Christmas and New Year Special - Calvin and Newman : controversies against Arians

Calvin’s controversy with Servetus arose because Servetus defended Monarchianism of which there are two types.  Adoptionism is the belief that Christ was a mere man.  This is a form of psilanthropism put forward by Theodotus (one of the group of Greek philosophers who was with Galen).  A second type is modalism-  this blurs the distinctions between Father, Son and Holy Spirit and was first suggested by Noetus of Smyrna. In this form the names of the godhead become just names applicable at different times. Sabellus developed a more sophisticated form saying that the God head is like the sun with its warmth and light.  Calvin was unable to support such views because he maintained that the whole divinity came to us in the person of Christ, whilst the three persons of the Trinity remain distinct.

5. The confusion of creature with Creator

Calvin uses some words from Aristotle to draw out the idea that human beings often confuse the created order with the Creator, who, of course is God himself.  Aristotle said that “the soul is inseparable from the body.  Calvin recognises that the soul operates far outside the functions which serve the body.   “Of what concern is it to the body that you measure the heavens?” he says.  Calvin considers certain characteristics of humans that are “signs of divinity in man”.  These include things held in the memory or the skill to devise incredible things and “marvellous devices”.  He criticises Vergil for suggesting that the universe was its own Creator rather than a “spectacle of God’s glory”.

How do you understand nature/ where do you see God at work? Or do you regard him as uninvolved in nature? Would you agree with Calvin that nature is the “order prescribed by God”?

4. But man turns ungratefully against God

In the passage Calvin illustrates concisely and colourfully how human beings reject God’s goodness even in the creation of their bodies. He describes the human body as “exquisite workmanship” yet explains that human beings “substitute nature for God”.  How many of the advertisements we encounter day by day fall into this snare?

Could Calvin be mocking those who substitute their own bodies for God?  In a reference to the Cyclopes – a malformed giant who assisted the god Zeus in his war against the Titans in Greek mythology Calvin wonders about humans in their shameless war against God.

Whilst we now know the “course of atoms” that cook food and drink and turns some components of food into excrement, some in to blood and some into the energy for day to life we still do not know everything.  It is the things that we do not know that point to the signs of God’s divinity yet many according to Calvin set God “aside” from them.  In the twenty first century humans are just as guilty of this as they were in the sixteenth century.  Yet who would claim that human beings have made progress?

3. Man as the loftiest proof of divine wisdom

Calvin argues that there is no need to go outside of ourselves to find comprehension of God “for each one undoubtedly feels within the heavenly grace which quickens him”.  Most human beings today would sense this in some way even if they do not acknowledge God’s presence in their lives.  For when we feel good inside or experience something miraculous there is cause to wonder as to its source.

Calvin quotes David in the Psalms “what is man that thou art mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4).  Likewise “out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast established strength” (Psalm 8:2).  In this Calvin explains that even infants have tongues that can speak of the glory of their Creator.  So many people neglect to believe this: thinking that the splendour of human beings is no more than a blend of genes, coupled with nutrition, the environment and education.

For those who taste the love of God and are drawn to Him, Calvin believes such people will give themselves “freely and willingly to God’s service”.  How many people do you know for whom this is true?  Would you be among them?

2. the divine wisdom displayed for all to see

Observation through science (for Calvin) declares God’s wisdom as does observation “by untutored and ignorant persons”.  Does our world view observation by those who are scientists with such high esteem as those who are not educated in this way?  Does the modern mind always seek more sophisticated or exact knowledge?

How then do we view the human body? Calvin says the following about the human body  “a composition so ingenious that its Artificer is rightly judged a wonder worker”.  Many people would not see their bodies in this way for the media tell us that we are masters of our own bodies and our destiny.  No wonder the song “I did it my way” is so popular for funerals.  Can you imagine what Calvin would have thought of that?

What do we understand by the word “Artificer”? It is not commonly used day by day in the twenty first century.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as follows: craftsman, skilled mechanic in the army or navy.  How do we relate that definition to almighty God?  Perhaps some component is the ordering and discipline exerted by the natural world.  Predator prey relationships ensure that populations do not become too large.  Chromosomal segregation upholds the transfer of genes from parent to progeny and so on.  May be also there is a sense that God is in overall charge as a  craftsman can fashion whatever he desires from the material he works with or as a naval  commander has authority over a ship.

Chapter 5 The knowledge of God shines forth in the fashioning of the universe and the continuing government of it

1. The clarity of God's self disclosure strips us of every excuse

According to Calvin God "daily discloses himself in the whole workmanship of the universe"

In our twenty first century world how many people recognise that?

When the countryside and seaside are full of tourists on a sunny day do any of them recognise the source of the beauty and warmth they are enjoying?

Calvin suggests that it was impossible not to acknowledge that God's work points to Him quoting Psalm 104 verse 12.  Indeed the order of the universe mentioned by the author of the letter to the Hebrews is to Calvin a mirror in which we can envisage God.  These ideas seem alien in a society that largely worships the created order rather than its creator. For all the wonders of modern science and technology can generate new genes or chemical compounds it is the living God who provides the raw material.  Do you recognise this? Even when the sun is not shining?

The Ordinances of 1541

There are four orders of offices that our Lord instituted for the Government of his Church: first the pastors then the teachers, after those the elders and fourthly the deacons.  Therefore if we would have the church well -ordered and maintain it in its entirety we must observe that from of rule.

(By contrast in the first edition of the Institutes only the pastors and deacons are mentioned and the 1537 Articles mention only pastors)

What must they do?

·         Serve God faithfully

·         Keep the Ecclesiastical ordinances

·         Maintain the honour and privileges of the Seigneury and of the city

·         Obey the laws and the magistracy “without prejudice to the freedom we must teach what God commands us and to do those things that belong to our office”

How would ministers perform today against these criteria?

In the Church of England ordained minsters uphold the ordinal and serve God faithfully.  The relationship with the State is more difficult: we owe allegiance to the monarch but are ministers called to speak out against harsh measures put in place by the government of the time?

As Bucer did in Strasbourg, in Geneva Calvin always gave the Magistracy the right to the final decision.

How do Calvin’s fourfold requirements of minsters compare with the threefold ministry in the Church of England?  {pastors, teachers, elders and deacons vs Bishop, Presbyter and Deacon in the Church of England}