Calvin's theology of the Holy Spirit

‘The theologian of the Holy Spirit’ is how B.B. Warfield described John Calvin, whose birth in 1509 we celebrate this year. With Calvin, pneumatology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit) came of age, being founded squarely on the Bible.

Every age needs a good theology of the Holy Spirit, perhaps especially ours where, on one side, it is often limited to miraculous power and gifts and, on the other, to the illumination (understanding) of biblical truth and not a lot more. The activity of the Holy Spirit is far richer and broader than that and a healthy theology (and Christian life) will recognise it.

The Trinity

‘I cannot think of the one without quickly being encircled by the splendour of the three; nor can I discern the three without being straightway carried back to the one.’

Words which Calvin quotes from Gregory of Nazianzus and which ‘vastly delighted’ him, they capture the heart and soul of his theological approach, which is Trinitarian through and through. The very structure of his magnum opus, The Institutes of the Christian Religion (completed 1556), is Trinitarian.

Calvin finds the doctrine of the Trinity in the very first chapter of the Bible — in the Spirit hovering over the waters and in the words, ‘Let us make…’ (Genesis 1.26). In the Old Testament overall the doctrine is faintly, but definitely, revealed; in the New, it shines as bright as the noonday sun.

Trinity is of the very essence of divinity for Calvin. It distinguishes God from all false gods. ‘Unless we grasp these [three persons in God], only the bare and empty name of God flits about in our brains, to the exclusion of the true God.’ When we think of God (or speak or pray), we must think of the triune God.

Moreover, the doctrine of the Trinity is no abstract, lifeless orthodoxy. It is charged with the life-renewing power of God. ‘There, indeed, does the pious mind perceive the very presence of God, and almost touches him, when it feels itself quickened, illumined, preserved, justified, and sanctified.’ So real is the presence that the believer almost touches God!

In this divine family, the Holy Spirit is in no way inferior to the Father or the Son. Of course, like the Father and the Son, he has a distinctive role to play in the Trinitarian team so there is both equality and individuality.

‘To the Father is attributed the beginning of activity, and the fountain and wellspring of all things; to the Son, wisdom, counsel and the ordered disposition of all things; but to the Spirit is assigned the power and efficacy of that activity.’

The Spirit works at the point of actualisation of every divine action; he spearheads divine activities. ‘The Lord does all things by his Spirit.’

Calvin’s theology, like the New Testament itself, is Trinitarian — full of the Father, Christ and the Spirit in all their equality, harmony and individuality.

Creation

‘It is the Spirit who, everywhere diffused, sustains all things, causes them to grow, and quickens them in heaven and earth... he transfuses into all things his energy and breathes into them essence, life, movement.’

The creation ‘theatre’ buzzes with activity and shines with the glory of God, not merely because of natural processes, but because of the ceaseless activity and grace of the Holy Spirit, the life-giver, within it. Naturally, the Holy Spirit participates in every divine activity, with the Father and the Son, including creation. To him is ‘assigned the power and efficacy’ of this activity. Whereas the Son is associated with the wisdom of God, the Spirit is associated with the power of God.

It is the omnipotence of the Spirit that holds in being the whole creation, not only sustaining but controlling the world he has made through ‘secret inspiration’. The triune God exercises total and intimate control over his creation — by the Spirit, the ‘hand of God’. Practically speaking, this is wonderful truth, for it offers ‘incredible freedom from worry’. If every hair of our head is counted and our fragile lives are in the hands of an all-powerful, living, loving God — what is there to worry about?!

‘General’ (or common) grace is part of the work of the Holy Spirit in the world around us. The truth, talents and morality found outside Christianity are to be credited to the grace of Holy Spirit. These are given ultimately for the good of God’s people, for providence is redemptive through and through. Let us thank God for every gift of his grace in the world!

The Bible

The Bible is by far the most powerful book in the world because it is the Holy Spirit’s book. He is its author, interpreter and authenticator. When the Holy Spirit opens our hearts and minds to the Scriptures, they become like a pair of ‘spectacles’, focusing our spiritual vision and enabling us to see clearly God, the world, ourselves, reality itself.

When Calvin deals with the business of interpreting the Bible, his approach is refreshingly straightforward. Basically, it boils down to two essentials: in Latin, ‘orare et laborare’; in English, ‘prayer and work’ (study). In the face of all the complexities of modern hermeneutical theories, the simplicity of this approach is really encouraging, improved only by Luther’s addition of tentatio (our experience of life’s trials and temptations).

Jesus Christ

Our Lord Jesus Christ himself was empowered by the Holy Spirit from the moment of his conception. He was a sinless human because he was uniquely sanctified ‘at source’ when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and conceived a holy son within her.

Christ’s mediatorial work as prophet, king and priest (Calvin’s order) was also fully performed in the power of the Holy Spirit. He was uniquely filled with the Spirit ‘without limit’ and yet it is the very same Spirit that he shares with us as we come to faith.

The Christian life

The very basis of Christian life is that we are united to Christ by faith, which Calvin calls ‘the principal work of the Spirit’. This allows all the good things of redemption, earned and achieved by Christ in the power of the Spirit, to flow over into our lives.

This Spirit-given faith is a wonderfully personal reality. Indeed Calvin can say, rather beautifully, that ‘faith embraces Jesus Christ’. It is the work (and the joy) of the Holy Spirit to bring us into intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Christian life as a whole runs on the energy of the Holy Spirit. Prayer, for example, is inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that we pray not only to God (the Father) but through God (the Son) and by God (the Spirit). We are not left on our own: ‘The Spirit helps us in our weakness’ (Romans 8.26). Prayer is not merely a duty required of us, it is a gift given to us — by the Holy Spirit. Moreover, it is, in the Spirit, an ‘intimate conversation’ with God.

There is no Christian life without the work of the Holy Spirit, who acts (as Francois Wendel pointed out) as a mediator between Christ and us just as Christ acts as mediator between God the Father and us.

The Church

When Calvin speaks of the church as the ‘Mother’ of believers, he is really referring to the nurturing grace of the Holy Spirit at work within the church. This includes the experience of Christian fellowship and love. Moreover, without his gifts, the church cannot function as the church.

While it pleases him to use external means in the church, if he does not use them they are like empty gloves — lifeless and useless. This includes the sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Whatever our position on baptism, we can appreciate the emphasis in Calvin on the sovereignty of the Spirit in saving grace. It is never too early for regeneration with God. As Calvin points out, John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit in the very womb of his mother. It is entirely possible for God to regenerate a child long before the age of understanding. So pray for new life for the children, however tiny they may be!

The Holy Spirit plays a vital and thrilling role in the event of the Lord’s Supper or Communion. While Christ is now in heaven at the right hand of God, nevertheless he is present by his Spirit universally. It is the Holy Spirit who by ‘miraculous uniting’ allows the believer to commune with Christ himself in the Supper. Calvin has an exciting view of this occasion! We are spiritually lifted up into heaven itself to be with, and to receive grace from, the exalted Christ. Indeed, this is the very experience of faith itself — which draws all its life and strength from the Redeemer. Anticipate the very grace of Christ at the Lord’s Supper.

Preaching, likewise, is a useless endeavour without the Holy Spirit. We must look to him to enlighten and convince both preacher and hearer. And when the Holy Spirit is involved, the preacher may become the very ‘mouthpiece of God’, as he declares the truth of God in the power of God. Pray for the preaching!

Far from the Holy Spirit being limited to merely the miraculous or the right understanding of the Bible, his work is as broad as the work of God itself and just as vital as that of the Father and the Son with whom he works in perfect teamwork. An appreciation of this fact not only enriches our understanding of God but fuels our faith with a greater sense of our potential in the Holy Spirit.

Dr. Oliver Rice,
pastor, Bow Baptist Church, East London