The Institution of Eldership and Its Task (2)

Calvin was the last of the great Reformers. He absorbed and meditated over all that had been said by Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, Bucer, and Farel. From the very beginning, Calvin was in agreement with Luther, especially concerning Luther’s doctrine of free grace, and his view of the visible and invisible church — essentially invisible, but also externally, a visible body in which God’s Word must be preached and the Sacraments administered.

More than Luther, Calvin had an eye for what the church, concerning her external appearance, must be; namely, that besides the confession of true faith there always must be a holy conduct of life. In this, Calvin displayed Bucer’s influence, the theologian of Strassburg.

During his banishment from Geneva (1538-1541), Calvin resided in Strassburg. He formed close ties with Bucer and learned much from him. Still, Calvin’s originality didn’t suffer under this. In 1536, when Calvin arrived in Geneva, he kept himself in the background, behind Farel, but before long he came to the foreground. He became the great leader of the Reformation because of his eminent personality. Notwithstanding great opposition, which he experienced after his recall to Geneva, he dedicated himself again to promoting a visible, sanctified promulgation of the church. Calvin amended Luther’s and Zwingli’s doctrine of the government’s power in the church, for all power in the church belongs to Christ, He being the Head of His Church and exercising His power through the offices.

In 1541, after his return to Geneva, Calvin framed a new church order and after making some changes, the city’s government approved it. By means of instituting the offices and the establishing of discipline this became “Ordonnances Ecclesiastiques,” the order of the church.

Calvin instituted four offices: pastors as preachers, doctors to train prospective ministers, elders to lead and rule the congregation, and deacons to care for the poor and sick.

Calvin instituted the eldership as a separate office. Concerning this, it is rightly observed that he undermined the Roman Catholic Church in doing this. Discipline matters from that time on were dealt with in the meetings, between ministers and elders. Laymen became elders, and Calvin practically allowed them to perform their duties independently — with some limits, it is true, for Calvin did not have as much freedom as he wished in Geneva.

In his “Ordonnances Ecclesiastiques” Calvin describes the eldership as follows: “They have to watch the conduct of life of all members; they have to admonish in a friendly manner all who fall into sin, or live disorderly, and when necessary, report them to the consistory which is appointed to reprimand such ones.”

Luther’s reformation inaugurated the sound preaching of God’s Word. Calvin paid more attention than Luther to reforming church life and the individual lives of the members. There had to be church discipline in accordance with gospel preaching, and that is the reason that the offices of ministers and elders were necessary.

Upon his death-bed (1564), Calvin said that when he arrived in Geneva (1536), the gospel was preached but the people still served their idols. It is not enough to be justified only by the acquittal granted by God the Father, based upon Christ’s blood, but ongoing sanctification is also necessary. This doesn’t only apply to the individual believer, but also to the visible revelation of Christ’s church.

This was Calvin’s strong principle in his Reformation. His concept of the eldership became a very important matter. Calvin regarded the elders, as well as the ministers of the Word, as overseers (Inst. 4,3,8).

In his Care for the Congregation, Dr. C. Trimp writes: “Does Calvin’s Reformation mean that every elder, who feels a compulsion to the office, simply has the right to preach? That is an incorrect and an unhistorical conclusion! For the building up of the congregation, it is very important to assess the eldership in the right way. We have to honor the ‘supervisor’ as the shepherd who oversees the flock of God’s beloved Son. The ‘overseer’ labors with the Word in this task. He not only preaches God’s Word publicly, but spends much of his time among the families, devoting himself to the care of individual souls. In this century, the power of the Reformed churches will be found in elders who understand the true meaning of their office, and prove this in a practical way. We find it necessary to pay attention to the similarity between the work of a minister and the elder, especially in this current age with its many problems and devilish attacks against the congregation and its families.”

These are words worthy for all of us to consider.

Rev. K. De Gier is pastor of the Gereformeerde Gemeenten (Netherlands Reformed Congregation) of s’Gravenhage, the Netherlands. This article was translated from De Saambinder.

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