NEW TESTAMENT THEOLOGY

170 WESTMINSTER THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
same time has led the way in pointing to an ordo salutis faithful to the historia salutis,
to an appropriation of salvation that honors the redemptive-historical structure
and substance of Scripture. 10
Book 3 of the Institutes is titled, "The Way in Which We Receive the Grace of
Christ: What Benefits Come to Us from It, and What Effects Follow." This title
plainly shows that Calvin understands himself to be concerned throughout
with the application of salvation ("the grace of Christ"), its "benefits" and consequent
"effects" (in their irreducible plurality and diversity, as he will go on to
show). All told, his concern is "the way" (Latin: not ordo, but modus, "mode,"
"manner," "method"), in which "we" (believers) "receive" this grace, in which
this salvation is appropriated by "us." With this concern restated in the opening
words of 3.1.1, the very next sentence reads: "First, we must understand that as
long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he
has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and
of no value tous." 11
In my opinion, on the matter at hand no more important words have been
written than these. Incisively and in a fundamental way, they address both the
necessity and nature of application, the basic concerns of an ordo salutis. So far as
necessity is concerned, to put it somewhat provocatively, Calvin is saying something
like, "the redemptive-historical Christ, at least the Christ of redemptive
history as often conceived, is not enough"; in fact, he says, this Christ is "useless
and of no value to us"!
Certainly this Christ, his death and resurrection, including his ascension and
Pentecost, as the culmination of redemptive history, are the heart-core of the
gospel. They are "of first importance," as Paul says (1 Cor 15:3); he and other
New Testament writers make that abundantly clear. That centrality is not at
issue here. But to punctuate the gospel, particularly its proclamation, with a full
stop after Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension (allowing for his future
return) does not do the gospel full justice as "the power of God unto salvation,"
and as it involves "the revelation of the righteousness of God" (Rom 1:16-17).
In fact, as Calvin intimates, such a parsing of the gospel misses an integral component,
something absolutely essential.
10 C. Graafland, "Heeft Calvijn een bepaalde orde des heils geleerd?" in Verbi Divini Minister (ed.
J. van Oort; Amsterdam: ton Bolland, 1983), 109-27, concludes: "... so strongly did Calvin put
Christ and faith as the work of the Holy Spirit at the center that a particular order or sequence in
the application of salvation remains subordinate to that emphasis. In that sense Calvin's theology is
not to be termed an ordo salutis theology, and he would have never been able to summarize his theology,
as W. Perkins did his, under the title, 'the golden chain of salvation' " (p. 127) ["... Calvijn zo
sterk Christus en het geloof als werk van de Heilige Geest in het centrum heeft gesteld, dat een
bepaalde orde of volgorde in de applicatie van het heil duidelijk daaraan ondergeschikt blijft.
Calvijns théologie is in die zin geen heilsordelijke théologie te noemen en hij zou, zoals b.v. W. Perkins,
zijn théologie nooit hebben kunnen samenvatten onder de titel: 'de gouden keten des heils' "].
11 J. Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (ed. J. T. McNeill; trans. F. L. Battles; 2 vols.; LCC;
Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 1:537.