The Will of God
Moral and Political Guidance from Calvin’s Commentaries on the Mosaic Law
Alex Soto
the will of God
Moral and Political Guidance from Calvin’s Commentaries on the Mosaic Law
Copyright © 2012 Alex Soto. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
To the memory of Bill Winter,
whose delight in the Law of his Lord always encouraged me
It is an inestimable benefit when God shows us His will.
—Calvin, Sermon on Deuteronomy 28:1–2
Acknowledgments
My special thanks to those who helped make this book possible: Ann-Marie Hines, Ernie Monroe, Seth Nelson, Jim Pelletier, Peter Stazen, Jeff Van Every, and Suzanne Winter; to two families who kept me alive to write this book: The Hines family (I’ll never go hungry with them around) and the Szeneri family (who has helped me in too many ways to try to list); to my good friend, Jan Szeneri—the poor soul God has designated my sounding board, and who lent me Calvin’s commentaries on Moses since the U.S. Postal Service lost my set (sorry I had them so long); to John Calvin, an underappreciated ethicist; to mom, who has been telling me about Jesus as long as I can remember; and to my Lord, who supplied me with the above people, the desire to learn, and indeed, the very graces in Christ Jesus.
Introduction
Like the apostle Paul, who always attaches a “therefore” to his doctrines, John Calvin believed in an applicable theology, an ethical theology. As the resolute herald of sola Scriptura, he supplied his ethic with the norms of God’s Word, including those norms given through Moses’ hand; indeed, “Biblical law served the basis of Calvin’s ethics.”1 So adamant was he that the Law is integral to morality, he wrote, “any zeal for good works that wanders outside God’s law is an intolerable profanation of divine and true righteousness.”2
With this moral system, Calvin and his followers conquered their worlds. The moral details of Mosaic revelation gave them a great edge over their rivals, propelling them into the lead of their cultures. While others remained in dark confusion, Calvinists followed a clear route, lit by script that boasts itself a lamp unto feet and a light unto paths. And since godliness holds promise for this life (Deut 28:1–2; 1 Tim 4:8), Calvin’s Law-ethic brought with it great prosperity. “To urge us in every way,” he would so often teach, “[God] promises both blessings in the present life and everlasting blessedness to those who obediently keep his commandments.”3 Wherever his influence spread, therefore, industry and education increased, idolatry decreased, ecclesiastical and political governments were well-ordered, and freedom abounded. One historian writes: “The principles which underlay Calvin’s theological and ecclesiastical system have been a powerful factor in the growth of civil liberty.”4 In fact, opposing arbitrary kingly power and deposing political tyrants have conspicuously marked the followers of Calvin’s ethic.5 The Encyclopedia Britannica sums it up well: “The Calvinist form of Protestantism is widely thought to have had a major impact on the formation of the modern world.”6
Modern American Christendom, though, in throwing out the Mosaic Law, undoes what the followers of Calvin have accomplished. It should come as no surprise that in a day when a popular theologian teaches “the Mosaic Law ended with the first advent of Christ,”7 a major magazine reports that “Christians are now making up a declining percentage of the American population.”8 Christianity’s lack of influence on this country correlates with the lack of influence of the Law of Moses on Christianity.
The present volume, summarizing Calvin’s commentaries on the Law of Moses, intends to reverse this trend. Understanding the will of the Lord, especially the detailed Mosaic portion,9 is prerequisite to making the nations Christ’s disciples. For as Christ makes teaching his commandments essential to this discipleship (Matt 28:20), Paul believed Christ’s commandments included Mosaic instructions. So though his apostle could pull rank to settle moral questions (see 1 Cor 7:12; 14:37), he also had the option to simply declare “it is written in the law of Moses” (1 Cor 9:9). This volume, then, though a summary of Calvin’s interpretation of Moses, also follows Paul as Paul followed Christ.
Structure of This Book
Calvin skillfully systematized his commentaries on Exodus through Deuteronomy.10 He begins with the first chapter of Exodus, with Israel in Egypt. He continues like any ordinary commentary, moving successively by chapter and verse, covering Israel’s history until they arrive at Mount Sinai. From there he stops the historical exposition and begins a systematic teaching on the Ten Commandments, rounding up all Mosaic laws under their respective Decalogical commandments, and then expounds each law.
This book summarizes Calvin’s systematic exposition of the laws of Moses. One of its aims is to give Christians a rapid education in ethics. Whereas Calvin’s exposition covers over eight hundred pages, this summary covers only a few hundred. Its bullet-point format further expedites the education; concise information takes priority over rhetorical flourish.
Each chapter deals with one of the Ten Commandments, and typically covers:
(1) General Principle.11 Each of the Ten Commandments teaches a general principle, but each conveys the principle by synecdoche; that is, the law specified is a part standing for a whole class of laws. For example, the sixth commandment reads “You shall not murder,” but the general principle is, “We must not vex, oppress, or hate anyone.” “You shall not murder” is a particular law standing for a whole class of laws forbidding vexations, oppressions, and hatred. Explaining why God might have chosen to present the Decalogue this way, Calvin writes:
God has set forth by way of example the most frightful and wicked element in every kind of transgression, at the hearing of which our senses might shudder, in order that he might imprint upon our minds a greater detestation of every sort of sin. . . . For example, when called by their own names, we do not consider anger and hatred as things to be cursed. Yet when they are forbidden under the name “murder,” we better understand how abominable they are in the sight of God, by whose Word they are