Roberts on Bavinck on Calvin - 11 July 2009 |
|
In an article on Herman Bavinck in Ecclesia Reformanda, Matthew Roberts draws a comparison between the theology of John Calvin (happy 500th birthday) and that of Rome, Luther, Zwingli and the Anabaptists.
The issue concerns the relationship between fallen nature, on the one hand, and nature renewed in Christ, on the other (ER, 1.1, p. 80). Following Bavinck’s analysis, he observes that ‘Rome construes the natural as being good in itself, not necessarily evil’. Though this appears superficially to be ‘honouring to nature’, in fact it consigns nature to a second-class status, for in the end ‘grace can do nothing to nature other than allow it its own space … grace and nature have little to do with each other’.
Sadly, ‘Luther never attempted to overcome [this] Roman dualism’, nor did Zwingli or the Anabaptists. But Calvin understood the relationship between nature and grace far more clearly, with significant results for the scope of his theology, especially in the public sphere.
Re-creation is not a system that supplements creation, as in Catholicism, not a religious Reformation that leaves creation intact, as in Luther, much less a radically new creation as in Anabaptism, but a joyful tiding of the renewal of all creatures. (quoting Bavinck)
Consequently, ‘not only the church but also home, school, society and state are placed in the dominion of the principle of Christianity.’ The Bible was, for Calvin, not merely ‘a source of salvation truth,’ but ‘the norm for all of life’.
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog, Theology