The Church and the Elect in Calvin

33 THE CHURCH AS THE ELECT IN THE THEOLOGY OF CALVIN by David N. Wiley The doctrine of election is basic to Calvin's understanding of the church. Although there is a definite tendency for Calvin to stress increasingly the visible church, emphasizing the role of the ministry, church discipiine, and the sacraments as external aids and means for upbuilding the life of the saints, the church always remained more than Church will be heading for disaster if it abandons itself to its visible aspects and, forgetful qf its true nature, puts itself on the same level would, if translated into sixteenth century as other institutions.

terms, have recelved a hearty approval from Noyon's most famous expatriate.

Ctlvin believes that election is the foundation of the church for several reasons. As he reads Scrlpture, the electlon of God is primary for the creation of his own people. This people has existed from the beginning (under various forms and even in a hidden condition). In addition, this church universal cannot' be limited to any one institu- tional form in a still sinful world. Consequently however much one might identify the church with its visible marks——— the Word preached and heard and the sacraments rightly administered——— and this visible church with the elect, the true church is ultimately invisible, eternal, and invincible because of the sure foundation of divine election. It is distinct but not separate from the visible church. Taking this middle ture, Calvin, therefore, cannot hold the view that the true church is holy or perfect and at the same time fully visible, for there appears to be no biblical warrant for making perfectionism the basic definition of the church, whether in the writings of the old or New Testament. Against the Anabaptists he contends that the church is always mixed. Nor can he say that the true church fnheres in certain external.signs——— with the exception of preaching and sacranents——— such as are found in a visible hlerarchy, for there seems to be no biblical warrant for requiring that the people of God, from.Abraham onwards, must always have had only one form. Indeed, what makes the church is: Calvin asserts, God's election. Against Roman Catholics he contends that the true church is frequently hidden within the visible churches and is dependent only upon the Word.

Hans King, The Church ("Image Books"; Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company. Inc.: 1976), p. 62.

See Francois Wendel. Calvin: The Origins and Development of His Religious Thought, trans. by Phiiip Mairet (London: Collins, 1963), pp. i42-43 and J.S. Whale, The Protestant Tradition: An Essay. In Interpretation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, I955), PP. 151-52.

34 Calvin's position has been both praised and criticized. We will pass over the praise it has received since this paper generally takes a positive view of his contention that the church is the whole number of the elect. On the negative side. hfs view has been criticized, for example, by Geddes MacGregor. Recognizing that for Calvin the church is inseparable from his predestinarian theology, MacGregor suggests that in being that there is a hidden specter of the true church known only to and the two are not joined by Calvin. In response to MacGregor's criticfsm one can only repeat that ft was not Calvin's intention to allow things to fail apart in this manner: rather, he insisted that one had not gone far enough if one thought of the church only as the elect (invisible) and did not at the same time regard oneseif as part of that group and honor the visible church through which concept of faith as expressed in Calvin's view that one believe the church rather than believe in it. Others. frequently of a Roman Catholic background, have criticized Calvin's doctrine of the church as being highly individualistic and as obviating any real sense of community.

From here and there God plucks individuals out by election. Again the tension is evident, but Calvin contends that there is a company of believers and that the elect are a people united to Cchrist and therefore one, as a communion of believers, even to the point, he In response intimates in the I536 Institutes, of sharing their goods. to both of these criticisms, it should also be pointed out that Calvin While there are negative evaluations of Calvin's doctrine of the becoming too immersed, after l539, in the reaim of the visible church. Geddes MacGregor, Corpus Christi: The Nature of the Church According to the Reformed Tradition (phiiadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958), p.49.

Killian McDonnell, John Calvin, the Church and the Eucharist (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967), pp. 363-64; George H. Tavard, Holy Writ or Holy Church: The Crisis of the Protestant Witte, Het problem individu-gemeenschap in Calvifns geloofsnorm (2 vols.. Frankener: T. Wever, 1949), II, 358-59. Aiso KarI Barth. The Doctrine_of God ("church Dogmatics"; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1957), II/2.307.

Ford Lewis Battles (Atlanta:John Knox Press, 1975), pp. 85-86; Opera Selecta, ed. Peter Barth and Wilhelm Niesel I (5 vols.. Munich: Chr. Kaiser verlag, l926), I, 9l-92. Hereafter cited as 0s.

35 If I understand what he is saying, this seems to be the thrust of Harro Hopfl's book on The Christian Poiity of John Calvin. Almost in reaction to his earlier negative view of the church, Hopfl says, Calvin now defines thegchurch in terms of an "aggressive clericalism" and church discipline.

He suggests, as well. that it is the visible church which triumphs in Calvin's thought and this, rather unfortunately, Ieads to the famous Genevan theocracy. While to call it aggressive clericalism may be an overstatement, and while one cannot deny that there is an increased emphasis upon the visible church for the Institutes reflect:, the battles of Geneva, one must be careful. nonetheless, not to overlook church as the whole number of the elect. What is more important. he Institutes, thereby indicating that he has not Iost track of his earlier view of election as the foundation of the church. In a word. he turns from addressing the microcosmic situation of Geneva to that other world where the denomination of the church as the elect still has that first generation elan and relevance. If there is admitted special pleading in this paper it is that one.must remember that Calvin is of the first after all did not want to be in Geneva——— and must be read, even in the Institutes, as addressing the role of the poor, suffering, Iittle churches of his native land and elsewhere. This is not, per se, a book——— though that caveat is in order——— it is merely an effort to point Frequently: those opinions subsequently turn up somewhere in the Institutes. Therefore: the Genevan context must be kept in mind but not extra-Genevan in orientation. If they are to prosper, these little churches, which are part of the whole number of the elect, must move to a more visible understanding of the church. My criticism of Hopfl is that he seems to suggest that Calvin has completely left behind the earlier. more universal point of view and come, finally, to identify the visible church (well-ordered in Geneva) with the true church. No doubt this plays a part in Hopfi's statement, in an appendix on "Predestination," that he has not treated the doctrine of predestination in his study begause it has so Iittle, if anything. to do with the visible church.

One other preliminary remark may be in order. Although there is a discussion of election in the treatment af ecclesiology in the 1536 Institutes and all subsequent editions: it is its relation to Some few items which are mentianed in passing in the 1536 section on the Book III of the I559 edition. In Calvin's final thinking through of his 6.

Harro M. Hopfl, The Christian Polity.of John Calvin ("Cambridge University Press, 1982), Pp. 103-l04.

7ut Hopf1, pp. 2 and 227.

36 theology, the doctrine of predestination is primarily soterlological, not ecclesiological, But this should not cause one to conclude that it has dropped from consideration in his view of the church and that it is replaced by the church merely as an external aid and means. Rather. Book IlI (the soteriological locus classicus) becomes, in effect, the description of the inner reality of the church which in Book Iv is treated in its external expression. That inner reality. as chapters 2l-23 surely indicate, is rooted in gracious; divine election. examine the changing definitions of the church as they related to election in Calvin's Institutes and other selected public writings; (2) to consider those aspects in the 1559 Institutes which appear to return to an earlier emphasis; (3) to offer a comment upon his view of election consequences (and benefits perhaps) from his view of the church as the elect.

1536 Institutes.

Although there is an earlier discusslon of election in a soteriological context (in Chapter I on "the Law"), the lengthiest in the 1536 Institutes, though nonetheless rather brief by later standards, and the one always cited in discussing Calvin's doctrine of election at this early time is found in Chapter Ii. It is located in his treatment of the fourth part of the Apostles' Creed: believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the communlon of saints, forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, eternal iife," Calvin opens this section with the following statement: We believe the holy catholic church——— that is the whole number of the elect, whether angels or men...: of men, whether dead or still Iiving; of the iving. in whatever lands they live, or wherever society, and one people of God. Of it. Christ. our Lord, is Leader and Rulers and as it were Head of the one body, according as. through divine goodness, they have been chosen in him before the foundation of the wgrld... in order that all might be gathered into God's Kingdom.

Thls church is catholic or universal because the whole number of the elect are one body in Christ. It is holy as well because those who are chosen are chosen to holiness as Romans 8:30 suggests. Institution (1536) P. 78; os I, 86: "credimus sanctam ecclesiam catholicam, hoc est, universum electorum numerum, sivi angeli sint, sivi homnes...; ex hominibus, sivi' mortui, sivi adhuc vivant;: ex viventibus. quibuscunque in terris agant, aut ubivis, gentium dispersi sint: unam esse eccleslam ac societatem et unum Dei populum cuius Christus: Dominus noster, dux sit et princeps, ac tanquam unius corporis caput; prout in ipso divina bonitate electi sunt, ante mundi constitutionem, ut in regnum Dei omnes aggregarentur." See "Appendix," #I.

Calvin then adds other topics related to election and church. The method of God's operation In this catholic and holy church is through calling and justification. This is the means whereby the eternal election of God is made known. Again there is the appeal to Romans 8 which suggests the manner by which we may recognize the children of God. One must admit. however, that the visible church which is before us is a mixed church. From this view of the church as the whole number of the elect there flow certain consequences which Calvin enumerates. First. its members cannot perish or come to a '"bad end. For their salvation rests on such a sure and solid bed, that. even if the whole fabric of the world were to fall it itself could not tumble and fall." This is true because the church is the "people of God's elect." This,church "stands with God's election, nor can it change or fail.. Second.

Christ has become the guardian of the members of this elect people of God. Third, it folows that since the basis of the church is election, then there was "no time from the creation of the world which the Lord Finaliy, since we are dealing with a mixed church, we promises: cannot tell who has been chosen and who condemned. We should not seek to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of this problem. Yet, we are not without support, For since Christ our Lord is he in whom the Father, from eternity are among God's elect and of the church, if we partake in Christ. How is one to partake of Christ? It is by faith that "we possess Christ and all that is his"; and so "we also through him have been adopted as children of God, and are his brothers and companions in such aivay, as to Let us remember, Calvin says, returning to an earlier point, that the church can only be regarded as catholic if we believe we are part of it. With the caveat that distinguishing the elect from the reprobate is God's prerogative, Calvin next turns nonetheless, to a consideration of how one may determine who are the elect. It is not through the power of the keys, he asserts. The church, namely the papacy. cannot remove one from the rolls of the elect. Yet, so far as any may be sure. there are certain clear marks. Where one finds individuals who "profess with us the same God and Christ by confession of faith, example of Iife and participation in the sacraments," all these "ought by some sort of 13 judgment of love... (to) be deemed elect and members of the church. 9.

Ibid. p. 80. 0s 1. 87.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.$ P. 8l; 0s 1, 88.

12 Ibid.

38 This, one may assume, is Calvin's list of criteria which he hoped would be used by the King of France, in relation to the members of these new evangelical communities and by the communities themselves in sorting then.

A close reading of the foregoing paragraphs suggests that Calvin has dealt with the question of the identificatlon of the elect from two perspectives: from that of the inquiring or troubled individual——— to whom he counsels faith as the key to partaking in Christ——— and from that of those who have ecclesiastical oversight of some flock of evangelical Christians——— to whon he advises the famous judgment of charity. In addition, an attentive reading of these paragraphs leads one to conclude that Calvin has already begun to speak of the visible church and the qtestions which it faces, particularly in terms of ecclesiastical discipline. Thuss he follows his discussion of the identification of the eiect, which culminates with the counsel of the judgment of charity. with one on the role and scope of excommunicatlon. It is permissible. he states, to judge for the time being that certain individuals are estranged from the church. Excommunication under these conditions does not irrevocably expunge them from the church; that remains dependent upon their election status. Even where there appear to be clear signs that individuals have committed one of the sins against the Holy Spirit, it is rarely if ever possible that that may be kngyn and so it is "more Having drawn a blank on being able "to distinguish individualiy modified version of the Augsburg Confession's statement of whether we can, nonetheless, be sure that the church of God exists in the world. It is to be found '"where we see the Word of God purely preached and The verb "see't administered according to Christ's institution.

suggests that:Calvin is dealing with the visible church which can exist even where only two or three -are gathered together in Christ's name. It is important to underline this emphasis upon the visible church in the l536 Institutes, for this is the edition about which it has been $gld 1"17 there is a church which "cannot be seen with the naked eye.' Consequently, some scholars have overlooked this Institutest emphasis upon the visible church. Yet, it fs to be found in such discussions as those dealing with the power of the keys, the judgment of charity. 14.

Ibid.: P. 83; os l: 90; emphasis added.

15.

Ibid. p. 83; 0s 1, 92.

16.

Willem Balke, Calvin and the Anabaptist Radicals, trans. wilriam J. Heynen (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans,'i981), p.49. 17.

Institution (1536), p. 85; os 1. 91.

39 excommunication, and, most importantly, the marks or signs of the true church. All of these are either things done or functions exercised by someone to or in behalf of someone else. The judgment of Doumergue still seem$.to be correct——— one assessed by Hopfl to be "almost ——— that the subsequent introduction (in 1539) of the laughable"T8 terminology.

This correction is mentioned because it is common to say that in the l536 Institutes the church is conceived in terms of an invisible church, but by the time of the l539 edition..the parish experience which preceded it, and the infiuence of Bucer: Calvin speaks of both an invisible and a visible church. What seems rather to be the case is that in I536 already he held the position of Bucer, a church both visiblezand invisible, although admittedly not so clearly articulated.

Calvin does not, of course, relate the visible church to clergy, the one clear sign of the visibility of the church among the papists. And. therefore, he can say that it is invisible in the sense of not being clergy oriented and, as well, "not a physfcal thing which ought to But can it exist without the true marks as he understands them? The answer is apparently "yes," for in the "preface to the King of France" he affirms "that the church can Such an absence is not to be wished, however, for it represents a time when there is a "dreadful men's sight the external notion of his church"t and, in fact, Ieaves the There appears, in short, to be a certain tension between the "Preface" and the text of the I536 Institutes: with the former taking a harder position on the invisible nature of the church of the elect, while the exposition of the Creed moves rather easily back and forth from invlsible to visible. In both cases, it is clear that whether the true marks are present or temporarily absent. the church consists of the whole number of the elect who are called into it and protected by God. By 1539 he will draw back from saying that the church can exist without any of the true marks, averring that even in the Roman churches God 18..

Hopf1, P. 37.

19.

temps. (7 vols., Lausanne: G.Bridel et cie, 1899-1927), V. 28-29.

20.

See Wendel: P. 296.

21 Institution (1536), P. 85; os l. 9l.

22.

Ibid.: pP. 12-13; Os 1, 31.

40 24 has maintained the vestige of baptism as a witness to his covenant Thus, it is the text of the Institutes and not the "preface" which should receive the greater weight and which in its blending of the concepts of invisible and visible lays the foundation for the not-so- writings.

There are one or two other references to election and the church in this discussion of the Creed, but the only significant one occurs in his comments upon the communion of the saints. This phrase is taken to mean '"all the elect (who with true faith worship God together)"——— hardly an i537 Instruction. The beauty of the 1537 Instruction is that it sets forth ciearly in one paragraph what Calvin had taken somewhat longer to say in the Institutes.

Four times the term election is Iinked to the church with the tone,being set by the familfar equation of the What is somewhat surprising, however, Is that there is neither reference nor allusion to the visible/invisible contrast, suggesting that that distinction, to which Calvin will return in the 1539 Institutes. and give it final form in that of 1543, can be made into greater importance than it merits. In 1543 it appearss among other things, to serve as an organizing principle for his materials. Here, the church is simply defined as the elect. If one were.to come to this definition first——— as no doubt some did——— one would get the impression that there is a clear connection between election and the visible church. The thrust of the passage, in any case, is to instruct the reader that he or she, having left the Roman church, is. nonetheless, in the true church.

1539 Institutes. Two things strike one immediately upon examining the 1539 Institutes discussion of the church. First, there is a slight change in some of the terminology and the addition of two new terms. 24 Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (2 vols., "The Library of Christian Classics"; ed. John T. McNelll; Philadeiphia: The Westminster Press, l960), IV. 12. ll. 25 cf Hopfl. P. 75 who is surprised.

264 Institution (1536), P. 85; os l, 9l.

27.

"Nous avons Instruction et confession de foy: Os 1, 400-40l: desia veu la fontaine dont sort lEglise laquelle nous est icy proposee a de Dieu, duquel Christ nostre Seigneur est le conducteur et prince et chief comme dun corps. ainsi que en Iuy ilz ont este eleuz devant la constitution du monde affin quilz feussent tous assemblez au royaulme de Dieu."

See "Appendix," #lI.

41 "28 Christians.

By 1543 and again in the l55g Institutes, however, one here, that the multitude of Christians which is "assembled into one eternally elected" in Christ, indicates that the change in terms does not influence the content of his position. For the first time within the Institutess the terms invisible and visihle appear——— Doumergue's mere 30 change in terminology having been observed.

For the first time as well, the description of the church as the "mother of us all" appears is made.

Second, one notes that the inyisible church.tends to recede. This is again the common opinion.

While it is true that the expansion in the chapter is one which focuses upon the visible church. is none the worse when it recognizes the Church that our intelligence cannot understand: that is, the church which consists of the elect who by the mercy of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit "have come In brief, although he does nat expand on it, the church of the elect continues to be present and much stressed within the visible church.

Calvin's consideration of the church begins with the distinction between believe the church versus believe in the church. He next adds his definition of the church, referring to it as the, multitude of the Christians, and compares it to a mother. In additional new material for by number of the elect" and second, that there is a unity to the church outside of which there is no salvation. Next follows the 1536's comments on the church's being catholic, universal, and holy. To the 28 Institution de la religlon chrestienne, l54l. ed. Jacgues Pannier '"Les Textes francais: oeuvres completes de Calvin"; Paris: (4 yols.- l'Eglise nous est icy proposee a croyre, a fin que nous croyons (l536) toute Ia multitude des Chrestiens estre conjoincte par le bien de Foy. et assemblee en un peuple, duquel le Seignetr Jesus. soit Prince et Capitaine; mesme qu'elle est unye en un corps, duquel Christ est le Chef; corme Dieu a éternellement esleu tous les siens en iceluy, a fin de les assembler et recueiller, en son Regne." See "Appendix,'t' #III. 29 Ibid.

32.

Whale, P. 152 and 153: "The ideal Church of the Elect now retires into the background, and Calvin concerns himself more and more with the Church in its empirical actuality: where holiness is potential rather Institution (154l), II, 127.

42 last is appended the comment that the church is not yet perfect. To the I536's observation that since the beginning of the world the Lord has had his church, he now adds a new paragraph providing biblical evidence to that effect. This evidence is drawn from Psalms 89 and 132. From the former psalm Calvin 1ifts out the remark that God has ordained a sworn to David his servant that he wil eternally conserve his seed.

In this manner Calvin underlines, once again the election basis of the church. The' discussion of the "communion of the saints" is that found in the l536 Institutes, now revised and expanded by new comments which stress the benefits brought by that communion, namely that we cannot be torn from Christ no matter how much we may be torn to pieces. Thus, he adds in 1539, such communion——— which involves both union with Christ and fellowship with other Christians——— is a source of comfort. He then advises: continuing to insert new material, that to believe the church means that we are to believe it when it is invisible as well as when it can be "seen by the eye and touched by the hand."

This brings to a close his discussion of the. invisible church.

He turns immediately and somewhat abruptly to the visible church. What then follows is a twenty page section upon the church, excommunication, and other related topics. There is an increased emphasis upon the visible church here, but one where it still clearly is anchored in divine election. The concern remains to trace out as much as possible the ramifications and manifestations of that election. Though there is a great emphasis upon the moral qualities of the church, there is still no clear mention of the sinews of polity which will subsequently serve to hold the church together and to serve increasingly to replace the elect community as the primary focus of attention. It still seems to be an overstatement to conclude with McDonnell that Calvin has moved from "an exclusive concern for the sanctification gf the elect to a concern for the sanctification An even more inaccurate conclusion s that of of the ecclesial body.

Hdpfl. that by l539 Calvin has arrived at the position of making a distinction between visible gd invisible but.yet being "far from The·result, Hopfl continies, is that as Calvin's thought came more and more to center upon the visible church, "the universai church, the communion of saints, continued to recede dealing with the Creedst assertion of the one-ness of the church in such 34.

Ibid., p. 124.

37.

McDonnell, P. 156.

38..3.

Hopfl. P. 84.

43 a way as to wrest this weapon from the Romanists, or, on a more Hopfl seems to suggest that Calvin began with the concept of the invisible church, Iater found himself in a situation It would appear to be more accurate to from the one to the other.

conclude that Calvin moved easily between the two as early as the l536 Institutes, and that although drawn inevitably to stress the visible church more completely and precisely——— because of his experience both in Strasbourg and Geneva——— he did not fall. into the trap of identifying the church with the ministry and the sacraments. Rather, until the end he stressed the role of election as the foundation of the church and regarded the "outward helps," mentioned at the beginning of Book Iv of weaknesses.

l542 Catechism of the Church of Geneva. That the church as the whole number of the elect and as a visible reality are to be held together, but with the priority going to the church as the elect, is repeated in Calvin's' treatment of the Creed in the 1542 Catechism: 93. What is the catholic church?

It is the company of faithful that God has ordained and elected to eternal life.

96. In what sense do you call the Church holy? In that those whom God has elected, he justifies and purifies to holiness and innocence (Rom. 8:29), so that his glory may be displayed in them. lo. And this Church, is it possible to know it otherwise than in believing it?

There is surely a visible church of God in terms of which he has given the signs of knowing it, but here (in speaking of believing the church) we are speaking more precisely of the company of those whom God has chosen In order to save them. This company cannot be plainly seen by the eye.

The first and fundamental affirmation of the Creed——— to believe the church——— clearly focuses still upon the invisible church, the whole 39.

Ibid.

40.

Ibid., p. 85.

41.

Ioannis Calvini opera guae.supersunt omnia, ed. Wiihelm Baum, Edward Cunitz, and Edward Reuss (5g vols., "Corpus Reformatorum," vols. 29-87; Brunswick: C. A. Schwetschke and Son/M. Bruhn/. 1863-l900), VI, cols. 39-41.

Hereafter cited as Co.

44 the church relates to the invisible church. In the l536 Institutes he has said that faith is belief in things unseen. ' There is nothing to suggest that he ever backed away from insisting that "believe the church"——— however unfelicitous a phrase——— relates by faith to the church which he has Just described as being "the company of those whom God has chosen in order to save them" and about whom it must be said that "this company cannot be plainly seen by the eye."t 1534 Institutes. All of this suggests that when one comes to the discussion of the church in the l543 Institutes one must not overweight the new emphasis Calvin places upon the visible church. It is true, as Strohl says, that in the chapter on the church (ch. 8) only about one-third of the material is on the invisible chyrch and the remainder is an "immense treatise" on the visible church. It is likewlse true that there appears here for the first time the articulation of the fourfold offices of the ministry and that there is a "positive ecclesiastical pality... cemented throughout with the sense of order Et!

and discipline.

It is no doubt true as,yell, that there emerges a "high Calvinist doctrine of the Ministry.

It may even be true: as Hopfl suggests, that whiie in one sense the term church is meant to suggest the totality of the elect, living and dead, it is with the second scriptural sense of the visible, external church that Calvin is "reallyt interested.

Finally. it is clear that the well-known definition of the invisible versus vlsible church——— a definition which Yet, two things should be noted about these two paragraphs on the invisible and the visible church respectively. First, the church is still initially defined as it has been from 1536: it is all the elect. Second, the admonition to honor the visible church and keep oneself in marks of the church as initially spelled out in the l536 Institutes for church.

If anything: there is a tendency now to focus upon the visible church, not just as polity or as the theater of ": or as the locus of discipline, but as the elect. Calvin has already.indicated that if one partakes of Christ by faith there is no reason to doubt that one is among that whole number of the elect, and he had also the elect unless one believes hiuself.to be a part of it in Christ. Conseguently, it is not the visible church which begins now to slip its moorings from the piling of the invisible but the invisible church. 42.

Henri Strohi, "La Notion de I'eglise chez les reformateurs, Revue.

d'histoire.et de _philosophie religieuse, xvI (1936), P. 308. 43rm Whale, P. 155.

44.

Ibid.

45..* H6pf1, p. 104.

46.

Ibid., p. 103.

45 which comes to be more clearly anchored within the visible. church in a more and more concrete sense, priority still remains with the invisible church of the elect. The I543 Institutes does not seem to change this, for while it is "necessary for us to beiieve the Church which is fnvisible to us and known to God alone,' we are, Calvin says, "commanded to hold this visible Church in honor and to keep ourselves in 1559 Institutes.

All of.this is brought together in what.has been of the first few sections of Book Iv of the l559 Instftutes. Here: too, the ties between the invisible church and the visible church are close. Perhaps this is so, as Strohl observes, because Calvln was able by then to have observed numerous cases of authentic believers among the Genevan faithful and to see the effects of the living Word. Yet, he continues, "he has not actually identified the invisible Church with the visible Church, but has recognized more and more that actual ties unite the visible Church to Accordingly, to profess to believe the church is now said to apply to the visible church: (Calvin's presert topic in invisible church.

But if the phrase "to believe the church" is now applied to the visible church as weil, Calvin is quick to add that ir aiso refers "to all God's elect, in whose nunber are also included the Although these are by now old thoughts, this material is newly dead.n51 drafted for the l559 Institutes. Therefore, the basic definftion of the church as the elect has survived as, indeed, one would expect it to have done.

It will not be necessary to summarize the contents of these first few sections: the thematic content is now familiar. what I would like to stress is that there are added to this edition of the text certain 47 'citations of the I543 Institutes are taken from the 1559 edition, IV.4.7; emphasis added. See "Appendix," #IV.

48.

John R. Loeschen. The Divine 'Community: Trinity, Church, and Ethics in Reformation Theologies ("sixteenth Century Texts and Studles, vol. I; Kirksville, Mo: The Sixteenth Century Journal Publfshers. Inc.: 1981), p. 160.

49.

Stohl: P. 312.

50.

Quotations from the 1559 Institutes are rendered from IV.1.2.

L'Institution chretienne, l560 (3 vols., ed. P. Marcel and J. Cadier; [Geneva?]: Editions Kerygma et Editions Farel, 1978). See "Appendix, 51Ibid.

46 a renewed non-Genevan. emphasis and an underlining of an earlier concern. When Calvin speaks of God's drawing his elect through fnner calling (IV.l.2), when he refers to then as a "handful of people," and when he his Church, of which the foundation is his eternal election, he is summarizing well-known themes, but, Interestingly, he brackets them by allusions to a current situation which by l559 could hardly be that of Geneva. At the beginning he asserts that although the Devil does all he can to ruin the. grace of Christ and although all the enemies of God conspire in this effort and throw themselves into it with an impetuous rage, we ought to know that this grace cannot ever be snuffed out, and that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot be rendered sterile so that it produces no fruit. passage ends as follows: although the horrible desolation——— which one sees everywhere and on all sides——— seems to fndicate that nothing at all remains of the. Church, Iet us know that the death of Christ is fruitful and that God miraculously protects his Church: as though it were a hiding-place and as he satd to Elijah, in his times, 'I have reserved for myself seven-thousand men who have not bent the knee before Baalt (I Kings 19:l8).

Here, too, the ideas and some of the terms go back to 1536, but these brackets on each end of this part of Iv.l.2 are newly drafted material for this l559 edition of the Institutes. What they suggest is interesting. First, in discussing the church, Calvin has again felt it necessary to place its iife in the context of suffering and persecution. This constitutes an insertion which reminds the reader——— and perhaps France or elsewhere, continues to live much as it did when he wrote the first edition of the Institutes. It is to this church, which begins and ends in suffering: that it is particularly important to point out that election is the foundation of God's church. Indeed, Calvin never ceased to point out to those who were in prisog,that the reality. of the church was not attached to the visible church.

In this connection, Cadier mentions the account of the martyrs of Lyon. When they learned in their prison that at that very time there was a debate going on in Geneva about the doctrine of eternal election, they feared that this venerable doctrine would be rejected and that there would be taken away frgu them This the sole thought which enabled them to endure thelr persecution. churcll, which suffers and which finds comfort in the belief that the church is the whole number of the elect: is the same one Calvin 52 Jean-Daniel Benoit, Calvin directeur d'ames: contribution a I'histoire de la piete reformee (strasbourg: Ober1in,1947),p.197.

53.

Dieu: Actes du Congres international de theologfe caiviniste, Geneve i5-i8 juin 1936. ed.Jacques Courvoisfer et a1 (Geneva: Editions Labor: 1946), p.281.

47 addressed in the 1536 Institutes. As Niesel has indicated, it is a church which may be limited to house churches, but it is a church which is marvelously sustained by God in its hiddenness; it is a church which God protects with his power apart from human afd; it is a church which He upholds even when the whole world is perishing; it ls a church which can be onderfully preserved even though it fs no longer visible but in a tomb.

It is, in short, a church which is invincibie and fndestructible because its foundation is election.

Second, although the heightened emphasis upon.the visible church——— which we have seen developing from l536 until the final edition of the Institutes and which culminates in the fourfold ministry first mentioned in the 1543 edition——— ls not removed from this edition, there does seem the visible church and a recasting of the context of the discussion of the church in terms which repristinate the early period's emphases upon the church in its hidden qualities. Consequently, alongside Strohl's judgment that there are close ties between the invisible and visible church, one must add that there is also brought forward the old emphasis: upon the church as hidden and persecuted and upon the clear statements that the visible church consists of ezternal aids or "outward helps to For its existence it is not dependent upon these but only upon God's election, although ordinarily he operates through one or more of the marks of the true church. Indeed, by God's provision the visible church ig,the means by which God 56 ordinarily brings the elect to thelr salvation.- Nonetheless, when Calvin states that outside the church there is no salvation, properly speaking he means not outside the visible church but outside the church of the elect. Beyond Geneva it is still important to speak of the church as the whole number of God's elect, invfsible, hidden: suffering,. How does one explain this? Perhaps it is accounted the visible church.

for by acknowledging that this confession's concern is primarily with visible churches and parishes. In addition, it should be remembered that Calvin does not always feel the need to have things stated only his way.

It is now perhaps abundantly clear that election fs the foundation of the church. At Ieast that is what Calvin says when he discusses the doctrine of the church. Admittedly, we have spent most of our time in examining the ecclesiological setting of the doctrine of election as it is found in the various editions of the Institutes. But does Calvin 54.

Wilhelm Niesel, The Theology of Calvin, trans. Harold Knight (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1956), p. 208. 55.

IV.1.1 56 cf. Eric C. Jay: The Church:.. Its Changing Image Through Twenty Centuries (Atlanta: John Knox Press, l980), p. 170. II: 319-20, PP. 21-29.

48 connect election with the Church when he speaks about it in a more directly soteriological context or does he focus upon individual election to the exciusion of the churchly dimension? The place to look is in Book IrI, 2l-23. After polnting out, in the first part of II, 2l.l, that there are three benefits to be gained from considering the doctrine of election——— an awareness of God's mercy, an emphasis upon his glory, and a conviction of true humility——— he states that individuals who do not know themselves to be part of God's own particular people are perpetually miserable and uncertain. Here Is the individual focus which one has come to identify with Calvin's doctrine of some elected and some rejected. But he then relates this individual election, which is the source of these three benefits and the indivfdual's salvation, to the church: It is also true that it is from this [electionl that the Church comes before us (nous vient en avant), which St. Bernard so aptly says, would neither be found nor known among creatures. since that in an admirable manner it is hidden in the bosom of blessed.Bredestination and under the mass of the unhappy damnation of men.

This is new material prepared for the I559 Institutes. Thus, the conclusion that Calvin continues to stress election as the foundation of the church cannot be attributed to making too much out of certain leftover ingredients frou earlier discussions of electfon in the context of the Creed. Rather, the individual and churchly dimensions of election are tied together in a manner which is not necessary in Book III, except that Book IlI portrays not the individual Christian's life so much as the inner life of the church. Therefore, so far as Calvin's doctrine of election is soteriological it is also eccleslological and so far as it is ecclesiological it is also soteriological. Lest one be 'accused of depending too much upon the Institutes one reference from a sermon will indicate that Calvin's position——— that the church has its foundation in election——— is not one which was reserved for his more'"systematic" writing. It was preached as well. In a I560 sermon on Jacob and Esau, Calvin comments on the general election of Abraham and then on the choosing of Jacob. He notes that it is from the line of Jacob that will come. those who will be saved. Then he observes that the phenomenon of general and special electionnindicates that the As is frequently source and origin of the church is God's election. the case in his sermons, he does not develop this thought but passes on The point is that as Iate as l560. and that in a to other matters.

soteriological context, he mentions that election is the foundation of the church. From beginning to end, the church has remained more than what it ordinarily appears to be.

58.

rlI.21.1; see also Iv.1.2.

59 58.38: "r'eglise procede de la pure grace de Dieu." CO

49 IV in Calvin's doctrine of the church as the elect. It has not necessarily been a good thing that he chose to explicate it in terms of the Augustinian concepts of the visible and invisible church. The model of general and special election might have served him at least as well and perhaps better. At a minimum the Ianguage of general and special election enables one to insist more believably that those who are part of the general election are truly part of the church and have special tasks and responsibilities which out of which Calvin initially wrote and in terms of which he thought through his understanding of the church, it no doubt made more sense to him to approach the problem from the widely known model of visible/invisible. This enabled him to fend off the romanists on the right and the anabaptists on the left. It permitted him also to believe that God's church continued to exist even under the most desperate conditions. It also made it possible Iater, under the rubric of the mixed church, to justify the woeful progress made by some of the holiness, were also to be continued to be regarded as true churches. The church owed its existence to the act of God. That is the point Calvin is making. But using the model of visible/invisible did sometimes give the impression that there were two churches. When he speaks of the true visible church, he speaks of it in terms of the But preaching of the gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. when he speaks of the true invisible church he speaks of the numerous electorum.

There are, of course, not two churches for Calvin, but only one——— it is within the true visible church in ordinary circumstances——— just as there is a special election to salvatio within the general election.

Calvin's tendency, all have noted, is to move toward equating the end, however, it appears that he draws back from some of the implications of this heightened clerical orientation to affirm again the.hidden nature of the church, especially where the situation is difficult. It is as though the optimism reflected in the 1543 Institutes' position had becone tenpered by the years of practical experience in Geneva. In any case, he ends as he had begun, by stressing the hidden quality of the church.

Whatever the difficulties in Calvin's position, there are benefits in viewing the church as the elect. We have mentioned one of them more than once. The church conceived as the elect is a source of comfort for those who are isolated and persecuted. To be surrounded by a cloud of 60.

Whale, p. 152.

61 Werner Krusche, Das wirken des Heiligen Geistes nach Calvin ("Forschungen zur Kirchen-und Dogmengeschichte,"i vol. VIII; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1957), p. 315.

50 witnesses——— whether in the sixteenth or twentieth centuries——— and to believe that one is among that victorlous company is surely a note which might advantageously be sounded today, partlcularly when one tends to speak of the church almost exciusively in terms of institutional forms and polity. The church as the elect is a biblical emphasis which tends to come forward in the worst of times, for it reflects——— when strongly felt——— the minority status of those who hold it. As Calvin moves from being an outsider to becoming a new insider, he may momentarily have forgotten those who were still on the outside, preoccupied as he was with the problems of wresting the church in Geneva free, now not from papal control, but from civil authority. Fortunately, he returns to this clear biblical emphasis in the end. Perhaps it might be worthwhile for us to look again at Calvin on this subject, for many Christians To be sure, there are other benefits to Calvin's concept of the church as the eect. It provides the backdrop for a serious attempt at discipline, since high purpose and significant results are to be expected of the elect, some of whom are found to be in any church where there is true preaching and the sacraments rightly administered. It places that discipline (including excommunication) in its proper, penultimate context. The church as the elect suggests a church where sed semper reformanda is applicable since no relative institutional forms ought to be absolutized. By virtue of the judgment of charity, it Ieads to the establishment of peace within a given chureh and creates a.church open to other churches: since the unity among the churches lies in divine election and that election's binding one to Christ as to one body together. It is one component, then, for undergirding the ecumenical movement's effort at cooperation and union. And the church as the elect places the emphasis where it should be, upon God and the people of God, which,'as tempting as it might be to identify that people either with faith or with order, is finally known oniy to God and is not to be equated with any form of church structure, political government, or economic philosophy. But although all these are beneficial elements of the doctrine of the church as the elect, it does appear that as the chief emphasis in the doctrine of election is the comfort and assurance it provides the individual beiiever: so in the doctrine of the church the strong note of consolation provided those who suffer is the chief benefit for our times.

Unless I am mistaken, the problem of faithfully relating the biblical witness to human suffering has been this century's most compelling theological challenge. That it can be addressed individually in cHrist is true enough. Many have endured their torments by clinging to Him. But the church is not an aggregate of individuals; it is, as Calvin says, a people of God, the whole number of the elect. It is a communion of saints, which, like the. prisoners of Lyon+ may find strength and comfort in the firm conviction that they together will be victorious, even though the world around them tumbie and run red with their blood.

If one reads Calvin solely in terms of Geneva, then one may also have to read him almost exclusively in terms of a theology of glory and, fn turn, ruminate upon the unfortunate connections between Calvin and a

51.

"certain'" theology of glory which has strongly influenced the American self-understanding. But if one can learn how to read him in terms of the first generation concerns of the evangelicai party in France and its poor, little, suffering churches which lived under the cross, then, perhaps, something of his theology of the cross may yet speak powerfully to that part of the worid which, even today, strongly' resenbles his native Iand as he knew it and which shortly will include within its domains the greater number of those who call' themselves Christians.

52 APPENDIX Calvin's Definitions of the Church (involving election). I. 1536 Institutes I believe the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, eternal life.

2l. First, we believe the holy catholic church ——— that is the whole number of the elect, whether angels or men [Eph. l:9-l0; Col. I:l6l; of men, whether dead or still Iiving; of the -1iving, in whatever Iands they live, or wherever among the nations they have been scattered——— to be one church and society, and one people of God. Of it. Christ, our Lord, is Leader and Ruler, and as it were Head of the one body, according as, through divine goodness,'they have been chosen in him before the foundation of the world [Eph. l:4l, in order that all might be gathered into God's Kingdom. Now this society is catholic, that is, universal, because there could not be two or three churches. But all God's elect are so united and conjoined in Christ [cf. Eph. 1:22-231 that, [l381 as they are dependent on one Head, they also. grow together into one body being joined and knit together [cf. Eph. 4:l6] as are the 1imbs of one body [Rom 12:5; I Cor. 10:17; 12:12, 27. These are and in the same Spirit of God, called to the inheritance of eternal 1ife.

It is also holy, because as many as have been chosen by God's eternal providence to be adopted as members of the church ——— all these are made holy by the Lord [John 17:17-19; Eph. 5:25-32]. Institution (1536), pp. 78-79.

II. 1537 Instruction in Faith I believe the holy Church universal, the communion of saints. We have already seen the fountain fron which the Church springs. The Church fs here set forth to us as object of faith to this end that we may have confidence that all the elect are conjoined through the bond of faith in one Church and society: in one people of God, of which Christ our Lord is the leader and prince and head, as of one body, so that in him they have been elected before the constitution of the world to the end that they may be all assembled in the kingdom of God. This society is catholic, that is to say, universal, because there are not two or Christ in such a way that just as they depend on one head so they grow as in one body, adhering one to the other, being composed as the members of one same body, being truly made one in as much as they live by the same spirit of God in one same faith, hope, and charity, being called to participate in one same inheritance of

53 eternal life. Moreover, the Church is also holy. because all those who are elected by the eterral providence of God to be adopted as members of the Church are all sanctffied by the Lord through spiritual regeneration. Instruction in Faith, trans. Paul T. Fuhrmann (London: Lutterworth Press, i949), pp. 52——— 53. IiI. 154l Institutes First, it is proposed [by this article of the Creedl to believe the Church in order that we believe all the multitude of Christians to be conjoined, by the benefit of Faith, and assembled into one people. of which the Lord Jesus ig Prince and Captain——— even that the Church is united in one body, of which Him, in order to assemble and gather them together in his Kingdom. ************ Finally. to keep ourselves in the unity of this Church, it is. never necessary that we see a Church with the eye nor touch it with the hand. Rather, given that we must believe it [the Church] so we are told that we ought to no less recognize it when it is invisible to us than if we see it clearly. And our Faith in the Church is none the worse when it recognizes the Church that our intelligence cannot understand...

Now it is time to speak of the visible Church. and what we can understand of it by our sense, in order to demonstrate what opinion we ought to have of it. For the Lord has marked his Church for us with certain marks and signs insofar as we are able to recognize it. Institution de la_religion Chrestienne, II, pp. 121, 126-7. Trans. by David' N. Wiley.

IV. 1543 Institutes (IV.4.7 of 1559) We have said that Holy Scripture speaks of the Church in two fashions. Sometimes in using this term [church] it intends the who by the grace of adoption are children of God and, by the sanctification of his Spirit, are true members of Jesus Christ. live on the earth but to all the elect from the beginning of the world.

Often, on the other hand, by the name Church Scripture indicates the whole multitude of men who, being dispersed in the diverse regions of the world, makes the same confession of honoring God and Jesus Christ, has baptism as the witness of its faith, and charity. This multitude consents to the Word of God and wishes to maintain preaching, following the commandment of Jesus Christ. In this [atter] Church hypocrites, who have nothing of Jesus Christ except title and appearance, are mixed in with the good: some are ambitious, others greedy, others still are evil speakers; certain live a dissolute life. These are tolerated for a time either

54 because one is not able to convlct them officially or because discipline is not always so vigorous as it ought to be Therefore. as it is necessary for us to believe the Church which is nvfsible L'Institution chretienne. 1560, III, p. 20. Trans. David N. Wiley. V. l559 Institutes (IV.1.2) [e] Although the Devil does all he can to ruin the grace of Christ and although al the enemies of God conspire in this effort and throw themselves into it with an impetuous rage, we ought to know that this grace cannot ever be snuffed out, and that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot be rendered sterile so that it produces no fruit. te(b/a)l In this context we must consider the election of God and also His inner calling by which he draws his elect, for he alone knows those who are his own and holds them. as Paul says. under hfs seal.

... But because these [the electl are only a handful of people, even despised, mixed In among a great multitude, and are hidden as a pinch of grain under a great pile of chaff, we must leave entirely to.God the privilege of knowfng his Church, of which the faundation is his eternal election. [e(b)J Yet, it would never be sufficient to conceive in our minds that God has his elect if we would not. at the sanme time, understand there to be a unity of the Church, and this to such a degree that we are persuaded that we are truly grafted into it. Because if we are not tied to all the other members urder the common Head, who s Jesus Christ, we are unable to have any hope of the heritage to come. [al For this reason [the above unity in Christ] the Church fs called catholic or universal. because one would not know how to make of it two or three churches lel without tearing Jesus Christ apart (to the degree which we might be able to do so). [al The elect of God are so very joined together in Jesus Christ that, as they all depend on one Head, so also are they made into one body——— through the same sort of lialson as one sees between the members of the human body. They are, therefore, all one, living from the same faith, hope, and charity through the Spirit of God. [b(a)J They are called not only to the same heritage but also to participate in the glory of God and of Jesus Christ. [e] Conseguently, although,the horrible desolation——— which one sees everywhere and on all sides——— seems to indicate that nothing at all fruitful and that God miraculously protects his Church, as though it were a hiding-place and as he said to Eiijah, in his times, " have reserved for myself seven-thousand men who have not bent the knee before Baal" (I Kings I9:l8). Ibid.: P. 12. [e] 1559 [b] = 1539 [a] = 1536