Who Needs a Guide? I do! (And so do you)
In his notes to his readers, Pastor Calvin says that his goal in the Institutes is to provide a guide to reading the Scriptures; whether a “student in Sacred Theology” or “all the children of God.” In 1541* he produced an edition of the Institutes in French so that this guide could be read by common people.
Consider this: the first printed French translation of the Bible was made available in 1530. That’s only 11 years before Calvin translated the Institutes into French! The men and women in Calvin’s congregation did not grow up under the assumption that the Bible was theirs for the reading. On the contrary, the Bible was intimidating and Calvin’s pastoral heart sought to provide this guide for God’s people.
Pastor Calvin’s stated purpose for his writing reveals one of the great gifts of the Reformation. The Bible is given back to God’s people to be read for their own growth in the knowledge and love of God.
While revealing one of the gifts of the Reformation, Calvin also reveals one of the Reformation’s greatest problems. The Bible can be very hard to interpret and we need guidance to read it. Which only begs the question: Who should I look to for guidance and why? Who gets to be The Guide?
I grew up as a Baptist and presently serve as a pastor in a non-denominational evangelical church. These two traditions (such as they are) rightly, in my view, embrace this great gift of the Reformation. The Bible is for reading! It’s to be read by you. Every day for best results!
These two traditions (such as they are) have not, in my view, addressed this problem of the Reformation. In fact, most people in our free church traditions don’t even acknowledge that there is a problem and assume that the individual with their Bible in hand is able to interpret Scripture all by themselves.
But, there is a problem. We now have nearly 40,000 different Protestant denominations (and counting) that all claim that their own interpretations of Scripture are superior to others. Not only that, but many of our common practices around reading Scripture reflect an admission that interpreting Scripture isn’t easy.
For example:
When faced with a particularly knotty passage of Scripture, our eyes quickly jump down to the notes in our NIV Study Bibles.
When charged with leading a devotional or small group Bible Study, many turn to Google for some quick insight.
While we deny the authority of any ecclesial position other than (maybe) the Lead Pastor of our local church, we often elevate our favorite teachers on Christian radio or television (Lord, have mercy) who then become sources of interpretive authority.
Study notes, godly teachers on the radio (but probably not television), and even Google can be very useful. I am personally grateful for them. But reliance on sources like these does reflect an admission that “the individual with their Bible in hand” is not sufficient as the only and final source of authority when reading Scripture.
So, thank you Pastor Calvin for your guidance! Google is great, but I bet you are going to be even better. You will teach us the importance of Sola Scriptura while also reminding us that God gives us the church to help us read our Bibles… every day.
*An earlier draft of the blog stated that the French edition was produced in 1560. Thanks to Jeremy Writebol who pointed out that Calvin’s French edition was completed in 1541
