THE PROVENANCE OF JOHN CALVIN'S EMPHASIS ON THE ...

The extent to which Calvin had accessed Oecolampadius' principal works on the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper prior to his time in Basel in 1535 and then in Geneva
just after is impossible to say, but interesting nuances in their thought and uses of
patristic sources that parallel one another ought not be overlooked. This is true of
several features in their sacramental doctrine, 832 including that of the role of the Holy
Spirit. 833 Whether these parallels exist purely coincidentally, or because Calvin himself
had read Oecolampadius or had received his thought by way of an intermediary, is not,
ultimately, to be determined here. All such possibilities exist, uniquely or
complementarily. The point is that these parallels exist, and therefore, in their own way,
demonstrate that Calvin's thought is an assimilation of the thought of his contemporaries
(or near contemporaries, as the case may be).
Upon culling Oecolampadius' works for references to the Holy Spirit, the
following observations may be made:
In De genuina verborum domini, Oecolampadius presents a Christology akin to
that of Zwingli inasmuch as he asserts that Christ's body is at the right hand, and that it,
being a natural, human body, cannot be in many places at once. 834 Not unlike Calvin
832 Including sursum corda, given that Christ sits at the right hand of God. Oecolampadius
speaks of sursum corda in De genuina verborum domini on at least several occasions (see B 4v; D 3v, in
connection with Chrysostom, as Calvin will in his 1557 Ultima adomonitio contra Westphal [Tracts and
Treatises 2:443]; K 8b, in connection with Colossians 3, as Calvin would already in the Instittutio 1536
[Inst. 1536, 108]. Incidentally, Oecolampadius' sursum corda discussions do not entail mentions of the
Holy Spirit. If not Oecolampadius, Farel at least gave the sursum corda liturgical expression in his La
maniere et fasson (533) (Thompson, Liturgies, 223). Clearly Calvin appropriated this expression to his
Form for the Celebration of the Lord's Supper (Thompson, Liturgies, 207). See further discussion below
in Chapter 8.
833 Much could be said about various, parallel aspects of their sacramental doctrine. The point
here, however, is to focus on their appeals to the Holy Spirit in particular, since this is the focus of this
study.
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