Reformation 500 WEEK 22 John calvin and strassburg
Calvin
arrived in the German city of Strasbourg in September, 1538, a few months after
he and Farel had been banished from Geneva. “Strasbourg was a crossroads
between France, Germany, Switzerland and the Low Countries. Various currents of
Reformation thought met there. German Lutherans stood side by side with French
Evangelicals, Anabaptists from the Low Countries and Zwinglians from
Switzerland. All the various doctrines mingled in a great stream of life and
activity under the peaceable direction of [Martin] Bucer [1491-1551]” (Cadier,
91-92).
Bucer
(17 years older than Calvin) had been won for the Reformation by Luther during
the great Leipzig Debate (1518), and he had witnessed first-hand the failure of
Luther and Zwingli to agree at the Marburg Colloquy (1529). “He tried to find a
middle ground between Luther and Zwingli in regard to the nature of the Lord’s
Supper” (Greg Singer, Dictionary of Christianity, 2:207).
While
in Strasbourg, Calvin “became pastor of the church of the French refugees,
followers of Luther in France who had fled to Strasbourg to escape persecution.
He also gave lectures in theology” (Kuiper, 196). He “published his first
commentary, that on the Epistle to the Romans,” which “shows clearly that
Calvin was, from the first, a prince of exegetes” (Cadier, 96). He also prepared
a greatly enlarged edition of the Institutes. “He converted many
Anabaptists…who brought to him from the city and country their children for
baptism” (Schaff, 8:369).
“God
in His providence had placed Calvin’s future wife in his congregation. Idelette
de Bure, her husband Jean Stordeur, and their two children had come to
Strasbourg as Anabaptists. After listening to Calvin’s faithful exposition of
God’s Word, as well as having private conversations with Calvin, they embraced
his Reformed views and had their youngest child baptized. In the spring of
1540, Jean Stordeur was stricken with the plague and died. A few months later,
just as Calvin had almost given up any hope of finding a wife, Bucer asked him
to consider Idelette. John and Idelette were married in August 1540” (DeMar, Reformation,
206).
Meanwhile
back in Geneva, certain enemies of Calvin were threatening to return the city
to the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Sadoleto, a very able man, had written a
clever letter in which he tried to persuade the citizens of Geneva to return to
the Roman Church. At the request of the council of Geneva, “Calvin, setting
aside all hard feeling against the Genevans…wrote a brilliant Rely to
Sadoleto” (Kuiper, 196). This Reply “was one of the means of saving Geneva
from the grasp of popery, and endearing Calvin to the friends of freedom”
(Schaff, 8:425).
When
the party which was friendly to Calvin held power again in Geneva, the city
Council begged Calvin to return, “convinced that Calvin alone could save the
city from anarchy” (Schaff, 8:430). Calvin at first refused, but when Farel
wrote to threaten him again with the wrath of God, Calvin finally gave in again.
‘If I had any choice I would rather do anything than to give in to you in this
matter, but since I remember that I no longer belong to myself, I offer my
heart to God as a sacrifice’ (Cadier, 105).
“Amid
great rejoicing and an enthusiastic ovation Calvin entered Geneva a second
time, on September 13, 1541” (Kuiper, 197).
NOTE: These Posts were written and designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .
Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert: Reformation 500 John Calvin and Strassburg
For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 22
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