Part 1 is here
All references in this article are from John Calvin, Sermons on Second Timothy. Newly translated from the French of 1561, translated by Robert White (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2018) unless otherwise noted.
Part 2: Where Pastoral Work Begins — Calvin’s Foundation for Ministry
7 fundamental concepts of Calvin’s Pastoral Ministry:
1. Proclaim the Gospel
In the opening sermon of the series, Calvin began, “Here Paul shows that there is no prelate, bishop or pastor worthy of the name who does not bring and proclaim the gospel.” (5) For Calvin, this means that all pastors “should know that God has set them up expressly to preach the message of salvation.” (5) Throughout these sermons, and over the course of his ministry, Calvin preached the gospel at every turn. He knew there was a temptation for every pastor to preach “our pet ideas” (82), and he relentlessly fought this temptation clinging instead to the uttermost necessity of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Let those especially who have been made preachers of the gospel see that the message of salvation is not lost or extinguished, but is accepted and protected.”
In order to proclaim the gospel, the first step is for the pastor himself to be gripped by this message. As Calvin put it, the pastor must “hold fast to the simplicity of the gospel and ask God to grant us the Spirit of meekness, so that we are open to his teaching and attend patiently to what he says.” (381) Calvin himself was delighted to help his hearers see “what a treasure the gospel is and how much it means to God.” (110) This gospel, which “radiates [God’s] glory,” is “the most precious and worthy thing he has,” and is nothing short of God’s “kingly scepter by which he governs his people.” (111) Even more, this gospel has been handed over and entrusted to God’s people who are to make the gospel known on all the earth. As Calvin described, “Let those especially who have been made preachers of the gospel see that the message of salvation is not lost or extinguished, but is accepted and protected.” (110) Pastors, as preachers of God’s word, maintain the responsibility of faithfully proclaiming the gospel in such a way that God’s people are built up, and all people are called to salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.
When the gospel is precious to the pastor it is natural that this message will permeate all that he says and does. Such was true with Calvin. As he worked through 2 Timothy he described and explained the gospel repeatedly. Like an eager watchman on the day of battle, Calvin looked for every opportunity to announce the grace of God in saving his people. He could spend an entire sermon captivated in its goodness, or, as he did often, he could capture the message in a few powerful sentences. For instance, in his sermon on 2 Timothy 2 he summarized the good news: “For here is the ultimate truth, that from the creation of the world—and earlier still, from all eternity—our salvation has been founded on God’s goodness and his immutable counsel. We know also that he has called us personally to himself. In the person of Jesus Christ he has been reconciled to us; in him we have remission for our sins and fullness of grace. … it is he who generously bestows on us the gifts of his Holy Spirit.” (175) The good news of God’s salvation, according to Calvin, was built on the lovingkindness of God, based on his grace, focused on the work of Christ, dependent on faith, and carried out through the work of the Holy Spirit. This was the gospel Calvin prized and, therefore, proclaimed.
2. Hallow God
According to Scripture, Calvin explained, “hallowing God” means “ascribing to him that praise that he deserves.” (93) To hallow God is not the natural response of this world, which is following the prince of the power of the air. To hallow God, God himself must intervene and reveal his true nature and character to a person so that they stand not as an enemy of God, but in reverence to him. Calvin knew that both the world and the devil are at war with the truth of God’s glory. He acknowledged that “Satan has us under his grip…we are under his tyranny and…he masters us as he wills until God delivers us.” (260) In fact, Calvin elaborated, “the devil plants his foot on our throats and makes us suffer the bondage of sin, if we do not ask our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver us” (284).
The best defense against the desires of the world and the schemes of the devil is a healthy and proper fear of God. As Calvin described, this fear is not merely a terror that makes us flee from God, but a “measured fear, which wakes us up and helps us see that we must so live as to appear one day before our appointed Judge.” (360) And who is this Judge? “The Son of God, our Redeemer—and our Advocate too.” (360) Calvin believed, “No one can wean us from this world unless we are made to fear.” (359) Amidst the attacks of Satan and the temptations from the world which draw all people away from life in God, Calvin urges the pastor, “Let us carefully guard God’s truth as we find it in the gospel and not allow ourselves to swerve from it in any way at all.” (138) The work of the pastor is to lead people into a proper relation to God in which God is glorified. This can only be done as the pastor himself hallows God, and leads the people to magnify the Lord in all they say and do. In a sentence, Calvin concluded, “Let us therefore give God the glory even though the whole world should be in turmoil.” (94) Hallowing God means to give him praise, as he is do, no matter the present state of the world. Calvin knew that if God’s people where to be characterized as those who hallow God, the pastor must be the one to lead the way in proclaiming the excellencies of our God.
3. Never Approach God’s Word Lightly
In the first sentence of the first sermon of this series, Calvin spoke clearly and powerfully: “We should always remember that in all the writings left to us by Paul, it is God who speaks to us by the lips of a mortal man, and that we should receive his teaching with reverence and authority as if God himself had visibly appeared from heaven” (1). The words we have in Scripture are nothing less than the very words of God himself given through the prophets and apostles as he so designed. Calvin carried this belief as his guiding principle in all his preaching and teaching of Scripture.
God appoints preachers to the office of teaching in the church. This position is a place of honor and great responsibility. As such, pastors must hold fast to the Scripture as the true light of God. As Calvin explained it, “God makes us stewards of his amazing mysteries in order to build up his kingdom in this world” (389). Calvin was convinced that preachers must abide in the Scripture. They must breath it in and breath it out. God’s word must be ever in their hearts, always on their minds, and constantly upon their lips. The word of God is the light of truth that all people need in order to live. That was Calvin’s preaching foundation, and it should be ours.
“God makes us stewards of his amazing mysteries in order to build up his kingdom in this world.”
Pastors are not only called to this task but are gifted to complete it. When Calvin read Paul’s words to Timothy—“Consider all the gifts which God conferred on you when you were made a minister of his word and a pastor of his church”—Calvin was struck by the reality that God gifts all pastors to complete the work he has called them to (87). Calvin knew “these gifts are necessary for the discharge of your duties” and that “those who have received a gift are all the more in debt to God and are bound to him” (87). A pastor having received gifts from God to equip him to lead and teach God’s flock means that the pastor is ultimately answerable to God and must steward these gifts in a way that honors and glorifies God above all. As Calvin explained, “[Pastors] are not to use [these gifts] any way they please. They must be used to serve our neighbor, to honour God and always to give Jesus Christ pre-eminence” (88). The pastor must use his gifts to make God’s word clear and known, and failure to do this is nothing short of disloyalty to God. Calvin was adamant that the pastor must never approach God’s word lightly, because, as he believed, “The word of God in any case remains our food” (183). The pastor is both called and equipped to teach the truth of God’s word at all times.
4. Cast Yourself Down Before the Face of Our Good God
A quick editorial note: in this newly translated edition of Calvin’s sermons on 2 Timothy, Robert White included Calvin’s extempore prayers that followed each sermon. These prayers were typically short, often only a few sentences long, and strikingly all began the same way: “Now let us cast ourselves down before the face of our good God, acknowledging our faults… .” What follows that line, “acknowledging our faults,” was also nearly the same in each prayer. Calvin prayed that the outcome of one throwing oneself down before the face of this good God and confessing one’s sin would be that God would “make us feel [our sin] more and more, and to lead us to true repentance” (447). The prayers themselves are full of biblical themes and often are drawn from the sermon that preceded the pray. The repetitive address of these prayers indicates that the response Calvin desired each week after hearing God’s word was for God’s people to see themselves for who they truly are—sinners—and to be led again to seek the forgiveness and righteousness that is found in Christ alone by faith alone. Calvin knew that this God, revealed in Scripture, is the righteous Judge and the gracious Forgiver; he deals justly with sin and is benevolent toward sinners. To this God we must all cast ourselves down for he is holy, and to this God we find mercy in Jesus Christ for he is kind.
As pastors, it is quite common, if not expected, to pray at the conclusion of each sermon. And if you listen to enough of these prayers by the same preacher you will probably find that, like Calvin, these prayers often begin in a similar way and follow a similar pattern. If we can learn anything from Calvin’s prayers perhaps we will be convinced that there is nothing wrong with praying the same types of prayers repeatedly, but we must mark the significance of these repeated words as they reveal much of our knowledge of the God we are addressing. Not only do our public prayers reveal our belief in who God is, they lead our people into a proper response to this God in light of who he is. For Calvin, the appropriate response to hearing God’s word was to cast oneself down in repentance, and cling to the hope that the God of all mercy would “help us feel [our sins] more and more, so that we may come to true repentance and may strive to mortify the evil within us, until he makes us new.” (105) As pastors, there seems nothing more helpful to the flock than, like a good shepherd, to lead them to the water of life and urge them to drink. For Calvin, he made it clear in his prayers that living water could be found when you throw yourself at the mercy of this good God, acknowledge all our faults, and find in him the hope of abundant life. This was Calvin’s vision for pastoral prayer.
Part 1 is here
Part 3 will be released next week