OceanSide church of Christ

 Previous Return to Articles Next 

CALVINISM (1)

A Brief History of John Calvin

Victor M. Eskew

 

            John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509.  Think about that.  He was born over 700 years ago.  He was born in Noyou, France.  His father, a cathedral notary and registrar to the ecclesiastical court, was Gerard Calvin.  His mother’s name was Jeanne Le Franc.  John had two brothers, Charles and Antoine.  John was the middle child.  John’s mother died when he was about four or five years of age.  Religiously, the home was Roman Catholic.  John’s father wanted all of his sons to become priests initially.

            John matured very early in life.  At the age of twelve, he became a clerk to a bishop.  A wealthy family took an interest in John and sent him to The Collage de la March where he learned Latin.  He then entered into the College de la Montaigu as a philosophy student.  His father changed his mind about his sons becoming priests.  He believed they would do better financially if they studied law.  He took John out of Montaigu and put in in the University of Orleans.  Later, he attended the University of Bourges.  There he learned both Hebrew and Koine Greek.

            During his time in the College de la Montaigu, Calvin came into contact with Renaissance Humanism.  This ideology questioned the teachings of the Catholic Church.  It also taught the need to return to the Bible as the sole spiritual guide.  Renaissance Humanism rejected the works salvation of Catholicism and emphasized salvation by grace.  Somewhere about the year 1530, Calvin left the Catholic Church and became a Protestant.  At first, he was not a prominent reformer, but he supported those who were.  When the Catholic Church in Paris, France turned up the heat against the reformers, Calvin left and ended up in Geneva, Switzerland.  He was convinced by the French Reformer, William Farel, to stay and assist the French refugees.  He and Farel wrote a Confession of Faith and presented it to the council of Geneva.  It was adopted quickly.  However, over the next year few individuals in the city would adhere to it.  The council soon turned against the two reformers and both left Geneva.  Calvin found his way to Strasbourg.  While in this city, he became a pastor to three different churches.  He would preach one time each day.  On Sundays he preached twice.  Communion was taken once a month.  During all of this time, he never forgot his French roots.  He did all he could to be an influence in the reformation in France. 

            Calvin was influenced by three things in his studies.  We have already mentioned the teachings of Renaissance Humanism.  Many of these teachings were taken from the writings of a fourth century church leader named Augustine.  He lived from 354 to 430.  He was the Bishop of Hippo in Numidia, Roman North Africa.  Augustine’s teachings involved such things as original sin, salvation and divine grace, and predestination based upon the foreknowledge of God.  A third influence on Calvin was a German reformer named Martin Luther (1483-1546).  Some of the points these two men held in common involved original sin, the absolute authority of the Scriptures, man’s absolute dependence on God’s grace, and salvation by faith alone. 

            Calvin documented his studies and conclusions in a work that is entitled, The Institutes of the Christian Religion.  The first edition came out in 1536.  This edition only had six chapters in it.  The second edition was printed in 1539.  There were 17 chapters in this edition.  Four years later in 1543, Calvin set forth his third edition of “The Institutes.”  This edition contained 80 chapters.  In 1558, the last edition came forth.  This final edition consists of four volumes containing a total of 80 chapters.  The four volumes are titled as follows:  Book 1:  “On God the Creator;” Book 2:  “On the Redeemer in Christ;” Book 3:  “Receiving the Grace of Christ through the Holy Spirit;” and Book 4  “On the Society of Christ and the Church.”

            This work has influenced the religious world in an unbelievable way.  Many Confessions of Faith are based on the teachings of John Calvin:  the Heidelberg Confession of Faith, The Belgic Confession of Faith, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Second Helvetic Confession of Faith, and the Gallic Confession of Faith.  Other groups have been influenced by Calvin even though their confessions do not reflect all aspects of Calvinism.  In the United States, the Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, and many evangelical churches proclaim the teachings of John Calvin.

            John Calvin married in 1540.  He married a widow named Idelette Stordeur.  She had two children from her previous marriage.  John and Idellete had three children, but all of them died in childhood.  Their marriage only lasted nine years.  In 1549, Idelette passed away.  Her death deeply grieved the theologian.             

            Calvin’s last years were spent in Geneva.  He helped to establish a school there.  It opened on June 5, 1559.  It was eventually named College Calvin.  The school was divided into two sections:  the grammar school and the advanced school.  The grammar school boasted an attendance of 1200 children.  The advance school had 300 attending it.  John also wrote many other things.  He authored commentaries on almost all of the books of the Bible.  He penned numerous confessions of faith.  He also wrote numerous theological treatises. 

            Late in 1558, Calvin developed a fever.  Shortly after his recovery, a violent fit of coughing caused him to burst a blood vessel in his lung.  Both of these things weakened him tremendously.  He preached his last sermon on February 6, 1564.  He wrote his will on April 25th.  He passed from this life on May 27, 1564 at the age of 54.  While his body lay in state, hundreds of people came to view him.  The reformers did not want a “saint cult” to form around him so his body was buried in an unknown grave in Cimetiere des Rois.