John Calvin's Authority

Of all the debates that have developed in the Christian world over the centuries, the debate in regards to the infallibility and authority of scripture looms at the top of the list. This is not simply a trivial matter of belief, but this is a key issue; what an individual believes in this regard has the potential to either clarify or distort his or her view on the character, trustworthiness, and supremacy of God. A person’s stance on this issue, the infallibility and the authority of the written Word of God, will determine and establish many of the boundaries of their faith in God.

Barth, once again, provides a spiritual view of scripture and not a subjective approach and interpretation. Barth’s claim there is no room for natural revelation or even a doctrine of verbal inspiration. God speaks only through his Word and scripture is testimony to God’s self-revelation. The importance of this is establishing the role of scripture in the ascendency and authority of the church congregation as unique in that it can be, and only be, through the authority of the Scripture.

In the Reformation era, two groups dictated the war of differing religions, Calvinism and the Catholic Church. Both had different interpretations of God as they maintained loyal members. The Catholic Church and Protestant denominations were enemies. John Calvin created the Protestant religion named Calvinism. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, it eventually became one of the largest Christian religion outside Roman Catholic. Its founder John Calvin used Geneva to spread his message. The Catholic Church experienced several issues in the 1500s. In 1517, Martin Luther’s “95 Theses” and the subsequent formation of the religion Lutheranism posed a threat to the Church. As a result, the Catholic Church took several measures to ensure loyalty from its

Calvin believes that scripture is the lone religious authority which was created before the church, and also stands above the church. This is problematic from a Catholic point of view because Roman Catholics believe that scriptures were in fact created by the church. They also believe that scriptures were selected by the church in order to develop an official list of sacred books. Calvin also supports the concept of predestination. Calvin’s idea of predestination is that every human being is either destined to be damned in Hell or destined to be saved in Heaven; God has the ability to choose who goes to heaven based on arbitrary reasons. Calvin says, “The separation is before the eyes of all:…one people is peculiarly chosen to the rejection of others; no reason for this appears, except that Moses, to deprive their posterity of all occasion of glorifying, teaches them that their exaltation is wholly from God’s gratuitous love…” (Calvin 340). Calvin also believes that those who are

“One has to consult the sayings of the Fathers of the Church, as well as other ancient writers. This helps us understand the historical changes which have occurred over the years. Reading the Fathers can give meaning to many of the rubrics, many of which are not carried out properly because of lack of understanding of their meaning”.

In John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion he spends a great deal of time expounding his doctrine of God's Divine providence in all of creation. He explains not only how God continually governs the laws of nature, but also how God governs man's actions and intentions to bring about His own Divine Will. Calvin believes that God's providence is so encompassing in creation that even a man's own actions, in many ways, are decreed by God. Because of this belief there arises the question, "Does Calvin leave room for the free will of man?"

He laments, “In some seminaries today pastors are not trained to use the Bible for ministry decisions.” (12) He argues that the contrasting errors of adding human rules to God’s Word and ignoring it all together, both reject the authority and the sufficiency of Scripture. Rienow maintains that Scripture is not relegated to the realm of ‘religion,’ but is sufficient for issues that we face day to day including family, marriage, education and government. He warns that taking a stand on the sufficiency of Scripture can be dangerous. He points out that Scriptural authority has been replaced outside and inside the church. He states, “We have become twisted and governed by a bizarre mix of feelings, personal experience, human wisdom and pragmatism, rather than the Scriptures.”

John Calvin was born in 1509 in Picardy France and lived for 55 years, dying in 1564. Growing up, his education was based on humanist principles, he learned Greek and Hebrew while studying Theology. He also received a legal degree from the University of Orlèans. He converted to Lutheranism at the age of 20 describing the experience as “unexpected”. John Calvin was one of the most important figures in the second generation of the Protestant Reformation.

Peter and the vicar of Christ was affirmed,Both scripture and tradition are expressions of God's revelation and lastly Human nature is not totally depraved.

Biblical authority is truth. It is what gives the Bible power to change lives. I am not a literalist in my interpretation of the Bible. For me truth and authority do not come from the exact words that are written in the Bible, rather it is the underlining message that is given to humankind through the Word. In the book, “Teaching Biblical Faith”, by Jack L. Seymour, the author in chapter three, talks about the tradition of the Jewish scholar to debate and study the exegesis of the scripture as well as, the revelations their elders had extracted from the text. Participating in this exploration, the young Jewish scholar was challenged to expand their learning and apply it to the circumstance of their own day. They were to discern what message God was sending them presently. As Seymour describes it in his book for the Jewish people, “the highest form of worship is sitting together seeking to understand what God would have us understand and be.”(Seymour, 27) It is these ancient lessons that keep giving and relating to our present circumstance that is for me, the cornerstone of Biblical

In Chapter 17 of Book I of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin expounds upon how when it comes to Calvin’s view of providence, “nothing is more profitable than the knowledge of this

Martin Luther and John Calvin as Religious Leaders of the Reformation Martin Luther became an Augustinian Monk in 1505. He spent two years studying Scripture before being ordained as a priest. In 1510, Luther was sent to Rome and was shocked by the spiritual laxity. After finishing his theological doctorate, he became a professor at Wittenberg, in 1515, Luther became the district vicar. Luther began to develop his own theology and in 1516 he felt compelled to protest the dispensation of indulgences.

In the study of Christian theology, scripture plays an essential role in the revelation of the Doctrine of God. Scriptures are “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) words, written by the Holy Spirit through divine inspiration of prophets. They are necessary for the proper understanding of the doctrine of God, the self-revelation of God, the proof of God’s existence, and for the discernment of false doctrines.

John Calvin was born on July 10th, 1509 in Noyon, Picardy, France. He studied at the universities of Paris, Bourges, and Orleans. He was a key leader of the Protestant Reformation. He wrote many protestant works like Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin was also a revolutionary theologian and leader, developing the religion of Calvinism and doctrine of predestination. In addition, Calvin reorganized the city of Geneva, Switzerland and made it into an example theocracy. John Calvin died on May 27th, 1564 in Geneva, Switzerland, but his ideas and achievements have lived on. In fact, the average citizen should care about him because of the contributions he has made to the world, however positive or negative they may be. John Calvin’s three main contributions that make him historically significant are his development of the doctrine of predestination, his revolutionary reform of the education system, and his emphasis on the protestant work ethic.

Generally, most biblical scholars agree that scripture’s authority is found in the sovereign God Himself; but their doctrinal positions differ from that point. Wisely enough, Wright avoids the “locked suitcase” melee on biblical inerrancy or biblical infallibility. Instead, he focused on God’s purpose for scripture and why it is demonstrably authoritative. Scriptures are not merely human books or collections of human opinion; they are books which contain God 's revelation of