. 37)
The preacher, then, is to receive
'without exception
everything
containedin Holy Scripture,' even what
his reason tells
him to
reject. (pg. 38)
Since preaching is to be exposition
of Holy Scripture, it must follow that
the preacher should know the
Bible
well. (pg. 38)
The knowledge of the
Bible, so
necessaryin a preacher, is not a purely
intellectual knowledge;
it
is,
as
Calvin
was never tired ofsaying, 'a knowledge
of the heart.' The preacher studies the
Bible because
he
loves the
Bible,
and
he
loves the Bible because he studies
the Bible. (pg. 39)
The qualificatiOns of a preacher,
according to Calvin, arise out of this
single-minded, single-hearted
adherence to Scripture. The first is
humility, and that
in
wo senses. Faith,
or trust in
Scripture
implies
submission. As we have seen, it
involves subjecting the reason even
to
anything that
seems
irrational, And
what is submitted to inwardly
is
also
treated as sovereign
in
the pulpit. -
For Calvin the message of Scripture is
sovereign, sovereign
over
the
congregation and sovereign over the
preacher. His humility is shown by
His submitting to this authority.
The second qualification is the
outward
practice
of
the
inward
submission. Thepreachermusthimself
be. obedient to the teaching which
he
is
urging on the congregation. s Calvin
put
it in a very lively
way
; 'It would be
better fot him to break his neck going
up into the pulpit if he does not take
pains to be the first to follow God.'
(CO 26.304)
Thirdly, the preacher needs
courage---not coura
ge
to believe
but
courage to proclaim the truth, however,
unpalatable, and
to
rebuke where
rebukes are necessary. It is inevitable
that he will arouse opposition: 'They
that intend to serve God faithfully and
to proclaim His Word will never lack
enemies to
make
war against
them
.
.Insomuch that the Inan who
serves God in bearing His Word
faithfully will never have peace nor
go
without stings and unmolested, nor be
without many
enemies.' (Sermon
CXClV; Dt. 33
:
ll;
CO 29.154)
Authority, the fourth of the
28 THE COUNSEL
of
Cha1cedon January/Febmary 1994
qualifications, belongs strtctly to the
message and
notto
the preacher. Any
human authority he may possess
(seniorit
y,
learning, managerial
expertence, etc
.)
is very different from
the authority which Calvin
has in
mind.
--- For
Calvin
the authortty lies outside
the person of the preacher and resides
so1elyin the message that he proclaims,
assuming that this is the message of
Scripture. But the message of Scripture
is God's own revelation of His will.
Therefore, not only is the message
handed on by the preacher the Word
of God, but it possesses the authortty
of the Word of God and thus the
authority of God Himself. We shall
never understand Calvin
as
preacher
or the reform which
he
sought to
carry
through in Geneva unless we take this
qUite
stupendous claim
as it
stands.
'So the teaching which is put
forward
in
the name of God ought
to
be
as
authoritative
asif
all the angels of
heaven
de
scended to us, as i f God
Himselfwere
manifesting His majesty
before our eyes .
..
.' (CO 25.113-714)
(pg.39-41)
In his Sermon I on Timothy 1:2
Calvin
says:
It is certain that if
we
come to church we shall not hear only
a mortal man speaking but
we
shall
feel
(even by His secret power) that
God is speaking
to our
souls, that He
is
the teacher. He so touches us that
the human voice enters into us and so
profits us that
we
are refreshed and
nourished by it. (CO 54.ll) (pg.42)
'1ust as
Christ is
present at
the
(Lord's) Supper spiritually, that is,
by the working of
the
Spirit, so He is
present
in
the
preaching
spiritually-by the
working of
the
Spirit. - This is why Calvin calls the
pulpit the throne of God: voila the
pulpit, which is the throne of God,
from which
He
wills to
govern.
our
souls.'
(CO
53.520) (pg. 42) Calvin
even
goes
so far as to say that me pUlpit
is God's 'seat of justice, Le ., the
judgment seat or trtbunal of God,
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 1 - Book Review: Calvin's Preaching by T.H.L. Parker - Counsel of Chalcedon
5/9
where the Church confesses its guilt
and runs
to
the mercy of God as its
only refuge.
To
ascribe such absolute authority
to
preaching is clearly extremely
dangerous. The opportunities for
mischievous and arrogant misuses are
endless. (pg. 43). However there are
two major counterweights which put
the preacher firmly
in
his place
as
a
mere messenger. The one is that he is
to put forward nothing but what God
has declared in Holy Scripture; the
other that
he
is an envoy and
efficacious, knowing
h ~ t
it is in order
that God may be the better honored
among us.' (CO 26.226) 'It is God
who grants us the grace that we should
be taught. And why is this? ... .it is in
order that our life may be reformed.'
CO
26.241) 'We who are ordained to
preach the Gospel ought
to
know that
God honored us when He willed that
from
our mouth
the testimony of
salvation should be given to men, that
we
should be witnesses of His truth,
that
we
should present salvation
to
...
the members of the congregation
fmm the other half. (pg. 48) Anyone
who has regularly preached over many
years
but
then has been a member of a
congregation for some time, would (if
he had strong views on preaching) be
hard
put
to
it
to decide which was the
more demanding, preaching well or
listening properly. (pg. 48)
Calvin certainly expected the
congregation
to
be active
in
the
business of the Church's preaching.
For preaching is a corporate action of
not the sovereign.
So
we
find
r--------------------
that the absolute authority is
~ n y o n e who ha6 regularly preached
alwaysascribedtothemessage.
over manyyear6
but
then
ha6 been a
The bearer of the message is
himself
humbled by its member ofa congregation for
6 me
thewhole Church;
it
s a specific
act of he worshipping Church.
In the same way, therefore, as
each Christian participates
in
the activity which is the Lord's
Supper, taking
and
eating the
Bread, 'receiving
and
drinking
the Wine, so also in the audible
Sacrament,
which
is
the
sermon,
he
actively hears
and
takes into Himself the Word of
God. It is true thatthe preacher
authority. (pg. 43)
time, would (if he
had 6trong
view6
Nevertheless, a
proper on preaching) be hard
put to it to
humility before
God and
modesty concerning himself
decide whi h wa6 more demanding,
and his capabilities are not to preaching well or 1i6tening properly.
hinder the preacher from the
bold assertion of the authority
of the message he has to deliver.
Indeed,
it
is a dereliction of his duty
i
he does not claim that authority. (pg.
44)
The preacher's immediate aim is
that the message of the (Sclipture)
passage
he
is expounding shall be
understood and accepted as truth by
the congregation. To know how to
t ~ c h
entails also a sympathy, even
in
a profound sense, a love
for
those
being taught. The bully orthesneaking
flatterer or
the
careless take-it
or-leave-it type of preacher are all in
their different ways out of their proper
element in the pulpit. (pg. 45)
No sermon can be without motive.
-- But it is possible to preach without
a purpose. -- What does the preacher
enter the pUlpit to do? What do the
people come
to
listen
to
the sermon
for?
(Calvin answers these questions
in a variety of ways) 'Then let us make
the doctrine preached to us every day
those who were formerly damned and
lost.'
CO
53.67) From these
quotations we gather three or four
aims
in
preaching---to honor God, to
refmm lives, to witness to tru th and to
witness
to
salvation
or
present
salvation. -- The preacher's purpose is
directed first of all towards God. He
preaches
in
order that God may be
glolified. The very act of declaring the
Gospel is a praising and exalting of
God
in
His mighty acts. Every
preaching of God's Word is aTe Deum
Laudamus.... --- 'And then, when a
man will be a preacher, it is not just a
question of making a selmon,
but
in
general and in particular it is necessalY
for him to know that it is to proclaim
the Word of God
in
orderto
EDIFY,
so
that the Word may be profitable.'
CO
53.236) (pg. 45-47
THE CONGREGATION
The preacher is only the half of he
Church's activity of proclamation.
gives
and the
congregation
receives; but the reception is not
passive,
but an
active participation, a
listening that is an act of faith. -- 'we
ought to come to God's school with
burning desire.''' (pg. 48-49)
The principal thing is that the
congregation shall have a clear idea of
what Christian
preaching is
and
therefore of what
is
happening
in
the
sermon. -- They should consider that
in
the sermon God rules His Church
by declaring His will,
that]
esus Christ
Himself teaches
them
as the good
Shepherd calling His flock.
When Christians know what
preaching is, they also know what
their attitude to
it
must be. Their
representative and leader, the preacher,
has been the first to submit completely
and unconditionally
to
the message of
Holy Scripture. They can do no less
when that message is passed on to
them.
(pg. 49)
..
the
congregation is
to
be
JanuarylFebruary
994
THE OUNSEL of balcedon
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ompletelysubmissive to the message
from God, good: pupils at the feet of
their 'sovereign Teacher,' Jesus Christ.
-- Consequently, the submission to
God's message is the work of grace, not
of nature . Alld as the work of grace, it
needs to be prayed fot and striven
after---striven after i i the sense of
mottifying our rebelliousness against
God's
Word.
-- 'SoJeiV make progress
in
he school of God; for scarcely
onein
a hundred will renounce the fierceness
of his spirit and submit quietly to
God .. But if we desire to be the living
planting of God, let us take pains to
submit our minds in humilityandallow
ourselves as His lambs to be ruled by
our Shepherd: (CO 55.394)" (pg.
50-51)
The
congregation "no less
than
the
preacher , have a duty to see to it,
so
far
as they can, that the message of the
Bible shall alone be heard
in
their
pulpit ... " (pg. 51)
"The task of the congregation, as
Calvin pottrays it, is a continuous
lifelong battle agai'nst
their own
rebelliousness, apathy, and arrogance
in
favoref God's teaching
and
call. The
members of the congregation,
no
less
than the preacher,
need
continually to
pray, 'Corne, Holy Spirit '" (pg.53)
AN
ACCOUNT OF CALVIN S PREACHlNG
THE EARLY PREACHING
In this section 3. Parker draws his
conclusions
and
applicatiOns from
Calvin's actual preaching, and his
intimate knowledge of that preaching
which
took place between 1549
and
Calvin s
death in 1564 .
PREACHlNG
IN GENEVA
In
October
1549
CalVin
began
preaching every day
qf
the week, as well
as on Sunday. Each ofhis sermons was
about one hour
long.
"Calvin for his
patt did notspare himself
a,t
all, working
far beyond
what
his powers and regard
for
his
healthcouldstand. He preached
commonly
every day for one week
in
two. Every week he lectured three
times
in
theology. (In fact, the lecturing.
was also normally
in
alternate weeks,
when
he
was not preaching.) He was at
the Consistory on the appointed day
and
made all the remonstrances. Every
Friday at the Bible Study ..what he
.
added
.. wasalmostalecture. Henever
failed
in
visiting the .sick,
in
private
wamingand
counsel,
and
the rest of the
number1e.ss matters arising out of the
ordinary exercise of his ministry.
Besides these ordinary casks (in Geneva),
he hadgreatcare for believers
in
France,
both in teaching them
and
exhoning
and counseling them and consoling
them by etters ..,
and
also in nterceding
for them ...
Yet
all that did not prevent
him ftomgoing ortworkingat is special
study and composing many splendid
and very useful books.' (CO 21.66)."
These wordswere written by Colladon,
who lived
in
Geneva durirtg Calvin's
ministry there. (pg. 62-63)
"Apatt from these, (Le., occasional
sermonson various topicS), hissermons
were continuousexpositions. He began
at chapter one and continued with one
or a few or many verses for each sermon
until
he
had
got to the end of that book.
Then the next day or the next Sunday
he
statted another book." (pg. 63)
"Colladon gave a moving account of
his (Calvin's)
last
few determined weeks
of pastoral activity: 'Finally, his gout
began, to abate somewhat, and then he
forced himself to go out sometimes to
be
entettained among his friends, but
chiefli to lecture a.ndeven to preach,
having himself
carned
to church
in
a
cMir. He also presented some children
for baprismwhen asked. Even about
mid-Janilary he
led
the study of the
beginning of the Prophet Isaiah in the
Congregation at the request of the other
ministers .. Thus he continuedto do all
he
could
of his public office, always
dragging his poor body along, until the
beginning of February 1564. For on
Wednesday, February 2, he made his
last sermonon the Book of the
King;;
and at 2 6;c ock in the afternoon his last
lecture in the school, that is, on Ezekiel.
30
THE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon January/February 1994
Alld on the Sunday, February 6, his last
sermon on the Harmony of the three
Gospels. Thereafter he never went up
into the pulpit: (CO 2l.';)6)" (pg. 64)
THE TRANSMISSION OF THE SERMONS
This chapter contains interestingahd
surprisinghistorical information aboUt
the publishing
and
translating
of
Calvin's sermons during his lifetime
and after his death.
One
of themenwho actedas Calvin's
stenographer while he was preaching
was Denis Raguenier.
He used
a
private
system of shonhand that he evolved
and perfected. Raguen
.ier's
achievement will appear all the more
remarkable if we bear
in
mind the
conditionsunderwhichheworked. He
had
to
record about six thousand words
in
an hour, often at the break of day,
whatever the temperature
in
an
unheated church, whatever the light,
usinga quilland ink (penclls nothaving
until 1564),andtokeep thls
up
morning
after morning." (pg: 66)
FROM EXEGESIS TO APPLICATION
THE EXPOSITORY METHOD
"ExpOsitory preaching consists
in
the explanation and application of a
passage
of Sc.ripture. Without
explanation t is
not
expository; without
application it is not preachlng." (pg.
79)
In the foutth and fifth centuries
expository preaching developed into
the expounding of whole books of the
Bible, passage by paSsage. "Thus
Chrysostom preached through most of
the 'books of the New Testament
and
his younger contemporary Augustine
expounded the Psalms and the
Founh
Gospel. ---
When
Calvin, therefore,
embarked on this course (followingthe
practice n Strasbourg
and
Zurich) he
waS
taking up the tradition of the later
Fathers and of the medieval theological
training. Almost all Calvin's ,recorded
sermonsare connected serieS on bookS
of the Bible
....
he preached on a New
Testament book
on
Sunday mornings
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7/9
and
afternoons
.. and on an Old
Testamentbookonweekdaymomings.
(pg.80)
.....
when
preaching
on
the Old
Testament Calvin translated his text
direct from the Hebrew. From this it
may be deduced that on the New
Testament he preached fromthe original
Greek. -- He had, then, a Hebrew Old
Testament or Greek New Testament
before him and preached without any
notes ..because he knew he could trust
his memory. He did, however, regard
preparation as necessary: 'if
I
should
climb up into the pulpit without having
deigned
to
look at a bookand frivolously
imagine
Ah well
when I get there God
will give me enough to talk about, and
I
do
not condescend
to
read, or to think
about wbat
I
ought to declare,
and
I
come here without carefully pondering
how I must apply the Holy SCripture to
the edification ofthe people---well, then
I should be a cocksure charlatan and
God would put me to confusion in
my
audaciousness.' (CO 26.473-474).
(pg.
81
Thus, clause by clause, verse by
verse, the congregation was led through
the epistle or the prophecy or the
narrative, --- The multifarious strands
of the Biblical message
run
through
Calvin's sermons in all their rich
profusion. (pg. 90)
THE MESSAGE OF
SCRlPTURE
The teaching of the sermons is
eschatological, not in the sense that at
certain points, depending on the text,
heaven and etemallife are mentioned,
but in that everything is viewed
in
the
light of the eternal inheritance. (pg.
100)
Earlier
we
spoke of the expository
preacher as a chameleon, taking his
color from that of the passage on
which
he
was
alighted. (pg. 103)
"'So then,as we have seen previously,
if we want Godto bless us we must keep
ourselves in the simplicity ofHis Word,
attempt nothing whatever, not walk
one step forward without His approval
and not swerve either to the right or to
the left.' (CO 26.64) (pg. 105)
THE STIMULI OF EXHORT TION
Calvin speaks of'''instructionon the
framing of one's life.' Teaching by
itself, or mere pointing out the way, is
insufficient. The
re
are needed also 'the
stimuli, or goads, of exhonations and
reproofs.'
CO
52.384) (pg. 114)
'It is not enough to preach what is
good and useful. For if men were
well-disposed and received what God
set before them, and were so teachable
that they could put their minds and
hearts into line with it, to subject
themselves to what isgood, it would be
enough to have said, This is what God
declares to us. But since men are
malicious, are ungrateful, are perverse,
ask only for lies in place of the truth,
readily go
astray, and after they have
known God tum again and distance
themselves from him---for this reason
it is necessary for us to be heldas it were
forcibly, and for God, having faithfully
taught us, to exhort us
to
persist in
obedience to His Word. --- ...ifwe are
reproved, even forcibly,
and (the
preacher) uses reproofs which are harsh
to us, let us know that it is for our
profit.' (CO 53.332) (pg. 115)
Therefore the people had to be
urged to accept what was said. They
had
to
be spoken
to bluntly
and
forcefully. They had
to
be told when
they were going wrong, or not being
ready to go right. The prince s
ambassador, he says, will not speak
harshly as a ptivate person; but when
he has to deliver his message, 'hespeaks
in a way that shows that he is not
pretending. -- Now, when God sends
us
and
puts His Word in our mouths,
have we to
go
(into the pulpit) with
such silly simpleness that it makes men
despise Godandmock theWordwhich
we carry? Not at all; not at all.' (CO
53.21-22) (pg. 115)
There was ..always one man in
the congregation
at
whomhe directed
his sermons. And that was himself.
--- Anindication ofltiS own involvement
appea
rs
in the almost universal use of
'we' and 'us' and the rare address 'you.
The message
and
its application are
directed at preacher and congregation
alike. (pg. 116)
The text will detelmine the precise
direction of the exhortation. (pg. 117)
"There is no threshing himself into a
fever of impatience or frustration, no
holier-than-thou rebuking of
the
people, no begging them
in
terms of
hyperbole to give some physical sign
that the message has been accepted
(Ii/Ie altar calls .
It
is simply one man,
conscious of his sins, aware how little
progress he makes
and how
hard it is
to
be a doer of the Word, sympathetically
passing
on to
his people (whom
he
knows
to
have the samesort of problems
as himseiD what God has said to them
and to him." (pg.
119)
Nevertheless,wemust certainlynot
give the impression that butter would
not melt
in
his (Calvin's) mouth. There
are some things that rouse his anger.
Oneis injustice,
and
especiallyinjustice
under the cloak of legality. Another is
deliberate and flagrant opposition to
the Gospel by those who
had
sworn to
uphold it. The Romanists receivegentlet
treatment than the opponents on the
Genevan Councils
in the bad
years.
And he can get very angry indeed
in
the
sermons of 1554-1555. (pg.
119)
Sunday morning,]anuary
27,
1555
Calvin warned his congregation about
responsible voting. We have need
today of thisadmonition; forthe election
approaches of those that are
to be
established in the government of this
Republic. Now, I ask you, how are they
behaving in the election?
For
I
need
not
wait till next Sunday to say something
which is only too plain.
When
it is a
question of electing and chOOSing the
magistrates, they ought to be here to
call on the name of God, that He would
preside at the Council
and
that He
would give them a spirit of prudence
and light. But where w
ill
they be? In
JanuarylFebruary 1994 ;.
THE
COUNSEL of Chalcedon
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the taverns,
or
at play. And those who
have a vote are the least frequenters of
sermons. (Things have not changed much
since
1555.) It is true that one willhardly
see them coming any more to church
on
other days. Nevertheless, they will
be the first to present themselves at the
General Council and want to have the
strongest voice . .Yet it is there that they
will throw off all restraint, and there
will be even greater disorder.
On
such
a day one will see them come with a
rascally impudence and they will be
in
groups,
as
if they wanted to make
their presence felt. And where have
they come from? From an
alehouse--Instead ofwanting to be here
to call upon the name of God and to
lookinto themselves. Now, come We
have today to elect men who will rule in
God's name. (CO 53.452) --- .. .it will
provoke God's wrath f heseat of ustice
is polluted
y
men being put therewho
have neitherzeal
nor
affection to honor
and serve Him.' (CO 53.475-76)" (pg.
122-23)
This is
not
the only time Calvin
dealt with political subjects
in
his
sennons. On several occasionshewould
direct his sermons to or about the city
council of Geneva. Hewouldcomment
on
the battles between Geneva and
Bern,
Switzerland. The threat of the Turks
and
their alliance with Europeanpowe
rs
are dealt with
in
at least four sennons.
Along with bad politicians, Calvin
would
also set
hi
s Sights
on
the
academics, (Schoolmen), who blurred
the plain Gospelwith their philosophy,
and, of course, on the Roman Catholic
priesthood.
FORM
AND STYLE
m
PAffiRN
OF
SERMONS
" ..clarity, force and persuaSiveness
are the three necessaty ingredients in
preaching like Calvin's." (pg. 131)
"The form of this preaching
is
determined
by
the movement of the
text. The preacher does not so much
move forward from point to point as be
borne onwards by the movement ofhis
author's thought. Even so, this is not a
simple, uncomplicated stepping from
clause to clause; for within each clause
there
is
movement and
counter-movement of one sort or
another. The sennons are like rivers,
moving strongly in one direction, alive
with eddies and crosscurrents, now
thundering in cataracts, now a caim
mirror of the banks and sky; but never
still, never stagnant.
"Calvin's intention .. was toexpound
each passage. Usually this entailed the
continuous exposition of sentence by
sentence, sometimesofclause
by
claus
e.
After a brief preface to remind the
congregation of what the previous
passage had said, and thus to set the
present verses within their context, he
would embark on the exposition of the
sentences, usually rendering them in a
slightly different (sometimes very
different) fonn from the head text; this
partly because he was translating
32
f
TH COUNSEL
o
Chalcedon January/February 1994
Non-Profit Org.
U.
S.
Postage
PAID
BULK RATE
Permit No. 1553
Greenville, SC
29602
directly
as
he went along, partly for the
sake of clarification by paraphrasing.
The exposition will consist where
necessary of simple exegesis and the
unraveling ofdifficulties ...;after this he
will apply the place to 'our' use so that
'we' may profit from it
and
be 'edified.
(pg. 132-33)
TIlE
FAM
ILIAR
STYLE
"The word that Calvin used to
describe what he regarded as the most
suitable style for the preacher is
familiere, (which
is
French for "a
familiar style ). (pg. 138). Calvin
writes,
"'WealwaystrytornakeScripture
familiere, (i.e., familiar).' He plainly
meant more than that he wanted the
people to become familiar withthe
Bible
in the sense of knowing their Bibles.
Pamiliere might be better rendered by
the word, PERSONAL, used in the
Calvln 6 Preachlne
cOl1cluded 011 paee 4
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9/9
serving
the Lordin
the ordinary practice
of
their professional careers (Genesis
9:
l-6and
Corinthians10:31). Second,
they must
evangelize the
earth
and
Christianize all its
nations,
as
commanded
by God
the Son,
and
get
them
to obey
aU
things whatsoever
He
has
ever
commanded
from
Genesis
through Revelation (Matthew
28: 19
and Mark
16: 15).
Andthird, theymust
promote the coming of the
kingdom
in
all its many facets with an their might
through
the power of God the
Spirit, as
all history further unfolds toward its
divinely
predestinated
consummation
(Luke
11:2 and
Revelation
14:
13).
While doingallthisbetween Christ's
first and
second comings, believe that
Christiansare to see the
hand
ofGod
in
aU
things,
and
to
thank Him
for His
blessed
providence
even
in their
adversities
and their
ordinary day-to
day
drcumstances. As the
Heidelberg
Catechism
(Q.l
and
Lord's Day 10)
states; "my only comfort in
life
and
death
is
that I
am
not my own but belong
with
body
and soul
to
my faithful SaviourJesus
Christ,
Whoso
preserves
me thatwithout
the
will
ofmy heavenly
Father,
not ahair
can
fall from
my ~ a d
yea, that all
things
must
be
subservient
to
my
salvation
"
This blessed providence
is "the
almighty
and
everywhere
present power
of God,
wheteby
as it were
by
His
handHeupholds
and governs
heaven
and earth and all his
creatures, so that herbs
and
grass, rain
and
drought, fruitful
and
barren
years,
meatanddrink,
health
and
sickness,
riches
aildpoverty,
yea,
and all things, come lOt
by
chance, but
by
His
Fatherly
hand".
And
the
intensely practical result
of
believing all this, is
that
I learn
how
to
"be patient in adversity, thankful in
prosperity, and that inall
things which
may hereafter befall us,
we
place our
firm trust
in
our faithful
God and
Father, thcu nothing shall separate
us
from
His love, since all
creatures
are so
in
His
hand, that without His
will they canna t so much as move '
This, then,
is my
God-given faith,
dear
reader
May
the Lord Himself
grant
by His
great grace
that it
may
also become yours too f.l
Calvln 5 Preaohlng,
oOl1oluded
from p ge 8
colloquial modem sense---to make the
message of Scripture a personal matter,
not
just
a collection of historical ideas,
'so that we know
that it is GOD who is
speaking
to
US.' Nevertheless, he
is
cenainly thinking of
familiere
in terms
of language; for a little later he (Calvin)
censures ambitious preachers who
'babblein refmedlanguage,' (CO
53.19).
To make theScripturalmessagefamiliere
Calvin used a familiar, homely sryle of
preaching. The familiariry of speech
is
made possible and also heightened by
his
preaching
extemporarily." (pg.
139-40)
"He (Calvin) is so intent on making
himself understood that now
and
then
he will
think
it necessary to explain a
simple word which is nevenheless
ambiguous from similarity of sound
with a quite different word. --
In
general the vocabulary is simple. The
theological language might puzzle most
modem
Protestantcongregations in this
country, but that is because they are
largely ignorant of the Bible. Calvin's
terminology in this respect hardly moves
outside the Bible. -- Theological words
from outside the Bible are 9nly the
more
common ones---
Trinity,
sacrament, and the like. -- The same
simpHcity is
seen
in the sentence
structure." (pg.
141-42)
In Calvin's "familiar style" of
preaching there is "the frequent use of
question and
answer
in
imaginary
conversations with disputants. There
are numerous rhetorical questions.
(Sometimes) hewill pile question upon
question. -- Rather more common in
the sermons
is
objection
and
reply. -
Dialogue, often racy,
is
also much in
evidence. Calvin has a liking for direct
speech. Instead of paraphrasing his
24
THE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon JanuarylFebruary
1994
text (as he also does frequently) with
some formula
as
'it
is as if
he were
saying .. he
will
often put it into direct
speech: 'It is, then, just as if God said:
Thou didst have not hope of leaving
this slavery
.
. But this also often
appears
in
the form ofimaginary attacks
from opponents, which are usually
prefixed with the angry interjection,
'Ho?' --- Mr. Miles has shown
how
these conversarions
can
be developed
into a fragment of drama, with Calvin
himself prOviding the asides for the
sake of the congregation's under
standing:
(pg.
145)
"The ready use of proverbs and
similes and homely expressions gives
the impression
of
a man
of
homespun
speech,
at
ease with the common
man.
...all Calvin's images are simple
and
easily
understood. E Mulhaupt
categorizes them as military, judicial,
natural, animal, anisan
and
academic.
...
but the chief thing to notice about
them is their simplicity
and
familiariry.
The same may be said of his use of
homely, everyday expressions, the sort
of thing that was the verbal currency of
ordinary folk until radio
and
television
enfeebled our language
0).
(pg.
148)
"Calvin's style as
extemporary
preacher is markedly different from
that which we find
in
his
French
writings . .There he displays the virtues
that make him one of the great French
mastersandamolder of modem French.
Buthere,
in
the sermons, he deliberately
adapts his style to the grasp of the
comlnon people in his congregation.
To
use a
tenn
that he frequently employs
of biblical writers, he 'accommodates'
himself to the ignorance of the people.
The most marked change is that the
conciseness
on
which
he
so prided
himself has to give place to diffuseness
and
repetition. -- There
is
still the
simpliciry and the clarity, the wit and
the force, the passion
and
the high
seriousness." (pg.
149)
MayAlmighty God raise up an army
of preachers [ike
john
Calvin today f.l