1536–1559

Calvin: the marks of the true Church and its order

Calvin cites Cyprian's maxims: "he cannot have God for his Father who does not have the Church for his mother," and outside the Church there is no hope of salvation. Strictly speaking, the true universal Church is the invisible one, made up of all the elect, living and dead; but the visible Church, where wheat and tares are mixed, is its necessary expression, "the mother of believers," and must not be abandoned. The marks of the true Church are the pure preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them; the personal holiness of members, contrary to the Anabaptists, is not a mark. The Roman church is not a true church, since it has departed from the preaching of the Word, and true apostolicity lies in preaching the apostles' teaching, not in ordination; yet "traces" of the Church remain in it. Unlike Luther, Calvin held that Scripture prescribes a specific order of ministries: pastor, teacher, elder, deacon.