In seeking to re-evangelise Europe, the Reformers made powerful use of the latest technology at their disposal, namely, the printing press.
By Calvin’s death in 1564, his interest in Christian publishing meant that there were no less than 34 printing-houses in Geneva, which printed Bibles and Christian literature in a variety of European languages. In the 1550s particularly, Geneva was a hive of biblical editions and translations.
There was, for example: Robert Estienne’s Greek New Testament of 1551 which divided the text into verses for the first time; a new edition of the Vulgate; an Italian translation and Spanish translation in 1555 and 1556 respectively; at least 22 editions of the French Bible. And in 1560 a complete English translation of the Bible was printed sometime between April 10 and May 30 of that year. This was the Geneva Bible, the bedrock of early English Puritanism.
Evangelism through rulers
There is one means that Calvin expected God to use in the spread of the gospel that we today in the West probably do not expect, that is, evangelism through Christian rulers and magistrates. For example, when Elizabeth I (1533–1603) came to the throne of England in 1558, Calvin saw it as a hopeful sign for the advance of the gospel in England.
Over the years he also corresponded extensively with a number of French noblewomen, especially Jeanne d’Albret (1528–1572), queen of Navarre. This French noblewoman played a significant role in the French Reformation, and Calvin recognised his need of her support, and that of other nobility, if new territories were to be opened up to the spread of the evangelical faith.
Motivations
Then what, according to Calvin, was to motivate the believer in bearing witness to the faith? First and foremost was the glory of God. As Calvin stated in his sermon on Deuteronomy 33.18-19: ‘When we know God to be our Father, should we not desire that he be known as such by all? And if we do not have this passion, that all creatures do him homage, is it not a sign that his glory means little to us?’
In other words, if we are truly passionate about God’s glory, this passion will result in witness. The Christian life, in all of its apostolic fullness, is marked by self-denial, the recognition that the Christian does not belong to himself or herself, but belongs totally to God and is to live for God’s glory. In Calvin’s words: ‘Even though the law of the Lord provides the finest and best-disposed method of ordering a man’s life, it seemed good to the Heavenly Teacher to shape his people by an even more explicit plan to that rule which he had set forth in the law. Here [in Romans 12], then, is the beginning of this plan: the duty of believers is “to present their bodies to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to him”… we are consecrated and dedicated to God in order that we may hereafter think, speak, meditate, and do, nothing except to his glory.’
Pleasing God
Moreover, bearing witness to the faith is pleasing to God. Consider in this regard Calvin’s letter to a Christian landowner on the island of Jersey that was written around the year 1553.
‘We praise God for having inclined your heart to try if it will be possible to erect, by your means, a small church on the place where you reside. And indeed, according as the agents of the Devil strive by every act of violence to abolish the true religion, extinguish the doctrine of salvation, and exterminate the name of Jesus Christ, it is very just that we should labour on our side to further the progress of the gospel, that, by these means, God may be served in purity, and the poor wandering sheep may be put under the protection of the sovereign Pastor to whom everyone should be subject. And you know that it is a sacrifice well pleasing to God, to advance the spread of the gospel by which we are enlightened in the way of salvation, to dedicate our life to the honour of him who has ransomed us at so costly a price in order to bear rule in the midst of us.’
Commanded to bear witness
Then, we are to evangelise because we have been commanded to do so by Christ. Compassion for the lost condition of people also should drive Christians to witness. ‘If we have any humanity in us’, he declared in a sermon on Deuteronomy 33, ‘seeing men going to perdition, … ought we not be moved by pity, to rescue the poor souls from hell, and teach them the way of salvation?’ In fact, a Christian who is not involved in witness is really a contradiction in terms. As Calvin remarks in his commentary on Isaiah 2.3: ‘… the godly will be filled with such an ardent desire to spread the doctrines of religion, that everyone not satisfied with his own calling and his personal knowledge will desire to draw others along with him. And indeed nothing could be more inconsistent with the nature of faith than that deadness which would lead a man to disregard his brethren, and to keep the light of knowledge choked up within his own breast.
