A tribute to the Titan who shaped Reformation. Happy Reformation Day – October 31, 2025!
Knowledge of the Glory of God: Preparation for a Great Calling
When God calls a man for His true ministry, he prepares the man by imparting two specific kinds of knowledge. This is the knowledge of self and knowledge of God. The man begins to realize depth of his sinfulness, and simultaneously the greatness of God’s glory. We see this pattern repeated throughout the history of God’s interaction with His servants. When God calls someone to a momentous task, He first unveils the splendor of His glorious nature.
Consider Abraham. When God called him, He manifested himself as the Almighty God, El Shaddai.” God called Moses for a monumental work. Moses had to go against a mighty empire—a single man against a great power. The preparation God gave Moses was a profound revelation of His own Sovereign, Self Existent Eternal glory, by declaring His name as “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Whatever pressures and opposition Moses would face, this revelation of God’s nature was all the preparation he needed. Likewise, when Isaiah went to the temple, he saw God’s throne and witnessed the sheer glory of God’s burning holiness and majesty. In that moment, he realized how profoundly sinful he was. God then asked, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah was enabled was respond “Here am I, Send me,” after this awesome experience.
Similarly, we see this with the apostles, specifically the calling of Peter. After a miraculous catch of fish, Peter recognized the divine power and holiness of Christ’s glory and cried out, “Depart from me Lord, I am a sinful man.” Then the calling comes, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” After Jesus’ resurrection, He continued to reveal His glory to the apostles before commissioning apostles to evangelize the world. So it is clear that when God sends a person for a great work, they first witness a revelation of His glory.
Zeal for God’s Glory
The vision of absolute glory of the being of God and the depth of human depravity is a great preparation for ministry. If we examine history, the people who lived the most meaningful and fruitful lives for God were those who had a burning heart for the sake of His glory. If we desire to accomplish anything meaningful and lasting for God’s kingdom, we must first possess an all-consuming zeal for His glory. A heart that burns hot for God’s glory is more important than anything else.
If our church and our ministry are to have any meaningful lasting impact on our generation our moto should be “For from him and through him and to him are all things.” Romans 11:36. The core mission of churches, ministries, and pastors transcends meeting mere human needs; their ultimate aim is the glory of God. This sublime motive alone can lift the human spirit above the fear of men or love of applause and popularity (vainglory) and enable them to overcome all forms of self-focus (self-pity, self-satisfaction, self-aggrandizement, self amibition or egotism). This motive ignites the soul with the fiery resolve of a cherubim to pursue deeds that are worthy of His glory even at great personal costs.
John Calvin: A Man consumed with Glory of God
Today, I want to talk about a man who is most ignored, and many today ignorantly even hate him, but he was powerfully used by God. Not only the church but the entire world is indebted to this man – a fact many people don’t fully realize. This man lived with a burning heart for the glory of God. His ministry serves as a shining example of true Christian service. This important man’s name is John Calvin.
This man’s service to God’s glory stands uniquely alone and is more than the services of hundreds of giants of faith put together. It is difficult to summarize his life in a single message because of his impact, not just on the church, but on modern history, civilization, world’s economic situation, global politics, and education. Everything changed because of him.
Philip Vollmer called Calvin “man of the millennium,” asserting that in the last thousand years, John Calvin was the best and the man who most profoundly affected history. Among philosophers, John Calvin is considered the best. Next to the Apostle Paul, we could state Calvin did the greatest good for mankind. The great preacher C.H. Spurgeon once said “Among all those who have been born of women, there has not risen a greater than John Calvin; no age, before him ever produced his equal, and no age afterwards has seen his rival.”
Calvin took a stand against the Roman Catholic Church in the Protestant Reformation. His primary issue was not with minor practices but with the fact that the Roman Catholic system had obscured the glory of God. This was unbearable to Calvin. He fought because they had sullied the great glory of His God.
How did they ruin it?
- When Jesus Christ alone was to be glorified as only mediator, they introduced Mary and other saints, dividing the glory that belongs exclusively to Him.
- When Jesus Christ was the only acceptable object of worship as the mediator, and no other name was needed, they introduced practices that forced the worship of the saints, placing them between man and God’s glory.
- When Jesus Christ was the single sacrifice given once for all, the Roman Catholic Church would keep a table in its churches and offer a sacrifice every week, thereby undermining the completeness and finality of Christ’s single sacrifice.
- He fought because they gave authority to the Pope, an authority above the Bible.
In summary, why did he stand against Roman Catholic church and their practices? Because of the glory of God.
Calvin was once asked in essence “Why are there so many divisions? Why is Christian world in a mess?” His answer: “Because fallen humans do not appreciate the glory of God.” Their failure to appreciate God’s glory leads to all sins, divisions, problems and ultimate moral downgrade (Romans 1:18-32). For Calvin, the Reformation was about restoring the glory of God that the Roman Catholic Church had obscured.
The Masterpiece of a God-Glorifying Life
When John Calvin was in his twenties, he imagined himself standing before the judgment seat. He wrote, “God, I am going to live my whole life. My only goal, my effort, my desire is to live, to function, to do, to rise—everything for Your glory.” He stated that he wanted his life to be sacrificed entirely for God’s glory. That was the singular purpose of his life, for which he felt accountable. A month before he died, he wrote, affirming that everything he wrote, spoke, and worked for was to be for the glory of God.
The Ministry of John Calvin
While I am going to list few extraordinary accomplishments and legacy this man, the reason I share all this is not in a spirit of hero worship or to glorify a man, but to demonstrate what a heart zealous for the glory of God can achieve. The motive that transformed this man can transform us. If we are similarly immersed in the glory of God, our ministry, our lives—everything will change.
His ministry is vast and cannot be confined to simple statistics. Let us look at it quickly in few stages. John Calvin started his ministry in Geneva.
1. Setting the Theological Standard
First and foremost, John Calvin set a theological standard for all subsequent generations. His great ministry was to dig deep into the Bible, to unearth all the truths within it, and to expound upon them.
John Calvin’s ministry was a purely Biblical ministry. He spoke only about what the Bible says and remained silent where the Bible is silent. His teaching is so inseparable from the Bible’s teaching that many who have examined his teachings strongly agree the highest, purest, and the most accurate reflection of Biblical teaching is Calvinism—a theology he architected. He is called the Architect of Reformed Theology.
We know of Martin Luther, who started the Reformation twenty-five years before Calvin. Luther was a volcanic man who issued sermons and theses in many directions without defined structure. However, it was John Calvin who gave the Reformation theology a proper body and logical structure. If the message of a movement lacks a logical structure and content, it will not last long. The one who provided that was John Calvin. Theologian Martin Lloyd-Jones once stated that without John Calvin, the Protestant movement would have died in the 16th century.
Calvin’s writings include the profoundly important book, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. This book articulated the faith of the Protestants and their true teaching after they emerged from the Roman Catholic Church. In The Institutes, Calvin systematically laid out the Christian life and truth, providing over 3,000 references.
Calvin wrote the first edition of this book to combat the persecution of Protestants in France. The Roman Catholic Church and the government, under King Francis, were killing those who opposed them, claiming the Protestants were introducing new teachings. Calvin’s response, beautifully written in the Institutes in essence stated: “It is not we who have brought new teachings; it is you. We are standing on the shoulders of the apostles and prophets, seeking only to revive their teaching.” He provided extensive biblical and historical quotations to prove their faithfulness to the early church. After the publication of this work, the killing in France began to stop.
Calvin revised the Institutes repeatedly, creating five editions. It is the finest book of the Reformation, a Masterpiece and a Magnum Opus.
2. Bible Commentaries
Secondly, Calvin wrote an unprecedented number of Bible Commentaries. No single person has ever written so many commentaries on the whole Bible—45 volumes, each approximately 400 pages long. He wrote commentaries on every book of the New Testament except for 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation. and every book of the Old Testament except those written by Solomon.
Spurgeon asserted that “for the past thousand years, there was no greater genius than John Calvin, who could so clearly take the Bible, grasp its meaning, and explain what it says. He is known as The Exegete. His commentaries are considered so valuable they are often described as being “worth their weight in gold.”
3. Pulpit Ministry: Expository Preaching
A third aspect of his work was his pulpit ministry. From Geneva, he delivered over 4,000 sermons—each one thoroughly prepared. He is the father of expository preaching—teaching the Bible systematically, verse by verse.
Why did he insist on teaching the Bible properly verse by verse with context and not cherry pick? Because the glory of God in his age had been lost, darkness and ignorance had prevailed by twisting and plucking scriptures out of context. Calvin taught that God’s glory is supremely revealed in the Bible in its contextual meaning. He believed that to bring light and reveal glory of the God of the Bible, one must properly teach the Bible in its entire context.
His commitment to this principle was remarkable. When he was exiled from Geneva for three years, he was eventually asked to return. Upon his return, the people were curious to know where he would begin his preaching. He simply continued precisely where he had left off three years prior, picking up at Acts 7:27. This shows a profound dedication to proper Biblical expository teaching.
In summary, John Calvin’s ministry established theological standards for the world that had been obscured by darkness. He also wrote letters all over the world and maintained connections with many pastors, providing guidance and teaching truth. In addition to his 4,000 sermons, he wrote numerous tracts, articles, catechisms, confessions of faith, and letters, all stemming from a heart immersed in the glory of God.
The New Christian Worldview
Calvin’s ministry taught a new Christian worldview. His teaching was not merely academic; it was intended to be applied by every person in every facet of life.
The world progressed after the Reformation largely because of Calvin’s teaching. His core principle was the glory of God: “Whatever you do, whatever you desire to do, you must do it with the glory of God in mind.” He taught that when one works with the ultimate purpose of glorifying God, that work is blessed by God.
Let us look at five areas where John Calvin’s teaching transformed the world:
1. Reformed Christian Work Ethic
Calvin taught the Reformed Christian Work Ethic, fundamentally changing the Christian perspective on work. Before Calvin, only the work of a pastor or priest was widely regarded as a sacred calling.
Calvin taught, based on the Bible, that whether you are a pastor, a policeman, a painter, or even a road sweeper, whatever job you do is a vocation—a calling from God. He declared that even the smallest task is a sacred duty that must be performed with that conviction.
This teaching brought about a major change during the Reformation. It ennobled the work of all people, lifting every occupation to an elevated position. The people of Geneva began to see their work—even ordinary labor—as equal in value and sacredness to the pastor’s work because it was a calling from God.
This change led to a widespread concept of the dignity of work. Calvin taught that every day’s work must be done with the awareness that you will account to God for it on Judgment Day. This was a radical departure from the low productivity, laziness, and lack of progress prevalent in many societies in the Middle Ages at that time.
Calvin’s view instilled hard work and diligence, based on the belief that “Whatever I do, I must do it wholeheartedly; I do it for God.” He taught that you must give an account for every minute spent at work! The result was products that came out of such men had the highest quality. Even today, Genevan watches are famous for their high quality and precision, and the workers felt a divine obligation to produce an excellent product for God’s glory. It started with a culture that believed every watch they produce will be tested by God on Judgement Day! The principle was: “In the work I do, I can manifest the glory of God by doing it excellently.” This change in work ethic was a major reason for the progress of several developed nations.
Calvin’s teaching profoundly affected the business world, leading to growth in trade and profit, fair wages for employees, respect for good work, and advancements in business models.
2. Public Education
Calvin championed education. In those days, schools were primarily for priests, with few or no public schools. John Calvin is considered the father of public education. He started the Genevan Academy in the 15th century, establishing a school for the public and a separate one for pastors.
He initiated this change because he knew that the Roman Catholic system had often restricted public access to education, especially Bible study. The college he founded produced great leaders who had an unimaginable impact across the world.
3. Law and Order
Calvin also worked to bring law and order to society. He used the Ten Commandments not only as a code for believers’ lives but also as a standard to control evil in the society and establish civil justice. In a society marked by injustice and darkness, the Ten Commandments provided a standard for defining right and wrong, and for determining appropriate punishment.
4. Democratic Government
John Calvin’s teaching significantly influenced the government model. Do you know it was Calvin who planted the seeds for a democratic form of government? Drawing from 1 Samuel, where the Israelites wrongly sought a king like other nations and consequent results of Saul’s sad reign and the decline of the nation, Calvin warned about the dangers of giving all power to a single man. He emphasized how this system could ruin individual freedom and harm the nation.
He proposed the idea of a government with multiple branches—a decentralized system—to prevent the concentration of power. This idea greatly contributed to the development of democratic thought. This concept of plurality of leaders and checks and balances was instrumental in shaping modern governance, and it is a key reason why many nations today operate under democratic rule.
The combined effect of a new work ethic, public education, law and order, and governmental ideas meant that wherever Calvinism was taught, there emerged order, cleanliness, intelligence, education, progress, and unity. These are the countries that stand as developed nations today. John Calvin is thus hailed as a Father of Modern Revolution; his teachings are the root cause of many nations’ development. In contrast, wherever his teachings were rejected and the Roman Catholic system prevailed without reform, ignorance, darkness, sloth, injustice, superstition and poverty often continued.
5. Contribution to Church.
Calvin’s impact on the church was equally profound. He founded the first Reformed Church in Geneva, establishing the principle of Sola Scriptura—that everything must be based on the Scriptures. He taught that the preaching of the Word must be the pride of the church. He physically moved the pulpit to the center of the church building, symbolizing that the Word of God must rule, rather than the mass table or priestcraft. In France alone, over 2,000 Reformed churches were established by 1562.
International Influence and Legacy: The Spread of Calvinism
Calvin’s international influence was astonishing. Geneva became a refuge for those persecuted for their faith. People from France, Scotland, and Europe came to Geneva to learn from him. They took his teachings back to their home countries, spreading the principles of Sola Scriptura and the doctrines of grace. The college he established sent thousands of leaders all over the world, and his writings were translated and printed in many languages.
This created a new kind of believer in the world: the Calvinist—a person whose heart burns above all else for the glory of God.
Here is a sample list of this man’s legacy.
- Confessions that establish core truths for coming generations: In Holland, the Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dort (1618) were established basis Calvin’s theology. The Westminster Standards, in England, the Westminster Confession of Faith and the 1689 London Baptist Confession—all derived from Calvin’s teaching—were written by scholars who were his spiritual children.
- Churches and movements: The Huguenots, Covenanters, Presbyterianism, the Dutch Reformed Church born out of his teachings.
- In America, the First Great Awakening, led by Calvinists like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, was one of the greatest and most beneficial movements of Calvinism in the world.
- Colleges: Princeton Theological Seminary USA, Harvard University, Westminster Theological Seminary, USA, Yale University, Calvin University were all founded to spread Calvinism.
- His spiritual descendants
- John Knox fled to Geneva, learned from Calvin direclty, returned to Scotland, and led a reformation that abolished Roman Catholicism and led to the Parliament accepting Reformed Christianity.
- The Puritans—including great figures like John Bunyan, Matthew Henry, John Flavel, William Perkins, Thomas Goodwin, Richard Baxter, Stephen Charnock, John Owen, Thomas Watson, Spurgeon and many others—created the richest literature in Christian history; all Calvin’s children!
- The Puritans in the 17th century were the original founders of America with Calvinist principles. We see the result today, a country that became a superpower in the shortest period of 300 years, an unprecedented national progress. No wonder, the American historian George Bancroft famously called John Calvin the “father of America.” He went on to state: “He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty.”
- Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan, drafted the first Constitution for the modern state of Britain, influenced by Calvinist thought. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and the Drafting Committee borrowed several key features from the British Constitution (often referred to as the ‘Westminster Model’) to draft the Indian Constitution. O Indian, do you see how much we owe to this man called Calvin!
The Impact on Missions: William Carey
Calvinism also birthed the modern missionary movement. William Carey, the “Father of Modern Missions,” read the diary of fellow Calvinist David Brainerd. Believing in the Calvinistic doctrine of God’s unconditional election—that God has chosen people in all nations and languages who will one day hear His call—though born and raised in England, Carey went to India. He ministered for several years without a single convert, yet he persevered, faithfully translating the Bible into more than 40 languages and dialects of the Indian subcontinent.
Let me list few contributions of Carey to our country: Ended the barbaric practices like the sati (widow burning) and female infanticide, established the first schools for women in India, humane treatment of leprosy patients, introduced the concept of the newspaper, savings bank account, founding Serampore College, India’s first degree-awarding university, founding Agri-Horticultural Society of India (1820) to promote scientific agriculture, etc.
It was Calvin’s teaching that produced a man like Carey and his influence in our land. All this work was rooted in the resolute, God-centered theology taught by John Calvin. Indians, again, do we see how much we owe to Calvin?
I can go on with other names, but if you take any great man who has left a lasting mark in the church history, served God sacrificially with high motives with one or two exceptions, I bet he will always be a Calvinist!
The Calvinist stream of thought is the source of many current ministries, including millions of Presbyterian churches, Reformed Baptist churches, and countless influential seminaries and colleges. Even today, leading preachers such as the late J.I. Packer, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John MacArthur, and R.C. Sproul, D.A. Carson, Sinclair Ferguson, Paul Washer, Mark Dever, and John Piper and others stand in this tradition.
Historical downgrade
In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, Christianity was strong because of its focus on the glory of God. A tragedy occurred in the 19th century along with the Methodist movement and figures like Charles Finney began to place primary importance on the will of man and felt human needs over God’s glory. Spurgeon foresaw and warned about this downgrade. The downgrade began with a subtle shift in focus from God’s absolute sovereignty in salvation (Calvinism) to man’s free will and ability to choose or reject grace (Arminianism), a transition that increasingly placed human decision at the center of the gospel message. This resulted in an emphasis on easy “decisions for Christ” and emotional appeals, replacing the depth of preaching focused on divine power and glory.
This further downgraded to an emphasis where feelings and experiences started determining truth as against knowledge of accurate objective truth leading to right experiences. Truth became subservient to sentiment, theology capitulated to psychology, where feelings and ecstatic experiences—rather than rigorous knowledge of the Bible—became the ultimate measure of truth and the validator of one’s faith.
This contributed to the rise of movements like Pentecostalism after 1940. This change created a demand for a less sovereign, more “friendly” God—a God who would adjust to human sin and felt needs, rather than being a great, awesome absolute holy God.
The consequence of this theological environment has been the proliferation of a weak, self-obsessed, worldly prosperity based, corrupt, and ultimately ineffective form of Christianity. The resulting character of believers in our country is troubling: despite constituting only 2.3% of the population (according to the last census), the community is regularly associated with financial or moral scandals among its leaders to the great dishonor of Christ’s name and to the glee and mocking of the gentile world.
Beyond leadership failures, many ordinary Christians appear to be biblically illiterate, mentally complacent, and theologically shallow, leaving them vulnerable and easily “tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). Consequently, their spiritual lives are often marked by inconsistency, weakness, moral compromise and corruption.
Considering the profound, marvelous work of the 16th-century Reformation—which gave the Church thinkers like John Calvin and restored a high, God-glorifying view of Scripture—one wonders if Christianity in our country has regressed to a “Dark Ages” level of theological and moral confusion. This poor outcome stands in stark contrast to the profound and lasting impact on nations and churches forged by the robust, God-glorifying worldview of Calvinism.
The Minimal Awareness and Misunderstanding of Calvinism today
It is tragic there is either minimal awareness or outright antagonism toward the teachings of John Calvin and Reformed theology within significant portions of contemporary Christianity. This opposition is notably sharp among some prominent Arminian and Pentecostal teachers and mega-church leaders.
These groups have often constructed their theology and ministry models by exalting man’s free will against God’s sovereign will, an emphasis that logically places the power to save primarily in the hands of the individual. Consequently, since this theological framework hinges on empowering the human element in ministry, many of its proponents express overt hostility toward Calvin’s doctrines.
They particularly detest Calvin’s man-humbling and God-glorifying doctrines of Unconditional Election, Total Depravity, and God’s Sovereignty in Salvation. To maintain their theological and ministerial authority, these leaders often wrongly portray these Reformed doctrines as unbiblical to their audience, which is often naïve, biblically illiterate, and less theologically informed. This strategic misrepresentation allows them to retain a degree of spiritual control or manipulative power over people, whose salvation is continually presented as dependent on their own decisive, uncoerced choice. Furthermore, for those in Pentecostalism, a strong emphasis on immediate Free Will and spiritual Experience often leads them to view Calvinism as overly limiting, systematic, and academic.
India needs Reformation!
Finally, as we face the 508th Reformation Anniversary day, I feel the most important need for our nation, India, is for more Calvinists—individuals whose hearts burn for the glory of God, believing that His glory is paramount above all else. Our church, being a Reformed Church, stands in this tradition. Though we are a small, growing group, we persevere with hope and prayer. We believe this generation, disillusioned by man-centered theology, will one day reform and return to the God of John Calvin.
Heaven is not a place that celebrates the extraordinary performances of human free will; rather, the works of God’s sovereign grace in the lives of utterly depraved people. The eternal chorus of heaven is “worthy is the Lamb who was slain who redeemed us to God by his blood” (Rev 5:9), not ‘worthy is me’! This is exactly what Calvin taught in his 5 points: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Definite atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of saints. The doctrines of TULIP alone secures eternal Soli Deo Gloria!
By Pastor Murali
Acknowledgements and Sources:
- “John Calvin: Man of the Millennium. Biography By Philip Vollmer
- A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the Shaping of Western Culture by Alister E. McGrath
- The Constructive Revolutionary: John Calvin and His Socio-Economic Impact by Fred Graham
- Several reliable online research articles and sermons.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 