September 2nd, 2009
Calvin’s Eschatological World and Life View
By Rev. Hank Bowen
The influence of the theology of John Calvin upon the church since the Reformation has elevated his work to an authoritative status among theologians that is second to none. However, when one comes to inquire about eschatological questions in Calvin’s Institutes the surprise is to find only one brief chapter devoted to the final resurrection and general eschatology.
That is not to say that Calvin was not concerned about the doctrine of last things, for in Calvin’s presentation we do not find eschatology completely summed up at one point. Instead this point of doctrine is developed through his expounding on the creed and his exegesis of Scripture which becomes a progressive witness to the Christ who finishes His saving work and whose actions form, in the last resort, one unique event.
In fact, the first work of Calvin as a Protestant writer was Psychopannychia, a tract refuting the Anabaptist error of soul-sleep.[1] This reveals the significance which he attached to the doctrines concerning the immortality of the soul and the intermediate state in which the soul survives endued with sense and intellect after death.[2] How much more then must he have seen the importance of the doctrine of man in his final state? But Calvin deals with the relevance of eschatology as it permeates the other areas of Christian doctrine in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the course of studying Calvin it becomes readily apparent that he understood the whole course of the Christian life as directed by an eschatological focus on the resurrected Christ. In fact, the heart of the Christian walk is motivated by the hope of the parousia of the Redeemer to restore to eternal life both body and soul in a general resurrection by His power at the second coming. For this reason Calvin views the whole foundation of the doctrine of last things Christocentrically. For Calvin, the future belongs to Christ who will complete the work He has begun in the believer. However, Calvin’s general eschatology also greatly shapes and directs his understanding of the Christian life.
The Immortality Of The Soul
Calvin repeatedly appealed to the immortality of the soul as the key to understanding the intermediate state after death and before the resurrection. He developed his argument here by a thorough exegetical statement of man in the image of God. This was the fundamental starting point in understanding what the soul in man is and how it distinguishes him from all other living creatures.
Calvin identified the image of God in the soul saying, “although God’s glory shines forth in the outer man, yet there is no doubt that the proper seat of his image is in the soul. I do not deny, indeed, that our outward form, in so far as it distinguishes and separates us from brute animals, at the same time more closely joins us to God. And if anyone wishes to include under “image of God” the fact that, ‘while all other living things being bent over look earthward, man has been given a face uplifted, bidden to gaze heavenward and to raise his countenance to the stars.’”[3]
Calvin identified that man differs from the animals, not in that both are living souls in bodily life, but only man has the knowledge, wisdom, and goodness of God’s image by having a spiritual soul. Therefore Calvin concludes the soul, as the image of God, is separate and distinct from the flesh.
Some have criticized Calvin at this point of having developed a view of the soul which was more philosophical than theological claiming that Calvin was influenced by Platonic thought as evidenced by his use of Plato favorably at certain points.[4] Heinrich Quistorp, in his work on Calvin’s Doctrine of Last Things, questions whether Calvin was guilty of “too hastily identifying the mortal body with sinful flesh, with using “spirit” and “soul” too loosely and interchangeably, disesteeming the body altogether, literally making the soul into a substance independent of the body with a life and being of its own, and hence giving it immortal status that is not biblical.”[5]
While Calvin may have been influenced by a Platonic philosophy, the fact that he grounded his argument so thoroughly on his understanding of the image of God as demonstrated from a historical-grammatical interpretation of Scripture makes it hard to back up a charge of an unbiblical anthropology on the part of Calvin.
The Intermediate State
That the soul and the body are to be viewed as separate is evident from Scripture (Matt. 10:28; Luke 23:43, 46; Eccl. 12:7). The body is laid in the grave and given over to destruction, while the soul continues on in a conscious existence. This existence is characterized by what Calvin referred to as “the tranquility of conscience and security, which always accompanies faith, but is never complete in all its parts till after death.”[6]
Calvin, however, placed an even greater significance upon the benefits which are accrued by the resurrection of Christ for the believer. The life-giving power which Christ has given cannot and will not be interrupted by something as absurd as soul sleep. Death has been conquered so that Christ’s return a second time will not be to overcome death a second time, but to set in order and realize the full salvation of His people. Then He will establish His kingdom and put down all His enemies in final judgment. Thus, once a soul has been engrafted into Christ, the union cannot be broken, even by death (John 14:19; I Cor. 15:22; Rom. 8:10; John 11:25-26).
In this way, Calvin rejected not only the soul sleep errors of the Anabaptists but also the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrines of purgatory and prayer for departed souls. He saw these views as acknowledgments of an understanding of the truth regarding the immortality of the soul that had been perverted by the devil into superstitions, like the pagans practice, to hold captive men’s minds.[7]
At the same time Calvin stated, “but Scripture supplies another far better and more perfect solace when it testifies: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord’ [Rev. 14:13]. And it adds the reason: ‘Henceforth they rest from their labors.’”[8] “For Calvin, with death the gate is decisively opened either to eternal blessedness or eternal damnation. Afterwards there is still of course the ultimate consummation, but no possibility of changing the verdict that has been passed.”[9]
Holwerda observed that this sense of finality in Calvin does not take from the importance of the final resurrection. However, since Calvin believes that one enters the peace of the kingdom already at death, his belief in the immortality of the soul plays an important role in his understanding of the future life. . . . Nonetheless, for Calvin this future, immortal, or heavenly life may never be divorced from the final eschatological reality of the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead.[10]
Therefore, the Christian life is motivated by the hope of the continuing life in Christ after death which will find its full benefit at the Lord’s second coming. The importance of the doctrine of the intermediate state with relation to the Christian life is that it is the entering into the rest of full communion with God. That life which the believer receives through the regeneration by the Spirit is an eternal life which results in becoming one with Christ. As Paul proclaimed in Romans 8:35-39, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? . . . For I am persuaded that neither death nor life . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of our God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
But Calvin continually looked past this intermediate state to the final state of the believer in Christ as the object of our future hope. It is the future resurrection of the body which is to be the basis for every Christian’s hope. Moreover, Calvin went on and expounded this hope in such a way that, in a narrower sense, eschatology for Calvin was the study of the future coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Christological Foundation
According to T.F. Torrance, “Calvin’s main teaching about eschatology can be formulated by saying that eschatology is the application of Christology to the work of the church in history.”[11] Indeed, Calvin saw all theology Christo-centrically so that this was equally true of his formulation of eschatology. The reason why Calvin did not deal with eschatology as a separate subject in a major treatise appears to be that he saw its relation to the Christian life as permeating the whole of doctrine as the church which moves forward in the expectation of the coming again of her Redeemer.
Eschatology necessarily implies purpose in history. The great difference between Christianity and the pagan world is the Christian’s view that history is moving progressively forward according to God’s final purpose for this world. At the heart of the Christian view of history is the incarnated Christ. His earthly ministry is viewed as the central point in not just religious history, but the history of the world. It is in Christ’s work on the cross that the glory of God is most fully revealed. Calvin commented on Jesus’ death in John 13:31 saying, “It is, because by it he glorifies God the Father; for in the cross of Christ, as a magnificent theatre, the inestimable goodness of God is displayed before the whole world. In all creatures, indeed, both high and low, the glory of God shines, but nowhere has it shone more brightly than in the cross, in which there has been an astonishing change of things, the condemnation of all men has been manifested, sin has been blotted out, salvation has been restored to men; and, in short, the whole world has been renewed, and everything restored to good order.”[12]
“The advent of Christ, His death and resurrection, was for Calvin the eschatological turning point of world history.”[13] Every subsequent event can have meaning only with relation to that “renovation of the world; which took place at the advent of Christ.”[14]
Through the death of Christ more than just the securing of the future renovation of the world took place. Though its final consummation is still to come, Calvin spoke of the kingdom as already restored.[15] This restoration is witnessed by its effects upon regenerate men who, through union with the death of Christ, lead lives of self-denial and mortification of concupiscence, which is evidence of the restoral of order.[16]
But Christ’s first coming is inextricably tied to the second coming as the boundaries of the last days. Calvin said, “Besides, we must remember this principle, that from the time when Christ once appeared, there is nothing left for the faithful, but with suspended minds ever to look forward to his second coming.”[17]
The ascended Christ holds together advent and return. Seeking the ascended Christ in heaven may never be separated from an eager anticipation of His return. Since the perfected kingdom is already complete in Him, the Christian is always waiting for the final, visible restoration of all things.[18]
At the heart of this is the fact of the resurrection of Christ. If Christ has not risen, then there is no basis for us to believe in a future hope and the whole study of eschatology is only vain imagination. But Paul dealt with this very argument in I Corinthians 15 upon which Calvin observed that Christ did not die, or rise again for himself, but for us: hence his resurrection is the foundation of ours.”[19]
It is the ascended Christ who stands at the center of Calvin’s eschatological expounding. Like Heidelberg question 49 that teaches that Christ will take all believers up to Himself, so Calvin perceived that it is on the basis of Christ as the first-fruits of the resurrection from the dead that believers draw all hope for a future resurrection of their own flesh.
This emphasis became the pivotal point at which Calvin’s eschatology intersected with his view of sanctification. That is why Calvin’s eschatology is but an extension of his Christology. And rightly so, for we do not view Christ’s work as done with His ascension. He continues to work from His heavenly throne through the power of His Spirit. He works, now obscured from human sight, until the day of judgment when He shall be revealed in His full glory and power.
There is one other central theme flowing from the risen Christ which Calvin appealed to. It was that believers are to be conformed to the image of Christ even in His resurrection. Wallace summarized Calvin’s position, “The pattern of our sanctification in Christ to which we are to be conformed is not one of unrelieved suffering and cross-bearing. The whole process of our conformity to Christ in His Cross moves towards the final goal of our being “sanctified with Christ in glory” and of being made conformable to His immortality and glory. . . . In the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, then, we are to see unveiled the pattern of the glory which He will share with those who are united to Him.”[20]
The Christian’s Future Home
For the Christian, the object of his eschatological hope is the resurrected Christ whose anticipated return is the focus and motivation for Christian living. The key element to Calvin’s view hinges on his explanation of faith and hope. Calvin showed that faith and hope are used interchangeably at times in Scripture. This is because they share the common foundation of God’s mercy.[21]
On the other hand, he distinguished between them in the following way. Faith is the foundation upon which hope rests, hope nourishes and sustains faith.”[22] “Accordingly, in brief, hope is nothing else than the expectation of those things which faith has believed to have been truly promised by God.”[23] Thus, the two are inseparable organic aspects of belief in Christ. They are like two sides of the same coin. Faith and hope both look to Christ. . . .But while faith looks back on the One who has come and His work of salvation, hope looks forward to the Coming One and to the consummation of His work which will then be manifested, the complete fulfillment of all the promises of God.[24]
Faith then is a certain knowledge that springs forth from the Word of God worked in the believer by the Holy Spirit. “Hope is nothing else than perseverance in faith. For when we have once believed the Word of God, it remains that we persevere until the accomplishment of these things. Hence, faith is the mother of hope, so it is kept up by it, so as not to give way.[25]
The importance of this understanding becomes clear in the face of conflict for the faith. This was the context of Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15, that if Christ is not raised then we are of all people most pitiful. What other reason can there be for the Christian to persevere under persecution than the hope of their future reward promised in Christ.
A second aspect that gives substance to this hope is God’s sovereign bestowal upon His chosen people the very possession of eternal life, even in this present world. The gift of the Holy Spirit as the surety of our eternal inheritance reveals the important place that God’s election has in our hope. Calvin on Ephesians 2:6 says, “The resurrection and sitting in heaven, which are here mentioned, are not yet seen by mortal eyes. Yet, as if those blessings were presently in our possession, he states that we have received them; and illustrates the change which has taken place in our condition, when we were led from Adam to Christ. And certainly, although, as respects ourselves, our salvation is still the object of hope, yet in Christ we already possess a blessed immortality and glory; and therefore, he adds, in Christ.”[26]
This is because in our becoming partakers of Christ’s resurrection we are raised to new life. It is on the basis of Jesus’ bodily resurrection into heaven that we are assured of our bodily resurrection.[27] The union the Christian experiences with Christ becomes the powerful catalyst by which his affections are drawn heavenward. “Accordingly, he alone has fully profited in the gospel who has accustomed himself to continual meditation upon the blessed resurrection.”[28] But such meditation must always be done with Christ’s image before us.[29]
From this flows patience as the fruit of hope, a third important aspect of how Calvin related this eschatological hope to the Christian life. This refers to a “subjective side of hope as an attitude with significance for Christian ethics and for the life of the individual who stands by faith in Jesus Christ.”[30]
If then it be grievous to any to groan, they necessarily subvert the order laid down by God, who does not call his people to victory before he exercises them in the warfare of patience. But since it has pleased God to lay up our salvation, as it were, in his closed bosom, it is expedient for us to toil on earth, to be oppressed, to mourn, to be afflicted, yea, to lie down half-dead and to be like the dead; for they who seek a visible salvation reject it, as they renounce hope which has been appointed by God as its guardian.[31]
Patience is the necessary fruit of proper reflection upon the heavenly glory of Christ and the heavenly citizenship of the saints. Calvin related patience as the characteristic duty by which the Christian is able to function in this life as a soldier of the cross. Patience is “a waiting in controlled expectancy, in calm steadfastness, and alert readiness, shunning no trouble and zealously proving both faith and hope in the works of love.”[32]
It stirs the saints on to action rather than idleness. On this Calvin stated a brief definition of true Christianity as, “a faith that is lively and full of vigour, so that it spares no labour, when assistance is to be given to one’s neighbours, but, on the contrary, all the pious employ themselves diligently in the offices of love, and lay out their efforts in them, so that, intent upon the hope of the manifestation of Christ, they despise everything else, and, armed with patience, they rise superior to the wearisomeness of length of time, as well as to all the temptations of the world.”[33]
Thus, patience carries the idea of “enduring”, while hope impels the saints to endure in a Christian life of anticipation for the return of Christ. Hope and patience are for Calvin almost synonymous. They are as it were two aspects of the same thing; both concepts can be employed equally for the one and the other. But patience denotes more the aspect of waiting, hope that of hastening in the orientation of the Christian life towards the second coming of Jesus Christ.[34]