# John Calvin's Conversion



## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 24, 2005)

It is always interesting, I think, to read biographies of the great men in church history and see how God providentially worked in and through them to His glory and the good of His Church. 

In the case of John Calvin, he was a Frenchman with a gifted intellect that his father thought would be best suited for the field of law. 

Immersed in the Roman Catholic tradition, he left law and began to study theology. He became an apologist for Romanism and spokely harshly against "Lutheranism." Ironically, he studied in Paris at the same school as Ignatius Loyola, who later began the "Counter-Reformation."

He began, however, over time to be influenced by the teachings of men like Cop, Wolmar, Beza, Lefevre and Farel . His cousin, Pierre Robert Olivetan, who became the first to translate the Bible into French from the original languages, spoke with him often about matters of faith. 



> "There are but two religions in the world," we hear Olivetan saying. "The one class of religions are those which men have invented, in all of which man saves himself by ceremonies and good works; the other is that one religion which is revealed in the Bible, and which teaches man to look for salvation solely from the free grace of God." "I will have none of your new doctrines," Calvin sharply rejoins; "think you that I have lived in error all my days?" But Calvin is not so sure of the matter as he looks. The words of his cousin have gone deeper into his heart than he is willing to admit even to himself; and when Olivetan has taken farewell for the day, scarce has the door been closed behind him when Calvin, bursting into tears, falls upon his knees, and gives vent in prayer to the doubts and anxieties that agitate him.
> 
> Source: The History of Protestantism, by J.A. Wylie





> His conversion dated sometime during 1532 or 1533. Calvin says his conversion was sudden, through private study, because he failed to find peace in absolutions, penances, and intercessions of the church.
> 
> In his commentary on the Psalms, Calvin said concerning his conversion: "By a sudden conversion, God subdued and reduced to docility my soul, which was more hardened against such things than one would expect of my youthful years."
> 
> ...



For a time he wandered through the Southern France, Italy and Switzerland, often using assumed names. In 1536, at the age of 27, he wrote the _Institutes of the Christian Religion_, the most influential book besides the Bible in the progress of the Reformation. 

During a stop in Geneva on his way to Staussborg, however, he met William Farel. 



> Calvin's presence was made known to Farel, the Genevan Reformer, who instinctively felt that Calvin was the man to complete and save the Reformation in Geneva. Calvin was very reluctant to take the position and he pleaded he was too young, too inexperienced, he needed further study and his natural timidity and bashfulness made him unfit for public action. Farel threatened him with the curse of Almighty God if he preferred his studies to the work of the Lord, and his own interest to the cause of Christ.
> 
> Farel said to Calvin: "You are concerned about your rest and your personal interests. . Therefore I proclaim to you in the name of Almighty God whose command you defy: Upon your work there shall rest no blessing . . . Therefore, let God damn your rest, let God damn your work!"
> 
> Calvin was terrified and shaken by these words of Farel and he accepted the call to the ministry as teacher and pastor of the evangelical church of Geneva. His reply to Farel was, "I obey God!"



The rest, as they say, is history...


----------



## WrittenFromUtopia (Jan 24, 2005)

Simply amazing. Praise God for His providential actions in saving His Church from decay.


----------



## ReformedWretch (Jan 24, 2005)




----------



## LadyFlynt (Jan 24, 2005)

excellent...thank you, andrew...I knew none of that.


----------



## Presbyrino (Jan 24, 2005)

"Farel said to Calvin: "You are concerned about your rest and your personal interests. . Therefore I proclaim to you in the name of Almighty God whose command you defy: Upon your work there shall rest no blessing . . . Therefore, let God damn your rest, let God damn your work!" "

Wow, that's a calling!


----------



## Ranger (Feb 6, 2005)

I've always been impressed by Olivetan's nickname. He was given Olivetanus because he was known for burning the midnight oil in study.


----------



## VirginiaHuguenot (Nov 8, 2006)

From the preface to John Calvin's Commentary on the Psalms:



> My conditions no doubt, is much inferior to his, and it is unnecessary for me to stay to show this. But as he was taken from the sheepfold, and elevated to the rank of supreme authority; so God having taken me from my originally obscure and humble condition, has reckoned me worthy of being invested with the honorable office of a preacher and minister of the gospel. When I was as yet a very little boy, my father had destined me for the study of theology. But afterwards when he considered that the legal profession commonly raised those who followed it to wealth this prospect induced him suddenly to change his purpose.
> 
> Thus it came to pass, that I was withdrawn from the study of philosophy, and was put to the study of law. To this pursuit I endeavored faithfully to apply myself in obedience to the will of my father; but God, by the secret guidance of his providence, at length gave a different direction to my course. And first, since I was too obstinately devoted to the superstitions of Popery to be easily extricated from so profound an abyss of mire, God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame, which was more hardened in such matters than might have been expected from one at my early period of life Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein, that although I did not altogether leave off other studies, I yet pursued them with less ardor.
> 
> ...


----------

