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

In diesem Sermone heißt es u. a.: "Spiritus sanctus ipse fidem facit, quod nos a
deo in filios adoptati simus, ipse corda nostra Christo conglutinate. S. s. ipse
cibus est diligentium Christum, quo nunquam satiantur: ipse potus est animarum
filiorum dei, ipse charitas eorum qui sibi coniuncti sunt. Spiritus sanctus copula
est unions nostrae in Christo, animarum exultatio, coris tripudium, ignis, fons
rorulentus" (Chrys., Opera, Basileae 1530, Bd. V 379). 1011
The terminology is not exactly parallel, but copula- may be taken to mean "linked," and
therefore suggestive of a vinculum—which appears to be the connection Niesel infers.
Niesel then draws an immediate conclusion that Calvin obviously speaks in connection
with this sermon of Chrysostom already in the Confessio fidei de eucharistia of 1537,
since there Calvin "speaks of the Holy Spirit as the bond of our communion with
Christ." 1012 In his footnote regarding his comment on the Confessio fidei de eucharistia,
Niesel indicates that the word copulare is used proximal to this expression of the idea of
1010 Niesel's citation reads as follows: "Chrys. Opera, Basileae 1530, Bd. V 379." This is a
reference to D. Ioannis Chrsostomi Archiepiscopi Constantinopolitani Opera, quae hactenus versa sunt
omnia, ad Graecum codicum collationem multis in locis per utriusque linguae peritos emendate, ed.
Erasmus Desiderius (Basileae: In Officina Frobeniana, 1530). It is known, however, that Calvin
possessed and marked up the edition Divi Chrysostomi Archepiscopi Constantinopolitani Opera,
quatenusin hunc diem Latio donate noscuntur, omnia, ed. Desiderius Erasmus (Lutetiae Parisiorum:
Apud Claudium Chevallonium, 1536). See the study A. Ganoczy and K. Müller, Calvins Handschriftliche
Annotationen zu Chrysostomus (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1981). See also Lane, Student of the Church
Fathers, 12, 72-73, 177, and 223. In his 1536 edition of Chrysostom's works, one also finds this
sermon—Divi Ioannis Chrysostomi sermo in pentecoste de sancto spiritu—in Tome V, at n* ii. The Latin
text of the passge in consideration is identical to that in the 1530 edition (1536, Tome V, n* iii, left
column at B).
1011 Wilhelm Niesel, Calvins Lehre vom Abendmahl, 92n108.
1012 Niesel, Calvins Lehre von Abendmahl, 92: "Das ist die Lösung. Keimhaft liegt sie schon in
der esrten Institutio von 1536. Calvin spricht da noch nicht vom Heiligen Geist, wohl aber von der
'potentia et virtus,' durch die Christus sich gegenwärtig darbeitet. Auf dem Wege zur vollen Klarheit ist
Calvin ein 'Sermo in Pentecoste de sancto spiritu' von Wichtigkeit geworden, der sich damals unter den
Schriften des Chrysostomus befand. Offenbar im Anschlusse an diesen Sermon redet Calvin schon in der
'Confessio fidei de eucharistia, 1537' von dem Heiligen Geiste als dem Bande unserer Gemeinschaft mit
Christus, ebenso in dem etwa zur gleichen Zeit abgefaßten Abendmahlstraktat. In der Institutio von 1539
heißt es dann mit ausdrücklicher Berufung auf den genannten Sermon: 'Vinculum ergo istius
coniunctionis est spiritus Domini, cuius nexu copulamur; et quidam veluti canalis, per quem quidquid
Christus et est et habet ad nos dervatur." See Chapter 4 above for more discussion of this passage and
Niesel's conclusions.
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