John Calvin

24 Years of Ministry & Service

John Calvin spent most of his life in Geneva, Switzerland. It was in that city of approximately 13,000 citizens, that Calvin did the bulk of his teaching, preaching, and caregiving. It was in Geneva that Calvin served the poor, took in refugees, and taught countless Christians the true faith.

Much has been written, said, and asserted about Geneva and Calvin’s influence there. Many have called it heaven on earth, while many others have claimed that Geneva was a strict totalitarian state that regulated the private lives of individuals. Obviously, somewhere between those extremes lies the truth.

Because there is so much misunderstanding about the history of Geneva and Calvin’s role in it and because the happenings in Geneva have so much influence on life today, we thought that it was important to give this topic its own article. Perhaps by the end of it, we may have a more measured view of history and our predecessors in the faith.

A Few Prerequisites

Before diving in, it will be helpful to set out three key points:

1. The Genevan government’s practice of regulating the private lives of its citizens predated Calvin’s arrival.

2. The Genevan government’s practice of regulating the private lives of its citizens was not unique at the time. In the 1500s, all governments were doing exactly that. It was not a question of whether religion would be enforced, it was a question of which religion.

3. Although Calvin was heavily involved in the government of Geneva, he was only one of many. His word was not law. He abided by the rules in place just like any other citizen.

Life in Geneva

So, what is the big deal about Geneva? Unlike most governments today, the church was heavily involved in the civil procedures and general rule over the citizens. This meant that the church influenced government policy in all spheres. In Geneva, there were laws restricting adultery and drunkenness. There were also laws that regulated marriage, education, and churchgoing. And while some may paint this as a gross abuse of power, a closer look reveals an overarching theme of love and care.

There are a lot of existing records of trials, judicial procedures, and church councils from Geneva that historians continue to sift through today. A lot of the time people will try to pick out a few examples that prove that Geneva’s Christian government was strict and unfeeling, but for every one of those examples, you can find multiple counterexamples demonstrating a true sensitivity to real-life problems and issues. The leaders at the time thought deeply about the proper care for the poor, the uneducated, and the vulnerable. Indeed, the government in Geneva often addressed issues the rest of the world hardly cared about at that time, like the reduction of street fights and the criminalization of abusing children.

While Geneva—as shown in the existing records—was not a sanitized paradise on earth, it was a city whose citizens and government officials strove to do what was best for one another according to the teaching of the Scriptures.

Government Structure

As we mentioned above, the church was involved in the government. This involvement, however, was not totalitarian. Instead, the structure of the Geneva government was essentially split into two main parts: 1) the consistory (or the church council) which was made up of pastors, elders, deacons, and doctors (theologians); 2) the civil magistrate (what we think of as the government today) which was made up of two legislative councils.

Normal citizens were selected to serve in either part of the government on a rotation. In essence, Geneva was a Republic built around and for its citizens. The structure of the government looked a little bit like this:

It should be noted that while the Consistory and the Civil Magistrate worked hand-in-hand, they had different focuses. The Consistory primarily oversaw the examination of new pastors, the proper implementation of the sacraments (discussed here), and the care of the poor. The Civil Magistrate primarily oversaw the punishment of criminals and the general enforcement of laws

The Tyrant of Geneva?

But what did Calvin have to do with all of this? Many have tried to paint Calvin as a tyrant that ruled Geneva through the Consistory with an iron fist. But the reality couldn’t be further from that. Calvin first came to Geneva as a pastor wanting to preach the good news of the Gospel. His massive intellect and heart for others soon led him to draw up a catechism, a confession of faith, and a constitution that the government of Geneva readily accepted.

In 1541, Calvin wrote the Ecclesiastical Ordinances and established the Consistory. He went on to become the moderator of the Consistory, however, this did not mean that he had sole power in Geneva. He was consistently checked by the other pastors, elders, deacons, and doctors in the Consistory, as well as the 260 people in the Civil Magistrate. By no means did Calvin do whatever he pleased, but the things he was able to enact had a lasting effect.

Calvin labored to make Geneva a city that would be an example of a flourishing Christian life and a center for Gospel truth. He firmly believed that the Reformation could only take hold in Europe and beyond if people understood and applied God’s word in their everyday lives. Thus, he put a huge emphasis on education. He set up primary and elementary schools that any child could attend, devised a system to teach adults how to read and write, and established the first Protestant university in the world.

The founding of this university was one of Calvin’s favorite accomplishments, as it meant that Geneva’s citizens could be edified by sound teaching. Indeed, people from all over Europe came to study and teach at Calvin’s University, bringing Reformed theology to the popular level.

God’s Glory and Man’s Good

It is helpful to understand Calvin’s Geneva in contrast with the Roman Catholic government at the time. In Calvin’s day, the Roman Catholic ‘magisterium’ had sole rule in many cities, placed unfair burdens on their citizenry, and required the false worship of God.  When he wrote the constitution of Geneva and Ecclesiastical Ordinances, Calvin was fighting against the Roman Catholic form of government and hoping to secure a fuller life for the people around him. In Calvin’s Geneva, the government existed to promote man’s good and protect God’s glory.

Man’s Good

During Calvin’s time in Geneva, systems for the care of the poor, orphans, elderly, and the most vulnerable were put in place. There were actions taken against financial monopolies and exploitive prices. In fact, the price of food was so low in Geneva there was hardly anyone that ever went hungry. This was an anomaly in 1500s Europe.

Calvin additionally ensured that all the ministers were trained properly to handle domestic disputes, prevent street thefts, and support local trade. He also ensured that the church would discipline members who oppressed their workers and maintained unachievable working hours. Every place where a person’s life could be improved, Calvin sought and fought for it.

God’s Glory

Alongside all the improvements for the general well-being of citizens, Calvin fought for the purity of the church. He helped create guidelines for the proper worship of God, the teaching of the Scriptures, and the living of a Godly life. Calvin also rooted out heresies and wrote incessantly to clarify any theological misunderstandings.

Furthermore, he helped the Civil Magistrate establish blasphemy laws and outlaw any form of idolatry or corrupt worship. This may seem extreme to our modern ears, but remember what we said at the outset, it is not whether religion will be enforced, it is a matter of which religion will be enforced.

Calvin firmly believed that the proper worship of the one, true God should be prioritized above everything. He believed it was the duty of the Civil Magistrate to protect and defend that worship. He wrote:

“This proves the folly of those who would neglect the concern for God and would give attention only to rendering justice among men. As if God appointed rulers in his name to decide earthly controversies but overlooked what was of far greater importance — that he himself should be purely worshiped according to the prescription of his law,” (Calvin, Institutes, 20.9).  

Conclusion

Calvin worked in Geneva for over 24 years, trying to bring about reform in the city and beyond. He never achieved a heaven on earth. Let’s face it, who could? He was far from perfect, but he produced vast improvements in the standards of living and in the purity of worship with lasting effects on Geneva, Europe, and even in the Americas and Africa.

Was Calvin like a Protestant Pope?  No—he worked within the system and time that he was in to bring about the change he thought was necessary. He is a good example to us of how to work within our systems today. We will look at this in more depth as we explore Calvin’s impact on the United States in the last part of our series.

All in all, we should remember that Calvin was a man of his context attempting to achieve something new: an unflinching application of the Word of God to every sphere of life. Let us hope to do the same in our lives.

Read more about John Calvin’s doctrines of Reformed Theology
Learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it can change your life

Shaping American History, Religion, & Culture

Although John Calvin lived almost a full century before the first American colonies were founded, he has been named among the Founding Fathers as one of the greatest influences on the founding of the United States. Indeed, scholars continue to credit Calvin’s influence with shaping much of American history, religion, and culture, some even calling him the “virtual founder” of the nation.

While there is no doubt that Calvin’s ideas, writings, and life have been used as catalysts for much of the American project, we must be careful to distinguish between Calvin as a person and how Calvin’s teachings have been used in history. Despite Calvin’s contributions to American society, Calvin was neither a revolutionary fighting the British nor a citizen living under today’s secular government and therefore cannot be used to justify or condemn any one American belief or practice. Understanding this, we will be able to see how Calvin’s beliefs and teachings have and continue to shape social thought in America and beyond.

In this last part of our series, we will consider five elements of Calvin’s teaching that directly influenced the American understanding of freedom and government and walk through a few applications of these elements in American history. By the end, we hope to give you a few takeaways to apply in your own life.

Man’s Depravity

As we talked about earlier, Calvin stressed the sinfulness of man in his teachings. He taught that only God was good and that without God, man could do nothing good. While Calvin’s priority was to convince people to follow Christ and His commandments, Calvin also knew that corruption in human institutions was inevitable. He created systems to help curb this corruption. For Calvin, the solution to a corrupt and overarching government was to control the effects of man’s depravity and to set up a society motivated toward the common good.

We can clearly see Calvin’s concern for unchecked power in the way he set up the church and government structures in Geneva. Calvin understood that all men were fallible and thus designed a system of limited power. This was revolutionary at the time because the pope, bishops, and clergy were usually regarded as the ultimate authority in both the church and the government, with no checks on their power. Calvin instead built a church organization based on a council of elders, not a hierarchical system. Here, authority was vested in many church elders and leaders, not one bishop. This would deter any leader’s natural inclination to abuse power.

Checks and Balances

Calvin also applied this church system of internal checks on power to civil governments. While he believed that the civil government was established by God and that civil disobedience was wrong, he taught that the civil government’s authority was limited. Calvin believed that the government exists to obey God and serve its people. As such, it cannot create laws that require any citizen to sin against God. God’s law was an external check on a government’s power.

Calvin also taught that a government ought to have internal checks. He wrote about the preferred form of government in the Institutes, saying, “Owing therefore to the vices or defects of men, it is safer or more tolerable when several bear rule,” (Institutes, Bk IV. Ch. 20). He believed that a government, at the very least, should be aristocratic, meaning that a king was to rule alongside a council of nobles. These nobles would then be able to defend the people against any abuse of power. This is sometimes called the doctrine of lesser magistrates. The lesser magistrates act as a check for any unlawful authority claimed by a higher magistrate.

Practical Christianity 

Calvin also stressed that Christians should live and work in their communities for the common good. He had a practical view of the faith. He taught that Christians should “foster and maintain the external worship of God, [] defend sound doctrine and the condition of the church, [] adapt our conduct to human society, [] form our manners to civil justice, … cherish common peace and tranquility, (Institutes, Bk IV, Ch. 2). Maintaining the peace and tranquility of a nation is the job of the government and of the people.

Toward this end, Calvin encouraged his church members to work hard and commit to charitable giving and service. He taught that good and moral men should be chosen for political office out of the pool of eligible citizens. Calvin also continually proposed societal reform through education. His example led to the founding of many American universities, including Princeton University. Calvin argued that if the citizenry were educated and virtuous, it would be easier to maintain a virtuous and people-oriented government. He taught that people were stewards of everything God has given. As stewards, it was the duty of all people to work toward the reformation of their own societies.

Freedom to Worship

Calvin defined a good government as one that protects and maintains the true worship of God. In the Institutes, he writes that the Scripture “warns that whatever benefits we obtain from the Lord have been entrusted to us on this condition: that they be applied to the common good of the church,” (Institutes, Bk. 3 Ch. 7).

The gift of authority given to governments was meant for the flourishing of the church. This meant that governments were not to inhibit a Christian’s right to worship God. In Calvin’s day, the Roman Catholic governments in Europe often prohibited true worship and imprisoned or killed their citizens for reading the Scriptures, participating in the Lord’s Supper, and proclaiming the faith publicly. Calvin argued that a government that did these things had failed in its very purpose. His teaching that the Scriptures were the only standard by which to judge the right worship of God had far-reaching effects on the proper understanding of the role of government in religion and faith.

Representative Government

Calvin’s establishment of representative bodies, such as the council of elders in the churches and government of Geneva, had a profound influence throughout Northern and Western Europe. As his teachings spread, churches and governments everywhere began adopting his representative structure.

Later Reformers, such as Calvin’s student John Knox, applied this representative style more directly to the civil government. This application was then handed down through Scottish and British Calvinists to the 17th and 18th century Scottish and British immigrants who arrived in America ready to establish a government structured by interdependent branches, marked by a separation of powers, and existing to serve its people.

Among the most passionate advocates of these ideas was John Witherspoon, a Scotsman and probable descendant of Knox, who became the president of Princeton University and taught James Madison, the future 4th president of the United States.

Legacy in America

It is easy to see how the above ideas have shaped the American experience, but it is helpful to explicitly point out a few applications. Calvin’s teaching about man’s depravity formed the framework for the compacts and government structures of the original colonies. The original colonists applied his doctrine of lesser magistrates to hold their political leaders under the limitations of God’s law.

This doctrine was also used to defend the colonists’ resistance to British abuses of power. Calvin’s emphasis on the glory of God and the establishment of His true Church directly influenced the mission of many of the first Americans. Consider the opening of the 1620 Mayflower Compact (this was written by the very first Pilgrims in America):

“Having undertaken for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith [], a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together in a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering. and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid,” (William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation).

This phrase, “for the Glory of God and the advancement of the Christian Faith,” directly echoes Calvin’s call for people to establish a government for the good of the people and the true worship of God.

Conclusion

Calvin’s teaching marked America in its infancy and has continued to shape its culture. However, as times have changed and individuals have become less Christian, so has the nation. Part of this is because, while enjoying and implementing Calvin’s ideas of limited power, representative government, and freedom, Calvin’s successors quickly forgot his main goal.

Calvin did not defend freedom for freedom’s sake. And he certainly would not promote American freedom for America’s sake. Instead, Calvin believed that all governments and people ought to use their freedoms to declare God’s glory.

What does this mean for us today? It means at least two things. First, we should continue to work hard like Calvin. We should work hard for the good of our churches, families, local communities, state and national governments, and countries. Secondly, we should continue to boldly proclaim the gospel in every sphere of life.

Read more about John Calvin’s doctrines of Reformed Theology
Reformed Theology, The Beginnings

Learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it can change your life