In Calvin’s commentary on Isaiah 6:6, 7, he understands Isaiah receiving of the coal upon his lips with sacramental implications as did Andrewes. There are both similarities and differences between the two of them. The question that Andrewes addressed was how Isaiah’s lips were made clean. That is the question for both Calvin and Andrewes in this passage. Both writers acknowledge that Isaiah’s lips were impure. For Calvin the sign is given to aid the understanding of God’s grace to the individual recipient.51 The coal for Calvin did not possess any virtue, as what he
50 Francis Clark, Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Reformation, (London: Darton, Longman &
Todd LTD,1960) 147.
51 Calvin, Isaiah, 7-8 : Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House 1979), 210. CO: III. Commentari in Jesaiam Prophetam, 42. Atque hic est
sacramentorum usus, ut not pro radiate nostra confirment; neque enim sumus Angeli, qui mysteria Dei sine ullis adminiculis contemplemur: ideoque paulatim quasi vehiculus nos ad se attollit.
would term magical arts or superstitions. Calvin is very concerned that he ascribes to God alone the power to cleanse and this is not to be given to another. This guarding of God’s perfect power is Calvin’s framework for discussing his instrumentality of the coal in this passage and it is what keeps him cautious from going further than ‘symbolic instrumentalism’ when discussing the instrumentality of the Eucharistic efficacy. The visible sign in Calvin’s theology is ‘useful for the confirmation of proof of the fact’ of God’s cleansing. This, for Calvin, is the ‘use’ of the sacraments; ‘to strengthen us in proportion to our ignorance; for we are not angels, that can behold the mysteries of God without any assistance, and therefore he raises us to himself by gradual advances.’52
Calvin’s ‘symbolic instrumentalism’ is not without effect. His position is not a bare memorialism such as what is found within Zwingli’s theology of ‘sacramental memorialism’. Calvin does believe that the sign is given with effect at the same time that it is received and it is for the purpose of ‘confirming’ to Isaiah that he had not been deceived.53 For Calvin, the res is given along with the sign ‘for when the Lord holds out a sacrament, he does not feed our eyes with an empty and unmeaning figure, but joins the truth with it, so as to testify that by means of them he acts upon us
efficaciously.’54
Now, this comes very close to Andrewes’ explanation of signum and res but there is a clear distinction between the two writers. It must be remembered that the efficacy of the sign for Calvin is for the purpose of our ignorance, as stated above, and for Andrewes, it is for the forgiveness of sins as noted above. That said Calvin is also careful to make sure that the sign and the thing signified are distinct but never separated. Concerning the application of Eucharistic efficacy Calvin writes,
52 Calvin, Isaiah, 211.
53 Calvin, Isaiah, 211. CO: III, 42. Ostendit confirmationem quae signo allata est, inanem non fuisse, sed rem quae significabatur simul præstitam, ut se minime delusum esse sentiret Jesaias.
54
Calvin, Isaiah, 211. CO: III. 42. nec inem Dominus sacramentum porrigens, fascit oculos nuda & inani figura, sed veritatem ipsam conjungit, ut efficaciter in nobis per ea se agere testetur.
We perceive and feel a sign, such as the bread which is put into our hands by the minister in the Lord’s Supper; and because we ought to seek Christ in heaven, our thoughts ought to be carried thither. By the hand of the minister he presents to us his body, that it may be actually enjoyed by the godly, who rise by faith to fellowship with him. He bestows it, therefore, on the godly, who raise their thoughts to him by faith; for he cannot deceive.55
What immediately follows from Calvin’s explanation here is his qualification of the signum and res as they relate to the unbeliever. This is another difference between Calvin and Andrewes.56 What Calvin believes concerning presence within the elements is that Christ only makes himself present to the faithful. Christ is not objectively present within the elements and therefore the unbeliever receives only a sign.57 Since the unbeliever cannot raise his thoughts to Christ in heaven, he is not able to partake of Christ. For Calvin, it is faith alone that opens the gate of the kingdom of heaven and the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Therefore, ‘whoever wishes to eat the flesh of Christ must be carried by faith to heaven beyond human conception. In short, it is the Spirit of God alone who can make us partakers of that fellowship.’58
Immediately, Calvin realises that his position here will call into
question the truth of the sacramental character by its efficacious dependency upon the faith of the recipient. Calvin explains this by telling us that the sacrament is a spiritual matter and since wicked men treat it with scorn, they cannot receive Christ though he is offered to them. Andrewes would say that they do objectively receive Christ though they do so to their judgment.59
55 Calvin, Isaiah, 211. CO: III. 42. Signum enim conspicimus & sentimus, veluti panem qui nobis à ministro porrigitur in Cœna; jam quia Christus in cælo quærendus est, eo quoque mens nostra attolli debet. Corpus tamen suum porrigit(ministry: fix this) manu, ut vere eo fruantur pii, qui fide sursum ad ejus societatem adspirant. Ipsum igitur præstat piis, qui fide ad ipsum mentes erigunt; nec enim falsus esse potest.
56 See Chapter 3 on Andrewes’ theology of presence.
57 Calvin, Isaiah, 211. CO: III, 42. Cæterum infidelis signum quidem percipient: sed quia manent in mundo, neque ad regnum cæleste Christi, pertingunt, expertes sunt veritatis. Cui enim deest fides, is mentem attollere ad Deum nequit, ideoque nec Christi particeps esse potest.
58 Calvin, Isaiah, 211. CO: III, 42. Denique solus Dei Spiritus nose jus communionis particeps reddere potest.
59
Finally, we come to learn of Calvin’s chief part of the sacrament. For him, it is the word. The word and the sacrament cannot be separated. Doctrine concerning the sacrament is necessary for its efficacy as well as the faith of the recipient. Calvin writes,
Let us therefore learn that the chief part of the sacraments consists in the word, and that without it they are absolute corruptions, such as we see every day in popery, in which the sacraments are turned into stage-plays. The amount of the whole is, that there is nothing to prevent Isaiah, who has been perfectly cleansed, and is free from pollution, from appearing as God’s representative.60
I now give attention to Andrewes’ explanation of the identical passage from Isaiah where the justification for the differences stated is more fully substantiated.