by Michael Cooper
In a letter written to Cardinal Sadoleto in 1539, John Calvin articulates his Reformation aims:
I will not press you so closely as to call you back to that form which the Apostles instituted, (though in it we have the only model of a true Church, and whosoever deviates from it in the smallest degree is in error,) but to indulge you so for, place, I pray, before your eyes, that ancient form of the Church, such as their writings prove it to have been in the age of Chrysostom and Basil, among the Greeks, and of Cyprian, Ambrose, and Augustine, among the Latins…[1]
According to Calvin, the Reformation was a movement of retrieval for the sake of renewal. He was convinced that to achieve this renewal it must begin with the Word. He writes to Sadoleto, “Nor will you find this in the Apostolic writings only, but whenever the Prophets foretell the renewal of the Church, or its extension over the whole globe, they always assign the first place to the Word.” What is clear within Calvin’s writings is that this Word is not merely the written Word but the Preached Word. Calvin draws from the Great Tradition as the inspiration for his preaching. John Leith asserts, “Calvin learned to preach out of the Christian tradition, in particular from the practice of the ancient church...”[2] It is believed that Calvin's homiletic was shaped by Renaissance humanism, the homilies of Chrysostom, Melanchthon, and his own reflection on the biblical writings.[3] As a result, Calvin’s “expository method” of preaching reshaped the scholastic sermon of the medieval period.[4] In contrast, Calvin was devoted to the “continuous exposition” of the text, which resulted in a sermon that followed the movement of the text.[5] His sermons were flexible, depending upon the selected text.[6] As a result, Calvin’s sermons reflected the ancient homily.
The Written Word as the Basis for Renewal
To dive deeper into Calvin’s preaching, one only needs to look at Calvin’s theology of the written Word. Manetsch notes, “At the heart of Calvin's hermeneutic and theory of preaching stands a particular understanding of the nature and authority of the sacred text.”[7] Ronald Wallace echoes this when he writes, “For Calvin, the Bible is not only the sole source of Church proclamation but also the sole authority that must rule the life of the Church.”[8]
In Calvin’s view, Scripture is the guide for humanity to come to God.[9] Moreover, Scripture is the very means by which God “opens his own sacred mouth” and “manifests himself as the God to whom” worship is due.[10] This dual movement of the Word – humanity coming to God and God coming to humanity – provides the basis for Calvin’s preaching. He articulates, since there are no “daily responses given from heaven”, the Scriptures “are the only records in which God has been pleased to consign his truth” to the Church.[11]
The Father has spoken with finality in the Son, “ordering us to seek the whole doctrine of salvation from him alone, to depend on him alone, and cleave to him alone; in short to listen only to his voice.”[12] As a result, “We ought to believe that Christ cannot be properly known in any other way than from the Scriptures; and if it be so, it follows that we ought to read the Scriptures with the express design of finding Christ in them.”[13]Additionally, the authority of this Word is realized through the inward testimony of the Spirit.[14] Calvin writes, “For as God alone can properly bear witness to his own words so these words will not obtain full credit in the hearts of men until they are sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit.”[15] In the Word, by the Spirit’s empowerment, the voice of the Father in Son comes to the Church with clarity, power, and authority.
The Preached Word as the Means of Renewal
Leith plainly states, “Calvin thought of preaching as the primary means by which God’s presence becomes actual to us and by which God’s work is accomplished in individual life and in the community.”[16] To understand Calvin’s high view of preaching, we will look at two aspects.
First, Calvin proposed that the Preached Word by the Spirit in human communication is indeed the Word of God. He remarks, “For among the many noble endowments with which God has adorned the human race, one of the most remarkable is, that he deigns to consecrate the mouths and tongues of men to his service, making his own voice to be heard in them.”[17] God is so closely identified with his Preached Word that “it may be said that the mouth of the prophet was the mouth of God himself.”[18] The Reformer is theologically nuanced, making it clear that the preacher words are not replacing the Word. Yet when the Spirit accompanies the Word, the word spoken is indeed the Word of God.[19] Calvin states that God, “the author of preaching connects his Spirit with it, and then promises a beneficial result...”[20] Wallace asserts that this “sacramental action” is a union that “takes place between the divine element – the Spirit or action of God – and the human activity…”[21]
Second, in Calvin’s understanding of preaching there is an intrinsic relationship between the Word of God and the presence of God. Leith acknowledges this relationship stating, “In doctrine he [Calvin] knew that the words of the sermon are at best frail, human words, but words which can by the power of the Holy Spirit become the occasion of the presence of God.”[22] Preaching is a “sign of God’s presence.”[23] Gerrish notes, “The word is not simply information about God; it is the instrument through which union with Christ is effected and his grace is imparted…In this sense, it is the sacramental word.”[24] Calvin ties together God’s sacramental presence and preaching in his commentary on Isaiah 50:2. He writes, “Now, the Lord is said to ‘come’ when he gives any token of his presence. He approaches by the preaching of the Word…”[25] The proclamation of the Word, in the power of the Spirit, becomes a pledge of God’s presence among his gathered people.
The Preached Word as God’s Sacramental Presence
Calvin’s sacramental preaching emphasis flows from his larger Eucharistic theology.[26] Drawing from Augustine, Calvin states that the sacrament is to be a “visible sign of a sacred thing, or a visible form of an invisible grace.”[27] As such, “Sacraments…present Christ the more clearly to us…”[28] They are a “seal of the promises of God” in Christ.[29] The sacraments are “evidences of divine grace” to be received by faith.[30] The means of grace are made effective by the agency of the Spirit in the same way the Word is made effective.[31] Calvin would conclude, “Let it be a fixed point that the office of the sacraments differs not from the word of God; and this is to hold forth and offer Christ to us, and in him, the treasures of heavenly grace.”[32] Parker draws the conclusion, “Just as Christ is present at the Supper spiritually, that is, by the working of the Spirit, so he is present in the preaching spiritually – by the working of the Spirit.”[33]
These realities are efficacious for the believers because of one’s union with Christ. Calvin claims, “The whole comes to this that the Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ effectually binds us to himself.”[34] He adds, “By the same grace and energy of the Spirit we become his members, so that he keeps us under him and we in our turn possess him.”[35] Thus it is in the preaching of the gospel, “that Christ may become ours, and that we may be engrafted into his body. Now when the Father gives him to us in possession, he also communicates himself to us in him; and hence arises a participation in every benefit.”[36] Preaching communicates Christ, as Parker states, “Thus Christ, the substance of the gospel, offers in it his broken body and shed blood.”[37]
As is clear, the language Calvin uses to discuss the act of preaching is similar to that used of the sacraments. He claims, “the Lord offers us his mercy, and pledge of his grace, both in his sacred word and in the sacraments.”[38] In his commentary on 2 Corinthians 3:6 Calvin states, “…the nature of the gospel is to teach spiritually, because it is the instrument of Christ’s grace.”[39] Calvin in his Short Treatise of the Lord’s Supper writes, “But just as God has set all fullness of life in Jesus, in order to communicate it to us by means of him, so he has ordained his Word as instrument by which Jesus Christ, with all his benefits, is dispensed to us.”[40] To be more explicit, in his biography of the Reformer, T.H.L Parker asserts, “[For Calvin] the sermon, we might say, is the audible Eucharist…Calvin was fond of saying that in the pulpit Christ must preside.”[41]
The Sacramental Word and Contemporary Preaching
Preaching, therefore, makes known the Word of the living God through human lips by the agency of the Spirit, effectively unites believers to Christ, communicates divine grace to those who receive it by faith, and actualizes the presence of Christ by offering Christ to the hearers. This seems to be the view held by Calvin and, according to him, those who embodied the Great Tradition. Could it be that we have disregarded the ancient form of proclamation? Perhaps viewing the act of preaching as a sacramental gift from the Father of the Son by the Spirit might cause us as preachers to pause and reflect. Does our preaching consist only of word and not power (1 Thess 1:5)? Does our preaching merely speak of Christ or does it actually offer Christ to our congregations? Does our preaching take seriously the communication of Christ’s grace to his people? Is our preaching only a memorialized representation of Christ, lacking his real presence? I am not suggesting that Calvin’s sacramental preaching is the answer to our problems. What I am suggesting, though, is that Calvin’s homiletical theology grounded in the Great Tradition ought to challenge us to consider its implications in our contemporary preaching. Perhaps the real presence of Christ in our preaching is needed for our spiritual renewal.
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[1] Calvin’s Letter to Sadoleto: https://www.monergism.com/john-calvins-letter-cardinal-sadoleto-1539
[2] John H. Leith, “Calvin’s Doctrine of the Proclamation of the Word and Its Significance for Today in the Light of Recent Research,” paper, 60. There are two versions of Leith’s article. The Review and Expositor 1989 article is shorter than the paper quoted above.
[3] See Scott M. Manetsch, Calvin's Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1536-1609, The Oxford Studies in Historical Theology Series (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 156-62.
[4] See Alan of Lille, The Art of Preaching, translated by Gillian R. Evans (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 1981), 7. This translation of Ars Praedicandi states, “The university-style sermon took a theme, usually a text of Scripture, and divided it.”
[5] T.H.L. Parker, Calvin's Preaching (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992), 132.
[6] T.H.L. Parker, John Calvin: A Biography (Louisville KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 119.
[7] Manetsch, Calvin's Company of Pastors, 158.
[8] Ronald Wallace, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament, 99.
[9] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, translated by Henry Beveridge (Peabody MA: Hendrickson Publishing, 2008), 1.6.4
[10] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.6.1.
[11] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1. 7. 1.
[12] Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion 4.8.7.
[13] John Calvin, “The Gospel According to St. John,” https://www.ccel.org/study/John_5:39
[14] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.7.5.
[15] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.7.4.
[16] Leith, “Calvin’s Doctrine of the Proclamation of the Word and Its Significance for Today in the Light of Recent Research,” Review and Expositor, 86 (Winter 1989): 29. This is the published article.
[17] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.1.5.
[18] Wallace, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament 82. See Calvin’s commentary on Isaiah 55:11
[19] See Ralph Cunnington, Preaching with Spiritual Power: Calvin’s Understanding of Word and Spirit in Preaching (Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2015), 88-89.
[20] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.1.6.
[21] Wallace, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament, 159.
[22] Leith, “Calvin’s Doctrine of the Proclamation of the Word,” 32.
[23] Wallace, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament, 84.
[24] B. A. Gerrish, Grace and Gratitude: The Eucharistic Theology of John Calvin (Eugene OR: Wipf and Stock, 2002), 76.
[25] Wallace, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament, 85.
[26] See B. A. Gerrish, Grace and Gratitude: The Eucharistic Theology of John Calvin.
[27] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.14.1.
[28] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.14.22.
[29] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.14.20.
[30] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.14.7.
[31] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.14.9.
[32] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.14.17.
[33] Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, 42.
[34] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.1.1.
[35] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.1.3.
[36] John Calvin, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:9,” https://ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom39/calcom39.viii.ii.html
[37] Parker, John Calvin: A Biography, 123.
[38] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.14.7.
[39] John Calvin, “Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3:6,” https://ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom40/calcom40.ix.ii.html
[40] John Calvin, Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper (1541).
[41] Parker, John Calvin: A Biography, 123.