Sermons on Genesis, chapters 1-11, by John Calvin, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, hardback, 867 pages, £20.00.
These sermons were preached in St Peter’s Church Geneva to the citizens there between 4 September 1559 and 23 January 1560. They are numbered 1-49 (though number 27 is missing) and they are here translated into English for the first time by Dr Rob Roy MacGregor.
Calvin’s custom apparently was to expound the Old Testament on weekdays and the New Testament on the Sabbath. In his introduction, John R de Witt tells us that the sermons, “were taken down in shorthand and then transcribed by the indefatigable Dennis Raguénier and several scribes under his supervision. What this means is that the preacher himself never had the leisure to edit them with an eye to publication.” As well as this, the reader must bear in mind that, while Calvin “had a clear idea in his mind what he intended to say, a plan drawn from the text for the day, he spoke without a manuscript, expanding upon and carefully applying the various aspects of truth found in the passage”. The result of this is that “on one level the sermons can hardly be compared with the exact and carefully formed prose of the Institutes or the
1Both volumes reviewed here are obtainable from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
commentaries. On the other level . . . they enable us to see and hear a man aflame with love for the Lord and His Word, a preacher who spent himself utterly in the work of summoning his people to repentance, faith and holiness.”
There can be no doubt that all this made Dr MacGregor’s task more difficult, and it makes the reading of the sermons at times somewhat difficult, for, while there is a simplicity of language, it takes some effort in places to work out what Calvin is really saying. However any such effort is amply rewarded.
The sermons take us through the early chapters of Genesis up to verse 4 of chapter 11; so they cover the vital doctrines of the Creation, the Fall and the Flood. Speaking in Sermon 6 of the honour bestowed upon man by being made in God’s image, Calvin says, “Now man is a creature noble above all others and has in himself worth that exceeds all visible creatures. That is why God deliberates when He prepares to create him. . . . It is noteworthy then that God begins to consult at this point, not that He encounters problems, but He does so in order to express better the infinite kindness He wanted to extend to us.”
Later in that same sermon Calvin says: “Now by [the] wretched Fall, we have been stripped of that image. How is it that we are so dense and ignorant? How is it that all our senses are darkened, indeed completely depraved, our affections corrupt and filled with evil? How is it that instead of truth there is only falsehood in us, and instead of being upright we are twisted and counterfeit? What is the origin of all that? Our father Adam, being alienated from his Creator, was given over to shame and ignominy, and God stripped him of his excellent gifts with which He had previously adorned him”.
After dealing with the Fall, Calvin goes on to the murder of Abel and Cain’s subsequent punishment (Sermon 26). Referring to Cain going to the land of Nod, or trembling, Calvin claims that the land took its name from Cain’s trembling, which was the mark God put on him, and that while he went out from God’s presence, he was in that land like a criminal in chains, “unable to move without being forced to look his Judge square in the face”.
In drawing lessons from this, which Calvin constantly does in these sermons, he says, “That was not written for him but for our instruction. We see then in the first place, that that detestable man was not touched so deeply that he repented of his evil and the enormity of his crime. He became hardened like a desperado and no longer thought about God, who had previously been his judge. Now, as I said, this applies to us so that we will know that true repentance is not in some sudden fright which will strike us, but it will take root in our hearts so that the evil will distress us the rest of our lives as we think about our past sins and recall them every day.”
In speaking of the effect of the Flood on Noah and the application of this
to the believer, Calvin comments: “It is very certain that Noah, seeing such a sight, was deeply distressed in his heart. He was not a log or a stone, and although he detested men’s sins, there is no doubt he still loved them as God’s creatures.” Calvin goes on to say that Noah “experienced great anguish” and “was not glad and delighted in the ark, but . . . he groaned and sighed. In fact, that is how God’s children rejoice in the good He has done for them. Sadness, regrets, anxieties and fears must be mixed with the joy of the Holy Spirit, whom God gives them” (Sermon 38).
In this manner of exposition and application Calvin continues throughout these sermons. So the reviewer was sorry when he reached the last sermon, on Genesis 11:1-4, about the building of Babel, and entitled, “Ambition, Its Consequences and Cure”. This volume of sermons is highly recommended and will bring home to any serious reader how vitally important these early chapters in Genesis are and the numerous lessons they contain for every age and generation.
(Rev) W A Weale
Christ and the Future, The Bible’s Teaching About the Last Things, by Cornelis P Venema, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, paperback, 224 pages, £7.50.
In the year 2000 this author’s The Promise of the Future, a hardback volume of over 500 pages, was published by the Banner of Truth. The present book abridges the previous one, intending to whet the appetite for the more substantial volume. Setting out to pursue “a disciplined study of what God promises in the Bible”, Venema cautions us to keep four biblical themes in mind: “the need to stay within the boundaries of God’s Word; Christ is the Lord of history; ‘Paradise regained’ will surpass ‘Paradise Lost’; and our hope is living and certain” – “a hope nurtured by the Word and a lively expectation of the accomplishment of God’s purpose in Christ”.
Arguing that “what Old Testament believers anticipated on the furthest horizon of redemptive history has become a reality in the person and work of Jesus Christ” – though “something further lies on the horizon of history” – Venema affirms that “the promised future is already a reality in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the crucified, resurrected and ascended Lord, but it is not yet fully present to the believer, who must walk by faith not sight”.
After outlining the Biblical teaching on individual eschatology, the book moves on to general eschatology, the study of the last things in relation to the appearance of Christ in glory at the end of time. To put this study in true perspective the author begins with what he calls “the Future of Christ” – His return being “the great centrepiece of biblical hope and expectation for the future”.
An interesting chapter identifying the preaching of the gospel to all nations and the conversion of the Jews as gracious signs of the times is followed by discussion of signs of judgement. The author considers that these signs of judgement characterise the whole current age but intensify as the coming of Christ draws nearer. It becomes clear that Dr Venema’s outlook is A-millennial, even before he discusses the various views of the millennium: Historic Pre-millennialism, Dispensational Pre-millennialism, Post-millennialism and A-millennialism. Before evaluating these views the author considers Revelation 20 and the relation between chapters 19 and 20, mainly giving reasons for repudiating the common Pre-millennial interpretation but also claiming the passage for the A-millennial view.
In evaluating the various millennial views Venema argues conclusively against the claims of Pre-millennialism and Dispensationalism to be biblical, examining their various defences in the light of the truth that the second coming of Christ “is a consummating event at the close of the age”. Identifying himself as an optimistic A-millennialist, Venema rejects what he calls golden-age Post-millennialism. He contends that to “golden-age Post-millennialism the kingship of Jesus Christ is not so much a present as a future reality”, but this is contradicted, for one thing, by the centuries-long struggle of the largely Post-millennial Scottish Church for the “Crown Rights of the Redeemer” here and now and for the Establishment Principle.
His claim that Post-millennialism fails to take account of the fact that throughout history the Lord’s people will be partakers of the sufferings of Christ is not an argument against Post-millennialism – which anticipates that the nations will come under the influence of the truth in an unprecedented way – but against a view which transfers to earth what will only be experienced in heaven. The assumption that Post-millennialism “alters the focus of the believer’s hope for the future” and “encourages an outlook that focuses on the millennium rather than the return of Christ” may be based on the defect of some who have held this position but is not an implication of the position, as has been demonstrated in the lives and writings of many who maintained it and yet were obviously “looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God” (2 Pet 3:12), Samuel Rutherford being a notable Scottish example. The apostles themselves were “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (1 Thess 2:13) though that day was not imminent and they expected to die before it came.
Three chapters deal, on the whole, in a clear biblical manner with the resurrection of the body, the final judgement and the doctrine of eternal punishment, described by Charles Hodge as “concomitants of the second advent”. Differing views may be taken of the author’s description of the resurrection body as “material and fleshly” and of his contention for degrees of gracious reward for the redeemed in heaven. The “horror of hell as a place of unceasing, consciously-felt punishment” is clearly, faithfully and persuasively asserted over against universalism, annihilationism and conditional immortality.
The final chapter deals with the new heavens and earth. This reviewer is not persuaded by arguments for the renovation of what already exists rather than a new creation. An alleged parallel with the identity of the Christian’s present body and the gloriously-transformed resurrection body may have some plausibility but is not derivable from the statements of Scripture regarding the destruction of the present creation and the inauguration of the new heavens and earth.
This is a clearly written and comprehensive treatment of its subject, and conclusions with which one disagrees provoke thought regarding one’s own position rather than resentment at misrepresentation. Unlike The Promise of the Future this book has no indices. The New American Standard Bible (1979) has regrettably been used rather than the Authorised Version.
(Rev) H M Cartwright