CHURCH HISTORY IICHURCH HISTORY IILesson 6Lesson 6

“We are not our own”“We are not our own”

The life of John Calvin The life of John Calvin

“You are not your own, you are bought with a price. Therefore honor God with you body”

I Cor 6:19-20

“Calvin was one of those strong and consistent men of history who people either liked or disliked, adored or abhorred.“ -- Lewis W. Spitz, Lutheran Historian

Calvin has, I believe, caused untold millions of souls to be damned…“-- Jimmy Swaggart, Preacher

“The longer I live the clearer does it appear that John Calvin’s system is the nearest to perfection.”-- Charles Haddon Spurgeon,

“But we shall always find it hard to love the man [Calvin] who darkened the human soul with the most absurd and blasphemous conception of God in all the long and honored history of nonsense.“-- Will Durant, Historian

“Taking into account all his failings, he [Calvin] must be reckoned as one of the greatest and best of men whom God raised up in the history of Christianity.“-- Philip Schaff, Historian

[Calvin was] the “cruel” and “the unopposed dictator of Geneva.”-- Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church

“The strength of that heretic [Calvin] consisted in this, that money never had the slightest charm for him. If I had such servants my dominion would extend from sea to sea.“ Pope Pius IV, Roman Pontiff at time of Calvin’s death

I. Youth and EducationA. July 10,1509 Noyon, France

“a man from the common people”

Gerard Calvin-directed John’s path

Education: with Aristocratic family

Study for priesthood: 1521-26 Sorbonne

Study for law: Orleans and Bourges

II. Conversion 1532-34

“intense desire for progress therein”

When? Christian Humanist to Christian Prostestant

Who? “the Lord turned my course”

“It is evident that the Lord has elected you as an organ for the bestowment of the richest fullness of blessings to his church” Martin Bucer

What? “My heart I give you oh Lord, promptly and sincerely”

III. The Place of Calvin’s Ministry: Geneva 1536-38

A. Influence of William Farel (1489-1565)

Appointed pastor of Geneva Church: September 5, 1536

May 28, 1538 Expelled!

IV. Strassburg 1538-1541

A. Mentor Martin Bucer (1491-1551)

B. Ministry

C. Marriage Idelette de Bure Stordeur

V. Geneva Again 1541-1564

Reluctant but willing

The shape of Calvin’s ministry

1. Preacher and Teacher

2. Reformer

a. Church Ecclesiastical Ordinances of the Church of Geneva

b. State

1) Calvin not a dictator

2) Geneva not a theocracy Burning of Servetus 1553