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

signified. Christ himself is encountered in the sacrament, and his body and blood are se
nobis in sacra coena vere exhibere, "for the Lord himself said, 'hoc est corpus meum,
non hic est spiritus meus, virtus mea.'" 926 Furthermore, he emphasizes that while the
confirmation and increase of faith is the work of Christ through the Holy Spirit, 927
Christ uses the sacraments as instrumenta to this end:
Christ alone by his Spirit effects the whole of salvation in us, which he does not
by some alien power (virtute), but by his Spirit alone. However, to this very end
he uses with us the word, whether the visible word in sacraments or the audible
word in the Gospel. These offer and exhibit (adfert & exhibet) the remission of
sins, communion in him, and eternal life. 928
These, of course, are the very themes Calvin sounds in his doctrine, though Calvin's
repeated riff—which Bucer very nearly presents here—is that Christ accomplishes the
nourishment of souls with his body and blood "by the power of the Holy Spirit," or "by
the power of his Spirit." So, clearly Calvin's pneumatological view is compatible with,
perhaps even an assimilation of, Bucer's view, at least as Bucer presents it here in this
one, compact passage.
926 See footnote 925.
927 ". . . confirmare & augere fidem esse opus Christi per spiritum sanctum" (Bucer, "Retractatio
de Coena Domini" at Matthew 26, En Sacra Quator Evangelia, rendered as it appears in The Digital
Library of Classic Protestant Texts: www.alexanderstreetpress.com).
928 "Efficit quidem omnem salutem in nobis unus Christus, idque nulla aliena virtute, sed suo
solius spiritu. Interim tamen ad id ipsum utitur ad nos suo verbo, tam visibili in sacramentis, quam
audibili in Evangelio. His remissionem peccatorum, communionem sui, & vitam aeternam adfert &
exhibet." (Bucer, "Retractatio de Coena Domini" at Matthew 26, En Sacra Quator Evangelia, rendered as
it appears in The Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts: www.alexanderstreetpress.com) Stephens,
The Holy Spirit in the Theology of Martin Bucer, writes of this passage: For Bucer, "there is nothing
automatic about the sacrament. Its effectiveness comes not from the symbols, but from Christ acting
through the Holy Spirit. Not until now does Bucer link the work of the Holy Spirit unequivocally with the
elements, without making the primary reference to the work of the Spirit in the heart. The confirmation of
faith rests not on the power of the symbols themselves, but on Christ's power which is dispensed 'by his
Spirit through word and sacred symbols'" (Stephens, The Holy Spirit in the Theology of Martin Bucer,
255). "Unequivocally" is perhaps too strong a qualifier here.
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