John Calvin-Life,Legacy and Theology

JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -
PROF. M. M. NINAN
"God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame, which was
more hardened in such matters than might have been expected from one at my early period of life.
Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness, I was immediately inflamed
with so intense a desire to make progress therein, that although I did not altogether leave off other
studies, yet I pursued them with less ardour."
In the second account, Calvin wrote of a long process of inner turmoil, followed by spiritual and
psychological anguish:
"Being exceedingly alarmed at the misery into which I had fallen, and much more at that which
threatened me in view of eternal death, I, duty bound, made it my first business to betake myself
to your way, condemning my past life, not without groans and tears. And now, O Lord, what
remains to a wretch like me, but instead of defence, earnestly to supplicate you not to judge that
fearful abandonment of your Word according to its deserts, from which in your wondrous
goodness you have at last delivered me".
Scholars have argued about the precise interpretation of these accounts, but most agree that his
conversion corresponded with his break from the Roman Catholic Church. The Calvin biographer
Bruce Gordon has stressed that "the two accounts are not antithetical, revealing some inconsistency
in Calvin's memory, but rather [are] two different ways of expressing the same reality."
During these years he was also exposed to Renaissance humanism, influenced by Erasmus and
Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples, which constituted the radical student movement of the time. This
movement, which antedates the Reformation, aimed to reform church and society on the model of
both classical and Christian antiquity, to be established by a return to the Bible studied in its original
languages. It left an indelible mark on Calvin. Under its influence he studied Greek and Hebrew as
well as Latin, the three languages of ancient Christian discourse, in preparation for serious study of
the Scriptures. It also intensified his interest in the classics; his first publication (1532) was a
commentary on Seneca’s essay on clemency.
Evidently conversion is never an instantaneous process but a long and ongoing process. There
may be definable final point, but is always the result of an on going process, even if it is not an
always identifiable.
At this time the heat of persecution obliged the evangelical congregations to assemble in the greatest
secrecy. To these Calvin preached with zeal and energy, concluding always with the words of St. Paul,
"If God be for us, who can be against us ?"
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