When War seems unjust

 In March 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. This involved loss of life and home for many as huge numbers of people were displaced.

In the Institutes Book 4, 20,11 Calvin poses the following question about one nation making war with another:

For if power has been given to them to preserve the tranquillity of their dominion, to restrain the seditious stirrings of restless men, to help those forcibly oppressed, to punish evil deeds can they use it more opportunely than to check the fury of one who disturbs both the repose of private individuals and the common tranquillity of all who raises seditious tumults and by whom violent oppressions and vile misdeeds are perpetrated?

The problem for the international community would seem to be that the invader in the case of the Ukrainian War: Russia is the nation that is intent on oppression and actions that are evil.

It is necessary to realise the context in which Calvin is composing this text. It occurs at the end of the Institutes. Earlier Calvin has indicated that we should follow the scriptural injunction to submit the earthly authority (Romans 13:1) unless the ruler is ungodly where we should follow our consciences Acts 5:29. He develops his arguments largely with the premise that the rulers or princes are aware of the ultimate sovereignty of God. In the case of the regime in Russia this would appear not to be the case.

For Calvin the state authority, if it recognises and acknowledges God must therefore be able to punish individuals who commit misdeeds and defend “by war the dominions entrusted to their safekeeping”. He says that “the holy Spirit declares such wars to be lawful by many testimonies of scripture”. This is a direct reaction to the pacifism of the Anabaptists who did not allow for rulers to defend their people.

The Russian Orthodox church would appear to support the invasion of Ukraine. By no means can the invasion be seen as a legitimate defence of the Russian nation. A viable route to a clear conscience for Russian Orthodox Christians would seem to be by taking the actions described in Acts 5:29, but that will be costly for their jobs families and well being. The choices for us may not be as physically stark, but come around day by day, especially as the UK government seems to have abandoned any moral or ethical stance in many areas.

How long does healing take?

 John Calvin preached in St Peter’s Cathedral in Geneva at the time of the continental Reformation. His works were often hostile towards the practices used in the Roman Church, often described as “Popery”. The Cathedral in Geneva was founded in the twelfth century and probably had its last Catholic Mass in the year 1535. Geneva forced out its last resident Catholic Bishop in 1533. The city became the Rome of strict reformed protestantism and welcomed people like John Knox, the later founder of the Church of Scotland.

What ideas can twenty first century Christians glean about John Calvin’s approach to church unity? What did he see as the obstacles as he reformed the Church in Geneva? Calvin defined a sacrament as “a testimony of divine grace towards us, confirmed by an outer sign” (Institutes 4, 15, 1). He opposed the “papists for they do not make a distinction as they ought to do between the thing and the sign” (Commentary on First Peter, p118). He was strongly opposed to any type of adoration of the sacraments saying “What is their pretext for the boast that they worship Christ in the bread when they have no promise of any such thing? They consecrate the host as they call it to carry it about in procession to display it in solemn spectacle that it may be seen worshipped and called upon” (Institutes 4,17, 36-37)

Calvin ruled out any practice that supported transubstantiation, a doctrine still supported by the Roman Catholic Church today. His teaching on the sacrament supported the idea that it was the consumption of the bread and wine in faith that transformed them into the body and blood of Christ.

He taught that “the Lord’s kindness wherewith he has bestowed this sacred food upon us also teach and form us to receive it with faith and thankfulness of heart” (Institutes4, 17, 43).

For Calvin the celebration of the Mass in his own city of Geneva would have been shocking. Yet in 2022 it has taken place. Even so the unity of protestant denominations with our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ seems far away. Just how long will it take for healing of Christ’s Church to honour Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21 that all believers may be “one, even as Thou Father art in me and I in Thee that they may be in us”. How was far is church unity? How long does healing take?

What is the purpose of the Church?

 As the Covid-19 pandemic effects have begun to assuage, at least in England, questions have been raised about its effect on the Church and in particular the Church of England (which is established in England). What is the Church of England for? This question may be relevant to all churches seeking to draw people to know and love Jesus Christ. What did John Calvin believe was the ultimate goal of the Church in his generation?

Calvin’s Church was an ideal as well as an institution. The ideal was a hidden body of saints, chosen by God, known only to Him. This could not be achieved here on earth but through the careful preaching of the Word of God and correct administration of the sacraments then the visible church here on earth would resemble something of the invisible church. The latter is known solely to God Himself.

Calvin devoted an entire book of the Institutes to the visible Church, here on earth. This was motivated by the impact of Anabaptist anarchists on the church and society of the time. His view was in many ways similar to the one Luther had established in the Augsburg confession of 1530. A great deal of the book focusses on the manner of self examination the visible church should undertake in order to keep itself as close to the invisible church as possible.

The institution of the church was necessary because “in our ignorance and laziness we need outward assistance to establish and advance our faith and advance towards its goal and God has added assistance for our weakness. In order that the preaching of the Gospel might flourish he deposited this treasure in the Church. He instituted pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11) through whose lips He might teach His own.” (Institutes 4:10:1). The people in the church are “not only the saints living presently here on earth but all the elect from the beginning of the world”. Calvin recognises that the church here on earth does not comprise necessarily the same people who may be in God’s Church. In the visible church on earth “are mingled many hypocrites who have nothing of Christ but the name and the outward appearance” (Institutes 4:1:8-9).

Whilst recognising that there will be people who are members of the elect who are not in the Church fellowship here on earth, Calvin indicates that the presence at public worship is “required so we may mutually stimulate one another”. This premise is true today: issues of faith still have the power to unite and to divide the Church on earth. Which issues are the most pressing for God’s visible Church in the twenty first century? And within the Church of England? Are they different?