John Calvin: Theologian Of The Holy Spirit

By Eifion Evans

In an address on “John Calvin the theologian,” B. B. Warfield affirmed that Calvin’s interest “was most intense in the application to the sinful soul of the salvation wrought out by Christ ... Its effect ... has been to constitute Calvin pre-eminently the theologian of the Holy Spirit.” Warfield elaborates on the claim in this way:

In the same sense in which we may say that the doctrine of sin and grace dates from Augustine, the doctrine of satisfaction from Anselm, the doctrine of justification by faith from Luther—we must say that the doctrine of the work of the Holy Spirit is a gift from Calvin to the church.

He proceeds to trace Calvin’s outworking of the Spirit’s work in the Institutes, from the inner witness of the Spirit, through regeneration in its widest sense of sinful man’s recovery by God, to the ongoing ministry of the Spirit in the believer. He concludes that “above everything else, it is the sense of the sovereign working of salvation by the almighty power of the Holy Spirit which characterizes all Calvin’s thought of God.” [1]

A God-Possessed Soul

Those convictions were expressed at the beginning of the twentieth century and many scholars have since that time sought to find a unifying principle in Calvin’s theology. For Wilhelm Niesel, writing in 1938, “Jesus Christ controls not only the content but also the form of Calvinistic thought.” [2] In mid-century several emphasized Calvin’s experience and piety as pivotal to an understanding of his teaching. For A. Mitchell Hunter, Calvin was “a God-possessed soul” whose religion was” reflected in his crest—a hand with a burning heart in it, and the words, ‘I give Thee all’.” [3] Similarly, John T. McNeill regarded Calvin’s conversion as “more significant than his literary equipment ... It is mainly through a knowledge of his personality and experience of God that we should seek whatever unity is to be discovered in his thinking. ‘God subdued my heart to teachableness’.” [4] Subsequently, J. I. Packer has drawn attention to the importance of correlating experience with theology in any assessment of Calvin by stating that “Calvinism must be understood as a way of thinking before it can be effectively estimated as a set of beliefs.” [5] Ganoczy suggested a triple orientation: “‘Glory to God alone, in Christ the Lord alone, through his Word alone.’ Such a motto would summarize Calvin’s three great constructive principles, according to which he conceived his criticisms and programs of reform.” [6] In contrast to this theological framework, Bouwsma proposed philosophical categories of anxiety, composites and complexity, so that Calvinism is “a precarious balance among antithetical and shifting impulses.” [7] Still more recent is McGrath’s conclusion that “there is no ‘hard core,’ no ‘basic principle’ or ‘central premise,’ no ‘essence’ of Calvin’s religious thought” other than “Jesus Christ himself.” [8]

In line with McGrath’s emphasis, Packer had earlier expressed approval for Warfield’s testimony, with the qualification that “it be read Christocentrically (in terms, that is, of the fact that the Holy Spirit is Christ’s Spirit, sent by him to bear witness of him and unite men to him).” [9] Such a statement implies a comprehensive, all-embracing and life-engaging understanding of the Holy Spirit’s person and work. For this reason, the conclusion of Gwyn Walters’ study is highly significant: “His doctrine of the Holy Spirit integrates his entire theology.” [10]

Warfield’s convictions, and those who have followed him, may be vindicated by a consideration of three aspects of Calvin’s life and work. First, his own experience of God’s grace taught him the priority of the Spirit’s ministry. Second, in his interaction with contemporary theologians and movements he gave prominence to the Holy Spirit. Third, throughout his labors as reformer and pastor he comprehensively acknowledged the agency of the Holy Spirit. This is merely to say that Calvin was pre-eminently a theologian of the Holy Spirit because of the incandescence of his personal piety, the manner in which he advanced the frontiers of pneumatology, and on account of the sheer consistency of his teaching.

Sudden Conversion To A Teachable Frame

One of the most moving passages in all of Calvin’s writings is that in the Preface to his Commentary on the Psalms where he refers to his own conversion.

To the study of law ... I endeavored faithfully to apply myself ... but God, by the secret guidance of his providence, at length gave a different direction to my course. And first, since I was too obstinately devoted to the superstitions of Popery to be easily extricated from so profound an abyss of mire, God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame.... Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness, I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein, that although I did not altogether leave off other studies, I yet pursued them with less ardor. [11]

Some words here are indicative of powerful influences: “abyss,” “sudden,” “inflamed.”

Extricated From An Abyss

“Abyss,” and a related idea, “labyrinth,” are frequently used by Calvin to convey man’s lostness, alienation and incurable defection from God. So he speaks of “the labyrinth of ignorance and the abyss of darkness” which engulfs all who are without Christ. [12] Again, “the whole life of man, until he is converted to Christ, is a ruinous labyrinth of wanderings,” and “this world is like a labyrinth, in which no end of evils appears.” [13] “Man’s mind is like a labyrinth,” as is “the splendor of the divine countenance ... unless we are conducted into it by the thread of the Word.”14 In another place, Calvin says that “if we are to conform as precisely as we can to Christianity, we must follow as closely as possible the footprints of the Word.” [15]

However, although fallen man has the “thread” and “footprints” of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit alone can make it personal, relevant, and operative for each individual.

The Word of God is not received by faith if it flits about in the top of the brain, but when it takes root in the depth of the heart, that it may be an invincible defense to withstand and drive off all the stratagems of temptation. But if it is true that the mind’s real understanding is illumination by the Spirit of God, then in such confirmation of the heart his power is much more clearly manifested, to the extent that the heart’s distrust is greater than the mind’s blindness. It is harder for the heart to be furnished with assurance than for the mind to be endowed with thought. The Spirit accordingly serves as a seal, to seal up in our hearts those very promises the certainty of which it has previously impressed upon our minds; and takes the place of a guarantee to confirm and establish them. [16]

In brief, therefore, “without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the Word can do nothing,” and “we cannot come to Christ unless we be drawn by the Spirit of God.” [17]

A Secret, Sovereign And Sustained Work

“Sudden” implies an unpremeditated, irresistible constraint for change that is both mysterious and powerful. Calvin’s favorite word for the nature of this divine initiative and action is “secret.” The entire section in the Institutes that deals with the Holy Spirit’s application of redemption begins with “the things spoken concerning Christ profit us by the secret working of the Spirit.” Hence: “since we see that not all indiscriminately embrace that communion with Christ which is offered through the gospel, reason teaches us to climb higher and to examine into the secret energy of the Spirit, by which we come to enjoy Christ and all his benefits.” And, “in order that the shedding of his sacred blood may not be nullified, our souls are cleansed by the secret watering of the Spirit,” [18] Truly, “faith proceeds only from the secret revelation of the Spirit.” [19] This necessary operation of the Holy Spirit is inward, hidden, and efficacious. Thus Calvin can speak of “the secret instinct of the Spirit,” and the “secret and incomprehensible agency of the Holy Spirit,” and that “it is only through God’s mercy that we can be united to the Lord Jesus Christ, through the hidden power of the Holy Spirit.” [20] The all-embracing nature of this secret ministry of the Holy Spirit was already taught in Old Testament times: “the tabernacle was sprinkled with oil, that the Israelites might learn that all the exercises of piety profited nothing without the secret operation of the Spirit.” [21] From beginning to end, the application of the redemption wrought by Christ is the prerogative of the Holy Spirit. In this his work is sovereign and sustained as well as secret: “all the elect feel in themselves the consent of the external word, and of the secret power of the Spirit.” [22] “Calvin,” says François Wendel, “never tires of repeating that ‘the Holy Spirit is the bond, as it were, by which the Son of God unites us to him effectually’.” [23]

Submission, Humility And Love

The third word of significance in Calvin’s rare reference to his conversion is “inflamed,” conveying a passion and zeal akin to that of John the Baptist, whom Christ called “a burning and shining lamp” (John 5:35). All too often, Calvin is portrayed as a cold dogmatician, strenuously divorced from humanness, whose spirituality was entirely objective and unfeeling. Peter Wernle in 1919 considered him to be kein Geistesmensch “no man of the Spirit.” And Geoffrey F. Nuttall’s estimate was similar, stating that “for Calvin the Holy Spirit is a necessity of thought rather than something known in experience.” [24] Nuttall’s statement must be taken in the context of the Puritan radicals that figure prominently in his study, and subsequent assessments of Calvin have redressed the balance. Studies of Calvin’s letters by Jean-Daniel Benoît, and of his humanness by Richard Stauffer paint the picture of a man of compassion, of spiritual experience which he shared with fellow believers, and of wisdom that related biblical truth to everyday life, family, social and pastoral. [25] Walters says of Calvin’s references to the Holy Spirit in his letters, that “by far the majority ... have to do with the Spirit’s willingness and ability to guide. Hence, time and again, in a variety of ways he expresses his desire for his readers that the Spirit may conduct, lead, guide, direct, govern, rule and guard them.” [26] Anyone familiar with Calvin’s life, and, it can be added, his prayers, will immediately detect in this statement an echo of his chief aim. It is inconceivable that he would urge on others and for others something to which he was himself a stranger. On the contrary, in William Farel’s “imprecation” upon him if he would not stay in Geneva in 1536, and two years later in Martin Bucer’s “similar kind of remonstrance” that he should come to work in Strasbourg, Calvin recognized the governing authority of the Holy Spirit. [27] In him the grace of self-denial was in daily exercise: “we are not conformed to the fear of God and do not learn the rudiments of piety, unless we are violently slain by the sword of the Spirit and brought to nought.” [28] And again, “how fitting it is that we should live and die humbly.” [29]

So much of humility; what of love?

The love of Christ is held out to us as the subject which ought to occupy our daily and nightly meditations, and in which we ought to be wholly plunged. He who is in possession of this alone has enough. Beyond it there is nothing solid, nothing useful—nothing, in short that is proper or sound. Though you survey the heaven and earth and sea, you will never go beyond this without overstepping the lawful boundary of wisdom. [30]

For Calvin, Christ’s love was not only a matter of knowledge imparted by Scripture to the brain, but an experience enriched by meditation. Furthermore, its enjoyment is wholesomely beneficial:

This knowledge of divine love towards us is instilled into our hearts by the Spirit of God.... And the word diffused, is very emphatic; for it means that the revelation of divine love towards us is so abounding that it fills our hearts; and being thus spread through every part of them, it not only mitigates sorrow in adversities, but also, like a sweet seasoning, it renders tribulations to be loved by us. [31]

When urged to return to Geneva in 1541, the scene of former conflicts and expulsion, Calvin wrote to William Farel, “Had I the choice at my own disposal, nothing would be less agreeable to me than to follow your advice. But when I remember that I am not my own, I offer up my heart, presented as a sacrifice to the Lord.... I submit my will and affections, subdued and held fast, to the obedience of God.” [32] Commenting on John 4:23, Calvin brings the believer’s entire experience of God under one all-embracing attitude, that of worship “in the spirit, because it is nothing else than that inward faith of the heart which produces prayer, and, next, purity of conscience and self-denial, that we may be dedicated to obedience to God as holy sacrifices.” [33] Calvin’s theology was not only matter for the brain, it stirred the heart and put iron into the soul. Only such a man could bring about in Geneva what Gillian Lewis refers to as “the transformation of an entire community by the Holy Spirit operating through the Word.” [34]

Reformed Pneumatology

If Calvin conveys the impression of one who was constantly aware of the sovereign and determinative influences of the Holy Spirit, what of his contemporaries in reform? None of them, and not even Calvin himself, produced a systematic work on the Holy Spirit. That was to come later, notably from the pen of John Owen in the Puritan era, and subsequently in the writings of such men as James Buchanan, Octavius Winslow, George Smeaton, and Abraham Kuyper. [35] One of the prominent features of the Protestant Reformation was its insistence and reliance on the work of the Holy Spirit. For the humanists, Desiderius Erasmus among them, this was a doctrine too far. Writing to Farel “in a letter full of invective,” Erasmus scornfully reproached the reform party with these words: “The French refugees have these five words continually on their lips: Gospel, Word of God, Faith, Christ, Holy Spirit.” [36]

Martin Luther

Martin Luther, for his part, began his answer to Erasmus’s work on free-will with a dogmatic broadside that allowed no compromise:

You do not think it matters a scrap what anyone believes anywhere, so long as the world is at peace .... Leave us free to make assertions, and to find in assertions our satisfaction and delight .... The Holy Spirit is no skeptic, and the things he has written in our hearts are not doubts or opinions, but assertions—surer and more certain than sense and life itself. [37]

In his Larger Catechism, Luther’s statement of belief in the Holy Spirit is comprehensive, and embraces the public means of grace as well as personal experience:

Neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe on him, and obtain him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us by and granted to our hearts by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the gospel.... Where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Ghost who creates, calls, and gathers the Christian church, without which no one can come to Christ the Lord. [38]

In his study of Luther’s influence on Calvin, Ganoczy maintained that it was “profound,” and “more than any other evangelical theologian.” [39] As for Calvin’s statement of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, Packer maintained that “Luther had at least adumbrated all the main points ... but it was Calvin who welded Luther’s insights into a whole and clarified their polemical thrust against the many-sided Roman claim that the church is the object and ground of faith—a claim which, at each point where it emerged, offered, as Calvin said, ‘great insult to the Holy Ghost’.” [40]

Martin Bucer

There are clear parallels between Calvin and Martin Bucer in their treatment of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. W. P. Stephens detected in Bucer’s theology a threefold orientation: “The accent on sanctification in Bucer’s theology is related not only to his doctrine of predestination, but also to his doctrine of the Holy Spirit.” [41] With little modification, reading “regeneration” (in its widest sense as used by Calvin) for “sanctification” the same could be said of the latter. Take, as one example among many, the following extracts from their respective catechisms. The first is from Bucer’s Catechism of 1534, the second, from Calvin’s first Catechism, published in French in 1537 and in Latin the following year:

What is the chief work of the Holy Spirit in you? That he assures me absolutely of the promises of a gracious God, so that from the heart and with a truly childlike confidence I can recognize and call on God as my Father through our Lord Jesus Christ and can say “Abba, dear Father.” Therefore Saint Paul calls him the seal of the elect, with whom God seals them and marks them for eternal life. 

Faith is the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit by which our minds are illumined and our hearts confirmed in a sure persuasion within, which establishes that God’s truth is so sure that he cannot but supply what he has promised he will do by his Holy Word. On this account it is also called a pledge which establishes in our hearts the assurance of divine truth, and a seal whereby our hearts will be sealed unto the day of the Lord. For he it is who testifies to our spirit that God is Father to us, and we in turn are his children. [42]

With the advantage of publishing a fullscale, organized theology in his Institutes, Calvin is at once more surefooted, more comprehensively consistent than Bucer. He has the advantage not only of ability, but also of opportunity, to hold things together as a whole, and to work out the implications, relationships and tensions of the various parts. Hence, one of the leading points peculiar to Calvin’s teaching, according to Wendel, was “the development he gave to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and his action.” [43]

John Calvin: All-Round Theologian Of The Holy Spirit

It is important to set Calvin in his context, especially with regard to the claims of the Papacy, a task addressed by Edwin H. Palmer in this way:

It was the church of the Reformation that gave great impetus to the study of the Spirit. The Reformers, in opposition to Rome’s theories, stressed that not the church was necessary for a correct interpretation of the Bible, but rather the Holy Spirit illuminating man’s mind. Likewise, in opposing Rome’s teaching that the priest was essential in applying to man the unbloody sacrifice of Christ in the Mass, Luther and Calvin set forth the necessity of the Holy Spirit in applying the sacrifice of Christ in our lives. But it was chiefly Calvin’s rediscovery of the biblical doctrine of sovereign grace that demanded a heavy emphasis on the Holy Spirit. For Calvin stressed the total depravity of man and unconditional election. This meant, naturally, that if God were to implement his sovereign election, then the Holy Spirit must work powerfully in the lives of the elect. [44]

In this respect, Calvin not was not only the dogmatician but also the apologist of the Reformed faith. In no area was his contribution more trail-blazing and convincing than in his insistence on, and presentation of, the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Witness Of The Spirit

Calvin’s interest was to propagate as well as to defend the faith. But it was a faith which was biblical, assured, cohesive, and effective. Hence the Institutes’ early insistence on the witness of the Spirit:

The Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, as if there the living words of God were heard .... The testimony of the Spirit is more excellent than all reason. For as God alone is a fit witness of himself in his Word, so also the Word will not find acceptance in men’s hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit .... Those whom the Holy Spirit has inwardly taught truly rest upon Scripture, and that Scripture indeed is self-authenticated.... Let us, then, know that the only true faith is that which the Spirit of God seals in our hearts. [45]

It is important to understand Calvin here as referring to the work of the Spirit in the application of the redemption wrought by Christ. It is in this sense that Willem Balke’s statement is to be understood, that “the inseparability of the Word and Spirit was one of Calvin’s cardinal teachings.” [46]

Word And Spirit

Saving knowledge of God is a matter of illumination and regeneration, the Spirit creating both spiritual understanding of the truth revealed in God’s Word and receptivity to Christ, to whom that Word testifies. Furthermore, as Warfield observes, “from beginning to end, Calvin conceived the confidence of the Christian in Scripture, wrought by the Holy Spirit, as one of the exercises of saving faith.” [47] Along with faith in Christ’s person and work as the ground of our salvation, the Holy Spirit imparts faith in Christ’s office as teacher and also in his teaching regarding Scripture as true. For Calvin, to introduce a dichotomy between the Word and the Spirit, or between the Word and Christ, was theological and spiritual suicide, as his comment on John 14:26 demonstrates:

The Spirit ... will not be a builder of new revelations. By this single word we may refute all the inventions which Satan has brought into the church from the beginning, under the pretence of the Spirit. Mahomet and Pope agree in holding this as a principle of their religion, that Scripture does not contain a perfection of doctrine, but that something loftier has been revealed by the Spirit. From the same point the Anabaptists and Libertines, in our own time, have drawn their absurd notions. But the Spirit that introduces any doctrine or invention apart from the gospel is a deceiving spirit, and not the Spirit of Christ. [48]

This point needs to be elaborated today in the face of various claims to extra-biblical revelations.

Gifts And Graces Of The Spirit

Calvin starts with the premise that now “daily oracles are not sent from heaven, for it pleased the Lord to hallow his truth to everlasting remembrance in the Scriptures alone.”49 Prophecies in New Testament times were “meant to beautify the first beginnings of the gospel,” and by taking them away, God testified “that the end and perfection was present in Christ.”50 At the first preaching of the gospel to non-Jews by Peter in the house of Cornelius, the gifts of the Spirit in evidence then “differ indeed from the grace of regeneration,” and were a “visible sign” to represent to us “what an effectual instrument of God’s power the preaching of the gospel is.” But it is the Spirit’s power attending the preaching and imparting enlightenment and regeneration that remains: “The gift of the tongues, and other such like things, are ceased long ago in the church ... that he may keep us in reverence of the word.”51 While such miracles were meant by Christ “to set forth the beginning of his kingdom,” the Spirit’s lasting ministry remains inward, spiritual and sanctifying. Hence, we do not receive the Spirit

that we may speak with tongues, that we may be prophets, that we may cure the sick, that we may work miracles; it is given for a better use, that we may believe with the heart unto righteousness, that our tongues may be framed unto true confession (Romans 10:10), that we may pass from death to life, (John 5:24), that we, which are poor and empty, may be made rich, that we may withstand Satan and the world stoutly. [52]

Calvin emphasized objective truth rather than subjective experience, insisted that the Spirit draws attention to Christ, rather than to himself, and that maturity in the Christian life lies in the graces rather than in the gifts of the Spirit. These are salutary lessons for a Post-modernist world where absolute verities and standards are dismissed and purity of life is discounted in favor of self-indulgent pleasure.

Union With Christ

This emphasis on the truth by Calvin, however, is not an end in itself. Negatively, “without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the Word can do nothing”; positively, “Christ, when he illumines us into faith by the power of his Spirit, at the same time so engrafts us into his body that we become partakers of every good.”53 Such union with Christ is spiritual rather than mystical, practical rather than speculative, and dynamic rather than static. It issues in assurance of salvation, confidence in prayer, godly fear in attitude, and boldness in witness.

Should any object that many who have once received the word afterwards fall away, I answer that the Spirit alone is to every one a faithful and sure witness of his election, upon which perseverance depends. This, however, did not stand in the way of Paul’s being persuaded, in the judgment of charity, that the calling of the Corinthians would prove firm and immoveable, as being persons in whom he saw the tokens of God’s fatherly benevolence .... Every one of us, too, from the time of his being illuminated (Hebrews 10:32) by the Spirit of God in the knowledge of Christ, ought to conclude with certainty from this that he has been adopted by the Lord to an inheritance of eternal life. For effectual calling ought to be to believers an evidence of divine adoption; yet in the meantime we must all walk with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). [54]

The Spirit not only initiates the work of grace, he also sustains it until it is crowned with glory. “No one in this earthly prison of the body has sufficient strength to press on with due eagerness, and weakness so weighs down the greater number that, with wavering and limping and even creeping along the ground, they move at a feeble rate.... And let us not despair at the slightness of our success; for even though attainment may not correspond to desire, when today outstrips yesterday the effort is not lost.” [55]

The Means Of Grace

In the believer’s pursuit of progress and glory, the Holy Spirit’s ministry makes effective the means of grace in a powerful, but also sovereign manner. Here Calvin lays down a general principle: “As preaching is the instrument of faith, so the Holy Spirit makes preaching efficacious.” [56] But he qualifies it in this way: “The Lord assigns this office to the word .... He also imparts power to it, that it may not be spoken in vain, but may inwardly move our hearts, not always indeed or indiscriminately, but where it pleases God by the secret power of his Spirit to work in this manner.” [57] The same secret, sovereign operation of the Spirit alone can make the Sacraments minister grace to the child of God:

With regard to the Sacraments in general, we neither bind up the grace of God with them, nor transfer to them the work or power of the Holy Spirit, nor constitute them the ground of the assurance of salvation. We expressly declare that it is God alone, who acts by means of the Sacraments; and we maintain that their whole efficacy is due to the Holy Spirit, and testify that this action appears only in the elect. [58]

The Papacy, Calvin maintained, “instead of the Holy Ghost” had “erected man’s free will,” so that “without all question ... the true Christ is banished” from that institution. [59] The effectual calling of the elect, saving faith, growth in grace by means of Word and Sacrament, all these are mediated, not by sacerdotal priests operating in partnership with receptive subjects, but by the Holy Spirit according to God’s sovereign purpose.

Prayer And Revival

God’s Spirit is the great life-giver, invigorating the soul in prayer and the church in revival. “God gives us the Spirit as our teacher in prayer, to tell us what is right and temper our emotions.... Loathing our inertia and dullness, we should seek such aid of the Spirit.” [60] What is true in that personal way is true also for God’s church in a time of declension:

The restoration of the church proceeds solely from the grace of God, who can remove its barrenness as soon as he has imparted strength from heaven; for he who created all things out of nothing, as if they had formerly existed, is able to renew it in a moment.... We are renewed as soon as the Lord has sent down the Spirit from heaven, that we who were “wilderness” may be cultivated and fertile fields. Ere the Spirit of God has breathed into us, we are justly compared to wildernesses or dry soil; for we produce nothing but “thorns and briers,” and are by nature unfit for yielding fruits. Accordingly, they who were barren and unfruitful, when they have been renewed by the Spirit of God, begin to yield plentiful fruits.... Whenever, therefore, the church is afflicted, and when her condition appears to be desperate, let us raise our eyes to heaven, and depend fully on these promises. [61]

For Calvin, the guarantor of prosperity for Christ’s kingdom within the believer as well as for his kingdom in the world, was the Holy Spirit alone. In this way the church, reformed and always reforming, will continue to the end of time.

Conclusion: Christ Living And Reigning Within

To be, as Calvin was, a theologian of the Holy Spirit, is nothing less than to bid “reason give way to, submit and subject itself to, the Holy Spirit so that the man himself may no longer live but hear Christ living and reigning within him.” Such individuals confess, with him,

We are not our own: let not our reason nor our will, therefore, sway our plans and deeds. We are not our own: let us not therefore set it as our goal to seek what is expedient for us according to the flesh. We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us therefore forget ourselves and all that is ours. Conversely, we are God’s: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God’s: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God’s: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only goal. [62]

Soli Deo Gloria!

About the Author

Dr. Eifion Evans is a retired Presbyterian minister and author from Llanelli, Wales. He served pastorates in both Wales and Northern Ireland. The author of biographies of Daniel Rowland (Banner of Truth, 1985), Howell Harris (University of Wales, 1973), and William Williams (Evangelical Press of Wales, 1995), Evans is also a prolific writer on revival. Among his books on revival are Fire in the Thatch, The 1859 Revival in Wales, and The Welsh Revival of 1904. Married, and the father of three children, Eifion Evans is a frequent contributor to Reformation & Revival Journal.

Notes

1. Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, Calvin and Augustine (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1956), 484–87.
2. The Theology of Calvin (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Westminster Press, 1956), 247. This was a translation of the work, published originally in 1938.
3. The Teaching of Calvin: A Modern Interpretation (London: James Clarke & Co. Ltd., second edition, 1950), 296, 300.
4. The History and Character of Calvinism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1954), 203.
5. “Calvin the Theologian,” in John Calvin, Courtenay Studies in Reformation Theology. Edited by G. E. Duffield (Abingdon, Berkshire: The Sutton Courtenay Press, 1966), 172.
6. Alexandre Ganoczy, The Young Calvin, (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Westminster, 1987), 193. This was a translation from the French work of 1966.
7. William J. Bouwsma, John Calvin: Sixteenth Century Portrait (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1988), 233.
8. Alister E. McGrath, A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the Shaping of Western Culture (Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1990), 149. See endnotes 8, 9, 10 and 11 to this chapter in McGrath.
9. John Calvin, 169.
10. “The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in John Calvin,” (Ph. D. Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1949), 332. Other dissertations on Calvin’s doctrine of the Holy Spirit include: Jack La-Vere Zerwas, “The Holy Spirit in Calvin.” (S.T.M. thesis, Union Theological Seminary, New York), 1947; Jean Abel, “The ethical implications of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in John Calvin,” (Thesis, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia), 1948; Charles Oliver Bennett, “John Calvin: his teaching on the Holy Scriptures: a study on the necessity of the Scriptures in the Holy Spirit’s effectual call of the saints,” (Senior thesis, 105 pages, New Brunswick Theological Seminary), 1951; Makoto Morii, “La notion du Saint-Esprit chez Calvin dans son development historique,” (Thse Strasbourg, 1961); Henry O’Brien, “The Holy Spirit in the catechetical writings of John Calvin: a comparative study with other contemporary presentations of Christian doctrine between 1529 and 1566,” (Rome: Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana; Facultas Theologiae, 1991), 214 pages. Excerpta ex dissertatione ad Doctoratum in Facultate Theologiae Pontificiae Universitatis Gregorianae. Published studies on the subject include the following: Werner Krusche, Das Wirken des Heiligen Geistes nach Calvin. Götingen: Vandenhoek und Ruprecht, 1957; Heinrich J. J. Th. Quistorp, “Calvin Lehre vom Heiligen Geist,” in Theodorus Christiaan Vriezen, De Spiritu Sancto. Bijdragen tot de leer van de Heilige Geest bij gelegenheid van het 2e eeuwfeest van het Stipendium Bernardinum. (Utrecht: Kemink, 1964), 109–150; W. van’t Spijker, “Die Lehre vom Heiligen Ceist bei Bucer und Calvin,” in Calvinus Servus Christi. Die Referate des Internationalen Kongresses für Calvinforschung 1986 Debrecen. Edited by W. H. Neuser (Budapest: 1988), 73–106; and Colloquium on Calvin & Calvin Studies. Edited by Peter De Klerk (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Calvin Studies Society, 1989). The latter includes articles on “The saving work of the Holy Spirit in Calvin”; “Spiritus Creator: the use and abuse of Calvin’s cosmic pneumatology”; “Word and Spirit in Calvin”; “The role of the Holy Spirit in Calvin’s teaching on the ministry”; and “What is the meaning of these gifts?” In the Appendix to his book, Calvin’s First Catechism: A Commentary, (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), I. John Hesselink reviews published works on the theme, and briefly discusses three “distinctive aspects,” namely, “the Spirit and the Trinity, the Spirit and the Word, and the Spirit and the Christian life.”
11. 22 Volume Set of Calvin’s Commentaries (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, 1989), IV.xl-xli. References to the Commentaries will be by volume number of this set, followed by page and biblical reference.
12. Commentaries, XXII.76, on 1 Peter 2:9. Bouwsma devotes Part II of his book to “The Labyrinth,” and Part IV to “The Abyss.”
13. Commentaries, XXII.50, 134, on 1 Peter 1:18 and 1 Peter 4:12–13.
14. Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion. Edited by John T. McNeill and translated and indexed by Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 2-volume edition, 1973). The Institutes are in four books, and references will appear giving the book number in Roman figures, followed by chapter and paragraph in Arabic numerals. The references in the text are from I.5.12 and I.6.3. Footnote 36 at I.5.12 gives other references and refers to “labyrinth” as “a symbol of human frustration and confusion.”
15. Alastair Duke, Gillian Lewis and Andrew Pettegree, editors, Calvinism in Europe 1540–1610: A Collection of Documents (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992), 46. (Extract from The Geneva Council Minutes, 1560, by Calvin and Peter Viret).
16. Institutes, III.2.36.
17. Institutes, III.2.33-34.
18. Institutes, III.1.1.
19. Commentaries, XVII.276, on John 6:65.
20. Commentaries, XI.108, on Ezekiel 2:2; “Brief Confession of Faith” in Calvin’s Tracts, (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1849), 134; Sermons on Galatians John Calvin (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1997), 346, on Galatians 3:26–29.
21. Institutes, II. 223, on Exodus 30:23–25.
22. Commentaries, XVIII.452, on Acts 10:44.
23. Calvin: The Origins and Development of his Religious Thought, (London, Collins: The Fontana Library, 1965), 239. Wendel’s chapter 4 has the title, “The Hidden Work of the Holy Spirit.” Benjamin Charles Milner, Jr., in the appendix to his book, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Church, (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970), 197–203, examines “The Secret Impulse of the Spirit” in connection with the pious and the ungodly.
24. P. Wernle, Der Evangelische Glaub, III. Calvin, (Tübingen, 1919), 49; Nuttall, The Holy Spirit in Puritan Faith and Experience (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1946), 6 n.5. Wernle qualifies his remarks by saying of Calvin, “a divine ardour possessed him. Concentrated, well-directed enthusiasm—that is his essence; it was himself first of all, whom he consumed in his zeal.” (Quoted in Walters, Introduction, iv.)
25. Jean-Daniel Benoit, “Calvin the Letter-writer,” in John Calvin. Edited by G. E. Duffield, 67–101; Jean-Daniel Benoit, Calvin in his letters (Appleford, Oxford: Sutton Courtenay Press), 1986; Richard Stauffer, The Humanness of John Calvin (Nashville: Abingdon Press), 1971.
26. Walters, 288.
27. Commentaries, IV. xlii, xliii, “Preface” to the Psalms.
28. Institutes, III.3.8.
29. Institutes, 1.328, on Genesis 11:4. On “The Humility of the Prophet,” see Pierre Marcel in John Calvin: Contemporary Prophet. Edited by Jacob T. Hoogstra (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1959), 21–37.
30. Commentaries, XXI. 264, on Ephesians 3:19.
31. Commentaries, XIX. 193, on Romans 5:5.
32. Jules Bonnet, editor, Letters of John Calvin (Edinburgh: Thomas Constable and Co., volume 1, 1855), 256–57. Letter LXXIII dated August 1541 from Strasbourg.
33. Commentaries, XVII. 161.
34. “Calvinism in Geneva in the time of Calvin and of Beza (1541–1605),” in Menna Prestwich, International Calvinism 1541–1715 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), 44.
35. John Owen, PNEUMATALOGIA, or, A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit (London: 1674); James Buchanan, The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit (Edinburgh: 1842); Octavius Winslow, An Experimental and Practical View of the Work of the Holy Spirit (London: 1843); George Smeaton, The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Edinburgh: 1882); Abraham Kuyper, The Work of the Holy Spirit. This work first appeared in Dutch in 1888, and in English in 1900, and was reprinted by Eerdmans in 1956. Kuyper’s “Preface” surveys works on the Holy Spirit known to him at that time.
36. Quoted in Émile G. Léonard, A History of Protestantism: 1. The Reformation, (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1965), 306.
37. J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston, translators, The Bondage of the Will (London, James Clarke & Co. Ltd., 1957), 69–70.
38. Article III of The Creed in Luther’s Large Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1978), 73.
39. The Young Calvin, 145. For the influence of the Reformers on Calvin, see Wendel, 131–44; Ganoczy, 137–68; McGrath, 137; Bouwsma, 18–24.
40. John Calvin, 169. Packer is quoting Institutes, I.7.1. In passing, he refers those who doubt his assessment of Luther’s influence to Regin Prenter’s Spiritus Creator (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1953). See also endnote 21 to Packer’s article.
41. The Holy Spirit in the Theology of Martin Bucer (Cambridge: The University Press, 1970), 261.
42. Stephens, 272; Hesselink, 18. For Bucer’s influence on Calvin see Ganoczy, 158–68; Wendel, 137–344; Willem Balke, Calvin and the Anabaptist Radicals (Eugene: Oregon, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1999), 150–53; Cornelis Augustijn, “Calvin in Strasbourg,” in Calvinus Sacrae Scripturae Professor: Calvin as Confessor of Holy Scripture. Edited by Wilhelm H. Neuser (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 174–77; Bouwsma, 21–24.
43. Calvin, 359, and see 239, footnote 22.
44. The Holy Spirit, (Presbyterian and Reformed, Revised Edition, 1964), 7–8.
45. Institutes, I.7.1, 4, 5. On the relationship between the Holy Spirit and Scripture in Calvin’s thought, see Walters, chapter 3, “The Holy Spirit and the Word”; Charles Oliver Bennett, “John Calvin: his teaching on the Holy Scriptures: a study on the necessity of the Scriptures in the Holy Spirit’s effectual call of the saints” (Senior thesis, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, 1951); Peter De Klerk, editor, Colloquium; Anthony N. S. Lane, “John Calvin: the witness of the Holy Spirit,” in Faith and Ferment (Westminster Conference papers, Stoke-on-Trent: Tentmaker Publications, 1982); Augustus Nicodemus Lopes, “Calvin Theologian of the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit and the Word of God,” in Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, Volume 15, Number 1, Spring 1997, 38–49. A. D. R. Polman, “Calvin on the Inspiration of Scripture” in John Calvin Contemporary Prophet. Edited by Jacob T. Hoogstra (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1959); H. Jackson Forstman, Word and Spirit: Calvin’s doctrine of biblical authority (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1962); Edward A. Dowey, Jr., The Knowledge of God in Calvin’s Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, expanded edition, 1994), 106, 173; John Murray, Calvin on Scripture and Divine Sovereignty (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1960), 46–47; Ronald S. Wallace, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1953).
46. Calvin and the Anabaptist Radicals, 141.
47. Calvin and Augustine, 108, footnote 75.
48. Commentaries, XVIII.101.
49. Institutes, I.7.1.
50. Commentaries, XIX. 270, 271, on Acts 21:9.
51. Commentaries, XVIII. 451, 452, on Acts 10:44.
52. Commentaries, XVIII. 121, on Acts 2:38.
53. Institutes, III.2. 33, 35. For the concept of union with Christ in Calvin see Niesel, 120–39; Ronald S. Wallace, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Christian Life (Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1959), 17–27; Dennis E. Tamburello, Union with Christ: John Calvin and the Mysticism of St. Bernard (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 84–101; Hesselink, 185–87.
54. Commentaries, XX. 59–60, on 1 Corinthians 1:9.
55. Institutes, III.6.5.
56. Commentaries, XXI. 208, on Ephesians 1:13.
57. Commentaries, VIII.64, 65. For Calvin on preaching see Milner, 102–10; T. H. L. Parker, The Oracles of God: An Introduction to the Preaching of John Calvin (London and Redhill: Lutterworth Press, 1947); and Calvin’s Preaching (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992), 35–53; Douglas F. Kelly, “Some Aspects of the Preaching of John Calvin,” in Evangel, 5.3, Autumn 1987, 10–16.
58. Bonnet, volume II.182, letter CCXXIV, Calvin to Henry Bullinger from Geneva, dated June 26, 1548.
59. Commentaries, XVIII. xxii, “Epistle Dedicatory” to Acts.
60. Institutes, III.20.5.
61. Commentaries, VII.420–421, on Isaiah 32:15.
62. Institutes, III.7.1.