Calvin and the Efficacy of Infant Baptism

Chapter Abstract: This chapter explores the question whether baptism for Calvin functions as a means of knowledge, assurance, and grace not just for adult converts but also for infants, especially since infants are presumably too young to believe. In its examination of the efficacy of infant baptism, the chapter surveys once again the whole of Calvin’s literary corpus, moving through the same stages of his writing career that were laid out in the foregoing chapters. The primary conclusion is that Calvin’s view of infant baptism as an instrument of both knowledge and grace is not as incompatible with his general doctrine of baptismal efficacy as some in the past have suggested. For Calvin, adult convert baptism and pedobaptism are not efficacious in exactly the same way, but the similarities between them are such that the latter can really be viewed as an age-adjusted version of the former.

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of past scholarship on the topic of John Calvin and the efficacy of baptism. It identifies three basic schools of interpretation—instrumentalist, parallelist, and developmental—and summarizes the works of major representatives of each category. It then proceeds to a prospectus for the book, proposing (1) a method that examines all of Calvin’s major writings on baptism through five phases of his life and (2) the thesis that in attempting to chart a middle course between Roman Catholic and Zwinglian/Anabaptist views of the sacraments, Calvin constructed a doctrine of baptismal efficacy that displayed elements of all three interpretative categories outlined earlier. Furthermore, although there was change and development in Calvin’s understanding of baptismal efficacy, these were only changes in emphasis, nuance, and clarity, and not the more dramatic shifts that some in the past have suggested.

Works from Calvin’s First Period in Geneva and the Strasbourg Interlude (1536–41)

Chapter Abstract: This chapter moves to the second phase of development in Calvin’s doctrine of baptismal efficacy by examining the writings from his first ministry stint in Geneva and his three years in Strasbourg (1536–41). These writings include his first catechism of 1537/1538, the second edition of the Institutes (1539), and his commentary on Romans (1540). During this period, Calvin took a major step forward by explicitly identifying a connection between the sign of baptism and that which it signifies. That notwithstanding, the paucity of instrumental terminology, the fairly even balance between positive and negative references to the sacraments as instruments, and the much heavier emphasis on baptism as a means of assurance than a means of salvation are much the same as we find them in the Institutes of 1536.

Works from Calvin’s Second Period in Geneva to the Consensus Tigurinus (1541–48)

Chapter Abstract: This chapter explores the third phase of development in Calvin’s doctrine of baptismal efficacy by examining six major works from the early years of his second ministry period in Geneva (1541–48): the Catechism of the Church of Geneva (1542/1545), the baptismal liturgy in The Form of Prayers (1542), the second revision of the Institutes (1543), his commentary on 1 Corinthians (1546), a polemical treatise, Acts of the Council of Trent: With the Antidote (1547), and his commentaries on Paul’s epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians (1548). The evidence adduced in this chapter shows that although Calvin did not move in a substantially new direction in his understanding of the efficacy of baptism during this period, he did shift to an entirely positive use of the term “instrument” and to a heavier emphasis on baptism as a means of grace.

Works from after the Consensus Tigurinus to Calvin’s Death (1550–64)

Chapter Abstract: This chapter explores the fifth and final developmental phase in Calvin’s doctrine of baptismal efficacy by examining three clusters of documents from the time between the Consensus Tigurinus (1549) and Calvin’s death (1564): his commentaries on Titus (1550), 1 Peter (1551), Isaiah (1551), and Acts (1552, 1554); two treatises from his polemical exchange with the Lutheran Joachim Westphal, Defence of the Sane and Orthodox Doctrine of the Sacraments (1555), and Second Defence of the Pious and Orthodox Faith concerning the Sacraments (1556); and the final edition of the Institutes (1559). The chapter concludes that any new developments in Calvin’s doctrine of baptismal efficacy in this last phase of his life are few, relatively minor, and rather subtle. What we do find now is a greater equilibrium between baptism as a means of knowledge/assurance and a means of grace and a clearer connection between these two instrumental roles.

The Consensus Tigurinus (1549)

Chapter Abstract: This chapter explores the fourth phase of development in Calvin’s doctrine of baptismal efficacy by examining the Consensus Tigurinus (Zurich Consensus, 1549), an agreement between Calvin and Bullinger on the doctrine of the sacraments. Scholars such as Davis and Janse have argued that this document represented a triumph for Bullinger and a full retreat by Calvin. However, in a careful analysis of seventeen of the twenty-six articles in the Consensus, the chapter concludes that although Calvin might have wished to phrase things differently at times or to retain some of his typical vocabulary, all the major themes, and sometimes the very language, of these articles can be found in his earlier writings. Conversely, all the major themes in his earlier writings that were related to the sacraments in general and to baptism in particular appear again in some form in the Consensus Tigurinus.

The 1536 Institutes

Chapter Abstract: This chapter treats the first phase of development in Calvin’s doctrine of baptismal efficacy by examining the first (1536) edition of the Institutes, which establishes a baseline for his understanding of baptism at the beginning of his ministerial career. The chapter looks first at Calvin’s treatment of the sacraments in general and then at the section on baptism itself. It reaches the conclusion that the widespread scholarly claim that the 1536 Institutes rejects the instrumental character of baptism is only partly true. Calvin does repudiate the idea of baptism as an instrument in the sense of its being a container or cause of salvation, but there are also indications here that he views baptism as an instrument positively as both a means of knowledge, testimony, and assurance and a means of grace.

Baptismal Efficacy in Calvin’s Theology

Chapter Abstract: This concluding chapter restates the central thesis of the book and summarizes the supporting material from the preceding chapters. The thesis is that when it comes to the three schools of interpretation introduced in chapter 1, Calvin’s doctrine of the efficacy of baptism does not fit exclusively into any one of them. In a lifelong attempt to chart a middle course between Roman Catholic and Zwinglian/Anabaptist views of the sacraments, Calvin constructed a doctrine of baptismal efficacy that displayed elements of all three categories and that carried over into his doctrine of infant baptism and many of the historic Reformed confessions. Aspects of his instrumental approach to baptism underwent change and development over his lifetime but not to the extent that some scholars have suggested. The overall trajectory was one of increasing clarity and refinement of basic themes already present in incipient form in the Institutes of 1536.

Baptismal Efficacy in the Reformed Confessions

Chapter Abstract: To round out the narrative of this book, this chapter examines the impact of Calvin’s doctrine of baptismal efficacy on the codification of Reformed theology in eight major statements of faith. Six are from the era of the great national confessions (c. 1555–70), which straddled the death of Calvin in 1564: the French [Gallican] Confession (1559), the Scots Confession (1560), the Belgic Confession (1561), the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), the Second Helvetic Confession (1566), and the Thirty-Nine Articles (1571). The other two are a well-known pair of English doctrinal statements from the mid-seventeenth century: the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and Westminster Larger Catechism (1647). The chapter concludes that most of these confessions display Calvinian features in their doctrines of baptismal efficacy. Only the Heidelberg Catechism and Second Helvetic Confession do not go beyond symbolic parallelism to symbolic instrumentalism—another indication of the theological diversity within early Reformed Protestantism.