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Trust And Obedience From Calvin
To The Second Reformation
James A. De Jong
rust and obedience are hallmarks of the theology of John
Calvin. On the ―trust‖ side of the equation, the reformer of
Geneva is credited with purging worship of such medieval
accretions as saints days, relics, sacramentalism, unintelligible
Latin, and ―implicit faith‖ in the power of the church unto
salvation. He is praised for restoring true and clear preaching of
the Word in an effort to elicit living faith—true trust--in the hearer.
True trust is created through true religion. On the ―obedience‖ side
of the equation, he is popularly accused of over-regulating
Genevan life with statutes imposing a conformity to the gospel that
amounted to legalism and invited hypocrisy. His battles with the
antinomian and Libertine elements in the city are well documented.
If he had his way theologically and morally in the various civic
councils and the consistory, it was only for half his career, from the
early 1550s until his death in 1564. For the first half of his
reforming work, his preaching and teaching were openly and
frequently resisted and his influence on civic life was tentative and
partial. Yet, from his earliest writings in the 1536 Institutes of the
Christian Religion, through his sermons, catechisms, and
commentaries to the end of his life he maintained a consistent, if
deepening, emphasis on true faith in the living Christ fed and
nourished by the true and faithful preaching of the Word, as
fortified by the pure administration of the holy sacraments. Trust
in God the Creator, God the Redeemer, and God the Sanctifier—
even in times of intellectual doubt and emotional despondence,
both of which Calvin acknowledged as afflictions sometimes
visited upon believers—was the essence of true religion for Calvin.
Such trust yielded unwavering gratitude, which was displayed in
the grateful living shaped by Calvin‘s new doctrine of the third use