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

Calvin's exposition implies that Augustine himself refers to the work of the Holy Spirit,
but Augustine does not. 1063 So the robust pneumatology expressed in this passage
quoted from Calvin is Calvin's, not explicitly Augustine's, at least not of the passage in
Augustine to which Calvin refers. Language with regard to the Spirit is prominent in
Augustine's Homilies on the Gospel of John, but even there his particular expression is
different from that of Calvin's, and Calvin seemingly does not refer to Augustine's
expositions on the fourth gospel with regard to the role of the Holy Spirit and believers'
participation in the Lord's Supper. 1064 That is, Calvin's emphasis on the virtus of the
etiam calumnia deprehenditur, locum hunc a nobis torqueri insimulans, ut nihil nobis coena afferat
praeter inanem figuram" (CO 9:162-63). [At the * the editors indicate a footnote, the text of which reads:
In Psal. 98. This reference appears in the margin of the sixteenth century edition at this very point (John
Calvin, Ultima admonitio ad Ioachimum Westphalum [Geneva: Ioannem Crispinum, 1557], 65).
1063 See Augustine's exposition of Psalm 99 (Latin Psalm 98) in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,
Series 2, ed. Philip Schaff (Edinburgh: T & T Clark; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprinted 1996), 8:484.
1064 Unlike Zwingli, and even Oecolampdius and Viret, Calvin does not appeal to John 6:63—
"The Spirit is life; the flesh profits nothing"—as a mantra against Roman Catholic and Lutheran views of
the sacrament. In his 1553 commentary on the text, he forthrightly declares: "Nor do I approve of the
views of those who say, that the flesh of Christ profiteth, so far as he was crucified, but that, when it is
eaten, it is of no advantage to us; for on the contrary, we must eat it, that, having been crucified, it may
profit."
In his commentary on John 6, Calvin refers approvingly to the progression of Augustine's
exegesis: "I confess that there is nothing said here that is not figured and actually presented to believers in
the Lord's Supper. Indeed, we might say that Christ intended the holy Supper to be a seal of this
discourse. This is also the reason why John makes no mention of the Lord's Supper. And therefore
Augustine follows the proper order when, in expounding this chapter, he does not touch on the Lord's
Supper until he comes to the end. And then he shows that ths mystery is represented in a symbol
whenever the Churches celebrate the sacred Supper, in some places daily, in others only on the Lord's
day" (The Gospel according to St. John 1-10, trans. T. H. L. Parker, CNTC 4:170). Regarding John 6:63,
Calvin writes: "Augustine thinks that we should supply the word 'only' or 'by itself', because it must be
joined with the Spirit. This fits in well with the argument, for Christ is referring simply to the manner of
eating. He does not exclude every kind of usefulness, as if none at all could be obtained from his flesh,
but says that it will be useless if separated from the Spirit. For where does the flesh get its quickening
power, but because it is spiritual? Therefore, whoever stops short at the earthly nature of the flesh, will
find in it nothing but what is dead. But those who raise their eyes to the power of the Spirit which which
the flesh is imbued, will feel from the effect itself and the experience of faith that quickening is no empty
word. §We now understand how the flesh is meat indeed and yet profits nothing. It is meat in that, by it,
life is procured for us, in it God is reconciled to us, and in it we have all the parts of salvation
accomplished. It profits nothing if considered in its origin and nature; for the seed of Abraham, which in
itself is subject to death, does not give life, but receives its power of feeding us from the Spirit. Therefore
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