John Calvin Biography
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A Giant in Reformed Christianity
John Calvin captured one of the most brilliant minds among Reformed theologians, who revolutionized the Christian Church in Europe, America, and eventually the rest of the world.
Calvin saw salvation as different from Martin Luther or the Roman Catholic Church. He taught that God divides humanity into two groups: the elect, who will be saved and go to heaven, and the progenitor, or damned, who will spend eternity in hell.
This principle is called predestination.
Calvin said that instead of dying for the sins of all, Jesus Christ died only for the sins of the elect. This is called limited sponsorship or special redemption.
The elect, according to Calvin, cannot resist God's call for salvation upon them. He called this principle unbelievable grace.
Finally, Calvin differed completely from Lutheran and Catholic theology with the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. He taught "Once saved, always saved." Calvin believed that when God initiated the process of sanctification on a person, God would stay on him until that person was in heaven. Calvin said that anyone can lose his salvation. The modern term for this principle is eternal security.
John Calvin's Early Life
Calvin was born in Noyon, France in 1509, the son of a lawyer who served as a worker in the local Catholic cathedral. It is clear from this that Calvin was encouraged by his father to become a Catholic priest, inspired to study Catholicism.
Those studies began in Paris when Calvin was only 14 years old. He started at the Collge de Marche and later attended the Collge Montagu. As Calvin made friends who supported the New Reformation of the Church, he began to withdraw from Catholicism.
He also changed his head. Instead of studying for the priesthood, he turned to civil law, starting formal studies in the city of Orléans, France.
He completed his legal training in 1533 but had to flee Catholic Paris because of his association with the Church Reformers. The Catholic Church began a hunt and in 1534 burned 24 destroyers on strike.
Calvin moved around for the next three years teaching and preaching in France, Italy, and Switzerland.
John Calvin in Geneva
In 1536, the first edition of Calvin's major work, the Institute of Christian Religion, was published in Basel, Switzerland. Calvin elaborated on his religious ideology and beliefs in this book. That same year, Calvin found himself in Geneva, where a radical Protestant named Guillaume Ferrell convinced him to stay.
French-speaking Geneva was ripe for reform, but the two factions were battling for control. The Libertines wanted minor church reforms, such as compulsory church attendance and a magistrate to control the clergy. Radicals, like Calvin and Ferrell, wanted major changes. There were three immediate breaks from the Catholic Church: monasteries were closed, Mass was prohibited, and papal authority was relinquished.
Calvin's fortunes ran again in 1538 when the Libertines captured Geneva. He and Ferrell escape to Strasbourg. By 1540, the Libertines were deposed and Calvin returned to Geneva, where he began a long series of reforms.
He redid the church on an apostolic model, without bishops, clergy of equal status, and placing elders and deities. All the elders and deities were members of the conspiracy of the Church church. The city was moving towards a religious government, a religious government.
The moral code became criminal law in Geneva; Sin became a punishable offense. Excommunication, or being thrown out of the church, means being banned from the city. Singing the lude can result in the person's tongue is pierced. The condemned were punished by death.
In 1553, the Spanish scholar Michael Servetus came to Geneva and questioned the Trinity, a major Christian doctrine. Servetus was captured, tried, convicted, and burned at the stake. Two years later the Libertines revolted, but their leaders were adopted and executed.
John Calvin's influence
Calvin made education the medium for the purpose of taking his influence and teachings to the masses and laid the foundation of the University of Geneva from primary, secondary to.
Geneva also became a haven for reformers who were fleeing persecution in their countries.
John Calvin revised his Institutes of Christianity in 1559, and it was translated into several languages for distribution throughout Europe. His health began to fail in 1564. He died in May of that year and was buried in Geneva.
Calvin missionaries traveled to other countries of Europe - France, Germany and the Netherlands - to accelerate reforms outside of Geneva. one of Calvin's fans John Knox (1514–1572) brought Calvinism to Scotland, where the Presbyterian Church has its roots. George Whitefield (1714–1770), one of the leaders of the Methodist movement, was also a follower of Calvin. Whitefield took the Calvinist message to the American colonies and became the most influential traveling campaigner of his time.
