John Calvin's Use and Hermeneutics of the Old Testament Anthony G. Baxter Submitted for the ...

457 Pages·2008·18.53 MB·English

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RevEA Revue des Etudes Augustiniennes
RevRef La Revue Reform
RThPh Revue de thelogie et de phOosophie
SBET 111...!_§P2II1ELL11111211a-2±..E.P.Jical Theology
SC Supplementa Calviniana
SCJ The Sixteenth Century_Journal
SJT The Scottish Journal of Theology
StR Studies in the Renaissance
ThRef Theologia Reformata
ThTo Theology Today
ThZ Theologische Zeitschrift
Pt
VoxTh Vox TAeologica
VS Vermischte Schriften
WTJ Westminster Theological Journal
ZKG Zeitschrift far Kirchengeschichte
Zeitschrift far Theologie und Kirche
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Transliteration of Hebrew Script
a. Consonants b. Long Vowels
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d. . . • '7 0 . . . . •1
h • . . . Ti
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Chapter 1
Calvin's Use of the Old Testament: the Old Testament as a
Mirror
1.
The aim of the present chapter, preparatory to examining
Calvin's principles of interpreting the Old Testament and
his Old Testament hermeneutics, is to give some account of
the way in which Calvin used the Old Testament and applied
it to his own situation.
For Calvin the Old Testament was not some dry, dusty book
full of ancient histories which are of little interest or
relevance to the Christian Church. On the contrary, for him
it was a living book filled with vital instruction for the
Church and for believers in their pilgrimage to the heavenly
inheritance. Calvin saw its pages as peopled with living
models and examples of Christian character and experience.
In the Old Testament were displayed in the vivid pictures of
historical narrative - 'living images' as Calvin calls them
- the trials and difficulties of the Christian's pilgrimage,
the battles and warfares that the Church must wage with its
enemies and persecutors as well as with itself, dangers
facing the Church from within as well as without:
lukewarmness, idolatry, heresy, and apostasy. All this was
to be found in the Old Testament written in the living
colours of history and the lives of real people who sought
to serve God in their own times. These people, though
distant in both time and place, for Calvin, faced the same
”me realities that the people of God in all ages must face.
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Moreover, in the Old Testament Calvin found the great
central themes of his theology clearly set forth: themes
•
such as the sovereignty of God and his providential control
over history, the sinful condition of man in rebellion
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against God and the sovereiriof an electing God.
1. Calvin's Use of the Old Testament
Calvin's love and appreciation of the Old Testament is
reflected in his profound engagement with it, an engagement
which involved every sphere of his life, thought and work as
a Reformer. Not only did Calvin, the Biblical scholar, write
extensive commentaries on parts of the Old Testament, but
for a period of 17 years or so, first as a lecturer in the
school of Geneva then later, after it was founded, in the
Academy, he gave thrice weekly lectures on it,
systematically expounding his way through book after book.
Moreover, as a preacher for much of his career he preached
on the Old Testament every weekday, including Saturday, of
alternate weeks. 4* Here too, he worked systematically through
each book, never skipping or omitting a passage. 0 This is
not all. As a spiritual counsellor and advisor which he was
in his vast correspondence, he turned to the Old Testament
to give comfort and consolation to distressed and harassed
Christians in lands where the gospel was not welcomed, and
to give reproof and warning to those who were backsliding or
weakening in their resolve under persecution- 4' As a
liturgist it was to the Psalms of the Old Testament that he
turned when he sought a 'Hymn-book' for the Reformed
Churches- 7 As an ecclesiastical organizer and statesman the
Old Testament provided him with guidelines and examples for
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forming the constitution and laws of a Christian state.e,
Finally, but perhaps most importantly, Calvin as a devout
earnest Christian, a shy retiring scholar whose natural bent
was for the seclusion of the study and the company of his
books, but who, in spite of his natural desires and
inclinations, found himself thrust into the forefront of
public life, having to deal with endless strifes and
conflicts which he by nature loathed, found his greatest
help and stay in the pages of the Old Testament. Amidst his
own conflicts and trials it was from the life and experience
of David the 'sweet Psalmist of Israel', in particular, that
Calvin drew strength and courage to carry on..
Let us look at this engagement with the Old Testament in a
little more detail. It is, of course, through his Old
Testament commentaries that most people are familiar with
Calvin's involvement with the Old Testament. These
commentaries cover most of the Old Testament, including the
Pentateuch, Joshua, the Psalms and the whole of the
Prophetic corpus. However, a large part what we usually
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refer to as Calvin's Old Testament 'commentaries' are, in
fact, simply direct, transcriptions of his biblical lectures.
This is true of all the Old Testament 'commentaries' except
The Commentary on the Book of Psalms (1557), The Harmony on
the last Four Books of Moses(1563), and The Commentary on
the Book of Joshua (1563).10
Calvin was one of two Professors or Lecturers in the Academy
at Geneva responsible for the exegesis of the Old Testament.
Calvin's particular area of responsibility the
WAS
-- Chapter 1 --
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interpretation and exposition of the text, whereas the other
was responsible for the study of Hebrew and dealing with
textual questions in the Hebrew text itself." The 'schola
publica' in which Calvin gave his lectures was composed
largely of foreign students who were either drawn to the
Reformation there by the presence of Calvin and his theology
or who were driven there by persecution. The major aim of
the Academy was to prepare and train men for the ministry of
the Gospel in Churches throughout Europe.' Calvin carried
on his lecturing activity up until shortly before his death
in May 1564. He was finally prevented from lecturing any
longer by ill health in February of the same year. Calvin's
intention it would seem, had he been spared, was to lecture
his way through the whole of the Old Testament. 2 Because of
the situation in which they were delivered, Calvin's
lectures on the Old Testament bear a distinctly practical
and pastoral emphasis. This probably goes some way towards
explaining the continuing popularity of what have become
known as 'Calvin's commentaries' amongst clergymen and
preachers even in our own day."
Second to Calvin's commentaries, in terms of his engagement
with the Old Testament, are his sermons . His preaching on
the Old Testament was even more extensive than his
commentating and lecturing. Records of Calvin's preaching
activity date only from 1549. However, even the records we
have impress on us Calvin's monumental labours in the
proclamation of the Old Testament. Having completed, in his
week day sermons, a series on Jeremiah and Lamentations he
began on the Minor Prophets on Nov. 12th. 1550, dealing with
-- Chapter 1 --
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eight of the Minor Prophets and finishing in Feb. 1552.
After this he preached on Daniel, which took him up to Nov.
21st. of the same year, at which time he commenced on
Ezekiel. Ezekiel was finished on Feb. 21st. of 1554. On Feb.
26th. he began to preach on Job covering it in 159 sermons.
He covered Deuteronomy in 200 sermons from Mar. 20th. 1555
to June 15th. 1556. The day after finishing Deuteronomy he
began what was to be a monumental series on Isaiah, lasting
for over three years, finishing in Sept. 1559 and involving
some 342 sermons! Genesis was started immediately after, and
it was covered in 123 sermons between Sept. 4th. 1559 and
Feb. 3rd. 1561. Next he turned to the book of Judges, then
to 1 Samuel between Aug. 8th. 1561 and May 23rd. 1562, and
immediately after this he began on 2 Samuel covering it in
87 sermons and finishing on the 3rd. Feb. 1563. He began 1
Kings in the same month and had finished 2 Kings by Feb.
2nd. 1564. In addition to his week day sermons he frequently
preached on the Psalms on Sunday afternoons. There is, for
example, a series of 22 sermons on Psalm 119.1°
This preaching activity is staggering. Each of these books
was covered passage by passage verse by verse and even word
by word. Calvin's preaching method was to start at the
beginning of a book and to preach his way systematically
through it to the end. In this respect it was similar to his
lecturing method. However, his sermons, as we would expect,
are less technical than his lectures; fewer Hebrew words are
expounded and there is less discussion of the different
interpretations given to a passage. There are no 'points' as
in modern day sermons, instead his sermons are simply
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running expositions of the text as he encountered it. Hence
their only structure is the particular text he was dealing
with.", According to the catalogue drawn up by Nicholas
Colladon, a colleague of Calvin in Geneva and one of his
early biographers, during the period from August 1549 to the
6th. Feb 1564 when he was finally forced to give up
preaching due to chronic ill health, Calvin preached some
2042 sermons. 17 Of these only 605 were on New Testament
texts, which means that in a period of 15 years Calvin
preached some 1437 sermons on the Old Testament.
Unfortunately many of these sermons, though carefully
recorded and collected at the time, have since been lost."'
How did Calvin manage to preach so many sermons? The answer
to this question lies partly in the constitution of the
Church which Calvin served in Geneva. The 1541 constitution
of the Church, drawn up by Calvin himself and after some
delay accepted by the city council, laid it down that
preaching was to take place in the Churches of Geneva twice
on Sundays and once on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at 6
a.m. in the morning before work."' In 1549 the latter were
increased to every day of the week including Saturdays.
Calvin, therefore, until 1549, preached twice on Sundays
and three times in the week, a total of five sermons every
week. In 1549 and after, Calvin preached twice every Sunday
and every weekday of alternate weeks, a total of eight
sermons a fortnight. a° Calvin's rule was to preach from the
New Testament on Sunday mornings and from the New Testament
or Psalms on Sunday afternoons. On the weekdays he always
preached on the Old Testament. a1 This explains the great
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volume of Calvin's Old Testament sermons.
It is not simply in his commentaries and sermons that Calvin
is engaged with the Old Testament. In his other writings too
the Old Testament also plays a vital role. We have already
alluded to the use he makes of it in his vast
correspondence. Here we find him appealing to the Old
Testament to admonish Princes, °2 to encourage the faint
hearted," and to steel the persecuted.
In the Institutes we find him frequently appealing to the
Old Testament to support his doctrinal arguments and
statements. In his polemical works, especially those
dealing with the themes of election and predestination, we
find Calvin constantly returning to the Old Testament. 2'' In
both the Institutes and his other dogmatic and polemical
writings Calvin calls on the Old Testament not only in proof
of his theological points, but more often than not to
illustrate them with the concreteness of historical
examples. His use of the Old Testament in such writings as
these is, therefore, not merely doctrinal, but also as a
sound pedagogic device.
Moreover, in the Old Testament Calvin also found a deep well
of devotional material. This is indicated, in the first
place, by the important role played by the Old Testament in
the various liturgies produced by Calvin. The book of Psalms
was paramount here and, as we shall see, was especially
significant in the experience of Calvin himself. He calls
it, 'the anatomy of all the parts of the soul'. 27 The great
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love of Calvin for the Psalms is embodied in his Genevan
liturgy. He was instrumental in bringing about the
production of the metrical translation of the Psalms in his
native French. In fact it was Calvin himself who began the
work of translation, but recognizing that there were others
with much greater poetical gifts - Calvin not being of a
very poetic bent - he was eager to pass on the work to
them. 2"P There would, therefore, seem to be some
justification for the statement made by one scholar that,
'Calvin taught the reformed Churches to sing.'
Already in 1537, during his first period in Geneva, Calvin,
in his Articles on the Organization of the Church and its
Worship at Geneva, had proposed that the Church's worship
should include the congregational singing of Psalms. 1 His
aim, he states, is to give warmth and fervour to the prayers
which were otherwise lukewarm. Calvin was well aware of
the power of music and song to influence men's hearts, to
stir their souls in praise and adoration, to move them to
action and service and to strengthen their spirits in the
face of opposition and persecution. Recognizing as well the
evil potential of music, he intended to enlist this powerful
force for good. The best songs for this, he felt, were the
Psalms since the Holy Spirit himself had composed them for
this purpose; moreover, he wrote, 'we have the example of
the ancient Church' and St. Paul himself. 34 Thus he could
state that,
When we sing the Psalms we are certain that God is
putting words in our mouth and they are singing in us to
exalt his glory."
In the course of a worship service two Psalms would be sung;