Reading Notes from Niesel's The Theology of Calvin: Part Three of Three

For earlier posts, see part one and part two.

Chapter 13: The Church:

Calvin “characterized the being of the church by a single word which was applied to it from the earliest times; the church is our mother” (186).

Calvin: “Of the true church, with which we strive to be at one, since it is the mother of all the pious” (186; Inst. 4.1.1).

“Anyone who sees in Calvin the author of all centrifugal tendencies in church life shows that he has not read a single line of him” (196).

“But whether the church is a true church or not cannot be decided by the moral condition of its life; it must be decided solely by asking whether it preaches the Word” (198).

“Calvin did not include the fact of the exercise of church discipline among the signs by which the true church may be recognized. Here again the Christocentric direction of his theology becomes clear. The reality of the church depends not upon our standards, even though they may have been commanded us, but solely upon the work of Christ accomplished towards us and within us through Word and Sacrament. Yet Calvin maintained that the existence of the church can hardly be preserved apart from the exercise of discipline” (199).

Calvin: “As for the outward details of the action, whether believers should take the bread in their hand or not, should distribute it among themselves or whether they should eat the portion just as it is given to him, whether they should hand the cup back to hand of the deacon or pass it to their neighbor, whether the bread should be leavened or unleavened, whether red or white wine should be used—all this is of no importance. These things are merely material instruments about which we can decide freely” (Inst. 4.17.43; as cited on 206-207).

Niesel: “Under no cirumstances must we idolize what are after all simply the forms of worship” (207).

“Now and then it is even good if complete uniformity does not prevail ‘so that it may be manifest that the Christian faith does not consist in such matters’” (207).

Chapter 14: The sacraments:

“The fellowship with the divine… is real fellowship not fusion” (226).

Chapter 15: Secular Government:

Calvin: “Even if we lived under Turks, tyrants, or deadly enemies of the gospel it would still be incumbent upon us to be subject to them? Why? Because it is the good pleasurer of God” (239).

For Calvin, even the worst tyrant “‘is better than no order at all.’ It is better and more profitable than anarchy” (242).

Calvin: “If it is possible for us to live in a place where God is truly honored and worshipped, then it is by far better to live in exile than to remain in the fatherland from which Christ the King of heaven and earth has been banished” (as cited on 245).

[Note: Recall that Calvin lived in Geneva as an exile from his homeland of France. Cf. Herman Selderhuis’ John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life.]

Niesel: “In this sentence there resounds once again the theme of Calvin’s whole life and work. It is the name of Jesus Christ” (245).

Chapter 16: The theology of Calvin and its structural organization:

“Jesus Christ controls not only the content but also the form of Calvinistic thought” (247).

Calvin on the relation between justification and sanctification: “Just as Christ cannot be torn asunder, so these two benefits which we receive in Him both simultaneously and in conjunction (simul et coniunctim in ipso) are not to be separated from one another” (249).

Last line of book: “…the structure of Calvin’s thoughts is dependent on the Chalcedonian definition and so on the living fact of divine self-revelation” (250).

JTR

Reading Notes on Niesel's Theology of Calvin: Part Two of Three

For part one, look here.

Chapter 9: The grace of Christ within us:

“Again and again we find in the writings of Calvin the image of incorporation in Christ. He lays all possible stress upon that as the essence of salvation” (125).

On sanctification, for Calvin, “progress is properly the recognition of our lack of progress” (129).

“Calvin placed his doctrine of regeneration before his doctrine of justification in order from the start to forestall the objections of Romanist theologians. To be righteous in the sight of God solely by faith—that was the message of the Reformation (130).

“We must distinguish between justification granted to man in his estrangement from God and the justification which the believer needs during his lifetime. Hence there is a justification which pays no regard to the works of man and a justification in regard to which works are considered as the fruits of faith (135).

“The effect of our incorporation into Christ is so great that we are justified in our being as a whole, and thus our deeds become acceptable to God for Christ’s sake” (136).

“It has been objected that Calvin simply juxtaposes the doctrines of justification and sanctification without setting them in immediate relation to each other. This criticism does not reflect upon Calvin so much as on the theologians who have expressed it and still do express it” (137).

“…Christ makes no one just whom He does not also make holy” (137).

Chapter 10: The life of a Christian man:

Calvin coined the epigram: “Man becomes happy through self-denial” (144).

“Calvin preaches neither pessimism nor optimism but calls us inexorably to the imitation of Jesus Christ” (151).

Chapter 11: Prayer:

Calvin’s definition of prayer: “Prayer is none other than an expanding of our hearts in the presence of God” (152-153).

“The sphere in which prayer is properly exercised is the church” (156).

In the Institutes, “Calvin gives instructions about prayer rather than a doctrine of prayer” (156).

“There is no prayer without the firstfruits of the Spirit, i.e., without communion with Christ. But then it is also true that we cannot belong to Christ and abide in Him without constant prayer (158).

Chapter 12: God’s eternal election:

On assurance and the “Syllogismus practicus”: Calvin “concedes that our works can be for us signs that we are in a state of grace, provided that we have first assuredly and sufficiently recognized our salvation to lie in the Word of God and in Christ” (174).

On Calvin’s exegesis of 1 John 3:14: Works are not “the real foundation of our salvation” nor “the ground of our recognition of it” (175-176).

“Nowhere does Calvin teach the Syllogismus practicus” (178).

Note: For a critique of Niesel’s view of Calvin on the practical syllogism, see Joel R. Beeke, The Quest for Full Assurance: The Legacy of Calvin and His Successors, pp. 65 ff.

JTR

Reading Notes from Niesel's Theology of Calvin: Part One of Three

A few months ago I finished reading Wilhelm Niesel’s The Theology of John Calvin (Lutterworth Press, 1956; trans. Harold Knight; German original published, 1938).

The work has 16 chapters offering a survey of Calvin’s theology under various heads. 

Here are some select notes:

Chapter 1: The present state of critical studies:

Niesel offers a survey of opinion of the times on the center of Calvin's thought:

Bauke: “The theology of Calvin has in fact no basic principle” (11).

Pannier: “Calvin’s spirit is essentially the spirit of the French race” (11).

Weber: The key to Calvin is “the honor of God” (13). Calvin reflected “the primitive character of the soul and life peculiar to the Latin people” (13).

Mülhaupt: The foundation of Calvin’s theology: “the idea of the gracious will” (16).

Niesel: “in Calvin’s doctrine it is a question of the content of all contents—the living God” (19).

Chapter 2: The knowledge of God:

The aim of Calvin in the Institutes is “to attain and expound a synthesis of the contents of Scripture” (23).

“Hence the aim of Calvin’s theology seems to be not an unfolding of “philosophia humana” but an exposition of “philosophia christiana” which God gives us in the Bible (24).

According to Niesel, Calvin takes a “literal” view of the Bible but “did not understand inspiration in any mechanical fashion” (31).

Niesel: Nothing in Calvin’s exegesis suggests a belief in “literal inerrancy” (31).

“That the God of majesty speaks to us to-day in the word of Scripture and babbles with us, as it were, in this book, is a token of His condescension. Because that is so, Calvin so frequently utters the word of command: Ad verbum est veniendum [You must come to the Word”; Inst. 1.7.1]” (35).

Note: Niesel’s analysis of Calvin’s bibliology reflects the dialectical theology of his day.

Chapter 7: The Old and New Testaments:

Niesel: “In Calvin’s opinion the Old Testament does not reflect a primitive form of religion lower in degree than that of the New” (105).

For Calvin “the New Testament is like a colorful picture whereas the Old presents the appearance of a shadowy outline” (107).

Chapter 8: The Mediator:

“[Calvin] says that when we are thinking of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ we must not be understood to mean ‘that the Godhead left the heavens in order to confine itself to the chamber of Christ’s body, but that although it filled all things yet it dwelt corporeally precisely in the humanity of Christ, i.e., dwelt therein both naturally and ineffably’ [Inst. 4.17.30]. The Godhead of Christ fills all things and while not being restricted to the manhood of Christ yet dwells within it” (118).

“The paradoxical principle: God wholly within Jesus of Nazareth and yet wholly outside Him, was later termed the Extra Calvinisticum” (118).

“It is not the case that the Extra constitutes the centre of Calvinistic Christology. Calvin does not teach that God is to be found in Jesus Christ but is also to be fully encountered fully apart from Him. No; according to Calvin, God has disclosed Himself only in Jesus Christ and we must therefore hold fast to this One and not attempt to seek God outside the Mediator. But as a critical distinction the Extra has its value. In Jesus Christ we are faced not merely by enhanced nature, but the fact is that there God Himself stands revealed to us” (119).

Calvin: “The Word chose the body of the Virgin as a temple in which to dwell” [Inst. 2.14.1].

JTR