I was reflecting on Calvin and the possibility of his being elevated to too high a position in the minds of those who revere him - I think this is a real possibility amongst those who revere him. Great and all that he was, he was still a man!
But when it comes to his faithfulness to the central and fundamental doctrines of the faith - and by these I mean all those inter-related doctrines that bear on His glory and our salvation, I consider him to be unsurpassed. While he may not have got absolutely everything right, there can be no doubt about the balanced nature of his theology.
I have discovered that the only people who try to discredit Calvin are his critics - overt or covert. Take the liberals, for example. They tell us how much they revere the Reformer, yet for their own menacing reasons, distort his teaching so that it suits and promotes their evil agenda. Take the ecumenicals as another, and you'll see them speaking about Calvin in a way that makes him contradict himself. Even some charismatics claim that Calvin is their hero, and whilst they might adhere to some of Calvin's teaching, they depart from it in other places, not least in the gifts of the Spirit. The hypercalvinistic Owenites likewise do violence to the plain teaching of the Bible when they resort to all kinds of theological gymnastics and medieval scholasticism for their interpretation of the Gospel. I these matters, these groups are so unlike Master John!
"There is none righteous, no not one" - and that includes Calvin in his natural state. We only follow any man so far as that man follows Christ in all the Scriptures. We follow Calvin and his true sons, for there is plenty of evidence that they believed in the perspicuity of the biblical text, and did not feel any need to squeeze it into any man-made mould, or system. Calvin allowed the Scripture to speak for itself, for therein alone do we hear the authentic voice of God.
It is strange and insightful that when criticism is levelled against Calvin, the same criticism is not levelled against the theological favourites of those who criticise him.
We must not become enslaved to any man or system, unless we are convinced that that man or system conforms to the clear teaching of the Word of God.
I have come to the conviction that the most faithful biblical hermeneutic is that developed by Calvin so far as the central doctrines of the faith are concerned.
Even the reformer himself would be the first to acknowledge his imperfections. No man castigates himself more than Calvin does. But he was singularly used of God to do a work that has stood the test of time and change. He organised the reformation of the church, and sadly, there are no reformers in the churches today!
By the way, did you ever come across the testimonies of the converts of Owen? When you do, let me know for I would very much like to read how God used Owen in their conversion.
I remember speaking to Eric Alexander many years ago. I was troubled about the place of logic in theology. His wise answer has been a mainstay of my thinking ever since. He said, "Biblical doctrines must lead to biblical conclusion, not logical ones." I think that too many reformed theologians have substituted cold logic for the clear teaching of the Bible, thus ending up with theological aberrations.
I talked over this matter of Calvin being to highly exalted in men's thinking with Alan Clifford a good few years ago, and we both come to the same conclusion, which is very similar to that discussed above. Man-worship is not just within the domain of the Arminians and secular humanists - we in the reformed constituency are very liable to fall into this same pit. That may be part of the problem with the reformed churches - they test everything against the Westminster standards (and their derivatives). Unthinking and uncritical devotion to this man-made document that may conceal a dangerous man-centredness - rather than to the Scriptures.
Reformed Christians, of all believers, must be clear about what they believe about the Scriptures, and they follow this on by demonstrating that what they profess, they do in handling the Word of Life.
Are we up to that challenge?
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