Part 2: From Apostates to Apostles
John Calvin was educated like other nobility at the best Universities available. He studied humanities, theology and law in France at Noyon, Paris, Orleans and Bourges. He was not a priest although he did work to pay his tuition by doing some of the functions of a Chaplain. Somewhere along this course, he came in contact with Lutheranism and converted to Protestantism. He preached in Paris along with Nicholas Cop regarding the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He was denounced by French Parliament and fled the city and went to Noyon. Later he returned to Paris, where the Catholic Church had just executed 24 followers of Luther.
So brutal and inhuman was their torture and desecration that Calvin, Marot, Olivetan and other future reformers, left France altogether and went to Basle in Switzerland. Here Calvin translated his book, “Institutes of the Christian Religion”, into French. In it he defended the beliefs of the Evangelicals and attacked the practices of the Roman Church.
In 1536, Geneva was finally freed from control by the Duke of Savoy. The Bishop of Geneva declared a resolution to live by the teachings of the Bible. He invited Calvin to be teacher and pastor of the Church in Geneva.
What followed was a step-by-step reform of the religion, customs, and manners of the people through the cooperation of the Protestant Church and civil authorities, under the influence of Calvin. All holidays except Sunday were abolished. Sacrament was to be administered monthly, and to be certain it was observed, agents were appointed to report the unworthy for discipline and excommunication. A catechism and confession were approved by council. Cards, dancing, and theatre were forbidden. Too much display at a marriage ceremony could result in imprisonment. Citizens had to attend sermons, listen with respect and be home before nine o’clock. Council began to object, suggesting Calvin should force only less-stringent regulations, as were enforced in Bern. He refused. The council forbade Calvin to preach and forced him to leave the city.
Calvin moved on to Strasbourg where he continued preaching and writing. He married and became pastor of a congregation of French refugees. In 1541, the party that opposed him in Geneva fell into disfavor and he was recalled.
Over the next 20 years Calvin reorganized the administration of the Church. Disputes were settled by the ministers but if they failed to agree, the matters were turned over to the civil authorities thus replacing the Bishops entirely. The last source of authority in replacing officers and matters of discipline now became the State. Likewise, any offense or transgression of the moral laws of the Church, were offenses and acts of civil disobedience, punishable by law. Anyone accused of heresy now received the death penalty.
Because of his acceptance of the doctrines created by Augustine, Calvin became cruel, vindictive and oppressive – just as the other reformers had done and the Catholic Church before them. Though the Catholic Church had lost its tight grip on the spiritual necks of people, it had not changed in the least degree. Calvin was still convinced God was responsible for everything but sin. Man was predestined to be a sinner or saved, therefore he had not the slightest ability to change any of it. The reformers were also convinced that revelation had ceased, and that priesthood and authority were irrelevant. What they did not recognize was that the Church was cut off from its lifeblood and nothing that the reformers could do would change any of that.
Completely dead churches in an unsolvable impasse, unwilling to settle their differences, stood face-to-face. There they remained, different from each other and waiting for someone to blink. What was very apparent was this was not the right time, nor the right place, nor right conditions for the restoration. The restored gospel could never have survived or taken hold. God knew that and so his hand continued it’s slow but careful preparation of the right place, time and person by whom he could reveal the truth to a world that would be ready to hear.