Download File 34. >> I didn`t know that Calvin spent considerable time in

File 34.
>> I didn't know that Calvin spent considerable time in
Strasbourg. We normally only hear of Calvin in Geneva. Did
Calvin meet with the same kind of hostility in Strasbourg?
>> As a matter of fact, no, he did not. Calvin was there for
about three years, 1538 to 1541, and generally these were very
good years for him. Very productive and relatively peaceful.
I mean, for one thing, he was not the principal reformer of
Strasbourg at all. That role fell basically to Martin Butzer.
And Strasbourg had already been Protestant for some years prior
to Calvin's arrival. In the mid-1520s, it had embraced the
Reformation, and I think as we've already mentioned,
Strasbourg, under Butzer's influence, had embraced the Augsburg
Confession, and Butzer had signed the Wittenberg Concord. So
by the time Calvin gets there, it's really a
Lutheran -- Lutheran city. It's an imperial city that has now
become a part of the Lutheran Reformation. Butzer was an
accommodating sort who tried to find some middle ground between
the Swiss and the Lutherans. Strasbourg was open to refugees
from other parts of the world, and some French Protestants had
actually found refuge in Strasbourg, and Calvin was, in effect,
hired by Butzer to be the pastor of the French refugee church.
While in Strasbourg, Calvin experienced firsthand what a
truly reformed city might look like, and he had opportunity to
learn from one of the leaders of the first generation of the
Reformation, Martin Butzer.
While there, Calvin not only pastored the church, but had an
opportunity to return to some of his studies. He was able to
produce a second edition of "The Institutes of the Christian
Religion." He also began to write Biblical commentaries. One
of the important contributions that Calvin made to 16th century
Protestantism was in the form of Biblical commentaries, and the
first of those was his commentary on Romans, and he prepared
that while he was at Strasbourg.
These were years, too, in which Butzer was involved with
religious policy within the Holy Roman Empire, and there were
some meetings of theologians that took place in these years,
and Calvin had an opportunity to go with Butzer and to
participate in some of these meetings, and it was at one of these
that he met Philip Melanchthon, for example, and the two became
friends and maintained a correspondence over the years later
in the Reformation. So, as I say, these were good years for
Calvin.
And, oh, yes. I should mention that -- on a personal note,
that Calvin also would have said these were good years because
it was while he was in Strasbourg that he got married. He
married Idelette de Bure, who was the widow of a man. She had
a couple of children, and Calvin decided to marry her. The
marriage was a good one, and Calvin always spoke positively
about marriage. It was not a long marriage. Mrs. Calvin died
in 1549, and Calvin never remarried thereafter. But,
nonetheless, I think it's important to note that John Calvin
had kind of a normal family life and that began for him here
in Strasbourg.
Now, there's one other point that I should mention about these
years in Strasbourg, and that is, not too long after he had
arrived, he had occasion to do something on behalf of Geneva.
Now, that may sound a little surprising, but it is the case.
What happened was this: Shortly after Calvin and Farel had been
driven out of Geneva, the Catholics decided to take steps toward
perhaps winning Geneva back to the old faith, and one of the
leaders of the Catholic church, actually in the area, one
Cardinal Sadoleto, basically a reform-minded Catholic
cardinal -- that is, he knew there were problems in the church
and was willing to fix them up, although he wanted to remain
faithful to Rome -- actually sent a letter to the people of
Geneva in which he argued that they ought to come back to the
true church; that it was a matter of salvation to be a part of
the true church and although even though that church had some
problems, nonetheless, their salvation would be secure if they,
once again, entered into communion with the church of Rome.
Well, the city government of Geneva was concerned that this
letter might have an impact upon the people of Geneva, and so
they looked around for someone who could write in defense of
their reformation. Now, they tried a few people who turned them
down, until at length one of those who turned them down said,
"The only man for this job is John Calvin."
And so they approached Calvin to write this letter, and Calvin
agreed. He agreed to defend the Reformation in response to
Cardinal Sadoleto. And this reply of his to Cardinal Sadoleto
is well-regarded as one of Calvin's nicest, best expressions
of the evangelical faith in which he argues, yes, it is correct
that we need to be a part of the true church, but how do you
identify the true church? Well, you don't identify it by an
external organization or hierarchy; you identify it by whether
it has the word of God or not. You want the church that is
faithful to the word of God. That's Calvin's basic argument
here, that the church is defined by the word of God.
At any rate, the letter was published, the Genevans liked it,
and so Calvin's relations with the city of Geneva improved, in
spite of the fact that he was now pastoring a church in
Strasbourg.