The Significance of the Word of God for Calvin

Abstract

In the Reformation the phrase “The Word of God” was mighty and prevailed. It was pronounced with assurance and heard with acceptance. To use it was to invoke in one's behalf a divine utterance of incontestible authority, that was documented of old in the canonical scriptures but now freshly reverenced and understood after long centuries of disregard. The Reformation was, or at any rate aimed to be, a reform of the visible church by applying to it the superior authority of the Word of God, so that the Word may be said to be the panoply of the Reformation, its all-sufficient armor and resource. This appears from Luther's early writings through Calvin's whole work, and that of Protestant writers to a much later era, and is a familiar note in our day.

Two Ways to Read the Bible in the (Very) Long Reformation

“…He explained this by stating, breezily, that 'with respect both to words and to other things which do not bear upon the matters in discussion, [the apostles] allow themselves wide freedom'. 14 For Calvin, too, the authority of Scripture was the authority of its core message, not its incidentals. Luther summed this principle up in a slogan on which modern liberal Protestants have gratefully seized: Christ is the lord and king of Scripture.…”

Revelation, then Response

“…Payton (2010) writes, “For Calvin, Sola Scriptura meant that the written Word of God is the ultimate religious authority, the only unquestioned one…Normed by Scripture, [all other sources of authority] serve as subordinate norms for right teaching” (p. 156). According to McNeill (1959), “The whole work of Calvin is predicated on the truth of Scripture and the authority of Scripture for every Christian” (p. 138).…”

“…1:9-10). The Reformers likewise saw Christ as the theme and common thread running throughout the Scriptures (McNeill, 1959, pp. 131–132).…”

‘Protestantism’ as a Historical Category

“…Calvin's comment on these regrettable lapses, which he clearly did not regard as very important, tells us a good deal about his own attitude to the Bible: 'with respect both to words and to other things which do not bear upon the matters in discussion, [the apostles] allow themselves wide freedom'. 30 So for Calvin, too, the authority of Scripture was the authority of its core message, not its incidentals. Hence his strange reluctance to argue that the Bible is authoritative.…”