Reformers to Know- John Calvin

DAY 38- 4/7/17- DAY 38 REFORMERS TO KNOW- JOHN CALVIN
But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should to go Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out? (Ex. 3:11)

John Calvin (7/10/1509- 5/27/1564) was the greatest theologian of the Reformation.  He was born in Noyon France, where Charlemagne was crowned in 768.  John Calvin’s father, Gerard, was a lawyer for the Bishop of Noyon.  His mother, Jeanne LeFranc, died perhaps of the plague when he was three years old.  When Calvin was four Pope Leo X started selling indulgences- which was one of the last straws of corruption in the church for the Protestants.  When Calvin was seven Erasmus made his first Greek translation of the Bible, paving the way for the Bible to be translated into German (translated by Luther), French (translated by Calvin’s cousin Olivetan), and English (Tyndale and Genevan translations- which Calvin influenced). When Calvin was three, Jacques LeFevre, a professor in Paris wrote that we are saved by grace alone.  When Calvin was eight Luther posted his 95 theses on the Wittenburg door fueling the Reformation.  When Calvin was 19 (1528) Henry VIII declared the Church of England Protestant.  Calvin had a brother, Charles, who was an early Protestant in France and persecuted for his faith.  Calvin studied law at Orleans but later went to the University of Paris.  But in 1531, at 22, Calvin’s father died and Ulrich Zwingli of Zurich was killed in a battle with Catholic armies.  In 1532 he wrote a humanist commentary on Seneca that didn’t sell well.  Calvin wrote of his conversion in 1533 that “God by a sudden conversion subdued my heart.”  In Paris Calvin helped write a sermon by Nicolas Cop expressing that the Bible was more authoritative than the church.  Some authorities threatened his life.  Calvin literally jumped out of a third story window to flee some entering the door.  He changed his name to “Charles D’Espeville” (Charles of the City of Hope), and his own servant robbed him of all he had.  Calvin fled to Basel where he wrote the first (1536) Protestant theology book, “The Institutes of the Christian Religion.”  It is said that what Einstein is to physics Calvin is to theology.  In 1536 Calvin visited northern Italy and was passing through Geneva when William Farel threatened him with God’s wrath unless he stayed and preached in Geneva.  But when Farel and Calvin insisted the church (not the state) has the power to say who should take communion, they were exiled by Geneva’s City Council.  Calvin wrote, “Surely if I had merely served humans, this would have been a poor reward.  But it is my happiness that I have served Him who never fails to reward his servants to the fullest extent of his promise.”  Calvin went to Berne and then Strasburg where he preached to French exiles under the influence of Martin Bucer.  In August 1540 Calvin married a widow with two children, Idelette de Bure with whom he had no children.  Later Calvin boasted that in Christendom he had 10,000 children.  In 1541 the Genevans begged Calvin to come back.  Many from all over the world came to Geneva.  John Knox said that Geneva was “the purest school of Christ on earth.”  In Geneva Calvin preached every day, lectured three times a week, was present at every town council, yet found time to write thousands of letters and books.  There are over 2,025 sermons in the Genevan library by him.  He founded the Genevan Academy (University of Geneva and Seminary).  In a time of turmoil Calvin’s writings on Providence and the Sovereignty of God took hold.  His teaching was known as Reformed Theology and had influence over the Netherlands, Hungary, Scotland, parts of France, parts of England, Ferrara Italy, Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchatel, and more. At his death Pope Pius IV said,  “The strength of that heretic [Calvin] consisted in this, that money never had the slightest charm for him. If I had such servants my dominion would extend from sea to sea.”

Prayer: I offer Thee my heart Lord, promptly and sincerely. (Prayer of John Calvin)