Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 45:2 (Fall 1983)
Article: Calvin and Bavinck on the Lord’s Supper
Author: R. N. Gleason

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WTJ 45:2 (Fall 1983) p. 273

Calvin and Bavinck on the Lord’s Supper

R. N. Gleason

In a time when many are reconsidering their positions in regard to the Lord’s Supper and its participants, it will be helpful to listen to two Reformed theologians. I have chosen the combination of Calvin and Bavinck because the former is a solid foundation for Reformed thought, and the latter because of his excellence as a Reformed thinker who is not readily accessible to the English-speaking world. In the case of Bavinck I have chosen material which, in general, has not been translated.1

We shall attempt to show how Bavinck was in agreement with Calvin, but, at the same time, how Bavinck at times would modify portions of Calvin’s thought. This will provide a good model of how one ought to work: being dependent upon reliable sources, yet not slavishly following another theologian.

Our sources for dealing with Calvin will be the various editions of the Institutes,2 the Corpus reformatorum,3 Barth and Niesel’s

WTJ 45:2 (Fall 1983) p. 274

Opera selecta,4 and the commentaries.5 In the case of Bavinck, we shall rely on his mature thought as he recorded it in his main work: the Gereformeerde dogmatiek.6

Interestingly enough, Bavinck dealt with this question of the Lord’s Supper rather early on in his career. In 1887 Bavinck wrote an article entitled “Calvin’s Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper.”7 This article was later included in a book with other important articles from his pen.8 A year later, when Bavinck was the rector of the Reformed seminary in Kampen, he delivered a speech which dealt with the catholicity of Christianity and the church.9

It is self-evident that the views of the church and the Lord’s Supper are inextricably bound. Historically speaking, it comes as no surprise that Bavinck spent his energies dealing with these subjects. He was then working hand-in-hand with Abraham Kuyper and others to affect a union between two very closely related Reformed groups in the Netherlands.10 These articles were contributions in the fight for unity which finally occurred in 1892.

In 1895 the first volume of the first edition of the Gereformeerde do...

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