Outward sign

Calvin defines the sacraments as "outward signs". One of the most striking things about the Supper, however, is that the bread and the wine very obviously go "inward"!

Visible "Word"

If we are going to say that the sacraments are Visible "Words" we will want to think long and hard about what words are.

An outward and visible sign

James Philip called death the sacrament of sin.

Sacramental World

Revd Douglas Wilson writes:

There are two sacraments, true, but there is only one sacramental. The world is a sacramental, and everything in it. Grace is everywhere, and gets into everything. Faith can dig it out of anything. The grandeur of God can flame out from anything, like shining from shook foil.

If understood, this results in mediated grace for everyone who is responding to God in true faith. God does grants immediate grace in various ways, true. When He converts a soul, when He visits someone with direct blessing, when He receives our worship, the grace can be immediate. But this immediate grace is supposed to be a radiant grace, spreading out through everything else, affecting everything else, causing everything else to become a mirror that reflects the glory of God.

The purpose (of word) and sacrament

It seems to me that Calvin's description of the purpose of the sacraments could pretty much be applied to the purpose of the Bible too.

Calvin strikingly asserts that of the ordinary sacraments of the Old Testament that these “ancient sacraments looked to the same purpose to which ours now tend: to direct and almost lead men by the hand to Christ, or rather, as images, to represent him and show him forth to be known. We have already taught that they are seals by which God’s promises are sealed, and, moreover, it is very clear that no promise has ever been offered to men except in Christ [2 Cor 1:20]. Consequently, to teach us any promise of God, they must show forth Christ.” He adds that the only difference between the sacraments of the Old and New Testament is that “the former foreshadowed Christ promised while he was as yet awaited; the latter attest him as already given and revealed.” (Institutes 4.14.20)

Now, I fully admit that there is a danger of theological confusion here. We often tend to describe the sacraments in contrast to the Word, and some of that may be going on here. You could say that the Scriptures are the promises of God and that the sacraments seal them. But I think you could equally say the scriptures present (and seal?) the promises of God, could you not?

That the sacraments are images need not trouble us too much since words are symbols or signs too.

Sacramental Objectivism

In the Institutes, Calvin classifies the sacraments as among “the external means or aids by which God invites us into the society of Christ and holds is therein” - the title of book 4. This could fit with an objective account of what the sacraments do and achieve. Like the preaching of the gospel, God really uses the, to invite us into the church and hold us therein.

Sermon & Supper

Note to self: it might be worth thinking about the relationship between Word and Sacrament in a Brethren context. Malcolm Maclean describes the Christian Brethren Assembly he belonged to where the Breaking of Bread Communion Service was held weekly, "was not led by a clergyman, and did not involve a sermon (although there were several devotional comments made on biblical passages by a number of individuals)."

The Lord's Supper (Mentor, 2009) p9

I guess the Brethren don't have a formal liturgy either? Do you happen to know what happens? Does 1 Corinthians 11 get read every week?

Parker on Calvin on Sacraments

From T H L Parker, John Calvin (1975):

The sole office of the sacraments is to turn our eyes to beholding God’s promises; that is, they make the Word perceptible to other senses than the ears. (p50)

Calvin’s theology is, from this first statement of it throughout his life, a theology of the sacrament. God will not encounter man directly but by means of that which is already a human term of reference, the human means of communication and visible symbols. (p50)

Infants ought to be baptized. We should not be so sure that they have no faith. It is clear from Mark 10:13ff. that the Lord calls some from among them to be heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Why then can he not give some foretaste of his blessing? Why can they not see him in a glass darkly? It is arrogant to say that they have no faith. They have a right to baptism, for they have a common faith with adults. (p50-51)

A flavour of Nevin on anti-sacramental rationalism

I’ve been reading Mathison’s account of Nevin’s attacks on what Nevin calls “the modern Puritan theory of the sacraments” (which he associates with Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Hopkins, Joseph Bellamy, Timothy Dwight), in contrast to the traditional Reformed Doctrine. Nevin links this new view to the rationalistic sacramental views of the Socinains, the Arminians and the German rationalists. I’m not quite sure what all this is on about, to be honest, but I thought it rang bells!

Nevin argues the rationalistic tendency has worked itself out in sectarianism and schism. There may be religious pretention, an emphasis on the personal and experimental, the spiritual, excitement and action. It may be fanatical and wild in opposing outward forms and the existing order of the church. Rationalism is subjective, opposed to the idea of the Church and the authority of history exalting independent private judgement. The objective is rejected in favour of the supposedly inward. Ritual and forms are despised for the sake of spirit. The sacraments are mere outward rites. Their necessity is not clear. The soul is abstracted from the body. There is a defection from the doctrine of the Reformation.

See Nevin, Mystical Presence, esp. ch 2, pp107 ish – 153 and Mathison, Given for You, pp143-145

Clearest Promises

Its amazing to us, is it not, that Calvin could say that "the sacraments bring the clearest promises" of God? He adds that "they have this characteristic over and above the word because they represent them for us as painted in a picture from life." (Institutes, 4.14.5). We are so used to thinking of the sacraments as controversial, difficult, obscure and unclear. No doubt there is much that is mysterious about the sacraments. It would be a brave person who claimed to understand them at their full depth. Nevertheless, there is much that is wonderfully simple, clear, personal and vivid about the sacraments: Jesus gives us a wash and feeds us. Praise Him!

Just getting wet?

Some evangelicals sometimes speak of baptism as if it were just getting wet.

Calvin would not have agreed.

In the Catechism of the Church of Geneva (1545) we read:

Minister: But do you attribute nothing more to the water than to a mere symbol of ablution?

Child: I think it to be such a symbol that reality is attached to it. For God does not disappoint us when he promises us his gifts. Hence both pardon and newness of life are certainly offered to us and received by us in Baptism.

Strong stuff! I imagine Calvin would not be allowed to explain baptism in many of our churches!

All symbolic, not all instrumental

Calvin gives us an important principle that we can use when considering the oft-made claim that everything is somehow 'sacramental'.

Calvin distinguishes a broader category of things or actions that are symbolic (e.g. some annointings with oil, such as of the sick) from a narrower subset which are also instrumental. Sacraments proper belong in the instrumental category.

For example, everything is symbolic: it carries the marks of its creator. Everything speaks to us of God. But the Bible is the instrument in or by which God has promised to speak in a special sense.

All bread is symbolic of daily nourishment, of human work blessed and so on. But it is the sacramental bread of the Lord's Supper that speaks to us of the death of Christ and much more, spiritually communicates Christ to us as an instrument to which God has attached his promise of the work of the Spirit when we receive it by faith.

See further Institutio 1536 V.46, CO 1:178B; Inst 1536:159 cited in Zachman Image and Word p319

Regulative Principles in Practice

Zachman comments that “… in the third edition of the Institutes of 1543, Calvin completely changes his position in the symbol of the laying on of hands.” (Image and Word etc. p315) Previously Calvin had rejected the practice since it not (explicitly) commanded in the New Testament but he later advocated it since the uniform custom of the Apostles means it is effectively commanded.

Cavin on Image and Word

From Zachman's Conclusion:

Far from replacing images with words, Calvin combines image and word in all aspects of our lives with God and with others. We must hear the Word of God if we are rightly to behold the symbols in which the invisible God becomes somewhat visible; but we must also behold with our eyes the goodness of God that the Word declares to us, so that the truth of that Word might be confirmed for us. Calvin will accentuate the visibility of divine self-revelation by describing the Word of God itself as a living image of God, in which the hidden thoughts of God might be beheld, even as human thoughts are represented in the language we use. When Calvin encounters a symbol in Scripture to which no Word of God is attached, such as the sacrifices of the patriarchs, or burial rites, or the exodus itself, he will nonetheless uphold the meaning and necessity of these symbols, which the godly are to consider and contemplate.

Calvin’s concern to see the self-revelation of God in terms of the combination of the Word of God that we hear and the living images of God that we behold places him squarely within the broarder catholic tradition from the time of the orthodox theologians of the early Church to his own day. Calvin combines proclamation and manifestation in an exemplary way…. Calvin also holds together the revelation of God in the truth of the Word with the manifestation of the goodness of God in the beauty of God’s works, in a way that anticipates Hans Urs von Balthasar’s attempt to do the same in our own day. We are led to union with the fountain of every good thing in God only when we hold together the proclamation of that goodness in the Word of God with the manifestation of that goodness in the beauty of the living images of God.

We have also seen that an unresolvable tension lies at the heart of Calvin’s discussion of the living images of God. Calvin insists that the symbols instituted by God truly offer and present the reality they represent, and therefore are instruments God uses to descend to us. However, he also claims that the reality being represented in these symbols must be sought in heaven, and encourages the godly to use divine symbols as ladders and vehicles by which they might ascend to God. Calvin creates this tension in order to keep the godly from confining God to the symbols of divine self-manifestation, so that we might be led from the image that we see to the God whom we do not yet see. This tension is compounded by the various reasons Calvin gives for the rejection of images of human institution in the worship of God. On the one hand, Calvin contrasts the “dead images” that humans create, which are only the image of absent things, with the “living images” instituted by God, which truly present the reality they represent. On the other hand, Calvin rejects the use of images in worship on the basis of the invisible nature of God, which cannot be represented in any symbol or image. He can at times so insist on the essential invisibility of God that he appears to undermine his whole understanding of divine self-manifestation in symbols and living images. Again, he creates this tension in order to maintain the dialectical relationship between the visibility and invisibility of God, and the presence and absence of God, which he thinks is maintained by images of divine creation but not by images of human divising. This tension is meant to lead us from the vision of God in a mirror, enigmatically, to the beholding of God face-to-face so that we never rest contented with the present state of our vision but press on to the clear vision we shall enjoy on the Last Day.

Let each of us awaken himself from his lethargy, that we may now be satisfied with spiritual felicity until God, in due time, bring us to his own immediate presence, and cause us to enjoy him face to face (Comm on Ps 17:15)

(Image and Word etc. p437-440)

The Forgotten Calvin

More Zachman:

The laying on of hands, which Calvin causticly dismissed in 1536 as Rome’s “aping” of the apostles, is described as a sacrament with regard to ordination, and a useful rite with regard to confirmation, by the third edition of the Institutes in 1543. The gestures of prayer, such as the uplifting of hands and eyes and the bending of the knee, are increasingly seen as both expressing and stimulating piety in ourselves and others. Calvin even recognizes the legitimacy of the pious use of the cross, though he thought that too much superstition was attached to it to restore in in his day. [see Calvin’s Ecclesiastical Advice trans. Beaty & Farley, John Knox Press, 1991, p74] His willingness to adopt and endorse sacraments and rites he initially rejected has not been fully appreciated, and can serve as an important resource for ecumenical understanding. (Image and Word in the Theology of John Calvin, p438)

Sacraments in the Law

Here's another slice of Zachman on Calvin:

The covenant with Abraham, and the renewal of that covenant in the Law of Moses, is confirmed by many visible signs and symbols, which confirm the faithful in the divine origin and truth of the covenant, especially in times of trial. Calvin understood some of these forms of visual confirmation, such as visions and miracles, in an explicitly sacramental way, though all forms exhibit the mutal relation of sign and word that Clavin takes to be essential to any living icon of God. The word is the soul animating the visual representation, even as the visual representation gives force, clarity and vividness to the word. Both image and word confirm that the Law is indeed the self-manifestation of God to the Israelites. However, the Law also contains within itself images, symbols and types of the Christ who is yet to come. (p163)

Image and Word in the Theology of John Calvin

Sacramental Words and World

I'm frequently coming across things that might just be relevant to the great thesis. Today someone kindly suggested the work of David Brown (Professor at St Andrews) that is up for the Archbishop's book prize.

If I had a great theological library on my doorstep, I'd be having a good look in:

God and Mystery in Words: Experience through Metaphor and Drama (Oxford University Press, 2008)

First Sentence: “ONE way of characterizing what I am trying to achieve in this part of the book is as an exploration of how language can sometimes be said to function sacramentally, in conveying experiences of divine presence.”

God and Grace of Body: Sacrament in Ordinary (Oxford University Press, 2007)

Sacramental Universe

Randall C. Zachman writes:

This metaphor [of the heavens preaching from Ps 19] recalls Calvin’s fondness for Augustine’s dictum that the sacraments are “visible words” of God, and indicates his willingness to extend this sacramental way of speaking to the self-disclosure of God in the universe. Calvin reinforces the theme of visible words in his interpretation of the fourth verse, in which he uses the metaphor of the orations of a teacher. He then combines this similitude of teaching and preaching with the metaphor of a written volume set forth for us to read.

Image and Word in the Theology of John Calvin (Notre Dame University Press, 2007) p37

This view of the "book" of the universe as sacramental might be strengthened if one were willing to think of God's other book, the Scriptures, as specially sacramental.

Calvin on Sacramental Knowledge of God

From Randall C. Zachman:

“Dawn de Vries concurs with this description, stating that the Word itself is sacramental – that is, the means of grace – for Calvin, making the Word “the primary means of grace.” Jesus Christ in the Preaching of Calvin and Schleirmacher (Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 1996) p15 (p5)

“T. H. L. Parker has argued that “Calvin’s theology is, … throughout his life, a theology of the Sacraments. God will not encounter man directly but by means of that which is already a human term of reference, the human means of communication and visible symbols.” (p6) John Calvin: A Biography (Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1975), p42

Parker says: “Revelation is indirect, as we have said; knowledge is always by way of the sacramental form of revelation. We know God in His Word and in His works, because they are the image of God, mirroring his effigies, His portrait.” Calvin’s Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1959) p116 (p6)

“… Calvin’s understanding of living icons and symbols… extends Augustine’s understanding of sacraments as “visible words” to all forms of divine self-manifestation, from the universe itself to the symbols and visions given the fathers under the Law to the symbols and visions of the Gospel.” (p14)

“Roman Catholic theologians, such as David Tracy and Hans Urs von Balthasar, have contrasted Catholic and Protestant forms of thought by saying that the former emphasizes manifestation and a sacramental way of thinking, whereas the latter emphasizes proclamation and a verbally oriented way of thinking. This study shows that Calvin thinks in terms of the essential interrelationship of manifestation and proclamation, which may provide interesting bridges between the Protestant and Catholic Churches, without ignoring the major differences between them. Calvin may (p21) not agree with Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox theologians about how many “living images of God” there may be, but it is nonetheless significant that he urges his readers to contemplate the living images of God as an essential part of their piety. Calvin always claimed that his theology was both evangelical and orthodox, and it is my hope that by highlighting the sacramental character of the entirety of Calvin’s theology, Calvin may be able to claim his place as a member of the broarder catholic tradition.” (p22)

Zachman, Randall C., Image and Word in the Theology of John Calvin (Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2007)

Jesus preached at the Last Supper

In thinking about the relationship between word and sacrament, it is a new thought to me that it might be argued on the basis of the Johannine farewell discourses that Jesus "preached" at the Last Supper.

G. W. Bromiley provoked this idea:

As in the case of baptism, it is thought necessary that Holy Communion should be brought into direct relationship with the word. The sacrament as a visible word needs the audible word to declare its meaning and make explicit its summons. Thus the service of Communion will include not merely a reading of the account of the original institution, but also other Scriptures, exhortation, and preaching [footnote: Cf. the Johannine discourses at the institution]. The inveterate tendency in some churches to divorce the sacrament from the word, or at least from the living word in the form of preaching and translated Scripture, is an obvious indication that the real meaning, purpose, and power of the sacrament are not yet perceived.

Sacramental Teaching and Practice in the Reformation Churches (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1957) p77