Theologian in the service of piety: a new portrait of Calvin

Christian Century, April 23, 1997 by Randall C. Zachman

A man of one book. The common impression of Calvin as a man of one book, the Institutes, is closely linked to the image of him as a rigidly systematic thinker. However, if Calvin desired as a teacher to open scripture to the unlearned, then the Institutes must be read with that motive in mind. Moreover, the Institutes cannot be read in isolation from his other work. His aim in writing the Institutes, Calvin said, was "to prepare and instruct candidates in sacred theology for the reading of the divine Word, in order that they may be able both to have easy access to it and to advance in it without stumbling." Even the order of right teaching which Calvin develops in the Institutes is designed to ensure the reader a profitable and fruitful encounter with scripture. Calvin thought the Institutes had "so embraced the sum of religion in all its parts, and . . . arranged it in such an order, that if anyone rightly grasps it, it will not be difficult for him to determine what he ought especially to seek in Scripture, and to what end he ought to relate its contents."

Calvin further labored to set forth the clear and genuine meaning of scripture in his biblical commentaries. The Institutes is what he terms a "necessary tool" for the reading of his commentaries. To regard the Institutes as Calvin's essential theological contribution is therefore a grave mistake. In Calvin's eyes, the significance of his commentaries was directly tied to the Roman church's deficiencies.

Calvin was convinced that the Church of Rome fell into decay when true interpreters of scripture were eclipsed by sophists and deceivers who obscured scripture's true meaning with their distorting glosses. To deliver the church from this impoverished state required restoring within it the brightness of scripture. For Calvin this meant dedicating himself not primarily to the Institutes but to biblical commentary. In 1551 he wrote to Edward VI of England about his commentaries, "In an especial manner I have resolved to devote myself to this work as long as I live, if time and place are afforded me. In the first place, the Church to which I belong shall receive the fruit of this labor, so that it may hereafter continue longer, for even if only a brief portion of time remains to me from the duties of my office, yet that, however small it may be, I have determined to devote to this kind of writing."

Calvin's Plans to write biblical commentaries probably date from the time he was converted I to the evangelical position in 1534. His first commentary, published in 1539, was on the Epistle to the Romans, the text Calvin believed to be the door to the whole of scripture. His work in Geneva slowed progress on this project, but after 1546 he had gained sufficient momentum to produce commentaries on most of the Hebrew Bible and the whole of the New Testament except 2 and 3 John and Revelation. Considering, in addition to his commentaries, his lectures on scripture and his expository sermons in Geneva, there can be no doubt that the clear exposition and application of the true meaning of scripture is the focus of Calvin's work. If pride of place is to be given to any of his writings, it should be given to the commentaries and not to the Institutes.