1523–1559

Reformed teaching on church and magistrate: Zwingli, Bucer, Calvin, Erastus

For Zwingli the Church in the strict sense is the assembly of the elect, invisible until the last day, while the visible church of those who confess Christ is its temporary sign; discipline belongs to the local congregation. Church and state express a single divine will, and the practice of government in Zurich was close to theocracy. Bucer held that converted rulers must serve God: the preacher preaches the Word, the magistrate governs according to it. Calvin distinguished spiritual and political jurisdictions, rejected the Anabaptist view that the state is impure, and taught that private persons must not resist bad rulers, but lesser magistrates are bound to call a tyrant to account, and God must be obeyed rather than men. Erastus, by contrast, denied the church the power of excommunication.