A Review Article by Rev W A Weale
In his introduction, Robert White, the translator of this volume from the original French, states: “In essence, Calvin’s understanding of election may be said to be fully formed and comprehensively stated in the Institutes of 1539/41. Whatever further refinements the doctrine was to receive over the next two decades, up to and including the final editions of 1559 (Latin) and 1560 (French), little new was added. Generally speaking, the author was content either to buttress his arguments by fresh appeals to Scripture and to recognised authorities, or to answer yet again objections raised by his opponents” (p xv).
Following the Introduction, we come to the first of four Sections: “Election: A Summary Statement”, an address given in the church of Geneva. Then in Section 2, “Election and Reprobation”, we have four sermons on Genesis 25. Section 3, “Election in Christ”, includes four sermons on Ephesians 1. Section 4, “Election in Context”, contains one sermon, “From First Creation to Second”, on Ephesians 3:9-12. All these sermons on Ephesians are also to be found in Calvin’s volume, Sermons on Ephesians.
The summary statement on eternal election lays, in many ways, the foundation for what Calvin consolidates in the other sermons, as suggested by the several sub-headings in this address: “Election in Christ, the source of saving faith” (Eph 1:3-5); “The elect called according to God’s purpose”; “Election not based on foreseen merit, but wholly on grace”; “Election is not universal, but is secure”; “Paul’s understanding of election” (Rom 9); “Recapitulation: glory to the God of grace”; “Objections answered: we cannot be wiser than God”; “Reprobation: God’s hidden counsel”; “Contested scriptural passages” (1 Tim 2:4; Ezek 18:23; Mt 28:19,20), and finally, “God’s will is sovereign, and His purposes just”.
In the first of the four sermons in Section 2, on Genesis 25:12-21, “God’s Promise Fulfilled”, Calvin begins, “Here we must reflect upon the distinction which Moses draws between Abraham’s children. We have already noted that all the offspring whom he had from Keturah lived in a distant land (Gen 25:1,2). As for Ishmael, he lived apart, but fairly close to the land of Canaan.
1The Doctrine of Election, by John Calvin, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, hardback, 262 pages, £15.00; available from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
Nevertheless he had been cast off (Gen 21:14), for it was necessary for Isaac to retain the inheritance appointed for him” (pp 37,38). Calvin goes on to show that, while Ishmael was blessed in many ways, and while Rebecca remained barren for many years, yet Isaac believed the promise and continued in prayer for his elect son Jacob.
The second sermon, on Genesis 25:21-23 is entitled “God’s Unfathomable Secret” and deals with Jacob and Esau while they were still in their mother’s womb. After making the point that “God did not distinguish one from the other, since He could find and foresee no good in either of them”, Calvin goes on, “Thus we find in Jacob only what God put in him; but He left Esau just as birth had made him. For this reason too, Scripture says elsewhere that God chose us so that we would be holy and blameless before Him (Eph 1:4). It does not say that we were chosen because God foresaw that we would be holy. On the contrary, it attributes all our holiness, righteousness and whatever good there is in us to one sole source – God’s election – to the end that we might walk in fear and live uprightly, being in some way keen and well-disposed to do good. If that is true, it follows that God cannot have foreseen anything in us.
“Take away election, and what is left? As we have shown, we all remain lost and cursed, and rightly so, for God sees only corruption in us. He must disown us. As Scripture says, ‘He repented that He had made man’ (Gen 6:6). That is all that we, for our part, can bring.” Calvin goes on: “It is thus arrant nonsense to say that God elects His own according to what they will later be. It is because He has chosen them that He must put His good in them” (pp 66,67).
Sermon 3, on the same text and entitled, “The Greater and the Lesser”, speaks of the faith given to the elect. Calvin refers to Acts 13:48: “As many as were ordained to eternal life believed”. He goes on to ask the questions: “What was the reason? Was it a matter of hard work? Were some better prepared? God, it is true, prepares people, but it is not their doing, as Luke shows when he puts an end to all human illusions. ‘Those’, he says, ‘who were appointed to salvation, believed.’ This also is why our Lord Jesus Christ declares that all whom the heavenly Father has given Him will not perish, but He will keep them to the end (Jn 6:39). Now when He speaks about those whom His Father has given Him, He points us to eternal election. . . . Why, then, do some belong to God and others not? It is not that some are mortal men: our nature is the same for all. We were all made by the one Father, but some belong to God and others had been rejected by Him, for such was His good pleasure. God acknowledges and reckons some to be His own, and others, while they are His creatures, have no relationship with Him. He does
not count them as His servants because He has excluded them from His election” (p 82).
Sermon 4, “The Day of Small Things”, is based on Genesis 25:24-28 and shows how, while “God’s election is in itself secret, it must manifest itself in time, for God knows when to fulfil His works”. Calvin goes on to show that this was the case with Jacob, although he emphasises again that Jacob was not chosen because of anything good in him. “When God chooses us, He does not do so, as we say, for our good looks. And if the world despises us, we should not lose heart. As we stressed before, it should be enough for us that we are pleasing to God, however much the world may deride us. For we see how it was with Jacob. He lives at home – a lazybones, as it were. True, he is a decent man, but is his simplicity valued? Does he draw attention to himself? Is he esteemed? Not at all! Esau, on the other hand, has been streets ahead of him ever since birth. He is a grown man, full of energy, he is hard-working and seems set to perform miracles!
“We are taught here that it is God who does everything. If our election were all our doing, we would all doubtless give Esau our vote. Yet God prefers Jacob. Why? It is the very opposite of what we would expect. What, then, we need to understand, is that God so dispensed His grace as to show that His goodness alone moved Him to love Jacob. This is a message we should certainly ponder all the days of our life. It is designed, as I said, to overthrow our arrogance and to allow God’s pure mercy to shine forth” (p 94).
The four sermons from Ephesians 1 in section 3 are: “A Choice Made in Heaven” (vv 3,4), “Loved in the Beloved” (vv 4-6), “Christ our Surety” (vv 7-10) and, “The Holy Spirit’s Seal” (vv 13,14). In all of these, Calvin argues powerfully for the doctrine of election. The final section takes us from the first creation to the second and continues to press home the doctrine of election to any doubters.
It is clear from those sermons that there were many, not just in the Roman Church but also in the Lutheran Church, and even the trusted Melanchthon among his Protestant colleagues, who were unhappy with Calvin’s teaching on election. So we have three very helpful appendices; the first is entitled, “Election: Doctrinal Formulations”, which contains a number of statements on the subject taken from confessions of faith. The second appendix tells of “Critics of Calvin’s Doctrine”, and the third of “Calvin and the Preaching of Election”. In this appendix, Robert White says, “A first question to be asked concerns the place which Calvin accords to the theme of election in his preaching. How often, and how deeply, does the doctrine occupy him?
“The answer has everything to do with the way in which the Reformer organised his pulpit ministry. Except for the special occasions listed above,
topical preaching on isolated texts was abandoned in favour of lectio continua, that is, the systematic exposition of a whole book from beginning to end, as was also the practice in the Strasbourg and Zurich churches. The preacher’s task was to allow doctrine to emerge from the text in which it was embedded, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. The biblical text determined the doctrine, not the other way round. If therefore the doctrine of election is front and centre of the passage which lies before him, Calvin will comment on it as fully as his text – and time – allow. If, on the other hand, election is only incidental to his text, if, so to speak, it merely hovers around the margins, he will be suitably brief, and may even omit it altogether” (p 213-214).
It is clear from all that Calvin says that the doctrine of election is clearly taught in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and that it is a precious doctrine to the assured believer. It is a doctrine, however, that needs to be preached with great care and not over-frequently lest it lead to despondency on the part of the non-assured and to fatalism on the part of the non-believer.
The reviewer felt it a pity that more modern language, such as the Most High being addressed as “You” rather than “Thou”, is used throughout. Yet this book is very much recommended for anyone desiring clarity on the very important subject of election.