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Book Reviews;.Come Out From Among Them:'Anti-Nicodemite' Writings ofJohn Calvin. by John Calvin.Tr. Seth Skolnitsky. Dallas,Texas: Protestant HeritagePress~ 200 I. 317pp. $29.95(cloth). [Reviewed by David J.Engelsma.]For this book, we havebeen waiting.The "Nicodemites" wereProtestants in France during theReformation who participatedin Roman Catholic worship, notbecause they believed RomanCatholic doctrine or regardedRoman Catholic worship aspure, but because of variouspressures on them to conform.These pressures included thethreat ofpersecution, their owndesire to maintain their socialstanding in the community, andthe influence ofRoman Catholicfamily members and friends.The Nicodemites deliberatelydissembled. Outwardly theyperformed all the rites of RomanCatholic worship, includingthe celebration ofthe Mass.Inwardly, they said, they re-jected Roman Catholic worshipas false and worshiped God accordingto the Reformed faith.Since they justified thisbehavior by an appeal toNicodemus, who came to Jesussecretly at night while retaininghis position on the Sanhedrin,Calvin called these people"Nicodemites:' Later, he wouldcall them "pseudo-Nicodemites."Come Out From AmongThem contains most ofCalvin'8writings against the Nicodemiteerror, including "A Letter toSome Friends," "A Short TreatiseSetting Forth What theFaithful Man Must Do WhenHe is Among Papists and HeKnows the Truth of the 008pel,""AnswerofJohn Calvin tothe Nicodemite Gentlemen ConcerningTheir Complaint ThatHe is Too Severe," "Four Sermonsfrom John Calvin TreatingMatters Which Are VeryUseful for Our Times with aBrief Exposition ofPsalm 87,"and "A Response to a CertainDutchman Who, UnderPretenceof Making Christians ReallyNovember, 200159
Spiritual, Suffers Them to DefileTheir Bodies in All Sorts ofIdolatries." Most of these, ifnot all of them, are now translatedinto English for the firsttime.One important work byCalvin against the Nicodemiteerror-the earliest-is not included.No doubt this is becauseit appears in English translationin Calvin's Tracts Relatingtothe Reformation, tr. HenryBeveridge, vol. 3 (Edinburgh:Calvin Translation Society,1851). The English title is '"OnShunning the Unlawful Rites ofthe Ungodly, and Preserving thePurity of the Christian Religion."Calvin wrote this in 1537.In this treatise Calvin establishedthe line he would take,and marshaledthe texts he woulduse, throughout the entire bodyofhis anti-Nicodemite writings.It is not without significancethat Calvin's controversywith the Nicodemites spannedhis entire ministry. He wrotethe first of his treatises (wewould call them pamphlets) atthe very beginning ofhis ministryin 1537. He wrote the last ofthem at the end of his ministryin 1562. This was the treatiseentitled "A Response to a CertainDutchman."Obviously, theNicodemite error persisted.Obviously also, Calvin viewedthis error as grievous, one thatdemanded his unrelenting attention.The Nicodemite error iswith us today. This makes thepublication ofthesetreatises extraordinarilyworthwhile. ProfessingReformed believers remainin countries orareas whereworship in a true Reformedchurch is impossible, excusingthemselves by appeal to thehardships of moving. Or menand women who confess the Reformedfaith worship inchurches that are not Reformed,because this is convenient. Orthose who claim to know andlove the Reformed faith stay inchurches that depart from thefaith, corrupt the Wordand Sacraments,and pollute the worship,because of family or socialpressures. All of these aremodern Nicodemites.The Calvin scholars, someof whom are themselvesNicodemites, will no doubt welcomethe book as a valuablecontribution to the academicstudy of Calvin'8 mind in English.Our interest is more spiritualand practical. ToReformedbelievers in foreign lands whocannot publicly worship God in60PRTJ
Page 1 and 2:
ProtestantReformedTheologicalJourna
Page 3 and 4:
EDITOR'S NOTESProf. Russell J. Dyks
Page 5 and 6:
For there are many, even l unruly,
Page 7 and 8:
happen to hold unwittingly to some
Page 9 and 10: tion oftheir false teachings. II Pe
Page 11 and 12: est, they are very weak, at worst,
Page 13 and 14: truth~' (see I Tim. 4: 1 - 4). Ever
Page 15 and 16: Thomas Bradwardine:Forgotten Mediev
Page 17 and 18: ated grace and uncreated grace. Unc
Page 19 and 20: Bradwardine faces the question ofth
Page 21 and 22: the age, namely, that having set fo
Page 23 and 24: did not identify Thomas Bradwardine
Page 25 and 26: The first is that Bradwardine was a
Page 27 and 28: to Bradwardine as oneof"two pre-emi
Page 29 and 30: Gospels, Acts, and Revelation. Sir
Page 31 and 32: power of the papacy in Bradwardine'
Page 33 and 34: The Serious Callof the Gospel -Is t
Page 35 and 36: elieve th~s proclamation with uprig
Page 37 and 38: to bring good news with their "fig
Page 39 and 40: nation, we read of Melchisedek, the
Page 41 and 42: official activity ofa monarch's her
Page 43 and 44: 8): "Calling is ofthose elect and r
Page 45 and 46: ut all his posterity unable to obey
Page 47 and 48: alone, and He saves whom He will. E
Page 49 and 50: have moved away from the notion oft
Page 51 and 52: every member ofthe visible, institu
Page 53 and 54: fulfilling this calling is their pa
Page 55 and 56: contingent. Further, Calvin did not
Page 57 and 58: ofacceptance in terms of merit, ins
Page 59: covenant ofgrace and works, or it i
Page 63 and 64: the gospel is preached" (p. 212).In
Page 65 and 66: "They do not hold that JesusChrist
Page 67 and 68: II Corinthians 3:6 that "the letter
Page 69 and 70: is to oppose and to repulsethat sec
Page 71 and 72: Rightly Divided: Readings inBiblica
Page 73 and 74: is necessary speaks volumesabout th
Page 75 and 76: Guilt, Grace and Gratitude,Lectures
Page 77 and 78: 76ted under the new? If it wererigh
Page 79 and 80: er to keep himself holy; forthe Sab
Page 81 and 82: there is room for both positionsin
Page 83 and 84: Dr. Gannett's eschatologyalso effec
Page 85 and 86: that, but man has a corrupt nature(
Page 87 and 88: the love of God is "universal"(p. 5
Page 89 and 90: ever, throughout the book thereis n
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