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The Institutes of the Christian Religion
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[627] D129 It is instructive to take not of Calvin’s careful restraint and sense of proportion in the previous few sentences. With respect to the question of the manner in which elect infants dying in infancy are saved, Calvin, while presupposing their need and the Spirit’s supply of regeneration (see note on section 18), makes no definite assertion concerning the presence or absence of faith in them. This position of indecision (as Calvin terms it) is commendable, precisely because it does not presume beyond the teaching of Scripture.
[628] In connection with the sacraments, there are three aspects which must be carefully distinguished: 1. the spiritual reality which is signified (what Calvin calls “the thing”) 2. the external sacrament itself (what Calvin calls “the sign”) 3. our understanding of the spiritual significance of the sacrament (as mediated to us by the Word and Spirit). Calvin has called our attention to the very important fact that a particular time order of these aspects is not crucial to the proper use of the sacraments. He asserts that the spiritual reality itself (e.g., regeneration) may either precede or follow the external sacrament (i.e., 1 may precede 2, or 2 may precede 1). The order then, of the three aspects enumerated above could be 1, 2, 3, or 1, 3, 2, or 2, 1, 3. (The reason why the order could not be 2, 3, 1, or 3, 1, 2, or 3, 2, 1, is that, because of that depravity which fills our minds with ignorance and spiritual darkness, our understanding of the sacrament’s spiritual significance [3] must always follow the spiritual reality which is signified [1]). Calvin’s specific interest in this section is, of course, to point out that the third possible order (2, 1, 3) is a live option. That is, the time order (in addition to the other possible orders) could be as follows: 2. the external sacrament itself (e.g., baptism) 1. the spiritual reality which is signified (e.g., regeneration) 3. our understanding of the spiritual significance of the sacrament. And the time lapse between number 2 and numbers 1 and 3 could amount to an indefinite number of years, just as it ordinarily did in the case of circumcised infants in Old Testament times.
[629] See Calv. Cont. Articulos Theologorum Paris. Art 4. Item, Ad. Concil. Trident. Item, Vera Eccles. Reformand. Ratio, et in Append. Nævus in August. Lib. 1 ad Bonifac. et Epist. 28. Ambros. de Vocat. Gentium, Lib. 2 cap. 8, de Abraham. Lib. 2 cap. 11.
[630] French, “Combien qu’il me fasche d’amasser tant de reveries frivoles que pourront ennuyer les lecteurs, toutesfeis pource que Servet, se meslant aussi de mesdire du baptesme des petis enfans, a cuide amener de fort belles raisons, il sera raison de les rabattre brievement.”–Although I am sorry to amass so many frivolous reveries which may annoy the reader, yet as Servetus, taking it upon him to calumniate baptism also, has seemed to adduce very fine arguments, it will be right briefly to dispose of them.
CHAPTER 17. OF THE LORD’S SUPPER, AND THE BENEFITS CONFERRED BY IT.
[631] See August. Hom. in Joann. 31 et 40, &c., Chrysost. Hom. ad Popul. Antioch., 60, 61; et Hom. in Marc. 89.
[632] The degree to which Calvin’s words concerning the Roman Catholic dogma of transubstantiation have become obsolete, during the 390 years following this definitive edition of the Institutes (Geneva, 1559), may be ascertained by comparing his discussion with the answers to questions 347-50 of the official Baltimore Catechism, No. 3, issued in 1449 under the auspices of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. We here quote both questions and answers verbatim: 347. What happened when our Lord said: “This is My body...This is My blood”? When Our Lord said, “This is My body,” the entire substance of the bread was changed into His body; and when He said, “This is My blood,” the entire substance of the wine changed into His blood. 348. Did anything of the bread and wine remain after their substance had been changed into Our Lord’s body and blood? After the substance of the bread and wine had been changed into Our Lord’s body and blood, there remained only the appearances of bread and wine. 349. What do we mean by the appearances of bread and wine? By the appearances of bread and wine we mean their color, taste, weight, shape, and whatever else appears to the senses. 350. What is the change of the entire substance of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ called? The change of the entire substance of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ is called Transubstantiation.
[633] Compare together Ambrose on those who are initiated in the sacraments (cap. 9) and Augustine, De Trinitate, Lib. 3 cap. 10, and it will be seen that both are opposed to transubstantiation.
[634] Calvin, though tactfully refraining from any mention of Luther (whom he held in high regard), obviously has reference to that view of the presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper historically associated with the Lutheran tradition–a view which has often been called (in contradistinction to transubstantiation) “consubstantiation.” Whereas “transubstantiation” means a change of the substance of the bread and wine into the substance of Christ’s body and blood, “consubstantiation” means that the substance of the bread and wine is accompanied by the substance of Christ’s body and blood. Perhaps three references from Lutheran tradition will suffice to support the contention that this view has been held by that tradition. In his Large Catechism, Martin Luther asserted: The Sacrament of the Alter is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in and under bread and wine, instituted and commanded by the Word of Christ to be eaten and drank by us Christians. In the negative division of Article 7 of the Formula of Concord (1584), two sections are particularly relevant: Section 5. (We reject and condemn the erroneous article) That the body of Christ in the Holy Supper is not received by the mouth together with the bread, but that only bread and wine are received by the mouth, while the body of Christ is taken only spiritually, to wit, by faith. Section 11. (We reject and condemn the erroneous article) That Christ’s body is so confined in heaven that it can in no mode whatever be likewise at one and the same time in many places, or in all the places where the Lord’s Supper is celebrated. Those theologians who followed in the Lutheran tradition (e.g., David Hollaz and Heinrich Schmid) frequently expressed this view in the following manner: In with, and under the bread and wine, Christ presents His true body and blood to be truly and substantially eaten and drank by us.
[635] Gen. 17:10; Exod. 12:11; 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4.
[636] Exod. 3:2; Psalm 84:8; 42:3; Mt 3:16.
[637] French, “Certes si on ne veut abolir toute raison, on ne peut dire que ce qui est commun à tous sacremens n’appartienne aussi à la Cene.”–Certainly if we would not abolish reason altogether, we cannot say that that which is common to all the sacraments belongs not also to the Supper.
[638] The French adds, “Je di si Jesus Christ est enclos sous chacun des deux signes.”–I mean, if Jesus Christ is included under each of the two signs.
[639] The French adds, “En lisant nos ecrits, on verra incontinent combien ces calomnies sont vilaines et puantes.”–In reading our writings, it will at once be seen how vile and foul these calumnies are.
[640] Thus Augustine, speaking of certain persons, says: “It is strange, when they are confined in their straits, over what precipices they plunge themselves, fearing the nets of truth” (Aug. Ep. 105).
[641] That the dogma of those who place the body of Christ in the bread is not aided by passages from Augustine, or the authority of Scripture, is proved here and sec. 29-31. There is no ambiguity in what he says, De Civit. Dei, 16, cap. 27. In Psal. 26 et 46. In Joann. Tract. 13, 102, 106, 107, &c.
[642] The French adds, “Car la figure seroit fausse, si ce qu’elle represente n’estoit vray.”–For the figure would be false, if the thing which it represents were not real.
[643] The French adds, “veu qu’ils confessent que nous l’avons aussi bien sans la Cene;”–seeing they acknowledge that we have him as well without the Supper.
[644] French, “Il faisoit Jesus Christ homme en tant qu’il est Dieu, et Dieu en tant qu’il est homme.”–He made Jesus Christ man, in so far as he is God, and God in so far as he is man.
[645] See Bernard in Cant. Serm. 74, 75; et Trad. de Gratia et Liber. Arbit.
[646] See August. Cont. Liter. Petiliani, Lib. 2 c. 47, et Tract. in Joann.
[647] See Calvin de Cœna Domini. Item, Adv. Theol. Paris. Item, Vera Eceles. Reform. Ratio.
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