W.Cary Crampton, Th.D.

,
WHAT
CALVIN
SAYS
,
WHAT (j\LVIN SAYS ABOUT ESCHATOLOGY
'Eschatology is the study of the
doctrine of "last things" (from the
Greek eschatos, meaning ''last"). This
study is normally subdivided into
individual (or personal) and general
(or cosmic) eschatology. The former
examines the phenomenon of death
and the intermediate state, asitapplies
to individuals. Thelatterstudie's those
'- events which are to occur at the close
of hUman history; it includes the
millennium, the general resurrection
and judgment, and the eternal state.
Calvin's view of eschatology (both
personal and general) is inextricably
related to his concept of history. His is
a dynamic view of history, wherein
the sovereign, predestinating God of
Scripture is dynamicallyinvolvecl, not
only in creating all things, but also in
providentially bringing all of history
to its appointed destiny (Institutes
1:16:3). Withthefirstcomingof ChrIst
and the irnlption of the first phase of
His Kingdom into history, God has
summed upall things (Commentary on
Ephesians 1:9,10). Now, like that great
stone which Daniel envisioned (2:31-
45), Christ'sKingdomisptogressively
rolling along, crushing out the other
world kingdoms, until it reaches its
ultimate state in glory (phase two).
This Kingdom will have no end
(Commentary on Daniel2:31ff.). (See
DavidE. Holwerda,ReadingslnCalvin's
Theology, editedbyDonaldK McKim,
pp. 311-314') Thus, we can say that
Calvin'seschatologyispredominately
Christocentric. For him, the
of Christ is the center of all Scripture.
Individual Eschatology
Calvin's doctrine of individual
eschatology is very orthodox. Man
was created upright by God. If Adam
had not sinned, he would have lived
forever. But, at the fall, man, in Adam, .
lost this status. The body now must
undergo physical death, and the sOul,
which is immortal, spiritual death
(i.e., seParationfromthe grace of God)
(Commentary on Genesis 2:16,17;
Romans 5: 12ff.).
Death, therefore, is not natural to
man. ItisGod'scurseondisobedience.
For believers, however, the curse is
removed. Theystill must die, but they
die in Christ, who took the curse in
their behalfCCommentaryonMatthew
26:36-39; Hebrews 2:1Sr Death is,
then, for c;hristian man, a conquered
16 f THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon f October 1991
foe. In faith, he can face death,
understanding its cursedness and
acknowledging its judgment on sin;
yet, in Cluist, he can face it (and even
long for it [Institutes Ill:9:4]) as a
blessingtobedesired(RonaldWalIace,
Dodrine Of The Christian Life,
p. 266).
At death, a man's body returns to
the dust and sees corruption/decay,
but the soul enters into the
intermediate state and maintains
conscioUShess. Here there is a vast
differencebetweenChristianandnon-
Christianman. Commentingonjesus'
parable of Ulzarus and the rich man,
Calvin says, "The general truth
conveyed is, thatbelievingsouls, when
they have left their bodies, lead a
joyful and blessed life out of this
world, and thatforthereprobate there
areprepareddreadfultorments, which
can no more be conceived by our
minds than the boundless gloryof the
heavens" (Commentary on Luke
16:23).
Calvin's exegesis of this parable
also condemnS, either explicidy or
implicidy, "re-incarilation," "soul
sleep," "annihilationism," and
"conditional immortality"
(Commentary on luke 16:19-31). As
noted in an earlier article ("Calvin the
man"); Calvin's firstmajor theological
work, Psychopannychia, taughtinfavor
of the inunortality of the soul, and
polemicallyrefuted the false doctrines
. mentioned above. '
As seen, the intermediate state is
one ''without body." The Bible views
this incorporeal .condition as
unnatuijlL'For man was created as an
holistic being - body and soul. And
the eternal state will be one in which
men will once again be whole; they
will have, "the self-same [glorified]
bodies ... which shall be united again
to their souls forever" (WCF XXXII,2)
(cf. Calvin, Commentary on 2
Corinthians 5:1,2; In$titutes 1lI:25:1-7).
In this intermediate state, both
believers and non-believers await the
final, general resurrection and
judgment which will occur at the
second advent of Christ. It is on this
day that, "The bodies of the unjust
shall, by the power of
Christ, be raised to
dishonour; [and] the
bodies of the just, by His
Spirit, unto honour, and
made conformable to His
own glorious body" (WCF
XXXII,)). This final state of
the righteous will be even
more glorious than that of
the intermediate state, while
the state of the unrighteous
will be even far worse (d.
Calvin, Institutes 1ll:25: 1-12;
Commentary on Matthew
25:31-46).
Calvin's doctrine of personal
eschatology called upon himtospend
much time meditating on the future
life (Le., living sub specie aeternitatis,
"under the aspect of eternity"). By so
meditating, Christian man learns, not
only to live well, but to die well. He
writes, "We are God's: let us therefore
livefor Him and die for Him .. We are
God's: let all the parts of our life
accordingly strive toward Him as our
lawful goal" (Institutes III:7:!).
General Eschatology
According to Calvin, the Bible
teaches that at His first advent, Jesus
Christ established His mediatorial
Kingdom. Yet, the Bible also teaches
that there is a future aspect to this
Kingdom, which will be manifested at
the second coming. Whereas the Old
Testament viewed the coming
Kingdom as one undivided whole,
the New Covenant reveals that there
are two stages. The first phase is the
Kingdom of grace, the second the.
Kingdom of glory (Commentary on
lsaiah2:2-4; 65:17; Matthew25:31).
This is Calvin's "already and not
yet" principle of the Kingdom - a
principle recognized by nearly all
Reformed theologians. POSitionally,
the world has already been redeemed
(Col. 1 :20; 2 Cor. 5: 17). But the
complete expulsion of evil awaits
Chtist'sreturningIory. History entered
into its final days at the first advent
CHeb. 1:1-3; Acts 2:16,17). The time
of the consumation of the ages has
begun (1 Cor. 10:11; Heb. 9:26). Yet,
there is still the final stage to come -
"the last day" (In. 6:39,40,44). We
now live in the "present age" (Gal. 1:4;
2 Cor. 4:4), and await the "age to
come" (Heb. 2:5; 6:5).
In the interadventual period, the
church is in the process of working
out the great commission of Matthew
28:18-20. The Kingdom of God is
now progressively advancing; the
enemies of Christ are being subdued
under His feet by the work of His
church. This Kingdom growth,
according to Calvin, is making great
progress toward the renovation of the
whole world. But this will not fully
occur until the Kingdom of glory
(Wallace, Op. dt., pp. 79,80; Ian
Murray, The Puritan Hope,
p. 40; Commentary on
Matthew 24:29; Luke
17:20).
Calvin is claimed by
both Postrnillennial and
Amillennial advocates.
Surely, a Prernillennial he
was not. This doctrine of
the "chiliasts," Calvin says
is, "too childish either to
need or to be worth a
refutation" (Institutes
1Il:25:5; d. Commentary
on 1 Thessalonians 4: 17).
ClnhisDePsychopannychia,
Calvin states that the first resurrection
spoken of in Revelation 20:4-6 is, not
a phYSical, but a spiritual resurrection
which occurs when the believer dies
and his spirit is raised up to heaven to
be with Christ. The second
resurrection, which is implied in the
passage, is a general resurrection at
the end of the age [Calvin's Selected
Works, edited by Beveridge and
Bonnet, Vol. 1Il, p. 446].)
James Jordan has well described
Calvin's millennial view as that of
"incipient Postrnillennialism" (The
CounselOfChalcedon, March 1981,pp.
4-7). On the one hand, the Reformer,
October 1991 ~ THE COUNSEL of Cha1cedon ~ 17
. ~ - - - ._- - -----
in a sermon on Isaiah 52:13-53:1,
categorically dented, that the world
would ever be fully Christianized,
prior to the second advent. Neither
does he aver that Romans 11
necessarily teaches afutureconversion
of the Jews (Commentary On Romans
l1:l1ff.). On the other hand, he is
very optinli$tic regarding Kingdom
growth.ln fact, the second generation
of Reformers, and the overwhelming
majority of Puritans, taking their lead
from Calvin's optimism, became
sttongadvocatesofpostmillennialism
(cf. Greg L. Bahnsen, The Journal OJ
ChristianReconstrudicm, Wmter, 1976-
77, pp. 69ff.).
common grace of God which they
experience in the present age. God's
awesome wrath will be forever their
lot (Il1Stitutes 1lI:25:1-12).
Calvin, as with many of the
Reformersandlatt;!"Puritans(cf. WCF
XXV,6; 1647 edition) maintained that
'the Papacy was the Anti-Christ
refetred to by Paul in 2 Thessalonians
2. VariousofthepastRornanemperors,
and others, may have been Anti-
Christs of a fashion, but "the Anti-
Christ" was the Papacy. And, said
Calvin, the sixteenth century church
waswitnessingthefulfillmentofpaul's,
prophecy with their own eyes.
Nevertheless, the Reformer expected
ThisoptirnismofKingdomgrowth., a greater success of the gospe!prior to
can be found in various of Calvin's the second advent of Christ. Thus, he
Commentaries. OnPsa1rn47,heclairns averred that the Word of God would
that Christ's Kingdom is to grow to have great success in the overthrow of
the point where all nations will be Papal power, but the total expunging
included. The same is true of his of this Anti-Christian force would not
exposition of Psalm 72. On Isaiah "' occur until ' Christ's second coming,
60:9ff., he speaks of the whole world immediately subsequent to a time of
doing obeisance to Jesus Christ; ,the great apostasy within the church
, Kingdom will be greatly enlarged and (Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2:3- 11).
multiplied, through the preaching of
the gospel. Yet, says the Reformer, Although Calvin did not hold to
there will always be opposition to the thedoctrineoftheirnnrinentreturnof
Kingdom(onPsalrnllO:l)(cf.jordan, " Christ, he did teach that a life lived
Op. ciL). constantly focused on the second
As stated earlier, at the end of this
present age, Christ will come again,
will resurrect all mankind and sit as
judge of the nations (Commentary on
Matthew 25:31ff.). On that day, the
just will be raised unto a resurrection
of utter blessedness, but the unJust
will be raised unto dishonor, The
sheep and the goats will be separated.
This day is the "blessed hope" of all
Christian men and women, but it is
that day when all of the ungodly will
be finally "cut off" from even the
advent would prevent apathy and
slothfulness in Christian man
(Cammentaryon2Peter3:9,lO).Here,
once again, C a l ~ finds himself in
agreement with the Westminster
divines, who maintained that
"As Christ would have us to be
certainly persuaded that there shall be
a day of judgment, both to deter all
men from sin; and for the greater
cOJlSQlation of the godly in their
adversity: so will He have that day
unknowntomen, thattheyrnayshake
18 ~ TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ October 1991
off all carnal security, and be always
watchful, because they know not at
what hour the Lord will come; and
may be ever prepared to say, Corne
Lord Jesus, come quickly, Amen"
(WCF XXXIII,3),n
YES
IT'S
TRUE!
John Lofton
now has his own
newsletter and a
lot of folks will
be horrified
because he tells
the truth, from a
BiblicaJ!Cbristian
perspective, re:
liberals and
conservatives.
For a sample
copy, write: ''The
Lofton Letter,"
Box 1142, Laurel
Maryland 20725