This is Part Twelve of a special article on John Calvin written by Dr. Joel R. Beeke of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. Dr. Beeke also has an interesting web site on located at http://calvin500blog.org titled “The Calvin 500 Blog” “Fostering a healthy discussion for an international community about events, conferences, tours, reviews, studies, discussions, and developments related to the 2009 quincentenary of Calvin’s birth.” Dr. Beeke has given me permission to post his article here which I copied and pasted from his post at his web site. I hereby thank him for giving me this permission to post his article here and for his web site as a resource.
Conclusion on “Calvin on Piety”
Calvin strove to live the life of pietas himself—theologically, ecclesiastically, and practically. At the end of his Life of Calvin, Theodore Beza wrote, “Having been a spectator of his conduct for sixteen years,…I can now declare, that in him all men may see a most beautiful example of the Christian character, an example which it is as easy to slander as it is difficult to imitate.”
Calvin shows us the piety of a warm-hearted Reformed theologian who speaks from the heart. Having tasted the goodness and grace of God in Jesus Christ, he pursued piety by seeking to know and do God’s will every day. He communed with Christ; practiced repentance, self-denial, and cross-bearing; and was involved in vigorous social improvements. His theology worked itself out in heart-felt, Christ-centered piety.
For Calvin and the Reformers of sixteenth-century Europe, doctrine and prayer as well as faith and worship are integrally connected. For Calvin, the Reformation includes the reform of piety (pietas), or spirituality, as much as a reform of theology. The spirituality that had been cloistered behind monastery walls for centuries had broken down; medieval spirituality was reduced to a celibate, ascetic, and penitential devotion in the convent or monastery. But Calvin helped Christians understand piety in terms of living and acting every day according to God’s will (Rom. 12:1-2) in the midst of human society. Through Calvin’s influence, Protestant spirituality focused on how one lived the Christian life in the family, the fields, the workshop, and the marketplace. Calvin helped Protestants change the entire focus of the Christian life.
Calvin’s teaching, preaching, and catechizing fostered growth in the relationship between believers and God. Piety means experiencing sanctification as a divine work of renewal expressed in repentance and righteousness, which progresses through conflict and adversity in a Christ-like manner. In such piety, prayer and worship are central, both privately and in the community of believers.
The worship of God is always primary, for one’s relationship to God takes precedence over everything else. That worship, however, is expressed in how the believer lives his vocation and how he treats his neighbors, for one’s relationship with God is most concretely seen in the transformation of every human relationship. Faith and prayer, because they transform every believer, cannot be hidden. Ultimately, therefore, they must transform the church, the community, and the world.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 