Having considered Lutheranism last time, this time we’ll give attention to the second dominant strain of Reformation Theology: Calvinism. To begin with, John Calvin and Calvinism has become a lightening rod in evangelical Christianity. People tend either to love him, or hate him. Those who hate him almost always make unfair and inaccurate caricaturizations of Calvin and his theology. Those who know the truth about Calvin and Calvinism may not agree with him, but they do not hate him. He was a uniquely godly and gifted man.

John Calvin (1509-1564) was born 26 years after Luther and died 18 years after Luther. His magnum opus, the Institutes of the Christian Religion (ICR) began as a booklet and ended years later as a great multi-volume theological work. Calvin had a great legal, as well as theological mind. Calvin added to Lutheranism a more complete “system of theology.” Some key points of Calvinism are:

While Luther emphasized the “Law-Gospel” aspect of theology, Calvin emphasized the absolute sovereignty of God over all things and the covenantal relationship between God and man.
Calvin developed and championed the concept of the three-fold office of Christ: (1) Christ the Prophet, (2) Christ the Priest, and (3) Christ the King. (ICR, II, 15)
Calvin gave the Church a more complete doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. (ICR, I, 9)
Calvin dealt more precisely with election and reprobation. While Luther taught on election, he said little about those who are not elected to salvation. Calvin dealt unabashedly with this sticky subject. (ICR, III, 21-24)
Calvin argued for three purposes for the Law: (1) The Law convicts sinners so that they might come to faith in Christ; (2) The Law restrains evil in individuals and in society; (3) The Law remains as a standard for holiness for those who are justified and are being sanctified. [1] (ICR, II, 7, 12)
Calvin developed the doctrine of vocation, which says that no matter what a person’s profession, it is a calling from God and therefore must be done as unto the Lord. This helped to further remove the wall that separates clergy from laity erected by Roman Catholics and many Protestants. (ICR, III, 10)
Calvinism has an extensive teaching on ecclesiology, on church polity, and on church leadership. (ICR, IV, 1, 7-10; IV, 3)
Calvinism gave us what has come to be called “Covenant Theology.”[2]

The footnotes will be included with the next blog post…