Calvin’s theology was also very important as he created principal ideas that were originally set out in six chapters in a famous book called institutes of the Christian religion’ which was published in 1536. . His theology, therefore, is biblical rather than scholastic, and has all the freshness of enthusiastic devotion to the truths of God’s Word. He was greatly influenced by Erasmus, Luther and Bucer but not Zwingli, for whom he had little respect. Calvin did not have an original mind, but he knew how to avoid the theological confusion and complexities, which surrounded the first generation of Protestant thinkers. His great contribution to the Reformation, was that, at a time of uncertainty concerning its leadership and doctrine, he synthesised the essential ideas of evangelicalism into a logical, coherent and intelligible theology. He denounced indulgences, celibacy and pilgrimages, and believed in only two sacraments, baptism and holy communion. Though he rejected transubstantiation in favour of a spiritual presence in the Eucharist, he wisely offered no clear definition confessing that he ‘would rather experience it than understand it’. He attached less significance to the Eucharist than either Luther or Zwingli, perhaps because he was well aware of the theological disputes generated by this subject. However by the 1550s Calvin had fallen out with Luther over the Eucharist but had come to an agreement with the Zwinglians in The doctrine of justification by faith was more important to him was the doctrine of justification by faith. ‘Man’ was evil and significant and ‘man’s’ corruption could only be redeemed by the grace of God whose power was omniscient, which implied that ‘man’ would be saved not on account of his good works but because God had predestined him as one of the ‘elect.’ Those with faith would be sure of salvation by the doctrine known as single predestination. This would only be known after death and on earth everyone must try to live as good a life as possible. Calvin described his ideas as ‘the principle article of the Christian religion,’ which were only developed in the 1550’s. They differed from Luther and Zwingli, who both placed more emphasis on salvation and did not accept the notion of double predestination. Calvin taught people to ‘know God by whom all men were created’ which became the centre of his creed and the ‘chief end of human life’; and God word would only be revealed by a careful study of and implicit belief in the Bible. Although Calvin’s ideas and beliefs were very important and made an impact, Geneva never became a theocracy though its organisation, which reflected a strong clerical influence and Calvin’s personality made it seem like one.
When Calvin returned to Geneva in 1541 he presented to the council his plan for a re-organised church which was the Ecclesiastical ordinances of 1541. Calvin proposed four different types of officers in the church, which consisted of the elders, deacons, pastors and doctors who were annually elected by the small council of 25 male citizens, who in turn were elected by the Council of Two Hundred. Each order had a clearly defined function as the elders were ‘to supervise every person’s conduct’, the deacons were ‘to care for the goods of the poor’ and ‘to care for the goods of the poor’ and ‘to look after the sick’, the pastors were ‘to proclaim the Word of God, to teach and to administer the sacraments’, and the doctors were ‘to instruct the faithful in sound doctrine’ these all benefited society and the church. He contributed to education and poor relief, to the appointment of clerics and the supervision of local life. Discipline was also enforced by a consistory compromising 12 lay elders and six clerical pastors, who had the power to investigate and punish anyone. Dancing, singing outside the church, excessive drinking, gambling and even wearing ostentatious clothing are just some that were heavily censored, this made society much more pleasant and moral. Though Calvin believed that the moral and political condition of the people should be determined by the church, in practice punishments were sanctioned by the city council. These ranged from gentle rebukes to public confession, from exclusion from communion to excommunication, and in extreme cases, exile and death. Calvin upheld the principle of obedience to a magistrate and preached that rebellion was sinful.
However Calvin did face three types of opposition due to his organisation and discipline of the church. There were pastors who would not or could not submit to the discipline of the grabeau and the consistory. There were theological opponents who protested that Calvin’s pronouncements on some issues were too extreme. Finally, there were the political opponents who would not submit to Calvin’s moral authority and who wanted to limit his power as much as possible. Calvin was exiled from Geneva in 1538.The local populace in Geneva resented in many ways Calvin’s restrictions on personal freedom as he sought for a Godly society. Much harmless traditional pleasure seeking was frowned upon and popular culture suppressed. By 1548 there were threats of violence against Calvin with the city government hostile and suspicious towards him; fired up by the captain-general, a man called Perrin, who was related to a number of leading families. The patricians were beginning to feel the lash of consistorial discipline and hated being disciplined just like the “common lot.” Previously in 1546, Calvin had the theatre and all taverns closed down and so resentment was building up against him: reaching its highest point in 1552 when Perrin coupled military leadership with civic leadership and with his relatives and associates supported the magistrates in their attempt to control excommunication. Between 1546-1555 he vanquished his opponents and built up a reputation in a series of show-trials, the image of guardian of public morality, of theological orthodoxy and proponent of reformation principles. He also began to control the local clergy.
Overall Calvin revolutionised society. The organisation and the discipline of the church was quite successful as it did help society, and even though he was exiled and people criticised him, Geneva still became an important Protestant centre for Europe. Protestants driven out of France, England, Scotland and the Netherlands came to Geneva to seek refuge. If it wasn’t for the new orders, society wouldn’t have changed socially, educationally and culturally. His theology however also made a big impact even though it was criticised by people such as Luther but it did improve religion and the church. The most important theological position of Calvinism is that of predestination. Calvin believed that salvation was not a choice, but that it was pre-decided by God at the beginning of time any many people in society also believed this. He made ideas more logical and coherent, so that they could actually understand them.
