“This is why Calvin calls the pulpit the throne of God: voila the pulpit, which is the throne (le siege) of God, from which he wills to govern our souls.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 42
Calvin on Courage
“The preacher needs courage — not courage to believe but courage to proclaim the truth, however unpalatable, and to rebuke where rebukes are necessary. It is inevitable that he will arouse opposition. ‘They that intend to serve God faithfully and to proclaim his Word will never lack enemies.’”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 40
In Three Places
“It would be better for him to break his neck going up into the pulpit if he does not take pains to be the first to follow God.”
Calvin, in Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 40
Humble Authority
“The qualifications of a preacher, according to Calvin, arise out of this single-minded, single-hearted adherence to Scripture. The first is humility, and that in two senses. Faith, or trust, in Scripture implies submission . . . And what is submitted to inwardly is also treated as sovereign in the pulpit.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 39
Reason is Finite, Not Incoherent
“Reason, that necessary guide in things earthly, is out of its depth in the realm of revelation and must submit to the infinite superiority of God’s wisdom.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 38
Stand at the Source
“Correspondingly, the preacher is the servant of that message. As preacher he is committed completely to the Bible.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 35
Salvation Lives in the Word
“Calvin is saying . . . that God is gracious, that Jesus Christ has made the satisfaction for our sin. But when this message is preached, its reality is present and (how could it therefore be otherwise?) effective . . . The reality was present, however, not through vivid imagination or power of language, but by the working of the Holy Spirit.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 29
The Throne of God
“The pulpit is ‘the throne of God, from where he wills to govern our souls.’”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 26
The Living Word of God
“Calvin is not telling the people that must remind themselves that God has spoken in Scripture but that, while listening to a sermon, they must ask themselves whether they are listening to God or a man. If the teaching is faithful to Scripture, then it is God who is speaking.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 24
Humbled Glory
“It is the humble position of preaching as derivative and subordinate that is precisely its glory.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p 23