Full Text for Church History 2- Volume 35 - Calvin's Return to Geneva (Video)

>> PAUL: You mentioned before that Calvin's stay in Geneva was his first. I am surprised there was a second stay there. If he was so happy in Straussburg, why did he ever return to Geneva? It seemed like such an odd choice to make. >> Paul, you make a very good point. Calvin was happy in Straussburg, and the thought of returning to Geneva really filled him with dismay. When the proposal from Geneva came up that he should return, there had been a change in the leadership in Geneva. They had a complicated system of government. But one component was election by the citizens, and some of Calvin's and Farel�s supporters had done well in those elections. Nevertheless, when the invitation from Geneva came, Calvin was not thrilled. He actually wrote to Farel, and I will wrote him here you will see what I mean. Calvin wrote, "Whenever I call to mind the wretchedness of my life there, how can it not be but that my very soul should shutter at my very proposal for which I should return. When I remember by what torture my conscious was wracked at that time and how much anxiety it was continue for boiling over, forgive me if I dread the place as having about it something of a fatality in my case." Why, then, did he go? That's the question, isn't it, the answer really has to do with Calvin's strong sense of beauty. You will recall that when we talked about starting his ministry there, that Calvin tells us how he was moved by Divine Providence to accept that call. How he believed that God had committed him to the city of Geneva through the message of Farel. Now he believed that God was renewing that call. That it was his duty to return to Geneva and work for reformation. And so he did. In September of 1541, he re-entered the city under an official escort. He was given one of the better houses in town. He and his household were there to use it. He was given a good annual salary, plus extra things, grain and wine to support the household. So Calvin was there. And he would remain there until his death in 1564. During these years, Calvin's principle task was to put into place a real reformation of church life and of communal life for the city of Geneva. You need to recall that in Geneva as elsewhere in Europe at this time it is the era of church and state really being viewed as one, or at least in partnership. Christian community and Christian church were basically the same thing. And so it was the city authorities who were inviting him back to effect a real reformation in Geneva. Now, as it turned out, Calvin did believe that church and state were two separate institutions, both created by God, but each with its own sphere of activity. For Calvin, then, the church had the responsibility for preaching and teaching the word of God, and the government the responsibility for establishing and maintaining true religion. The two should work together and closely cooperate, but nonetheless from Calvin's perspective, these were two separate institutions, both of them created by God. Well, already before Calvin had come the first time -- or I'm sorry, the second time, Geneva had a confession of faith. But now what Geneva needed was a constitution for its church, a plan whereby the church would be organized and directed. To that end, Calvin drew up something known as the "Ecclesiastical Ordinances." These ordinances were presented to the city government. There they were modified a little bit. But basically they show Calvin's thinking regarding church government because what Calvin tried to do was to put into place what he believed that the New Testament taught about a church government. I don't know that we need to go into great detail about it, but we should probably discuss it a little bit because these ideas about church government came to have a great deal of influence among Protestant churches generally. So let me say a word or two about Calvin's "Ecclesiastical Ordinances". Calvin basically taught that there were four New Testament offices, four offices in the church set up by God in the scriptures. These were the offices of pastor, teacher, elder, and deacon. Pastor, teacher, elder, and deacon. Now, pastors were, as I think we would expect, the office established by God to preach the word of God, and administer the sacraments. From Calvin's perspective they also had a great deal to do with church discipline. In the task of church discipline, Calvin believed that elders also were to play an important role. Calvin thought that there were kind of two kinds of leadership within the church. There was the leadership that dealt with preaching, teaching and ministering the sacraments, but then there was also the leadership that dealt in establishing and maintaining Christian community. The elders really belonged to that second group. They, along with the clergy, would be responsible then for church discipline, encouraging the congregation in Christian life and morality, and then admonishing those who didn't measure up to high standards of morality, and then if necessary actually excluding or excommunicating members who had fallen into open and notorious sin and refused to repent. When the pastors and the elders functioned as a disciplinary body, they were known as the consistory. And in Calvin's Geneva, the consistory met regularly for the purpose of admonishing, exhortation, and disciplining members of the church. Well, besides the pastors and the elders, there were also the teachers. Now, the teachers were closely associated with the pastors in the task of proclaiming the word of God. But their chief role was not in administering the sacraments, but in teaching and then defending the faith. The teacher would instruct people in the Christian religion. And then if that religion were attacked they would be responsible for defending the Christian truth, and showing the people how the opponents were in error and what the scriptures taught about various questions and the like. In this regard, I should mention, that Calvin was a strong believer in Christian education, and the schools of Geneva under Calvin's leadership were supposed to teach the basics of the Christian faith. Rather late in Calvin's life in Geneva, his career in Geneva, the city of Geneva actually set up something known as the Geneva Academy, and this became really a kind of Protestant university. It was an institution of higher learning for the preparation of those who would become pastors and teachers within the church, as well as those who would hold other positions of high leadership in the church. So in connection with teachers, Calvin was also committed to Christian education from the elementary all the way up to the higher levels of education. The fourth office was the office of deacon. This, Calvin really derived from the example of the early church. You remember the story of Acts 6, and the election of the seven deacons who were to help the Apostles in the administration of charity within the Jerusalem church. Calvin believed that same kind of office should be set up in the church in successive generations. And deacons were the ones then that the church should appoint for the carrying out of what today we would call a social ministry, as well as taking care of the financial affairs of the church. So this was the kind of ecclesiastical organization that Calvin established in Geneva. As other places in Europe established Protestant or reformed churches, they would also look to Geneva and Calvin's writings about church government as their model. When you have church leadership of the sort that we described before, pastors and elders kind of forming together a body to kind of direct the affairs of the church, that kind of church government is basic to what today we call Presbyterianism where you have the rule of churches by church councils, pastors, and laymen alike, and that comes to a certain degree out of what Calvin set up and what he had written about with respect to Geneva. Well, we don't have time to go into great detail about Calvin's career here in Geneva. But there are a few things that I would like it say about it, and a few episodes that I would like to discuss. One of the things that I want to point out is that Calvin was simply a pastor in the church of Geneva, somebody who was hired by the city of Geneva to carry out his ministry. Calvin had kind of no independent authority in Geneva, as in the case of the first time. If at any point the city government got tired of him, they could fire him and he would have to leave. Nonetheless, through the power of his words and his personality, Calvin was able to influence a great deal of influence, and a number that followed his leadership, but not all. And so his career in Geneva is marked by many episodes of opposition in which Calvin thought that the church ought to go in one direction, but others thought that it should do something different. I am going to mention at least three of his more famous -- most famous opponents, and then I also want to talk in general finally how that changed in his life, and how Calvin's party or supporters became dominant in the city. Let me talk first of all just a little bit about one of Calvin's erstwhile friends. This was a Sebastian Castellio. He was an educated man, a humanist, who had become a Protestant and friend to Calvin while Calvin was in Straussburg. Accordingly when Calvin returned to Geneva, he soon invited Castellio to join him and to help particularly in the work of education. So Castellio did. After being there not too long, Castellio wanted to join the clergy. He wanted to be one of the pastors. But Calvin and the other clergy turned down his request for admission. Convinced by that time that Castellio actually taught incorrectly about a couple of items, taught incorrectly about the book of the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament. Castellio basically dismissed it as a long poem. Calvin thought that that was an inappropriate attitude for a reformed pastor with respect to a book of the Bible. He also taught differently from Calvin regarding the descent into hell, and the Apostles Creed, where we confess our faith and the fact that Jesus descended into hell. For Calvin, the descent into hell was a way of talking about the depth of Christ's suffering on the cross. Castellio apparently denied the descent into hell entirely. Well, at any rate, Calvin thought that Castellio would not make a good pastor for the city of Geneva, and Castellio therefore became one of Calvin's enemies, and finally was banished from the city. Now, this turned out to have some repercussions later because Castellio would write against some of the activities in Geneva that occurred later in Calvin's career as we will see. Another individual with whom Calvin had a falling out was Jerome Bolsec, Jerome Bolsec. Bolsec studied theology at the University of Paris, but he had converted to Protestantism, had come to Geneva where he worked as physician, but still interested in theology. However, there was something about Calvin's theology that concerned him, and that was Calvin's doctrine of predestination. From Bolsec�s perspective, what Calvin said about predestination he thought made God the author of sin and evil. And so he attacked Calvin publicly for teaching this about God. Well, once again, there was a very public controversy. Bolsec was arrested for accusing Calvin of making an idol, he said, of God. Theological discussions were held before the Magistrates. Advice was asked from other reformation cities, and finally Bolsec was condemned and exiled. Now, he, too, would get his revenge upon Calvin. Many years later he returned to the Catholic faith, and long after Calvin was dead he wrote a biography of Calvin, which included every scurrilous story he could come up with about Calvin. This became a prime source for Catholic historians for century after Calvin's death. Probably the most famous of the opponents of the reformation in Calvin's Geneva -- or opponents of Calvin and not so much the reformation -- was Michael Servetus. Servetus�s connections with Geneva were really quite remote. But unfortunately for him he did not only cross swords, but cross paths with Geneva -- or with Calvin, and that ended up costing him his life. Servetus was from Spain. He was a humanist. He studied medicine, but also very much interested in theology. He traveled widely. He studied much. He became personally acquainted with people like Melanchthon and Oecolampadius. But Servetus ended up taking up a more radical position on Christian truth than did any of these others that we've been talking about. In particular, Servetus rejected the Christian doctrine of God, rejected the conclusions of the Nicene Creed regarding the nature of God and the person of Christ as God and man in one person. Well, ideas like this brought down condemnation from both Catholics and Protestants. As a result of which Servetus in effect went underground. Living in France, he changed his name, worked as a physician, and tried to obscure the fact that he had written previously against the trinity. Nonetheless, he continued to correspond with Calvin in an effort to persuade Calvin to reject the trinity as well. Calvin would have none of it. In fact, Calvin sent to Servetus a copy of the institutes, but Servetus sent it back with all kinds of marginal notes trying to explain and show how Calvin was wrong. Well, through kind of an unusual circumstance, a relative of somebody who lived in Geneva, knew Servetus and knew what he was saying, and Calvin ended up explaining to the relative that he should stay away from Servetus because Servetus was such a notorious heretic. This lead to Servetus�s unmasking, as a result of which he had to flee France and go elsewhere. Apparently the elsewhere to which he wanted to go was Italy, where, again, maybe he would take up the cause of medicine and so forth. But he decided, Servetus did, to stop in Geneva on his travels. And there he was identified as the notorious denier of the trinity, as result of which he was arrested by the authorities in Geneva, and then tried on a charge of heresy. Calvin was instrumental in assisting the prosecution because he and so many others at this time believed that a *detry yam nature of God was a terrible public blasphemy as a result of which any decent Christian society had to silence that kind of blasphemy, and had to punish those who perpetrated it. The trial went on for a long time. And Servetus really thought that he was going to be able to win the day. As it turned out, however, Calvin had not only the support of the Bible and Christian tradition, but he had support from the theologians of other reformed cities and territories so that when a final decision was rendered, Servetus was found guilty. Now, the punishment for such blaspheme was death. Calvin urged Servetus to repent, and he couldn't. Calvin also urged the authorities to put Servetus to death in a humane fashion, by beheading. But, no, when Servetus was executed, the authorities chose to use the traditional penalty, or form of execution for a heretic, and that was being burned at the stake. Now, by the conventions of our times, this is hardly to the credit of Geneva. We're sort of abhorred by the thought that somebody should be killed for his religious beliefs. But in terms of the 16th Century, it was all too typical. This was something that was done and applauded by both Protestants and Catholics. There was, however, one individual who spoke out against this treatment of Servetus. And that was Calvin's former friend but now foe Sebastian Castellio, Sebastian. And his work was entitled "Concerning Heretics and Whether They Should be Punished." And it was in this work that Castellio uttered the famous phrase that all of us would agree with at this point, and that is "to burn a heretic is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill man." Nonetheless, the more typical attitude was that of one that would become one of Calvin's supports who wrote that heretics are to be punished by the civil magistrates. By today's standards, the execution of Servetus is a blot upon Calvin's record. But as I said in the context of those times, although it was a famous instance of religious persecution, it was hardly unique. Furthermore, it had some important political ramifications for Calvin in Geneva. For some of Calvin's political opponents in Geneva, supported Servetus. This group of opponents to Calvin, historically they're known as the Libertines, sometimes today called the Genevan Patriots were citizens of Geneva, not particularly Roman Catholics, but not particularly interested in becoming good Calvinists either. They kind of liked the old ways in Geneva. The good ole days of gambling, drinking, carousing, et cetera, et cetera. And so they weren't interested in kind of shaping up to Calvin's standards. For many years they were able to resist kind of the church discipline that Calvin sought to impose upon them. They had friends in high places, and sometimes they, themselves, were elected to these high places. Well, in the 1550s in connection with the Servetus case, at least a couple of them thought that if Servetus would win, Calvin would be embarrassed, and maybe his influence in Geneva would diminish. Well, they backed the wrong horse. Calvin won, and his prestige advanced. Then in the city elections that followed not too long after that their side, the Libertine faction lost, lost badly, and the supporters of Calvin won, and took over some important posts in the city government. This provoked a couple of Calvin's opponents actually to riot against the new government. It was not a massive or even really very threatening demonstration, but it was illegal, and it permitted Calvin's party to identify opponents with the cause of rebellion and sedition. This lead some of Calvin's opponents to flee the city of Geneva. Others were arrested and actually executed for their opposition to city government. This meant that after 1555 when all of this had come to a climax, Calvin's position in Geneva was finally pretty secured, and that meant that no longer did Calvin have to deal with the very real possibility that his opponents might actually drive him from the city. It was, therefore, after 1555 that Calvin was able finally to accomplish some of the more important objectives that he had in terms of church discipline, and the question of who could excommunicate which had divided him from city government officials for a long time finally was resolved in Calvin's favor. Excommunication would be in the hands of the consistory which was a church body, or a church structure rather than a political body or a political structure. So that in Geneva the church had much larger measure of independence than it had, for example, in Zurich where the church was really kind of a function of the state. One last point, and I think that we'll be pretty much through with Calvin's career. And that has to do with the city of *he go knee 1R5. -- Geneva: Calvin was able to make Geneva a model reformation city, and refugees from other parts of Europe, from England, from Italy, a lot of them from France came to the city of he go knee 1R5 where they learned firsthand from Calvin and his supporters as to what it meant to be Protestant, and what it meant to have a Protestant community. The great reformer of Scotland, John Knox, spent some time in Geneva, and he described it as the most perfect school of Christ since the days of the Apostles. The most perfect school of Christ since the days of the Apostles. I'm not sure that Lutherans would necessarily agree with that, but nonetheless we have to credit Calvin with leadership in making Geneva into a model reformed city.