“For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be glory forever.
Amen.”
The Current Religious Environment
On a return flight from Bucharest to Boston I enjoyed a fruitful conversation with a Harvard student on her way back to campus life. She was returning for her second year after spending summer at home in Uzbekistan. I mentioned that I was a pastor, and that I had just completed a short stay in Romania. She inquired about the work that I was doing there. I told her that I had come to Romania in order to teach a class on “The Five Pillars of Calvinism.”
Guessing that she was from an Islamic background, I anticipated that this title might make her curious enough to keep this interchange going. When we think of the words “five pillars” our minds naturally turn to the Islamic faith. As I hoped, she proceeded to ask me this question: “What are the five pillars of Calvinism?”
She had recently taken a course in American Puritanism, and was aware of the fact that the Puritans were Calvinists. Yet she seemed unaware of the beauties of the basic tenants of Reformation faith, and had been led to focus on other aspects of New England heritage that matched the interests of her professor. She told me that she was a Muslim.
I asked her if that was a matter of her heritage or was she actually a practicing Muslim. With some slight hesitation, she identified herself with the latter category. She added, “Well, I don’t pray five times per day toward Mecca, but I do believe in God, and I am a Muslim.”
I took out my pen and drew several boxes on a napkin. One I labeled “Islam.” The second I called “Romanian Orthodox.” Then following on other boxes I wrote the words, “Roman Catholic,” “Buddhist,” “Calvinist Protestant,” and “…” to indicate that we could go on making boxes for some time. I then drew another box and said, “This one is the majority religion in the Western world.” In that box I wrote the words “Non-practicingism.”
This required further explanation...
I decided to start with my choice of the word “pillars.” I suggested that every religious perspective has some number of pillars by which it is defined, and that the number five does seem to fit our capacities. (Who could remember the finer points of an obscure religion with twenty pillars?) I explained why the label “Baptist” or “Buddhist” tells me surprisingly little in our day. I don’t know if people are actually Muslims just by their use of the word “Muslim.” I need to ask them about the pillars of the faith. Do they agree with and practice these pillars?
We began to list the five pillars of Islam on the napkin.
- Declaration of Faith: There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.
- Prayer: Every good Muslim must pray five times per day toward Mecca.
- Charity: The Islamic faith has certain specific giving requirements.
- Fasting: During the month of Ramadan Muslims must fast all day.
- Pilgrimage: Almost every Muslim has to take a special trip to Mecca at least once.
I then asked her about pillar number 2 – was this one debatable, or was it actually necessary?
A slightly uncomfortable pause…
I returned to my last box on the napkin – the non-practicingism box.
The big surprise in discussions like this is that non-practicingism has its own box and that there are pillars of faith connected to that box, just as there are for every other box. She needed to see that she was really holding to a different faith than Islam even though her heritage was Islamic. Without that insight we would merely have talked past each other.
Non-practicingism
Non-practicingists are everywhere, especially in societies that have largely walked away from a close observance of an earlier religious tradition. Whether one is a non-practicing Muslim or a non-practicing Methodist makes very little difference. The pillars of the faith are the same.
From my own limited personal experience then, here are the five pillars of this faith position:
1. There is a god.
2. I am not rejecting that god.
3. I loosely embrace the tradition I am most comfortable with.
4. I disturb no one with any faith claims.
5. I ask that no one disturb me with their faith claims.
Interestingly, you can be a non-practicingist and still attend religious services of your choice on a weekly basis. You can even be a spiritual leader of others and be very dedicated to various activities and celebrations connected with that faith. Attendance or lack of attendance is not one of the pillars.
It will be useful for our later examination of the five pillars of Calvinism to briefly explain the five pillars associated with this faith position.
First, there is a god. Non-practicingists are not atheists. There are still some atheists in this world, but in our day the great majority of people have a conscious belief in some kind of god.
In the second place, non-practicingists go beyond a bare acknowledgement of the existence of a god. They have personally chosen not to reject their god. They may even speak of having a relationship with god.
Thirdly, there is some minimal “practicing” that is almost a necessary part of non-practicingism. The non-practicingist loosely embraces the tradition with which he is most comfortable, normally claiming the right to hold on to the label of that tradition. Yet the key word in this pillar is the word “loosely.” If a person holds to any tradition strictly and on its own terms then he is not a non-practicingist.
On to the fourth pillar: The non-practicingist disturbs no one with any faith claims. The whole connection between doctrine and behavior is speculative in his view. The practitioner of this view is probably unenthusiastic about considering his beliefs as a separate religious choice with a set of distinct faith claims. For this reason at least, it would not necessarily occur to a non-practicingist that he has a common faith with a majority of people in his society, and that his faith positions have a very practical impact on the society he belongs to. Who would think that the quiet “victory” of non-practicingism could affect something like birth rates in the Western world?
This final pillar exposes this system for what it is: an effort to remain untouched by the faith claims of the true and living God. “I ask that no one disturb me with their faith claims.”
While we can readily see why true Christianity is different from non-practicingism, we would do well to consider that the pillars we have been exploring are perhaps the results of a weak understanding of the Christian faith.
Doctrinally-weak religion has led people to recommend to others a spiritual experience with very little theological content, almost no claim upon the life of the individual, and no particular implications for the world. We have urged people to stop rejecting God, to believe in Him, to come to church, and to share their faith in appropriate and winsome ways. These directives are not very different from the five pillars of non-practicingism.
It is actually surprising that our evangelistic efforts have not been more effective. They seem to be right in step with the majority religious view all around us. Yet true non-practicingists are well aware that surrendering to the One who is called “King of kings and Lord of lords” must mean something more than they wish to agree to.
The non-practicingist world is a tough environment for the proclamation of Christian truth. We should admit that the idea of a life of surrender to the Jesus of the Bible who now reigns at the right hand of the Father is not appealing to a great majority of the people in our region. The church and her leaders would love to be more successful, but victory seems to elude the great majority of us. In the midst of our marketing disappointments, we have also seemed to forget our beliefs.
It must be our purpose to call the church back to a clearer understanding of the pillars of a Sola Scriptura faith.
When Calvin Presented the Faith…
Forget what you may have heard about Calvin or Calvinism for a moment, so that you can give fresh consideration to what Calvin said about true Christian faith.
John Calvin was the premier systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation. In an era when the church was working to rediscover the truths of the faith based on the Bible alone (Sola Scriptura) it was Calvin who most clearly and logically addressed the topical matters of concern to God and His people. For his era, he wrote the definitive theological statement of biblical teaching. His masterpiece, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, is widely used and highly regarded down to the present day. In the 16th and 17th centuries, his writings greatly changed the church and the world.
The impact of his work was dramatic. Wherever his ideas were known they had an amazing power. This was not so much because of the personal details of the man, which he was never eager to promote, but because he presented the truth of the Bible in a way that could be powerfully understood.
The copy of The Institutes on my bookshelf is a fairly meaty two-volume set. In 1537 Calvin wrote a much shorter book appropriately entitled A Brief Outline of the Christian Faith. This book, consistent with Calvin’s larger work, was lost to the world until 1877 when an original copy was discovered in the Paris National Library. It is now available in an English translation by Stuart Olyott. The original French text was Calvin’s simple presentation of the truths of the Christian faith.
How then did Calvin present the faith to ordinary people? What are the pillars of Calvinism? While the book has six chapters, I have organized this material into five points that I will present in the remainder of this essay. In doing so I will quote frequently from Olyott’s translation of Calvin’s work, but will also endeavor to discuss certain points in light of the religious environment that we face in the world of today’s non-practicingism.
Without further delay, here are the “five pillars” of Calvinism:
- The All-Surpassing Glory of God
- The Surprising Depth of Human Sin
- The Perfect Righteousness and Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ
- The Powerful and Orderly Plan of New Testament Church Life
- The Resulting Witness to and Transformation of a Dying World
The student of the historical movement known as Calvinism will immediately note that these five pillars differ from the “5 points of Calvinism” that are frequently thought of as a summation of Calvin’s theology. As valuable as those five points are (often presented using the acronym “TULIP,”) they are not a sufficient summary of the Christian faith. They deal mainly with questions of God’s sovereignty and grace in salvation, and do not contain any statement on essential matters such as the nature of God and the worship and ministry of the church.
To make the point succinctly, when Calvin presented a brief outline of the Christian faith to people in his day, he did not use TULIP. He started with wonderful statements about God, about humanity, and about Christ. He went on to talk about God’s plan for the church and His sovereign care for the world.
Anyone who believes that the Scriptures are the Word of God would do well to consider Calvin’s brief summary of what the Bible teaches. By attending to these matters of great importance we are introduced to a Calvinism that few people seem aware of. Furthermore, we are granted a blueprint for a necessary journey out of the confusion of non-practicingism and are granted a vision of the glory of God and His kingdom that demands the reformation of the Christian church in our day.
Pillar 1: The All-Surpassing Glory of God
How great is your God? The apostle John saw a vision of the ascended Lord of the Church that is captured in the opening chapters of the last book of the Bible. In that vision John was taken up into heaven, and was in the midst of the worshipping congregation in the presence of God.
Around the throne of the One who is called the “Lord God Almighty” we read of angelic creatures and leading representatives of the people of God from both the Old and New Testament eras. The word that is on the lips of the host of heaven is “holy.” This word is repeated over and over again, because God who is worshipped forever and ever is so immeasurably glorious, and so very far above all the beings that He has created.
The other word that is on the lips of the heavenly assembly is the word “worthy.” He has created the vast universe and sustains all of the created order with marvelous power, wisdom, and justice. In heaven there is a very obvious distinction between the great, holy, and worthy Creator and all His creatures.
Who is this God?
He is the Lord. He has all authority. We must all answer to Him. He is not on trial before us. He is the Law-giver, and we must meet all of His holy demands.
He is God. In Him there is no beginning and no end. He is the source of every good gift, and is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His very essence. He is not our butler, waiting for every opportunity to fulfill our self-defined standards of low pleasures. We exist to worship and obey Him and in Him to discover the highest of all enjoyments.
He is Almighty. Nothing is too difficult for Him. He will accomplish all of His purposes. Any who would oppose Him, no matter how long they may appear to be victorious over Him, have surely met far more than their match. He laughs at those who would make proud boasts against Him.
He was, is, and is to come. He is from before eternity past and is beyond eternity future. He is the great “I AM” who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the Source of all eternal hope and expectation.
This One who is holy and worthy is seated on the throne in heaven above. As the One who lives forever and ever, He shall never be removed from that throne. The church from all ages and all nations worships Him in heaven. They cast any merit or reward before His throne in recognition that any holiness or worthiness that we may have is surely a gift from Him. Thus they speak forever of His great holiness and worthiness.
It is the cardinal beauty of Biblical religion that God is glorious. This is something that must not be missed.
John Calvin points out in Truth for All Time that so very many people do seem to miss this most important truth, despite the fact that all men live in order that they might know God, “to know the majesty of our Creator” and “to honor it with all awe, love, and reverence.” (Truth, 1)
Calvin is not primarily referring to unbelievers as those who seem to miss the truth about God. He does acknowledge that unbelievers have a sense of God, but that they “seek only to wipe out all memory of this sense of God which is planted in their hearts.” Yet it is his intention to leave unbelievers aside for a moment. His concern seems to be for those who “claim to have a personal religion” meaning that their religion is a matter of their personal faith, and not merely a label that comes with their national or familial heritage. He notes that we who claim to believe in God, “must call to mind that this present life will not last and will soon be over.” For that reason, immortality, which can only be found in God, should be a chief subject of sincere interest to us. (Truth, 1)
Since eternal life can only be found in the Author of life, it should be obvious then that “the main care and concern of our life should be to seek God. We should long for him with all the affection of our hearts, and not find rest and peace anywhere except in him alone.” (Truth, 1-2)
The fact remains that not every effort at seeking after God is useful, since there is a difference between true and false religion.
Calvin proceeds with an intriguing and telling description of religious men making fruitless efforts to appease God. They know that there is a god who keeps them going, and they do not want to endanger themselves by enraging him. They have a certain kind of fear of God, but their idea of God is “governed by the foolish and thoughtless conceit of their own mind, and not by his infinite majesty.” For this reason, in their supposed efforts to pursue god, they are actually running away from the only true God. The end result is that their many religious endeavors, though real and ever so careful, turn out to be “a waste of time. It is not the eternal God they are worshipping, but rather the dreams and illusions of their own hearts.” (Truth, 2)
Calvin goes on to make one of the most important statements in the entire book, a statement which can lead us into a right understanding of biblical Christianity if we consider it well:
Now there is a fear which would most willingly flee from the judgment of God but which, being unable to do so, dreads it more than ever. True godliness does not lie here. It consists, rather, of a pure and true zeal which loves God as a real Father and looks up to him as a real Lord; it embraces his righteousness and detests offending him more than it does dying. (Truth, 3)
The abject terror of the religious practitioner is not necessarily true godliness. True godliness necessitates understanding God as both Father and Lord. This only comes to those who are willing to embrace a righteousness outside of themselves – a righteousness that comes from God alone. If we embrace God’s righteousness as our only hope, and see that God has provided a way that we might be credited with His perfect righteousness, then it would of course follow that we would love this God who urges us to call Him Father, and we would be happy to serve Him as our Lord, even if to do so might mean the loss of our lives.
Such a willingness to die for the truth cannot naturally spring from non-practicingism. Who would give their life to defend the mere existence of god? No one goes to the gallows standing firmly for the glory of a certain something somewhere, but it is not at all irrational to give your life away for the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.
But how can we know this God? First, His glory and worthiness are richly displayed in the universe. There we should be able to see His attributes of immortality, power, wisdom, goodness, justice, and mercy. Nonetheless, we do not seem to rightly receive the instruction of this natural revelation.
Calvin puts it this way:
Indeed it is so very necessary for us to be plentifully taught about God, and we really ought to let the universe do it for us. And it would do, if it were not for the fact that our coarse insensitivity is blind to such a great light. But it is not only in being blind that we sin. Such is our waywardness that, when it considers God’s works, there is nothing that it does not perceive in an evil and perverse sense. It turns upside down all the heavenly wisdom which otherwise shines so clearly there. (Truth, 4)
For this reason it is only through the testimony of the Word of God that we seem to be able to finally receive the clarity of the truth of God’s works. There we hear of His greatness with such living clarity that we are finally granted new eyes to see the story of the created order and even to see the wonder of our own existence.
The discussion of the problem we face in understanding the message of creation is already leading us to the second pillar of Calvinism. Before we move ahead in that direction, we should first pause and consider the greatness of the first pillar that we have been examining together. Truly the glory of God is all-surpassing. It is a matter of great celebration that such a marvelous God would care for us, a fact that is powerfully reinforced when we begin to explore our own sinful condition with more accuracy.
Pillar 2: The Surprising Depth of Human Sin
The non-practicingist has no pillar on the human condition.
According to Sola Scriptura religion, God is an eternal and righteous Judge, as well as a loving Father. In Calvin’s Institutes, the author makes this telling comment regarding truly seeking to know and serve God: “We cannot seriously aspire to Him before we begin to become displeased with ourselves.” (Institutes, I-1, 37)
If we can return our gaze once again to the heavenly vision in which the Apostle John participates, we see there a note that should give us pause as we consider the condition of sinful man. Earlier we were struck by the great glory and worthiness of God. This Lord God Almighty who is seated upon His throne is said to have something in His sacred hand: a scroll that contains writing inside and out. It is full of the impending judgments of God upon humanity, judgments which are played out in dazzling imagery throughout the remainder of the book of Revelation.
The unfolding of these events of perfect divine judgment must take place. This display of His justice, together with the supreme working of His wonderful mercy, are both so very important so that the greatness of God’s glory will be made visible in the sight of all creation. But in Revelation 5:1-4 we suddenly are introduced to a problem in the unfolding of these events. The scroll containing God’s decrees of judgment is perfectly sealed with seven seals, and there is no one who is worthy to take the scroll and to open the seals.
Apparently one is needed who will satisfy the righteous demands of God in order for this essential and dramatic task of opening the scroll to be accomplished. The Bible is very plain in noting the fact that the problem was one of worthiness. There was no one worthy to open the scroll; no one in heaven, no one on earth, no one under the earth was worthy enough to be able even to look into it.
We particularly note the reaction of the apostle John to this situation. His is not a detached response to this dilemma. We are told that he weeps loudly.
This is the case despite the fact that the elderly apostle clearly knew the solution to this situation. He was the young disciple who was so close to Jesus. He had seen Him crucified. He was a witness to the resurrection. He had spent His life preaching Jesus Christ as the only solution to human unworthiness before God; yet the ugliness of our unworthiness, and what it would mean to have no one worthy to open the scroll was overwhelming to the man who already knew the solution that would come in the following verses.
No one was worthy. No angel or demon; no man, women or child; no one from the past and no one yet to be born; no one was able to open the scroll.
The reason behind this inability is the radical unworthiness and unrighteousness of mankind, a fact that deserves our most serious consideration.
Calvin says that this is part of what we must know about man, and it forms the second pillar of reformation faith. He says that “whatever aspect of man we look at, it is impossible for us to see anything other than what is impure, irreverent, and abominable to God. For man’s wisdom, blinded and steeped in numberless errors, sets itself against God’s wisdom; the will, wicked and full of corrupt affections, hates God’s justice more than anything; and human strength, incapable of any good deed whatever, is furiously inclined towards iniquity.” (Truth, 6)
Is this an overstatement? The test of this pillar must not come from our own imagination, or we will fall into the rebellious endeavor of creating our own religion, a practice that has already been sufficiently criticized. We must go again to the Word of God to see the truth that man, though created in God’s image, has fallen in some very radical way. Through the sin of Adam, and through our own sin, we have plunged into such a condition that the Bible could rightly say that the thoughts of our hearts are “only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). The apostle Paul reiterates the Old Testament teaching of Psalms 14 and 53, “None is righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10).
This is visually presented to us in the drama of Revelation by the plain fact that no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll. Calvin powerfully insists that man is under the grips of two awful plagues; first, we imagine that we are safe, despite the impending judgment of God against us; and second, we consider that even if the judgment of God is coming against us, yet we will be able to solve our own sin problem. It is very clear that the answer to our problem must come from outside us.
All this can seem like a very hopeless assessment to the modern reader. It is necessary to remove all grounds for hope in self in order that we might rightly turn to the source of all true hope – the Lord God Almighty.
Calvin summarizes our condition with these words:
We then, sinners from our mother’s womb, are all born exposed to the anger and retribution of God.
Having become adults, we pile up on ourselves – ever more heavily – the judgment of God.
Finally, throughout the whole of our life, we accelerate towards death.
For there is no doubt that God’s righteousness finds all iniquity loathsome. What, then, can we expect from the face of God – we miserable people who are loaded down with such a weight of sin, and polluted by numberless impurities – except that his righteous indignation will most certainly put us to shame? (Truth, 7)
God alone can bring us to a right recognition of our condition, and it is a sign of His mercy when these two plagues of a false security and a false confidence in ourselves are removed from us. It is not a bad thing to have a better understanding of our sinful condition; it is a profoundly good thing, provided that we see that there is a great provision of merciful rescue for us in God’s Son.
To better enable us to embrace God’s answer, we must have a biblical understanding of the depth of the problem of sin. To accomplish this, Calvin proceeds with an exposition of the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments
The Law of God demands perfect compliance, not merely our best intentions and efforts.
This Law is summarized by Jesus Christ in two great commandments: We are to love the Lord, our God, with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength; and we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This summary comes from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18), though our Lord also quotes these verses in the New Testament (Matthew 22:35-40).
A more detailed summary of these two great commandments comes to us in the Ten Commandments. Here we must see the depth of God’s Law and our violation of it. If we come to the conclusion that we are doing a passable job of keeping these commandments, then we have come to the wrong conclusion. This is our Lord’s point in the Sermon on the Mount when he shows His hearers that obedience to God’s rules against murder and adultery would require a startling obedience of the heart.
One way for us to consider this point from the Ten Commandments themselves is to start with the first and the last commandments together. The first commandment is a prohibition against having other gods. The final commandment forbids covetousness. Both of these are all-encompassing requirements that we have clearly not kept.
Whenever we sin, we place someone or something ahead of God and His law in our lives. This person or thing is effectively a “god” to us – a god that displaces the true God in our affections and our actions.
This same problem can be viewed from the vantage point of human relationships. We consider the Lord’s kind provision for us and come to the rebellious conclusion that we cannot be happy without having what our neighbor has. Here we see that God is concerned not only with outward obedience; He demands a complete purity of heart, devoid of all covetousness.
Now we can easily appreciate how both the first and tenth commandments are violated when we violate the other specific regulations of God. When we steal or give false witness, these behaviors come from a sinful heart, soul, mind, and will, that will not delight in God, and will not be satisfied with His good provision for us.
The Law itself is perfect, yet it exposes our sin. It does not result in life for us, but only the sentence of death and eternal condemnation. Calvin explains our dire situation in this way:
If our will were fully trained and disposed to obey God’s will, just to know the Law would be more than enough to save us. As it is, however, our carnal and corrupt nature fights all the time, and in every way, against the spiritual Law of God. The teaching of this Law does not improve our nature in any way at all. So it is that this same Law (which was given for salvation if it had found hearers who were good and capable of keeping it) turns into something which results in sin and death. For since we are all convicted of being transgressors of the Law, the more clearly the Law reveals to us the righteousness of God, the more clearly, on the other hand, it uncovers our unrighteousness.
Consequently, the more the Law catches us going further into transgression, the heavier will be the judgment of God of which it finds us guilty. (Truth, 23)
What remains for us as violators of the Law is the curse of God.
With this introduction, let us consider God’s Ten Commandments:
#1. The ONLY GOD, He alone is to be worshipped.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Our God is the only true God. Therefore, in every thought, every word, and every affection you are to worship Him and Him alone.
#2. You must worship Him without the use of any images,
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
God insists that He be the one who tells you how He is to be worshipped. Specifically, you are not to make or use images of Him. You are not even to create images of Him in your imagination. His Word is the special presentation to us of who He is, and you are to follow his laws of worship perfectly. Every desire of your soul must be utterly faithful toward Him in worship.
#3. You must worship Him in complete integrity.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
The word vain means “empty.” You must never think, say, or do anything that would suggest that God’s name is empty or inconsequential. You are to use the name of God with the deepest reverence and awe. This must be a matter not only of how you speak but how you live - with the very fullest integrity.
#4. You must worship Him by resting in His Sovereign perfections and abundant grace.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
You are to live a life of completely surrendered worship to Him, as one who is always resting upon the Lord alone. You must never count on your own works to recommend yourself to God. You are to express this life of worship by setting aside the day of His choosing as a day of worship in complete dedication to God. He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and you are not free to violate His day. You are to rejoice in Him and grow in Him as you worship and adore Him throughout His day, adorning your worship with deeds of mercy toward others in need.
These first four commandments are a summary of Your duty to worship the Lord. From the strength of a life that is fully empowered by the worship of the true and only God, you are to serve Him as the Lord of absolutely everything.
#5. He is the Lord of subordinate authority.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.”
The Lord is in charge of every lesser authority. In families, and in broader societal entities of church and state, it is your duty to always honor “father” and “mother” as gifts from God. This is not based on their worthiness, but on the goodness of God’s provision. Naturally, other authorities cannot be obeyed when they insist that you violate God’s Law, but in all other matters you must honor and obey from the heart. Also, all those who have been granted lawful authority are to always use it to build up those in their charge, and not as a tool for selfish oppression.
#6 He is the Lord of human life and death.
“You shall not murder.”
You must not unjustly take life. All your thoughts, words, and actions must be deeply supportive of the gift of life. When civil authorities are called upon by God to take life, as in the case of the death penalty for murder, or in the just defense of a nation from an aggressive power, you are to see this as God's plan which He has expressly given us in His Word for the preservation of the right value of life in your land. But as you seek peace and justice in a fallen world of sin and misery, you are to remember the God who says, "Vengeance is mine. I will repay."
#7 He is the Lord of marriage and intimacy.
“You shall not commit adultery.”
You must not have any sexual desire or action outside of the covenantal faithfulness of a marriage relationship between one man and one woman. Among you there must not even be the hint of sexual immorality.
#8 He is the Lord of efforts and actions.
“You shall not steal.”
He is your Provider. You must respect the property of others. You must not take it from them. You are to continually seek the good of others, and the right protection of their property.
#9 He is the Lord of your words.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
God is the Lord of everything that you say. You must not use your words to pursue sin in any way. Rather, you must speak of those things that work for the spiritual good of others.
#10 He is the Lord of your thoughts and desires.
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”
You must pursue the law of love for your neighbor with your whole heart. You must be lovingly inclined to your neighbor in every motion of your affections.
Once again, the end result of your consideration of these Ten Commandments should be a firm and deep conviction of your own sin. Calvin puts it this way:
The evidence given by the Law proves the unrighteousness and transgression of all of us. Its purpose in this, however, is not that we might fall into despair nor, being totally discouraged, that we should founder in ruin….
Having then used the Law to tell us of our weakness and impurity, the Lord comforts us through trust in his power and mercy. And it is in Christ, his Son, that he reveals himself as being benevolent and favorably disposed to us.
In the Law, God appears only as the rewarder of perfect righteousness – of which we are completely bereft – and, on the other hand, as the upright and strict Judge of sins. Yet, in Christ, his face is full of grace and gentleness, and shines on miserable, unworthy sinners. For this is the admirable display of his infinite love that he gave to us: he delivered up his own Son for us and, in him, opened to us all the treasures of his mercy and goodness. (Truth, 24)
This use of the Law that sends us fleeing to Christ alone for salvation, drives us to a fuller consideration of the One who has redeemed us.
Pillar 3: The Perfect Righteousness and Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ
As of this point in our consideration of Calvinism we have seen two very important truths. First, God’s great worthiness and holiness cannot be overstated. He is glorious in all that He is and in all that He does. Second, we have seen the sad truth of our own sin and rebellion, and have discovered that from the vantage point of our perfectly holy and righteous God, our depravity is surprisingly deep.
To aid us in gaining a firm grasp on this second point, we have briefly considered the greatness of God’s Law and the seriousness of our violation of His commandments at every point. We have done this as a matter of necessity, lest we flatter ourselves and miss the greatness of the gift of Christ himself given to unworthy sinners. Too high a view of humanity would have been an insurmountable barrier to having a true understanding of Christ. Before we could explore the beauties of Jesus more fully, it was necessary for us to find out some things about ourselves. Humbled by the wonder of God’s Law, we may now more fruitfully turn our attention to the beauties of the Lord who has redeemed us from the prison house of sin.
Calvin explains that it is through faith that we find life.
The merciful Father offers us his Son through the Word of the gospel. And it is by faith that we embrace him and acknowledge him as given to us.
It is true that the Word of the gospel calls all men to participate in Christ, but many, blinded and hardened by unbelief, spurn such extraordinary grace. Only believers, then, enjoy Christ; only they receive him as sent to them. He is given to them, and they do not reject him. They are called by him, and they follow him. (Truth, 25)
This faith is not our best guess at some good outcome but a confident certainty based on the sure promises of God. For this reason, and according to the clear testimony of Scripture (Eph 2:8), it is undeniable that saving faith is the gift of God. By this faith we have a right judicial standing in God’s holy sight. It is also by this faith that we grow in obedience to God’s law. True saving faith moves forward in good works of faithfulness, but we must never get confused concerning the basis of our salvation. The object of our faith is Christ and his perfection. With this caution in mind, Calvin warns his readers that we must:
…be very careful not to be carried away by a worthless trust in good works to the point of forgetting that we are justified only by faith in Christ. For before God, there is no righteousness through works except that which corresponds to his own righteousness. The person who wants to be justified by works, then, must do more than produce just a few good deeds. He must bring with him perfect obedience to the Law. And those who have outstripped all others and have progressed the most in the Law of the Lord are still very far from this perfect obedience.
Moreover, even supposing that the righteousness of God should content itself with a single good work, the Lord would not find in his saints this one good work done in such a way that he would praise it as righteous. For, although this may seem astonishing, it is indisputably true that there is not a single good work springing from us which is entirely perfect and not soiled by some stain or other. (Truth, 34)
It is this kind of realization which sends us fleeing to the merit of Christ, for He alone is worthy.
In Revelation 5:5-7, Christ is given to us as the only solution to the heavenly drama played out before the eyes of the Apostle John. We remember that John wept at the recognition that no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll that would unfold the future events of God’s just judgments. The solution to this great need is only found in Jesus Christ.
How is Christ presented in Revelation 5?
Our Savior is a lion. He is the awe-inspiring King. This lion is of the tribe of Judah, one of the twelve sons of Israel. He is a descendant of David, and the promised eternal ruler who will sit on the throne established by the Lord God Almighty. Though He comes after David as his descendant according to His human nature, He is also before David as the Son of God according to His divine nature. He is not only lion, but also lamb – the sacrificial animal of the Old Testament who comes to take away our sin.
Revelation 5 tells us that this Christ has conquered, but He also has been slain. This is not what we expect to hear about a living warrior who has won a great victory. It is intriguing and instructive for us that His victory comes through His death. Emblems of His sacrifice are yet visible in the heavenly vision, but He is the victorious One.
He is further said to have seven eyes. This is a symbolic representation of the fullness of the Spirit which is His, by which He also has great insight and knowledge of all things. John the Apostle is told to weep no more, for this Lamb that was slain is the Lion who is coming. He is the Savior of His people, and He is worthy to take the scroll from the hand of God, and to open the scroll. It is this Jesus Christ who is the only answer for desperate sinners who face the overpowering glory and holiness of God.
This Only-Begotten Son of God is a part of the complex Biblical reality that we have come to call the “Trinity.” Calvin speaks of this wonderful doctrine this way:
When we mention by name the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we do not have in mind three Gods, but rather the fact that the Scripture and the experience of being devoted to God show to us, in the single being of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This happens in such a way that we cannot even think of the Father without at the same time having in our minds the Son in whom his living image shines, and the Spirit in whom his power and strength appear.
Let us pause, then, and concentrate all the thought of our heart on one God only; however, let us always contemplate the Father with the Son and his Spirit. (Truth, 36)
I Believe…
Calvin goes on to explain the content of our faith using the biblical doctrines presented in the Apostles’ Creed. This creed is organized along Trinitarian headings.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
While Christ is the very object of our faith, it is always right and necessary for us to contemplate the Father if we are to know and follow His Son. The God of the Bible is a big God, and He is our God.
All power is attributed to him; he directs all things by his providence, rules over them by his will, and guides them by his strength and the power of his hand.
When God is called ‘creator of heaven and earth’, this means that he perpetually upholds, maintains and gives life to all which he once created. (Truth, 36-37)
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord…
The second person of the Godhead is “Jesus,” the only Savior of sinners. He is “Christ,” the Anointed Messiah, sent by the Father as both King and Priest, and full of the Spirit beyond measure. He is the Only-Begotten “Son of God” who is the Father’s Son in His very essence. All that can be said about the glory of the Father and the Spirit, can also be said about the Son of God. He is the “Lord,” and all should bow before Him and serve Him.
…who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell.
This great Jesus Christ came and humbled himself for our salvation. Calvin says:
He took our flesh in order that, having become Son of man, he should make us become, with him, sons of God. He clothed himself in our poverty in order to transfer to us his riches. He took upon himself our weakness in order to strengthen us by his power. He assumed our mortal condition so as to give us immortality. He descended to earth to raise us to heaven. (Truth, 39)
Christ not only entered into our human condition, He also suffered at the hands of men, was crucified, died, and was buried. All this was necessary for our salvation. He was condemned at the hands of human authorities so that we might be justified before God’s throne in heaven. He took the cursed death of the cross to free us from the curse of God’s Law. By His death our death is swallowed up. We are buried with Him that we might be dead to sin.
In His humiliation, Christ is our substitute. Calvin explains this powerfully in His reflection upon the difficult creedal phrase “he descended into hell.” The Lord
endured and felt the horrible rigor of God’s judgment, putting himself between God’s anger and ourselves, and satisfying God’s justice on our behalf. He thus suffered and bore the punishment which our unrighteousness deserved, while there was not the slightest trace of sin in him. (Truth, 40-41)
Thus Christ suffered the pains of hell for us – the wrath of God that we deserved for our sin.
The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
This lowest point of humiliation was, of course, not the end of the story. The creedal statements go on to proclaim the joy of our Savior’s exaltation. The resurrection of Christ, His ascension into heaven, and His seat at the right hand of the Father – these facts of our faith mean something for us, for we are united to Jesus not only in His humiliation, but also in His exaltation.
The risen Christ is the guarantee of a physical resurrection to come for us in the blessed presence of God. Even now we are made alive by His Spirit and given the power to live a new life. As Calvin says, Christ has entered heaven “with our human nature, in our name as it were, so that in him we already possess heaven through hope and sit with him in heavenly realms.” (Truth, 42) We receive strength from heaven even now as we battle against the powers of hell. Through our present struggle we are encouraged by the promise of our Savior who said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
Calvin calls the resurrection of Christ a “certain fact.” He also states that “by his resurrection we have the unshakeable assurance of obtaining victory over the rule of death.” The Savior who has surely conquered sin and death for us, will return on the last day.
He will do this visibly, just as he was seen to ascend. He will then reappear to all in the incomprehensible majesty of his reign in order to judge the living and the dead, (that is to say those whom that day will find still alive, and those who will then be already dead). He will render to all according to their works, just as each one, by his works, will have shown himself to be faithful or unfaithful. It is an extraordinary comfort to us to know that the judgment is committed to the very one whose coming means, for us, nothing but salvation. (Truth, 43)
I believe in the Holy Spirit…
All of the blessings of Christ are applied to us by the work of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead.
By the power of his Spirit, Jesus Christ brings about everything that is good, whatever it may be. By this power he creates, upholds, maintains and gives life to all things. By the same power he justifies, sanctifies, purifies, calls and draws us to himself, that we may obtain salvation.
When the Holy Spirit thus dwells in us, it is he who enlightens us with his light in order that we may learn and fully know the infinite riches which, by divine generosity, we possess in Christ. It is the Spirit who sets our hearts ablaze with the fire of burning love for God and for our neighbor. Every day, and increasingly, it is He who puts to death and destroys the vices of our evil desire, so that if any good works are found in us, they are the fruit and results of his grace. Without him, there would be nothing but darkness in our minds and perversity in our hearts. (Truth, 43-44)
… the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Calvin was a steady believer in the institution of the church as a divine kingdom. It is very fitting that the earliest statements of faith in the Christian church included faith in the church as closely connected with our belief in the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit of God there can be no real church. Without the Spirit, we are at best left with a human society of friendship or good deeds lacking the truth of Christ the King, who is Himself both the wisdom and power of God.
The church is now and forever. It is earthly and heavenly. There is only one King of the church, Jesus Christ, and there is only one church. Though men would be divisive and sectarian, the Lord knows His church and Christ will build His church.
We are therefore taught to believe that through God’s generosity, and by the merit of Jesus Christ’s intercession, both remission of sins and grace are granted to us who are called and brought into the body of the Church. Remission of sins is not given to us anywhere else or by any other means, for outside the church and this communion of saints there is no salvation. (Truth, 46)
This doctrine is a very significant and needed correction in our day. As in Acts 2:47 in the first years of the Christian church, it is still true today that as the Lord saves people, they are brought into the number of those who are known by the name of Christ. They are united together as the body of Christ and are united with our living Head. They call upon the name of the Lord in the gathered assembly of worship, and are saved.
By faith…
We are reminded again that we receive all these benefits of Christ not by law or by our own works, obedience, or faithfulness, but by true faith. Faith is not like so many things in this world that are matters of mere probability. It is a gift from heaven, the place of absolute certainty.
Though our good standing with God is not by the Law, but through Christ, for all those whom God grants true faith, He moves them in the direction of obedience to His revealed will. Our growth in holiness is a sign of the genuineness of our faith, and the grateful response of a renewed heart that desires to please the Lord who has saved us by His blood, and has given us His Spirit.
Obedience to the Law is not, then, a work within our power to accomplish. The power to accomplish this work comes from the Spirit who cleanses our hearts from their corruption, and softens them to be obedient to righteousness. (Truth, 32)
While we can never be saved by the Law, there is an important place for the Law in the lives of the redeemed.
In former days the outward teaching of the Law did nothing but accuse us of weakness and transgression. But since the Lord has engraved a love for his righteousness in our hearts, the Law is a guiding lamp to keep us from leaving the right road. It is the wisdom which trains us, instructs us, and encourages us to become upright. It is our rule, and it will not tolerate being destroyed by wrongful liberty. (Truth, 32)
True faith works itself out in love. We know that love is the fulfillment of the Law.
We now have explored the first three pillars of Calvinism:
- The All-Surpassing Glory of God
- The Surprising Depth of Human Sin
- The Perfect Righteousness and Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ
These articles of faith are necessary for salvation. If we attempt to make Christianity more acceptable by hiding the glory of God, or by minimizing the problem of sin, we will end up with a Christ who is far less than the true Savior of sinners. The result will not be biblical Christianity, but something that looks more like non-practicingism.
Churches that have abandoned or minimized these important pillars of biblical faith can have no sense of assurance that their members are Christians at all. They may be united around what they believe to be a common spiritual experience, but we will not have any assurance as to whether that experience is truly Christian until we begin to preach Christian doctrine with greater clarity over a sustained period of time, and then consider the response of those who hear.
Pillar 4: The Powerful and Orderly Plan of New Testament Church Life
Christ is the object of our faith. He is also the living King of the church. This statement has important implications. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 that the Ministers of the Word, who have been entrusted with a message of reconciliation, are ambassadors for the King. He is the One who rules and we believe that He speaks authoritatively by the Scriptures.
Christ has given us the Christian ministry. We are not free to define this for ourselves. Just as the first three pillars of our faith are essential for the message of reconciliation between God and man, the last two are of great importance in every era as we seek to follow the directives for the church that we have been given in the Scriptures.
Prayer, Sacraments, and Ministry of Word
In the world of non-practicingism, even those who have long given up on their own personal involvement in church have thoughts about what churches should be doing. We are making a grave mistake if we prefer their prescription for the church and relegate the directives of the Bible to the unexamined status of things we all already know, agree upon, and are safe to ignore as we move ahead with someone else’s thoughts on successful ministry.
Calvin believed in Scripture-directed worship and ministry. He believed that following God’s methods would build up the church and even change the world according to the will and purpose of God. In his brief book on the Christian faith, three of the six chapters are about these methods, which theologians call “the means of grace.”
Means of Grace #1: The Ministry and Power of Prayer
After grasping the key doctrines of our faith and finding life in Christ, the very first issue that Calvin addresses in the Christian life is the matter of prayer. For Calvin there is a very strong connection between a true belief in Christian doctrine and the practice of speaking to God:
On the one hand, the man who is rightly instructed in the true faith sees clearly how very poor he is, how totally bereft of all that is good, and how he lacks any possibility at all of saving himself. Hence, if he wants to find a source of help for his beggary, he must go out of himself and look for it elsewhere.
On the other hand, he contemplates the Lord who generously and willingly offers himself in Jesus Christ and, in Christ, opens to him all heavenly treasures. The Lord does this so that the whole of man’s faith may apply itself to looking at this beloved Son, that all he expects may depend on this Son, and that all his hope should be built upon, and rooted in, this Son.
To know that God is the Lord, to know that everything good comes from him, to know that he invites us to ask him for what we need, and yet not to call on him and pray to him, is like knowing of a treasure hidden in the earth and, through indifference, to leave it there, without taking the trouble to dig it up. (Truth, 50-51)
Our prayer is not only an exercise of the tongue, it must come from the depth of our hearts. With a firm reliance upon God’s mercy, we come to God, for we know that God commands this, and we know that He has promised that He will give us what we ask. We come with great thanksgiving and with all requests that we believe to be in accord with His will.
Calvin explores the content of our prayers based on The Lord’s Prayer as given to us by Christ in the Scriptures. Here we have something that we can confidently bring before God, knowing that He has explicitly bid us to ask for these things.
The prayer contains six petitions, with the first three concerned directly with God’s glory, and the final three focusing upon our needs. Before any of these six petitions, the introduction to this prayer, “Our Father, who art in heaven,” reminds us of the inestimable benefit that we have in being able to address God as our father. There is no doubt that He is the greatest father. He is our father by creation, as the source of all of our life, but here He is especially addressed by His people because He is our father by adoption.
1. Hallowed be Thy name
The name of God is His essence. When we considered earlier what it means to know God, we mentioned His attributes of immortality, power, wisdom, goodness, justice, and mercy. In all of these things our God and Father is supreme, and we desire that He would be seen as great in the eyes of all. In His church and even throughout the world, we ask the Lord to cause His name to be held in high regard, even making the wrath of His enemies praise Him.
2. Thy kingdom come
God is already the Sovereign Ruler over all. Yet we do not yet see everything in submission to Him. We ask Him, therefore, for the increase of the kingdom of grace and for the coming soon of the kingdom of glory, that the fulfillment of all the good purposes of God would be completely accomplished.
3. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Here we pray for obedience to the Lord’s commands and also for patient submission to His decrees.
By asking this we renounce all desires of our own, handing over and consecrating to the Lord our every disposition, and praying that he will conduct things not in line with our wishes, but as he will both want and decide. (Truth, 57)
4. Give us this day our daily bread
All of our requests to God are built upon the basic spiritual truths that we have been considering. We again recognize our desperate poverty, and ask for our daily provision as a gift from His riches. Our God is in charge of everything, and He has bid to ask him for our daily needs.
5. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
In our prayers to God we admit that we are debtors. Therefore we confess our sins and we seek the fullest forgiveness. As those who are grateful for the generous mercy we have received through Jesus Christ, we are committed to extending to others the greatest forgiveness.
6. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
There are temptations that would be too much for us, and we pray that God will keep us from these, and that he would grant us rescue when we fall.
These are the petitions of The Lord’s Prayer, and they form a very helpful outline for us of this important directive for the child of God.
One final matter concerning prayer: We recognize that there are things that we have asked God to do that yet seem to remain undone. How are we to deal with this? We are certainly called to persevere in prayer, but Calvin gives some helpful further instruction on this matter:
…if, finally, after a long wait, our minds cannot grasp what is the point of our praying, and do not feel that it leads to anything, our faith will nonetheless make us certain of what our senses cannot perceive – that we have obtained everything that was necessary to us. By faith we shall then possess abundance in want and comfort in grief. In fact, even if we have to go without everything, God will never abandon us, for he cannot disappoint the expectation and patience of those who are his. He, on his own, will take the place of everything, for he contains in himself everything that is good – a fact that he will fully reveal in the future. (Truth, 62)
Our prayer is something that we do alone, but it is also something that we do together in worship. We should never feel free to eliminate one in favor of the other. We should instead commit ourselves to the priority of both secret individual prayer, and gathered prayer together as the Lord’s church.
Prayer would appear to be nothing more than weak people talking to their invisible God based on His own invitation and promises. Let us pause here and consider how God, who defeated sin and death for His children through the cross of Christ, can do powerful things with methods that appear to be very weak.
Means of Grace #2: The Ministry and Power of Sacraments
Sacraments are religious ceremonies instituted by Christ for the church. According to this definition, there are only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They are visible expressions of the invisible grace of God declared by external signs.
Sacraments are clearly commanded by Christ. In Matthew 28:19-20, the main command is to make disciples. This is accomplished by going where the gospel is not known and preaching Christ there, then by baptizing those who are to be numbered as a part of the church, and by teaching them to observe all things that Christ has commanded.
The Lord’s Supper is also commanded with the words “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). As those who are committed to be disciples who will obey Christ in all things (Matthew 28:20), we must celebrate the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
There is a connection between the method of sacraments and the communal faith we proclaim. Sacraments are both a testimony of faith before God and a testimony of faith before men. They are designed by God for our assurance and our growth in the Lord’s grace as we together exercise our faith in a public setting of worship.
We must admit that especially in our day and age sacraments appear to be very insignificant. Nonetheless, they point to matters of the greatest importance, and God is able to make them powerful. What is a sacrament? It is an “expression of the grace of God declared by an external sign.” (Truth, 64) Through Baptism and the Lord’s Supper “the Lord depicts and bears witness to us his good will toward us, in order to support the weakness of our faith” (Truth, 64). Let us briefly examine each of these sacraments.
Baptism – the Powerful Sacrament of Union with Christ
Acts 2:36-47 tells us the story of the first Christian church after the pouring out of the Spirit of God. The picture is one of a powerful life of communal love. But to enjoy this life of communion, there must first be union between Christ and His people.
This union has certainly taken place in the major events of our redemption. Romans 6:1-11 assures us that we were united with Christ in His life, His death, His burial, and His resurrection. This union with Him is shown forth in the sacrament of baptism. When the gospel was first preached by Peter in Acts 2, those hearing His message under the conviction of the Holy Spirit were told to do something. Baptism was a part of that instruction.
This sacrament speaks to us in a visible way about the cleansing that we have obtained through Christ’s blood and the renewing power of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Here we have a sign of our union with Christ in His death, with a view to new life in Him that is both a promise of God and a duty for the recipient of this sacrament.
Calvin briefly deals with the matter of whether infants are worthy recipients of this ceremony:
Since the Lord’s covenant with us is first and foremost confirmed by baptism, we also rightly baptize our children, for they share in the eternal covenant by which the Lord promises that he will be not only our God, but also the God of our descendants (Gen. 17:6-8). (Truth, 66)
This does not mean that the waters of baptism are
the cause or even the instrument, of cleansing and regeneration, but only that the knowledge of these gifts is received in the sacrament. We are said to receive, obtain, and rightfully procure that which we believe to be given by the Lord, whether we are knowing these gifts for the first time, or whether, having already known them, we are being more persuaded of having them. (Truth, 65)
The children are a part of the covenant community, and therefore receive the sign of the covenant. Calvin is not saying that salvation is by Baptism. The children are called to express and live the life of faith, and cannot partake of the second covenantal sign without a clear profession of this faith. They are a part of the church, but they must be judged as those who are able to examine themselves and to proclaim the Lord’s death if they are to have full communion with the body of believers. This leads us to a further discussion of the second covenantal sign.
The Lord’s Supper – the Powerful Sacrament of Communion with Christ
In addition to baptism there is a second sacramental reality for the church. The author of Acts points to this meal of communion as one of the things that the early believers in Jerusalem devoted themselves to. Here in this simple meal, the pillars of our faith that we have discussed thus far are presented to us and partaken of by us.
This communion with Christ is very real, yet spiritual.
…in the Supper the Lord gives us teaching which is so certain and unmistakable that we must be assured without doubt that Christ, with all his riches, is there presented to us, no less than if he were placed before our eyes and touched by our hands. (Truth, 67)
We are talking of spiritual communion, which is effected by the bond of the Holy Spirit alone, and which in no way requires a presence enclosed in Christ’s flesh through the bread or his blood through the wine. (Truth, 66)
Sacraments would appear to be nothing more than the pouring out of water and the eating and drinking of bread and the fruit of the vine, with people saying words as others observe. Let us pause here and again consider how God, who defeated sin and death for His children through the cross of Christ, can do powerful things with methods that appear to be very weak.
Means of Grace #3: The Ministry and Power of the Word
The ministry of the Word is the reading, preaching, and teaching the Word, so that Christ is proclaimed and known. This ministry insists that the Word of God be rightly followed within the household of faith. This important matter of teaching and discipline is addressed by Calvin under the heading of “order in the church.”
It is God who has established this order, and it is the ascended Christ who has given pastors to the church. These ministers of the Word are gifts of the risen Christ for the building up of His body. Their task is to lead the prayer of the church, administer the sacraments, and especially to preach and teach the Word with authority and love. According to Acts 6:1-4, it is of utmost importance that they not be distracted from this work.
The pastors of the church have real authority from God, but there are real limits to that authority. The power that they have is entirely the power of the Word. They do not have any authority to threaten or take away the property or life of anyone.
While there can be a place for some human traditions for the necessary establishment of order, this does not give pastors the right to establish spiritual laws.
… we must energetically resist rulings considered essential to the service and honor of God which, known as spiritual laws, might be laid down in order to bind consciences. These ordinances do not only destroy the liberty which Christ has secured for us, but they cloud the nature of true religion and do violence to the majesty of God who, all alone, wishes to reign in our consciences by means of his Word. (Truth, 72)
Despite the fact that the authority of pastors has important limits, it is yet an important power for the good of the church – a power which has been established by God.
Those who despise this discipline and order not only dishonor men, but God himself. Sectarian in spirit, they withdraw from the fellowship of the church, which can in no way hold together without such a ministry (Truth, 69-70).
The ultimate sanction of the church upon a member who turns away from God and refuses to submit to the Word of God is the removal of such a person from the communion table, which is referred to as “excommunication.”
The purpose of this discipline is not to hurt anyone; but to defend the glory of God, to protect the purity and unity of the church, and to attempt to reclaim the one who is wandering and in danger. It is the church’s hope that those who have walked away from Christ and His ways would turn away from sin and come back home.
If wicked people change for the better, the church tenderly receives them afresh both into its fellowship and into the sharing of that unity from which they have been excluded. (Truth, 73)
The ministry of the Word would appear to be nothing more than one person talking about the words and truths of the Bible, and others considering those words. It is difficult to believe that people will actually change through this kind of activity. Let us pause here again to consider how God, who defeated sin and death for His children through the cross of Christ, can do powerful things with methods that appear to be very weak.
The point of using what seems weak to do what powerful men cannot do is that the glory goes to God. All that would be accomplished in and through the church is grounded in Christ. All of it is done through the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore there is no room to boast in self.
If we want to see the power of God’s love at work in and around us then we will pay close attention to the Lord’s instruction to make use of three things that look powerless, but that He promises to make powerful.
Pillar 5: The Resulting Witness to and Transformation of a Dying World
We have considered how God will use prayer, sacraments, and the ministry of the Word to build up His church. But is the establishment of God’s church the Lord’s only concern?
So many people around the world have suffered under oppressive regimes and evil men. They want real political freedom and true free markets so that diligent workers and entrepreneurs can work toward a better future. They want societies of honesty and order where the expectation of corruption and bribery is not the norm. They do not want to have to leave their countries in order to survive. They want a better way of life for their children and grandchildren.
Will God not use His church to change the world, or are these things civil matters that are beyond the right concern of the church?
First, Calvin does recognize an important and honored role for civil rulers for the ordering of society. Rulers are established by God for justice in protecting the innocent, and for judgment in punishing the evildoer (Truth, 75). They are a gift of God for our good, and we are called to respectfully submit to these governing authorities, unless they command us to violate the law of God.
The biblical understanding of the civil magistrate can be part of the key to positive change in the world, but we should not think that this is the whole story of how God changes the world.
What is the rest of the story? What should the church be doing to express the care of God for the world? If God cares, and if we are called to care, how is that care to be expressed?
God will be pleased to change the world through the same means of grace and the obedience of faith that God uses to build His church. This is the surprise of the fifth pillar of our faith. The means of grace are not only for the gathering and perfecting of the elect. God calls on us to pray, to administer the sacraments, and to do the ministry of the word in such a way that blessings flow beyond the borders of the church.
We have a yearning for right expressions of justice and mercy in our land now, and so we should. A life of church seclusion is not consistent with our calling. We ought to earnestly desire those things that are most consistent with the holiness, wisdom, goodness, beauty, and truth of God. There is no part of the created order that is so secular by its nature that it has nothing to do with the God of providence.
How can prayer, sacraments, and preaching by the church have a powerful impact on individuals and society outside of the worshipping assembly? Let us consider what Calvin says about these matters.
The church’s prayers can change the world.
In every petition in the Lord’s Prayer we are asking God for more than growing, healthy churches. We have too often restricted our prayers to something less than the Lord’s full concerns. We need to remember that our God is not only the God of the church, He is the God of creation and providence.
When we pray that the name of God would be hallowed, we should consider that God restrains sin every day. He is able to make the wrath of His enemies praise Him. He directs all the great works of His Spirit whereby those who are far from Him are drawn near. What are the great offenses around us against the holy name of God? What will be necessary for these situations to be changed? The church must expand her prayers.
When we pray “Thy kingdom come,” Calvin says:
We are also asking that God, by new and increased numbers, will so cause his light and truth to shine every day that Satan, his lies, and the darkness of his reign, may be scattered and done away with. (Truth, 56)
When Calvin considers our petition for the furtherance of God’s will, he writes:
Here we are asking that God should rule and direct everything on earth in accordance with his good pleasure, just as he does in heaven, making use of all his creatures and subjecting all wills to himself, just as he wishes. (Truth, 57)
When we pray for our daily bread, surely the Lord, who feeds the hungry beast in the deepest wilderness, would have us express our concerns for all kinds of people all over the world who are in daily need of His aid. Since we know ourselves to be desperately poor in our spiritual condition, we are the most obvious people to have a heart for the needy. In every capacity we seek to be instruments of His mercy.
If we ask God to forgive us our debts, are we not admitting that we are debtors? If we are debtors to God dependant upon His grace, should we not be instruments of forgiveness everywhere? If Job was righteous in seeking forgiveness for his sons and daughters, we can also join our voices to the One who cried, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We are told to pray for our enemies. Do we not realize that prayers like that will change the world?
When we recognize our need to be delivered from Satan’s snare, surely we will be moved with compassion for those beyond the walls of the church. We will also recognize that evil is more than individual; it can be organizational and societal. In every way possible we can ask the Lord to aid us, and to work both through us and beyond us, that we might overcome evil with good.
These matters cannot safely be left in a “secular” pile for governments and foundations to address on their own. Calvin knows of a world where the church is a part of a good social order. The careful consideration of the Lord’s Prayer should help us in broadening the scope of our prayers. We should not only be praying for our families and the progress of the church; there is much that is disorderly, foolish, and evil all around us.
The Lord, who causes His sun to shine on both the just and the unjust, bids us to imitate him in caring about the world. With prayer and with obedient acts of compassion and service we seek all kinds of blessing from the hand of God in areas that are far beyond our capacities of achievement or even far beyond our imagination.
The church’s celebration of the sacraments when combined with a faithful ministry of the Word can change the world.
Calvin insists that the sacraments are not only for the exercising of our faith before God, but also before men. In this second use of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, these sacraments are a public confession.
Baptism… is a mark by which we publicly declare our intention to be numbered among the people of God, so as to honor and serve him in one and the same religion as all believers. (Truth, 65-66)
For this testimony to have its most significant impact, the distinction between the church and the world must be more than sacramental. If the church is no different than the world, then the sacramental signs and seals of the church would seem to be empty ceremonies testifying to our hypocrisy and powerlessness.
The communion that we have in the body of Christ should be a powerful testimony to the world that stands outside of the body of Christ. As this sacrament spurs us on in mutual concern and love, others are brought to wonder why they stand so far away from such an extraordinary love – both that of our Savior for His people, and also our love for one another.
…this sacrament exhorts us to join with each other in the same sort of unity in which the members of a body, linked as they are, are bound together. For no stronger or sharper spur could be given to move and encourage us to mutual love than this: Christ, in giving Himself for us, does not only invite us by His example to give and consecrate ourselves to each other, but makes himself to be shared by all, and also makes us all one in himself. (Truth, 68)
This important sacramental testimony before the world is lost when the church invites everyone to the table of the Lord without regard to the question of faith. The meal is to be a church meal, not a ceremony for those who have not yet embraced the truth of Christ’s atoning death for sinners.
For this function of the sacraments to be an effective witness there must be a faithful connection between the teaching ministry of the church and the celebration of the sacraments. The ministry of the Word should call us to a life of faith and repentance, and the table of the Lord should be closed to those who have not responded to that call.
We have almost no remaining sense of the benefits to the world of the church’s devotion to prayer, sacraments, and an authoritative ministry of the word. When these three are practiced without fundamental biblical integrity, the world finds it very easy to ignore the church and her ceremonies. But what would happen in our day if the church prayed, celebrated the sacraments, and preached expecting to change the world through these acts of worship?
What if God were pleased to work a thoroughgoing reformation of the church, so that many churches became dissatisfied with the latest fads, and returned again to God and the means of grace that He has ordained? How might the Lord Himself hear our prayers and push back the kingdom of darkness in our day?
The role of the obedience of faith and the sovereignty of God
God will use the tools that He has ordained for the church in order to call us to a greater measure of obedience that flows from faith. As the true Christian hears the word preached in its fundamental integrity, his heart is changed and his life is moved in paths of righteousness. The more that any society is filled with courageous believers who are willing to live lives of integrity – lives that inevitably reach into all parts of society and culture, the more we should see great fruits of gospel living in our world.
Furthermore, we must again remind ourselves that it is God alone who can change people and social structures. He is the one who will cause liberty and order to be established in any place. He is also the one who can lift the needy from the ash heap and make him sit with princes. If he tells us to pray, to commune with him at the Lord’s Supper, and to eagerly attend to the preaching of the word, is it not possible that he will be pleased to bring great blessings to the place where many churches eagerly attempt to obey Him on these matters? He is the Sovereign Lord. If blessings come, they will certainly be from His hand.
It cannot be a wise course for the church to ignore His directives for ministry.
Why is the church not having a more fruitful impact on the world in our region?
I began this essay with the story of a young woman that I met on a flight back home to New Hampshire after a mission trip to Romania. During that flight I had an opportunity to present to her the five pillars of Calvinism, as well as what I have called the five pillars of non-practicingism. Now that I have done that more formally and fully in this essay, we can compare and contrast these two religious perspectives.
Here again are our two lists for your convenient use:
The Five Pillars of Calvinism-
1. The All-Surpassing Glory of God
2. The Surprising Depth of Human Sin
3. The Perfect Righteousness and Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ
4. The Powerful and Orderly Plan of New Testament Church Life
5. The Resulting Witness to and Transformation of a Dying World
The Five Pillars of Non-Practicingism-
1. There is a god.
2. I am not rejecting that god.
3. I loosely embrace the tradition I am most comfortable with.
4. I disturb no one with any faith claims.
5. I ask that no one disturb me with their faith claims.
Why would anyone die for the second list? There is nothing in this list that inspires sacrificial action. Oddly enough, the second list seems designed merely to show a distaste for those who hold to the first list. I would give my life for the all-surpassing glory of the true God, but there is nothing very powerful about the existence of the undefined god of non-practicingism. Our proud hearts are humbled by the truth of our deep sin, but there is nothing similarly humbling about the second list. It simply allows me to feel superior to those who claim to know an answer to life’s deepest questions in the person and work of Jesus Christ, as if the non-answer of non-practicingism was more intellectually or morally satisfying than the biblical message of Christ.
Any “Christ” that might be found in non-practicingism would be a pale imitation of the Savior who actually atoned for my sins on the cross before a holy God. The church of non-practicingism is indistinguishable from the world, and merely desires not to disturb anyone with any faith claims. Calvinism, on the other hand, has been a leaven for truth, order, and beauty for centuries in those lands where the church has seriously embraced the task of biblical reformation.
We live in a sea of non-practicingism. What is the crying need of the church in the midst of non-practicingism? It is the reformation of the church. The church that lives in a sea of non-practicingism is battling overwhelming clouds of doctrinal and moral confusion. This kind of confusion will of course have an impact on the world, causing many to wonder whether our first goal should be the reformation of a disorderly world, rather than the reformation of the church within that disorderly world. It is important for us to consider the priority of addressing the reformation of the church, and to begin to see that the resulting changes that will come in the world will be the fruit of God’s blessing, rather than the root of the answer. The root of the answer is in God and in the reformation of His church.
The reformation of the church is a more important goal for us than evangelism. Evangelism in the world of non-practicingism leaves us scratching our heads. So many “conversions” end up only being confusions as people slowly begin to realize that the church believes in something different than the spirituality which they thought they were signing up for. Solid and significant evangelism will be a fruit of the reformation of the church.
The reformation of the church is a more important goal for us than mercy ministry. Mercy ministry in the world of non-practicingism will not readily be connected in the minds of the watching world to any particular theology. Non-practicingists have already separated doctrine from life. Why should your benevolent life cause someone to think that your behavior has anything to do with your beliefs? After all, there are service clubs all over the Western world doing amazing works of goodness with absolutely no shared doctrinal convictions. God-honoring mercy ministries are not the root of the answer for us. They are the fruit of something more foundational.
The reformation of the church is a more important goal for us than political action. It is a wonderful and necessary thing to seek that our governments would be honest, efficient and just. We should pray for these things and pursue them in accord with our particular callings. But the kingdom of God will not come through laws and military power. Stable free societies will ultimately come from our attention to matters of even greater importance than the matters that God has assigned to those who wield the sword.
God in Christ united to His church attending to the means of grace must be the matter of utmost concern to us. This is the testimony of the Scriptures. All the rest will be fruit, the gift of our sovereign Lord.
Should we be zealous for evangelism? Absolutely. Should we give ourselves to acts of mercy? We must. Should we be good citizens who submit to lawful authority and work for what is good and right? This too is a good plan. But our concern for clarity in the church that bears the name of Jesus Christ must come before all of these things, or we are not adequately considering the depth of the spiritual problem that we have in our day.
Many nations are seeking prosperity and freedom. They know that their problems are not merely material, but also spiritual. They long for real change in their lands. They look to the west for answers, but the west has long ago walked away from the kind of solid church doctrine and practice that yielded such tremendously blessed fruit. Anyone can desire the fruit, but the wise man will see the necessity of the root.
Do we really already know the doctrines of our faith?
The pillars of reformation faith must be heard and considered by pastors. We must not fall into the deadly trap of presuming that we do not need to speak about God’s glory, sin, and Christ, since we all supposedly know those things so very well. We flatter ourselves. We need to hear the truth about Christ all the time. It is never safe for us to dismiss the pillars of our faith, as if these are so well-known and followed that we can now proceed to important practical matters. God has placed ministers in positions of important teaching authority in the church. We need to be aware of our present weakness. We need to see our heritage again in clear godly doctrines, and godly living that flows from those doctrines.
If we cannot see the importance of the pillars of our faith, there is little hope that our churches will see the truth. Pastors must be the ones who commit to the preaching of the Scriptures in such a way that the message of our historic faith is once again boldly proclaimed. It is pastors who will be used by God for the reformation of His church.
We must be a reformation voice.
We stand on these truths: God is amazingly glorious. We are wretchedly sinful. God the Father made Christ the Son, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, in order that we might be counted as the righteousness of God in Him. This Christ who saved us is now King of His church, and He has shown us the way of worship and ministry in His Word. This must be our focus, and we undertake our calling as ministers of the Word with a belief that God is powerful to change both the church and the world through means that look very weak.
I do care about the soul of that young woman from Uzbekistan who I met on the plane coming back from Romania. She came to America to study, and she picked up non-practicingism. Our care for the lost motivates us to work for the reformation of the church, so that the church in our region can once again bring the word of truth clearly to the one who would have ears to hear it.
