my life and my doctrine

I’ve been told plenty of times, that Calvin’s Institutes were written as a framework and springboard into Calvin’s commentaries. I’m ashamed to admit that it took until this morning before I really appreciated how good his commentaries are. I’ve been preparing for a Bible study on 1 Timothy 2. After checking out Tim Challies’ recommendations of commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles, I’d bought Calvin’s.

So, what was so good about it?

1. It’s easy to read as Calvin deals with the text phrase by phrase. It’s written like someone speaking, in a friendly manner, and preaching, in an exhortatory manner. Calvin wants to convince us of what he’s discovered in the Bible.
2. It’s absolutely soaked in Scripture. The most refreshing thing about this commentary is how often Calvin quotes other parts of the Bible. He clearly lets the Bible speak for itself. He demonstrates a supreme confidence in God’s word to be clear and let Scripture explain Scripture. When dealing with 1 Tim 2.6 – ‘who gave himself as a ransom for all men’, there are a couple of sentences of his explanation, though most of the paragraph is quotes of Rom 8.34; Hebrews 7.17 and Hebrews 4.14-5.3. Further, unlike many commentaries or other Christian books I read, the text of the verses are written out in full, not just referenced. More than that, they are included into the body of the text. For some reason I’m prone to glancing over quoted bits of Scripture when they are block quoted in a page of text. This decision of the editors made me read more Bible than I normally do while reading a commentary, rather than assuming I’m the studious type who will look up every reference as they come.
3. It’s relevant to his day and age. He’s not just explaining a text for a technical insight. Rather it is evident that his goal is to address the issues of the day and in particular the teachings of the Roman Catholic church that he wants to refute.
4. It’s relevant today. One of the consequences of using Scripture to explain Scripture is that it is still relevant today in our society. It’s not as though there were anecdotes of the 16th century equivalent of Facebook, sport or other social occasion.

Pick it up and read one.

This isn’t so much learning from Calvin’s preaching as learning from what someone else has learnt from Calvin’s  preaching. I’ve just finished reading the first essay in Engaging with Calvin: Aspects of the Reformer’s legacy for today. This essay is by Peter Adam called ‘”Preaching of a lively kind’ – Calvin’s Engaged Expository Preaching’. He notes the distinction between theological writings, like Calvin’s Institutes, commentaries and sermons. The article is clearly reliant on Calvin’s sermons which were recorded by shorthand and published, rather than the first two. So Adam learns from what Calvin preached and how he preached it.

Adam notes five main areas to his preaching; engaging with the congregation, with God, with the Bible, with theology and in training. It is no surprise that these five overlap on the edges and it is no surprise that these five are key areas to think about in any preaching. There are a few things that were particularly noteworthy for me, which I’d like to share.

Firstly, the reminder that in preaching God is present. It is an incredible privilege and joy that as God’s word is taught, so God will be there teaching and convicting the hearers. It should not be unreasonable, in fact it should be expected, that as the Scriptures are taught, that God is at work through them by his Spirit. More specifically, ‘[t]he present secret work of the Spirit is to change us, not to make the Scriptures more powerful.’ (p24) That is, God is present as his Spirit works within us, using the words of the preacher as he expounds the Bible.

Secondly, it was a great challenge to see how Calvin was deliberately keen to be expositional so that his congregation would know their Bibles better.

Thirdly, the last key area, training had lots to ponder. I’ve thought that the way preachers preach demonstrates a model of how to read the Bible and ought to include tips and advice on how to do this well. The insights that Adam draws from Calvin’s sermons are fuller and all the more challenging.

1. ‘Calvin wanted to train his people to hear God’s words in sermons’ (p35). This reminds me of a comment I recently heard that preaching ought to generate in congregations a love for hearing God’s word taught.
2. ‘Calvin’s aim was to ensure that lay people read and understood the Bible’ (p36).
3. ‘Christians are to serve others in ordinary matters of daily life, and also in bringing them the words of eternal life’ (p36). Through regular Bible teaching, congregations should be equipped and inspired to share the insights they’ve learnt with friends. This could be through teaching and encouraging other Christians or through evangelising their non-Christian friends.
4. Calvin was keen for world mission. ‘”For the knowledge of God must be known through the whole world, and every one must share in it”‘ (p37, quoting Calvin in his sermons on the pastorals). Thus a congregation should consider and plan to prepare and equip people to leave as they serve God elsewhere.

So, how do I cram all this into the next sermon I write? I don’t think I’ll be radically different in one hit. However, I hope that over time, the reminder to consider five broad aspects of preaching will sharpen my preaching. Even Adam, after reading copious sermons Calvin preached acknowledges that ‘Calvin did not always meet the high standards that he set for himself’ (p40). Please pray for me and other preachers, that we may continue to work hard at preaching to our congregations, confronting them with God himself as the text is expounded, theology taught and people are trained and equipped for godly living.