CORRECTING CALVIN’S CRITICS
If
you have or have ever had any enemies, you will know that they tend to tell
lies about you and invariably paint you in a bad light. John Calvin (1509-64)
had and still has lots of enemies. No doubt some hate this man merely because
they have listened to some of the lies that have been spread about him.
One
of the old canards constantly trotted out by Calvin haters involves a man
called Michael Servetus a contemporary of Calvin. As do modern day so-called Jehovah’s
Witnesses Servetus followed Arius’s (256-336) view of a non-divine Jesus. In
other words, Servetus was in denial that Jesus Christ was the middle Person of
the Trinity now in human flesh.
Says
John Eidsmoe in footnote 9 on page 1044 of his Historical and Theological Foundations of Law, Volume III
Reformation and Colonial, (Nordskog Publishing Inc.) – see:
“Calvin’s
critics claim he engineered the execution of Servetus, but as J. Steven Wilkins
demonstrates, the Geneva city council tried, convicted, and sentenced Servetus
without Calvin’s involvement. Servetus had already been sentenced to death in
France but had escaped; Calvin had warned Servetus not to come to Geneva,
telling him he would not leave the city alive. Several Catholic cities wanted
to try Servetus for heresy, and when the Geneva authorities gave him a choice
of being tried in Geneva or being sent to Vienna, Servetus chose Geneva. The
council found him guilty of denying the Trinity and teaching and printing other
false doctrines and sentenced him to be burned at the stake. Calvin tried
unsuccessfully to persuade the council to commute the sentence from burning to
beheading; failing in that, he visited Servetus in his last hours and prayed
with him. Significantly, Servetus was the only heretic to be burned in Geneva
during Calvin’s lifetime, while thousands of heretics were executed elsewhere.
J. Steven Wilkins, Calvin v. Servetus (1998);
William Wileman, Calvin and Servetus.
Francis Nigel Lee writes of the same Servetus incident,
“Servetus
had blasphemously described the most blessed Trinity as a three-headed dog and a
monster from hell! Yet even at a time when the Catholic Inquisition was seeking
to slay Servetus and every Protestant city in Europe had expelled him or
condemned him, Calvin corresponded with him and sent him a copy of his
Institutes. For Calvin sought to win Servetus to Christ!
“Knowing
full well that Calvin favoured the punishment of exile for heretics and the
death penalty for blasphemers, the wretched Servetus arrogantly made his way to
Geneva planning to overthrow Calvin and de-christianize the city. Put on trial
by the civil magistrates of Geneva (and not by Calvin who was neither a judge
nor a citizen of that city) Servetus was found guilty of blasphemy and sedition
and sentenced to death by burning. Calvin unsuccessfully tried to get Servetus
to recant his errors. When Servetus would not recant, Calvin pleaded for a
milder form of punishment. And later still, Calvin also pleaded with Servetus
in his death cell to get right with God and accept the Divine Christ as his
Lord and Master!
“Rarely
in the annals of history has so much evangelical concern ever been shown to
such a monstrous miscreant, as Calvin showed to Michael Servetus, enemy of
Christ and Christianity and of public law and order! Even during that highly
intolerant age, the gentle Calvin tenderly yet firmly presented Christ and His
salvation to the very man who had sought to destroy him!” – Francis Nigel Lee, John
Calvin True Presbyterian, Jesus Lives Series, pp. 17-18.
Gerald Christian Nordskog made the very observant
connection between Calvin visiting Servetus in jail and Dr Lee (just quoted
above) visiting his father’s murderer in jail! Says Gerald,
“As
our dear brother Francis Nigel Lee was so compassionate and loving to his
dad’s murderer, leading the man to Christ while he was in jail....... he obviously
was touched by this Calvin pursuing the evil man even in jail. Dr. Lee had
the same characteristics in this regard as the great theologian of Calvin's
Institutes.” (In an email to me.)
(See
Gerald Christian Nordskog’s Christian Books Website at Nordskog Publishing
Inc.: https://www.nordskogpublishing.com/
(See
Dr. Lee’s Brothers Because of Bloodshed at:
http://www.dr-fnlee.org/brothers-because-of-bloodshed/
And
Dr. Lee’s The Sovereignty of God in the
Salvation of my Father’s Slayer at: http://www.dr-fnlee.org/the-sovereignty-of-god-in-the-salvation-of-my-fathers-slayer/
So, far from being the
flaming-torch wielding burner of heretics as portrayed by Calvin-haters and the
ignorant, Calvin was instead a lover of all God’s image-bearers, including
those who vehemently disagreed with him such as Servetus, and evangelically and
compassionately sought their humane treatment and, if not more, just as
importantly, their salvation.
Allen
Guelzo says in a review of Alister E. McGrath’s A Life of John Calvin: A
Study of the Shaping of Western Culture,
“There is no sense in which McGrath’s
Calvin could be mistaken for a Geneva Jim Jones: Calvin had little personal
authority with the city council and no legal political standing or following
(as a foreigner, he had no vote or voice in Genevan politics), and could rely
only on the persuasiveness of his own ideas and preaching to carry his reforms
forward. In making these points, McGrath clearly throws the notorious arrest
and execution of Michael Servetus into the lap of Geneva’s secular leadership
at a time when that leadership was hardly more sympathetic to Calvin than it
was to Servetus; and he rightly stresses (as other biographers have not) that
Servetus’ execution was due as much to his anarchical Anabaptism as to
disagreements with Calvin on the Trinity.” (A Life of John Calvin: A Study
of the Shaping of Western Culture by Alister E. McGrath, Oxford: Basil
Blackwell, 1990) Reviewed by Allen Guelzo. See:
Says
Professor Roy Clouser,
“Re
the execution of Servetus: Since Calvin is often accused of ordering Servetus
be burned at the stake, I think it apropos to mention that it is one of the
many lies about the Reformers that has been repeated over & over.
“First,
it is important to note that Calvin never held a political office in Geneva.
Indeed, as a foreign national and not a Swiss citizen, he was not even eligible
for office. Geneva was ruled by a town Council, which hired Calvin to perform
certain duties. One of these was to interview Servetus after he’d been asked to
leave Geneva & refused. I have read (a translation of) the letter that
Calvin wrote to the Council following the interview. In it he confirms that
Servetus is a heretic, but recommends that ‘the sentence not be carried out’. I
also found the letter he wrote to the Council after it condemned Servetus to be
burned. In it Calvin said that if they insisted on executing Servetus it should
not be by burning ‘which is a cruel and inhumane method of execution’. The
council again ignored Calvin.
“BTW,
I’ve also read accusations about how Calvin was supposed to have used state
power to enforce church attendance. The fact is, however, that he opposed the
political party that wanted to make the church of Geneva (in which he was a
pastor) the state church. When that party was elected anyway, Calvin left
Geneva for 6 years in protest and returned only after it was voted out. He
regarded such a law was an intolerable intrusion of the state into matters that
belonged properly to the church.
“There
is a fine recent book on the Reformation that I’ve found helpful titled ‘The
Reformation World’, Ed Pettegree London: Routledge, 2000). (The letters were
contained in a multi-volume set titled ‘Calvin’s Correspondence’ which I found
in the library of Princeton Theological Seminary.)” Letter (10 Oct 2003) from
Prof Roy Clouser on ‘Thinknet’ Dooyeweerdian discussion forum.
In a day when there is so much “Fake News” being bandied
around, it is a good and honourable thing to seek the truth of the matter
rather than lazily listening to the haters. Always remember that Satan is the
father of lies and that Jesus Christ is the Truth. Honour Him!
(Photo of two unashamed Calvinists)
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