Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 29:1 (Spring 2025)
Article: John Calvin On The Work Of God The Father
Author: Ryan L. Rippee

John Calvin On The Work Of God The Father

Ryan L. Rippee

Ryan L. Rippee is President of The Cornerstone Bible College and Seminary, Vallejo, California and the Pastor of Trinity Church of Benicia, Benicia, California. He earned his PhD at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Biblical Spirituality and Church History. He is the author of Preaching that Exalts Christ (2012), That God May Be All in All (2018). He is married to Jennafer and they have five children.

Introduction

As we commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed here in 2025, we are reminded of the theological battles that shaped Christian orthodoxy. This historic confession was not crafted in the quiet halls of academia but forged by pastors and bishops in the crucible of controversy. When Arius began teaching that the Son was a created being, subordinate to and not of the same substance as the Father, the very foundation of Christian faith was threatened. At the Council of Nicaea in 325, church leaders like Athanasius defended the full deity of Christ, articulating the equality of the Father and the Son. Their struggle resulted in a creed that has defined Trinitarian orthodoxy for seventeen centuries, establishing that the Son is “begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.” This same theological vigilance would be required again and again throughout church history, as faithful leaders defended the doctrine of the Trinity against those who would distort it.

During his ministry, John Calvin faced several Trinitarian controversies. He was compelled to defend and clarify his Trinitarian doctrines in response to several men in and around Geneva who either accused him of heresy or promoted their anti-Trinitarian views.1 Like Nicaea, the disputes were mainly

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focused on the issue of the “eternal generation of the Son,”2 and thus led Calvin to emphasize the unity of the Godhead in his ministry and writing.3 For Calvin, this was simply continuity with the pro-Nicene Fathers4 and their doctrine of inseparable operations.5 Nevertheless, in Calvin’s mind, the united work of the Trinity also included particular actions in the economy of salvation6 that could be distinctly appropriated to a particular person of the Godhead.7

Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in section 1.13.17 of Calvin’s Institutes: “Indeed, t...