Kennedy:

Calvin’s Disagreement with Heshusius

There is one final quotation from Calvin that needs to be addressed. The passage in question comes in his treatise against Tileman Heshusius on the question of the true presence of Christ in the supper. Heshusius, a Lutheran, held to the view of consubstantiation; that the body and blood of Christ are truly present in and with the supper, even when taken by unbelievers. Calvin argued that faith was necessary for a person to receive any spiritual benefit from the supper. The particular section of this treatise which has a bearing on the question of Calvin’s view on the extent of the atonement reads as follow:

But the first thing to be explained is how Christ is present with unbelievers, to be the spiritual food of souls, and in short the life and salvation of the world. And he adheres so doggedly to the words, I should like to know how the wicked can eat the flesh which was not crucifiedfor them, and how they can drink the blood which was not shed to expiate their sins? (scire velim quomodo Christi carnem edant impii, pro quibus non est cricifixa, et quomodo sanguinem bibant, qui expiandis eorum peccatis not est effusus.) I agree with him that Christ is present as a strict judge when his supper is profaned. But it is one, thing to be eaten, and another to be a judge. . . . Christ, considered as the living bread and the victim immolated on the cross, cannot enter any human body which is devoid of his spirit.⁸⁹

What Calvin is arguing against in this passage is the idea that the body and blood of Christ are locally present in the elements of the supper. Calvin objected to a local presence in the supper because it would make all of the participants partakers of Christ even if they were unbelievers. It was the idea that unbelievers partook of Christ in the supper that most disturbed Calvin. This is so because, for Calvin, to be a partaker of Christ is to have salvation. Only believers have salvation in Christ, and therefore, only believers partake of Christ in the supper. Indeed, it is because of their faith that believers partake of Christ in the eucharist. Calvin says that "we eat Christ’s flesh in believing, because it is made ours by faith, and that this eating is the result and effect of faith."⁹⁰ If unbelievers truly partake of the body of Christ in the supper, then this means that the flesh of Christ is not vivifying. Calvin will not allow this.

The portion of the above quotation that is offered as evidence that Calvin held to particular redemption is where it is asked: "I should like to know how the wicked can eat the flesh which was not crucified for them, and how they can drink the blood which was not shed to expiate their sins?" It is alleged that Calvin’s argument is that unbelievers do not partake of Christ in the supper because Christ did not die for them. Is this truly what is being asserted here or is there perhaps a better interpretation of this passage?

Curt D. Daniel has offered an explanation for this passage which I believe is the best interpretation of Calvin’s intended meaning here. Daniel draws attention to the phrase "I should like to know . . .," which introduces the sentences in question. Daniel compares this phrase to other instances where it occurs. In one such instance Calvin is also discussing the Lord’s supper when he says “I should like to know from them how long they (the wicked) retain it (the true body of Christ) when they have eaten it.”⁹¹ Daniel correctly notes that the phrase "I should like to know" introduces an idea that Calvin is clearly rejecting, that the wicked actually eat and retain Christ in the supper. This quotation from the Institutes is a rhetorical device and is clearly not meant to convey Calvin’s position on the issue. To the contrary, the phrase introduces a concept with which he is in disagreement. In the quote from the Institutes, what Calvin is rejecting is the claim that the wicked eat and retain Christ. In the passage from the Treatise, Calvin is rejecting what is presumably the claim by Heshusius, that the wicked “eat the flesh which was not crucified for them.” Yet, it should be noted that Heshusius was a Lutheran and thus did not deny that Christ died for the whole world. How then are we to explain Calvin’s comments given this fact?

Daniel’s explanation for this centers around the fact. that for Calvin, true saving faith consists of the person’s belief that Christ has died for him. I have already discussed Calvin’s understanding of the content of saving faith earlier in this chapter. Yet, it will be beneficial to see some of the quotations to which Daniel appeals in order to make his point. One passage from. one of Calvin’s sermons on Isaiah is a very clear statement that saving faith consists of the belief that Christ died for the person believing:

For it is not enough that Jesus Christ suffered in His person and was made a sacrifice for us; but we must be assured of it by the Gospel; we must receive that testimony and doubt not that_we have righteousness in Him, knowing that He has made satisfaction for our sins.⁹²

Calvin’s comments on Mark 14:24 are even more explicit on this point:

So when we come to the holy table not only should the general idea come to our mind thal the world is redeemed by the blood of Christ, but each should reckon to himself that his own sins are covered.⁹³

Note that in the second quotation Calvin states that Christ has redeemed the whole world. Yet, it is insufficient merely to believe that Christ died for the world. Saving faith is believing that Christ has indeed died for oneself. In this particular passage, true partaking of Christ requires believing that Christ has died for the believer. Calvin’s understanding of saving faith is key to Daniel’s interpretation of the disputed passage from the treatise against Heshusius. Heshusius believed that the wicked partook of the body and blood of Christ even in the absence of saving faith, in the absence of faith that Christ died for them.⁹⁴ Daniel paraphrases the disputed passage from the Treatise as follows: "I should like to know how the wicked can eat the flesh of Christ if they do not believe that Christ was crucified for them."⁹⁵ Daniel’s point is that it is Heshusius who holds the belief that a person can truly partake of Christ in the supper in the absence of faith that Christ died for him.

Kevin D. Kennedy, Union with Christ and the Extent of the Atonement in Calvin (New York: Peter Lang: 2002), 53-56. [Some minor reformatting; footnote values and content original; and underlining mine.]

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Ambrose:

1) (6.25) But are you afraid of the uncertain twists of life and the plots of the adversary? You have the help of God, you have His great liberality, so great that He did not spare His own Son on your behalf.¹ Scripture made use of a beautiful expression to proclaim the holy purpose toward you of God the Father, who offered His Son to death. The Son could not feel death’s bitterness, because He was in the Father; for Himself He gave up nothing, on your behalf He offered everything. In the fullness of His divinity² He lost nothing, while He redeemed you. Think upon the Father’s love. It is a matter of His goodness that He accepted the danger, so to speak, to His Son, who was going to die, and in a manner drained the sorrowful cup of bereavement, so that the advantage of redemption would not be lost to you. The Lord had such mighty zeal for your salvation that He came close to endangering what was His, while He was gaining you. On account of you He took on our losses, to introduce you to things divine, to consecrate you to the things of heaven. Scripture said, too, in a marvelous fashion,”He has delivered him for us all,”³ to show that God so loves all men that He delivered His most beloved Son for each one. For men, therefore, He has given the gift that is above all gifts; is it possible that He has not given all things in that gift? God, who has given the Author of all things,⁴ has held back nothing.

(6.26) Therefore, let us not be afraid that anything can be denied us. We ought not have any distrust whatever over the continuance of God’s generosity. So long and continuous has it been, and so abundant, that God first predestined us and then called us. Those whom He called, He also justified; those whom He justified, He also glorified.⁵ Can He abandon those whom He has honored with His mighty benefits even to the point of their reward? Amid so many benefits from God, ought we to be afraid of certain plots of our accuser? But who would dare to accuse those who, as he sees, have been chosen by the judgment of God? God the Father Himself, who has bestowed His gifts-can He make them void? Can He exile from His paternal love and favor those whom He took up by way of adoption? But fear exists that the judge may be too harsh-think upon Him that you have as your judge. For the Father has given every judgment to Christ.⁶ Can Christ then condemn you, when He redeemed you from death and offered Himself on your behalf, and when He knows that your life is what was gained by His death? ‘Will He not say, “What profit is there in my blood,⁷ if I condemn the man whom I myself have saved?” Moreover, you are thinking of Him as a judge; you are not thinking of Him as an advocate. But can He give a sentence that is very harsh when He prays continually that the grace of reconciliation with the Father be granted us?

Ambrose, “Jacob and the Happy Life,” in Seven Exegetical Works, trans. Michael P. McHugh (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1972), 135-136. [Underlining mine; footnote values modified; footnote content original.]

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Ambrose:

Thus forgetfulness may hide all earthly things, and, for those who are blessed with a clean heart and deserve to see God, there may come the God of their heart¹ that they may draw near to You and not separate themselves. For God, who is near, does not drive back those who draw near to Him;² He wishes to be for all men a cause of salvation³ and not of death. Indeed, He rejects no one except one who has decided to remove himself from His sight. Ambrose, “The Prayer of Job and David,” in Seven Exegetical Works, trans. Michael P. McHugh (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1972), 387-388. [Footnote values modified; footnote content original; and underlining mine.] [For more from Ambrose on this, see here.]

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¹Cf. Matt. 5.8.

²Cf. John 6.37; James 4.8.

³[Compare Aquinas and Davenant’s use of the same expression: Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, 4.55.29 and 31; Davenant, Dissertation on the Death of Christ, 354 and 375.]

Yates:

God’s preparation and donation of faith.

Leaving the power of Man’s innocency, and universal freedom to believe legally or Evangelically, we fall into the safe way, and say, that wheresoever the Gospel is preached, God gives or is prepared to give faith in Christ. He mocks no man, but is serious in the salvation of every soul, to which the Gospel is sent. Every hearer in the Church is zealously persuaded to repent. The Ministers mind and God’s meet in his holy ordinances, and the Word is earnestly spoken to every ear. God himself goes with his message from seat to seat, and from man to man, with true and hearty desire of his conversion; yet notwithstanding he gives not equal grace to all, as shall appear in our distribution thereof.

John Yates, The Saints Sufferings and Sinners Sorrows (Printed by T. Cotes, for N. Bourne, dwelling at the Royall Exchange, 1631), 196-197.

Credit to Tony for the find.