Institutes Book Four: Of the Holy Catholic Church

[Papa Smurf]

Excerpt for discussion: Calvin's view of necessity of the visible church. Institutes, Book 4/Part 1/Section 4a.

4. As it is now our purpose to discourse of the visible Church, let us learn, from her single title of Mother, how useful, nay, how necessary the knowledge of her is, since there is no other means of entering into life unless she conceive us in the womb and give us birth, unless she nourish us at her breasts, and, in short, keep us under her charge and government, until, divested of mortal flesh, we become like the angels, (Matthew 22:30) For our weakness does not permit us to leave the school until we have spent our whole lives as scholars. Moreover, beyond the pale of the Church no forgiveness of sins, no salvation, can be hoped for, as Isaiah and Joel testify, (Isaiah 37:32; Joel 2:32)​

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~Calvin, J., & Beveridge, H. (1845). Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4/1/4​

Thoughts?

--Papa Smurf
p.s. - for clarity's sake, by "Holy Catholic Church", Calvin is ~not~ referring to the Roman Catholic Church.

 

[donadams]

Then why did he reject Christ and his church and start a new one?

 

[Arial]

Then why did he reject Christ and his church and start a new one?

This is not the Catholicism board, so can you address the post without making it about Catholic dogma?

 

[Papa Smurf]

Then why did he reject Christ and his church and start a new one?

Hello again Don, the Reformers rejected neither Christ, nor His church (if they rejected anything it was the Roman Catholic Church which is ~NOT~ "the" church, though I believe that some of its members are part of "the" church).

Now, as someone who also believes that the RCC has become, at best, heretical in many of its beliefs (since 1960), I find it interesting that you do not recognize the connection that you have to the Reformers, and for that matter, to the EOC, as well.

The start of the Reformation is officially dated as October 31, 1517 AD. However, like the EOC in 1054 AD, that's hardly the moment that the problems began and the RCC started to head south. Rather, according to Luther, the news was already pretty bad by the early 1200's (I read something of his once where he mentioned that the Reformation would not have been necessary/would never have happened if the RCC had remained the church that it had been prior to 1200 AD).

God bless you!!

--David (Papa Smurf)