Journal: Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal
Volume: RPTJ 06:2 (Spring 2020)
Article: Calvin’s Development Of The Marks Of The Church In "The Institutes" And His Legacy Of Confessional Influence
Author: Barry J. York

RPTJ 6:2 (Spring 2020) p. 42

Calvin’s Development Of The Marks Of The Church In The Institutes And His Legacy Of Confessional Influence1

Barry J. York

President and Professor of Pastoral Theology

Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary

With the shadows of medieval history and the Church of Rome looming large, the European Reformers needed to clarify what constituted a true church. For the leaders who had first sought reform within the Roman Catholic Church, but then were forced to bring it from without, what were their views? How did their definition of the church differ from the Catholic Church? How did their understanding of the church impact their life and ministry? As the Reformation progressed, how was the visible church defined in the development of the Protestant confessions? These questions are perhaps best answered in seeing the development of John’s Calvin’s doctrine of the church and his influence as captured in the Reformation confessions.

Yet before exploring Calvin, it is important to examine first the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on the constitution of the church as a backdrop. By reviewing the Council of Trent’s counter-statements to the Protestant Reformation (particularly as seen in the catechism that came forth from Trent), Rome’s official teachings regarding the church can be understood and their view of the church’s identity established.2 Calvin’s work and legacy regarding the constitution of the church are then more readily recognized.

The Roman Catholic Church’s Views On The Marks

In the medieval period, a developing belief solidified in Rome over what constituted the true church and what were its necessary characteristics. By the thirteenth century, “The Fourth Lateran Council declared that: ‘There is one universal Church of unassailable “attributes.”’”3 These attributes were four in number, as the Roman Catholic Church relied on the Nicene Creed statement, which declares, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” In the early decades of the Reformation, Rome struggled for a period with limiting itself to these four qualities.

In the 16th century the fertile imagination of the Roman apologists distinguished a varied number of “notae ecclesiae”; seven, then ten, then fifteen, and one apologist (Bozio, in 1591) even went so far as to enumerate a hundred! But very soon, and

RPTJ 6:2 (Spring 2020) p. 43

fortunately, the “notae” were reduced to the four qualities whereby the Symbol of Nicaea defin...