Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 68:2 (Jun 2025)
Article: Confirming Calvin’s Doctrine Of The Church Out Of The Mouth Of Augustine
Author: James Wood

Confirming Calvin’s Doctrine Of The Church Out Of The Mouth Of Augustine

James Wood

James Wood is Associate Professor of Religion and Theology at Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ontario. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: This essay explores the ways in which John Calvin developed his theology of the church through direct and sustained engagement with Augustine, particularly Augustine’s exegetical contributions related to ecclesial matters. The analysis is broken down into five sections: (1) points on which Calvin agrees with Augustine—and largely with Catholics—against the Anabaptists; (2) points where Calvin simply agrees with Augustine while positively developing ecclesiological themes; (3) points where Calvin plays with Augustine’s logic and turns the tables on the Catholics; (4) points on which Calvin disagrees with Augustine; and (5) a missed opportunity to engage Augustine. This study aims to provide clarity on the ways this Reformer sought to critically retrieve the great Doctor of Grace’s doctrine of the church in service of a Protestant ecclesiology—one that is neither Roman Catholic nor Anabaptist, but Reformed.

Key words: Calvin, ecclesiology, Augustine, reformed theology, exegesis, retrieval

I. Complicating The Common View On Calvin And Augustine

John Calvin’s (1509–1564) dependence on Augustine (354–430) is well known. However, when it comes to ecclesiology, the matter is a bit more complicated. B. B. Warfield (1851–1921) famously described the Reformation as “the ultimate triumph of Augustine’s doctrine of grace over Augustine’s doctrine of the church.”1 If one were to adopt Warfield’s framing, it would be easy to assume that the Reformers, like Calvin, appropriated Augustine’s anti-Pelagianism but disregarded his anti-Donatism. This would be a mistake; and, in fact, even to pit the doctrine of grace against the doctrine of the church in this way is too simplistic. As Heiko Oberman (1930–2001) observed, Calvin teases out the churchly dimensions of the triumph of grace that Martin Luther (1483–1546)—another Augustinian Reformer—helped retrieve.2 And I would submit that Calvin, in teasing out those ecclesiological dimensions, tracks closely with Augustine.

For instance, in the early treatise The Necessity of Reforming the Church, Calvin claims that the Reformers could “without difficulty … confirm our doctrine to the

JETS 68.2 (June 2025) p.318

very letter out of the mouth of Augustine.”3 In his response to the accusations of Cardinal Jacopo Sadol...