Calvin. History and Reception of a Reformation Week 3. Calvin's Ethics Sequence 4. The Sanctifier's Command (discussion of Max Weber's theory) We've already seen two aspects of Calvin's ethics. The first is humanist, centered on the Creator and on the Creator's will for mankind as a whole. It is manifested first through one's conscience, then through the political sphere, and is centered around the notion of justice, as epitomized in particular by the Golden Rule and
the second tablet of the Decalogue. Calvin's second ethic is based on Christ the Redeemer, and concerns both Israel and the Christian community. In it are manifested a profound critique of traditional ethics and of the ideals of self-perfection that one creates for oneself, which are ultimately found to have no worth before God. It is also characterized by a new relationship with the Law. The Law, which is sealed by the covenant, is not merely a collection of standards and prohibitions; rather, it manifests itself, above all, by the will to remain in a relationship with God.
It is a testimony to the covenant. It constitutes the condition for people to remain in a state of freedom. The problem is that the covenant confronts us with an impossibility: the impossibility for one to carry out in one's life what one knows to be true. One wants to live, but is unable to. Thus the entire biblical story "runs on empty," so to speak, because the Law, having just been sealed by the covenant, is immediately betrayed by those who have committed to following it,
yet are incapable of doing so. Hence the Hebrew Prophets' hope for a new covenant. A new covenant is precisely what Jeremiah speaks of when he reports God's intention to "put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:31-32). In Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel expressly hopes for the coming of a new covenant, one by which God will change the hearts of God's people, that is, transform their minds and their abilities. In Calvin's mind, there is no doubt: this new covenant becomes reality in Christ. What is new in the Christic covenant is not the Law itself or God's love for humanity. For Calvin, the Law as given to Moses reflects the same love and will of God -- God does not change God's mind. What is new is the fact that, henceforth, God's people will be able to carry out the Law because God has made him capable of doing so. For Calvin, this is a key aspect of Christian ethics. In this respect, he differs greatly from another influential reformer, Luther, who believed that the Christian, once he has accepted Christ
in his heart, no longer needs the Law, possessing in Christ a "gushing fountain" through which
God's will manifests itself organically, virtually unbeknownst to the believer. In Calvin's mind, the new covenant is not a way for God to cause love to flow through someone unconsciously. Rather, it is a renewal of one's faculties, such that one is now capable -- voluntarily
but through the agency of God nonetheless -- of living in this new relationship with the Law. Here is a quote from Calvin: "This transformation (which saint Paul calls the renewing of the mind, Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23),
though it is the first entrance to life, was unknown to all the philosophers." Life is not just human life according to the Creator's command, nor can it be reduced to the life of salvation, as embodied by the Redeemer. The true "entrance to life" begins when
we are able to live directly according to the Creator's will. Calvin continues: "They [the philosophers] give the government of man to reason alone, thinking that she
alone must be listened to; in short, they assign to her the sole direction of the conduct. But Christian philosophy bids her give place, and yield complete submission to the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit, which operates within one and renews one's faculties, is at the very heart of Calvin's ethics. Thus Calvin's ethics does not rely on human faculties, but on divine grace alone. In fact, "sola gratia" (by grace alone), alongside "sola fide" (by faith alone) and "sola
scriptura" (Scripture alone), is the third great principle (or motto) of the Reformation. Yet reliance on grace alone requires the use of human faculties, and in particular one's will to live according to the Law. Here we have an entirely specific ethical system, in which the purpose of life is for one to train oneself and make the required self-adjustments until one is able to will what God wills
(i.e., to want what God wants). This is possible only by relying on the agency of the Holy Spirit. The aim of this entire ethical system, according to Calvin, is to produce "harmony and agreement" between the human will and the divine will or, as the Latin text puts it, a "symmetry and consensus"
("symmetria et consensus") between one's will and one's obedience to God. This ethical system, then, assumes the need for a sort of training, or exercise regimen, in the Christian life. It also presupposes a new relationship with the Law. The Law remains one and the same -- it is the Law that one first hears in one's conscience, and it is the law which one perceives when one feels oneself being judged -- but now one hears and understands the Law differently, having entered into its true meaning, namely, what God expects of oneself. And henceforth, what one perceives in the Ten Commandments is no longer merely a series of prohibitions (on killing, stealing, etc.), but a whole new meaning. When God says "You shall not kill," one understands this to mean "Are you doing everything in your power so that your fellow man may live?" When he hears God say "You shall not steal," he hears this as "Are you doing everything in your power so that your fellow man may live acceptably?" In other words, what the Christian hears in God's Law is not simply a command to respect others' rights, but that he must manifest through his actions
his love for his fellow man. This new understanding even alters the Golden Rule, which enjoins one not to treat others in ways one would not like to be treated. With his new understanding of God's Law, the Christian now hears the Golden Rule as "do unto others as you would have done unto you." In other words, what she hears now is love. Calvin's ethical model has had a profound impact on Reformed societies. Though thoroughly religious at heart, it became, over time, very secular. Why? Because its vocation (in the original meaning of the word, that of God's "calling") is not for one to leave the world behind, for instance by retiring to a convent, but rather to put into practice the
divine ideals of justice and love in the society to which one belongs. First of all, in one's daily life: in one's family, in one's work, in the way one relates to the things one owns and to one's money. In 1905, Max Weber published "The Protestant Ethic and the 'Spirit' of Capitalism," in which he highlighted how Calvinist ethics altered the fabric and dynamics of economic life,
the very way in which man relates to the economy. Indeed, according to Calvin's ethic, the rich person has a duty, by virtue of the Creator's command, towards those less prosperous. But if one is a Christian, it is not only justice which one owes to the poor through the use of one's wealth, but love as well. How can one manifest this love? It might be tempting for one to get rid of his assets, since they represent a constant danger in terms of one's relationship with God. For Calvin, material possessions have a tendency to obscure the Creator who is behind them. In fact, getting rid of one's possessions is not the right answer. Why not? Because they can be useful to others. The rich person, as a result, develops a dual attitude towards his possessions: on the one hand, because he loves God, he wants to avoid being an idolater, he wants to make sure his possessions do not become an inappropriate source of fascination for him. So he spends as little as possible on himself. He adopts the attitude recommended by Calvin: to be "simple, sober and joyful," in the image of the original disciples. Thus, in the name of his love for God, the rich person must avoid, in Calvin's words, "wrapping himself in [wealth's] delights." On the other hand, the rich man is aware of being the recipient and the administrator of his possessions. He has a duty to ensure that his possessions are useful to others and thereby help others to find their own vocation. Calvin recommends, therefore, that the rich man not only give some of his possessions to the poor, but also that he find a way for the poor to become employed, a way by which they can
fulfill their calling. Thus it is clear why Max Weber saw an affinity between this ethic and the spirit of nascent capitalism. If someone spends nothing on oneself, one will accumulate capital. This capital is then invested so as to create jobs for others. This combination of capital accumulation and emphasis on job creation has had a huge impact, economically, on Reformed societies. Yet Max Weber was wrong on one crucial point. He failed to see that love -- love of God and love of fellow man -- was the foundation of Calvin's ethic, and not, as he claimed, the issue of double predestination, i.e., the rich man's concern with
making sure that his wealth was a sign of God's blessing. Calvin, indeed, was totally opposed to any form of blessing (or benediction) through money. For him, a person who receives money receives, above all, a responsibility: that of making sure that it will be used for the benefit of all. Thus Calvin's ethic had an enormous impact in terms of economics. In fact, it influenced virtually every area of society. For instance, the liberalization of lending at interest, which Calvin advocated, was motivated by similar concerns. Indeed, Calvin considered that lending at interest could be a very good thing or a very bad thing, depending on whether the loan is strictly between rich parties or from the rich to the poor. Calvin recommended that lending at interest be permitted for loans from rich to rich, but that no loan from rich to poor be allowed to carry interest, since such a loan
would constitute a "consumption loan" rather than a "production loan." We've seen, then, in the field of economics -- and the same could be said in many other fields, too -- that Calvin's ethical model seeks to actualize in human society the notions of justice and love. Thus the Golden Rule, in both its negative and positive formulations, entails for Reformed societies a responsibility -- on the part of the individual -- to ensure that the advantages,
resources and money that are his are put to use for the benefit of the community as a whole.
