Vostre très humble et obéissant serviteur Jehan Calvin.

1. Vostretrès humble et obéissantserviteur Jehan Calvin.

2. Calvin’s Institutes “John Calvin, Author” This one-word description could justly begin a biographical sketch of the life of John Calvin His fame began when, at 26 years of age in March of 1536, he published the first edition of his “Institutes of the Christian Religion”

3. The Young Calvin &His Early Education Calvin was born as Jean Chauvin (or Cauvin, in Latin Calvinus) in Noyon, Picardie, (about 100 kms northeast of Paris, France), over 500 years ago on July 10, 1509

4. The Young Calvin &His Early Education Calvin’s house in Noyon His Father, GérardCauvin, was a highly esteemed fiscal administrator to the Noyon clergy His mother, Jeanne Lefranc, was noted for her religious piety and motherly affection

5. The Young Calvin &His Early Education Noyon Cathedral His Father had destined John Calvin to the priesthood and it was arranged that he would receive a bursary from the cathedral of Noyon for his religious studies in Paris

6. Schooling at Paris After about 3 years, Calvin received his equivalent to our Master of Arts degree (M.A.) when he was 16 or 17 years old for which honor an exception would have had to be made because graduates had to be at least 21 years old in order to graduate

7. Schooling at Orléans Calvin’s father. after a fallout with the Noyon clergy, decided that the legal profession would be more profitable for his son, so Calvin transferred to the University of Orléans to pursue a licentiate in civil law under Pierre de L’Estoile, the leading law professor in France at the time

8. Schooling at Bourges Calvin left Orléans in 1529 or 1530 and continued his study of Law at the University of Bourges under the renowned Italian law professor Andrea Alciati We know from legal documents that Calvin was awarded his Licentiate in Law in 1532

9. More Studies After his father died in 1530, Calvin was freed to pursue his own way and so he returned to Paris to study Latin and Greek and began the study of Hebrew He also published his first work around 1532, it was a commentary on De Clementiaby Seneca

10. Calvin’s Conversion Calvin had learned of Luther’s ideas from Lefèvre, he had listened to Melchior Wolmar, his Lutheran-leaning Greek teacher and he had discussed Lutheranism with his cousin Olivétan

11. Calvin’s Conversion We also know he had been reading Luther and Zwingli, but Calvin mentions no human agency in the account of his conversion

12. Calvin’s Conversion • Calvin wrote regarding his conversion: • “I tried my best to work hard [in the study of law], yet God at last turned my course in another direction by the secret rein of His providence. What happened first, since I was too obstinately addicted to the superstitions of Popery to be easily extricated from so profound an abyss of mire, was that God by an unexpected [sudden] conversion sudbued and reduced my mind to a teachable frame. And so this taste of true godliness… set me on fire with such desire to progress that I pursued the rest of my studies [in law] more coolly, although I did not give them up altogether.”

13. The Young Reformer After his conversion, Calvin returned to Paris to continue his studies and threw in his lot with the Reformation cause, where he was often called upon to teach the Bible Soon Calvin came to the attention of the authorities when he helped Nicholas Cop write a speech deemed heretical and they sought to arrest him, but he escaped

14. The Young Reformer In November 1534 a terrible persecution of Protestants began in Paris as a result of what has come to be called the “Placard Incident” directed against the Mass

15. The Young Reformer In 1535, the king of France felt it necessary to issue a public letter to justify his persecution of the Protestants, in which he charged the Protestants of France with aims designed to “overthrow all things” The king’s letter demanded a response but from whom?

16. The Young Reformer This persecution provoked Calvin to publish in 1536, sooner than he would have otherwise wished, the first edition of his Institutes in defense of his persecuted French brothers and sisters

17. 1536 Edition of the Institutes • The Institutes’ first edition had six chapters in which Calvin dealt with the following topics: • The Law of God • Faith • Prayer • The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper • False Sacraments • Christian Liberty, Ecclesiastical Power and Civil Administration

18. Calvin Comes to Geneva In 1536, Calvin left Basel and traveled to Ferrara in Italy to see the Duchess Renée to solicit her influence in favor of the persecuted Protestants in France

19. Calvin Comes to Geneva On his way back to Basel, Calvin made a stop-over in Paris to see his brother Antoine regarding a family matter From Paris, Calvin started for Strasbourg, but because of the war between Francis I and Charles V, he made a long detour south and stopped in Geneva on August 5, planning to spend only one night there on his way north

21. Calvin Comes to Geneva The night of August 5, 1536, Calvin arrived in Geneva and Farel went to see Calvin and exhorted him to remain in Geneva to help him, when Calvin protested that he was unfit for pastoral work, Guillaume Farel threatened him with the curse of Almighty God if he preferred the scholar’s life of study to the cause of Christ in Geneva

22. Calvin’s Dismissal from Geneva The Articles on the Organization of the Church and its Worship at Geneva that Calvin wrote, affirmed that the pastors should have the right of independent exercise of ecclesiastical discipline in the church (up to this time was largely the dominion of the civil magistrate) The civil power reserved for itself the right to admonish the erring and to impose the penalty of excommunication

23. Calvin’s Dismissal from Geneva Calvin argued before the Geneva magistrates that unworthy persons should not be permitted to partake of the Lord’s Supper and that the ministers of the church should have the right to determine who would be given communion and the right to excommunicate the impenitent in the church

24. Calvin’s Dismissal from Geneva The “Little Council” summoned the “Council of the Two Hundred” and together they ordered Farel and Calvin, without a hearing, to leave the city within 3 days On April 25, 1538 the two Reformers left the city

25. Calvin in Strasbourg Soon thereafter Guillaume Farel accepted an invitation to pastor in Neuchâtel, where he ministered until his death in 1565 Calvin, at the urging of Martin Bucer, joined him in Strasbourg (at that time in Germany) in September of 1538

26. Calvin in Strasbourg Calvin organized and pastored the first French-speaking Protestant congregation consisting of about 400 to 600 French refugees until 1541

27. Calvin in Strasbourg • In 1539 he published his expanded 2nd edition of the Institutes, the 17 chapters now also included: • Man’s Knowledge of God and of Himself • Repentance • Justification by Faith • The Likeness and Differences of the Old and New Testaments • Predestination • Providence • The Life of the Christian Man

28. Calvin in Strasbourg With Calvin now gone from Geneva, Cardinal Sadoleto saw an opportunity to reclaim the city for Rome On March 26, 1539 he wrote to the Genevan authorities and appealed to them, in fine Latin, to return to the “ancient faith”

29. Calvin in Strasbourg The leaders in Geneva found themselves inadequate to supply the reply They turned the Cardinal’s appeal to Berne, who in turn, turned to John Calvin as the only candidate able to write a suitable reply in Latin, which he did

30. Calvin in Strasbourg In August 1540, Calvin, finding bachelorhood an “inconvenience,” married Idelette de Bure, a widowed member of his Strasbourg congregation and mother of two, a boy and a girl

31. Calvin’s Return to Geneva Towards the end of 1540, Calvin and Farel received an invitation from the authorities to return to Geneva as the city was facing general anarchy on the part of the Genevan citizenry

32. Calvin’s Return to Geneva Farel refused to return and Calvin would have preferred to continue his ministry in Strasbourg He wrote to Farel: “I would rather endure a hundred deaths than that cross” and called Geneva a “torture chamber”

33. Calvin’s Return to Geneva Beginning his ministry again in Geneva after his 3 ½ years “exile,” Calvin preached his first Sunday back from the exact place in the biblical text in which he had left off when he was dismissed and he continued to labor in Geneva without interruption until his death

34. Calvin’s Second Geneva Period Calvin’s return to Geneva until his death can be divided into two periods His years of struggle (1541-1555) His years triumph (1555-1564)

35. Calvin’s Accomplishments Because of Geneva’s reforming efforts, “the moralizing of social life, the work ethic, the prohibition of begging, aid to the poor – these became some of the distinguishing traits of the Calvinistic city” John Knox who studied under Calvin characterized Geneva as “the most perfect school of Christ that ever was on the earth since the days of the Apostles”

36. Calvin’s Accomplishments • Calvin founded in Geneva, not a new state but a new church – the Protestant Church • B.B.Warfield writes: • …every church in Protestant Christendom which enjoys today any liberty whatever, in performing its functions as a Church of Jesus Christ, owes it all to John Calvin

37. Calvin’s Accomplishments Calvin’s labors, with the assistance of Theodore of Beza and Louis Budé, produced the “Geneva Bible,” published by Robert Estienne in Geneva in 1553, it dominated French-speaking Protestantism for two centuries

38. Calvin’s Accomplishments Around 1555, in response to requests for help from France, the Venerable Company of Pastors in Geneva secretly began to infiltrate France with well-trained pastors

39. Calvin’s Accomplishments By 1562, in France, as many as 2,150 Huguenot churches existed with a total membership well in excess of two million out of a national French population of twenty million

40. Calvin’s Accomplishments Calvin founded the Geneva Academy on June 5, 1559, the first Protestant “University” in the world and Calvin became its leading professor of theology, to which, in time, more than a thousand students from all parts of Europe sat daily to attend the lectures of Calvin and Beza

41. Calvin’s Accomplishments • Some of the students of the Academy: • Guide de Bray, wrote the Belgic Confession in 1561 • Caspar Olevianus and ZachariusUrsinus who together wrote the Heidelberg Catechism in 1563 • Miles Coverdale who produced the first complete printed translation of the Bible into English • John Foxe who wrote Foxe’s Book of Martyrs • John Knox who brought church and cultural reform to all of Scotland

42. Calvin’s Accomplishments • Calvin preached nearly 4,000 sermons between 1541 and 1564 • Calvin preached daily on weekdays every other week from the OT at 6 am (7 am in winter) • On Sunday mornings from the NT • On Sunday afternoons from Psalms • He averaged slightly over 170 sermons a year

43. Calvin’s Accomplishments • Together with his preaching schedule, Calvin’s literary output in those years is truly amazing • Commentaries on most of the books of the Bible in both Latin and French • 3 catechisms for the city of Geneva • Several confessions of faith • Many treatises against the RCC,Anabaptists and the Libertines • 2 major defenses of the doctrine of Predestination • 2 major defenses of the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper • A minor treatise against astrology

44. Calvin’s Accomplishments Also during that period, Calvin wrote 4,271 letters (of which we are aware) filling ten and a half volumes, written to kings, other heads of state, to statesmen and business men, to Catholic and Reformation leaders in other lands, to pastors, to friends and to heretics

45. Calvin’s Accomplishments John Calvin considered the Institutes of the Christian Religion, his opus magnum The last and definitive edition of 1559 is divided into four books, comprising 80 chapters It is generally arranged according to the Apostle’s Creed

46. Calvin’s Accomplishments • Calvin wrote in 1559 “I was never satisfied until the work had been arranged in the order now set forth”, the four books are • Book I - The Knowledge of God the Creator (God) • Book II - The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ (Christ) • Book III - The Way In Which We Receive the Grace of Christ (Holy Spirit) • Book IV - The External Means or Aids By WhichGod Invites Us Into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein (Church & Sacraments)

47. Calvin’s Accomplishments When one considers Calvin’s accomplishments, even during his own lifetime, there is no doubt that John Calvin was the most significant, the most sought-after Reformation leader in all Europe and the Founder of the Protestant Church

48. Michael Servetus The one blot on Calvin’s ministry for which his memory, above any other deed he did, is reviled today by his enemies and by those who know only what they have been told about him, is the burning of Michael Servetus

49. Michael Servetus Michael Servetus was a Spanish physician, with a brilliant mind for medicine (he discovered pulmonary circulation) who became more and more involved in theological controversy with Calvin and others

50. Michael Servetus He denied the doctrine of the Trinity, the deity of Christ, original sin, infant baptism and endorsed astrology Servetus was a dualist,he thought God and the devil were engaged in a great cosmic battle On the errors of the Trinity