In the Power of the Spirit: Sermons on Matthew, Mark & Luke

‘This book contains 18 sermons on the early chapters of the Gospels, preached by Calvin in the final years of his life. No previous English translation has appeared.

Calvin’s preaching style majors on application rather than exposition. He sees teaching as the priority in worship, defining this as the church’s beauty. But he insists that explanation of the text is subsidiary to laying hold of the meaning for our instruction and practice.

However, many of Calvin’s applications refer to popery. This makes the work as a whole useful for understanding the challenges faced at that time, but less directly relevant to the situations that we face today.

That said, however, there are applications with timeless relevance. For example, Calvin reminds us that, whatever difficulties we face, individually or as churches, God works in his own way, turning evil to even greater good.

Reviewing these sermons from a Baptist perspective, I found that Calvin’s explanations of baptism reflect many of the inconsistencies typical of paedo-baptist accounts.

I have just one quibble with the translation. A reference to the food which we need, namely Jesus’ body and blood, is followed by this sentence: ‘This is not food that we will find on earth; it will not benefit the imperishable life of our souls.’ The word ‘it’ is ambiguous. Grammatically, it appears to continue the train of thought begun by the word ‘this.’ However, that food not found on earth is most certainly spiritually beneficial. The intended reference is to food which is merely found on earth. I checked out the French original and discovered that two half-sentences have been omitted. Had they been translated, the ambiguity would have vanished.

Throughout the work, the translator, Robert White, has inserted useful and interesting footnotes. These are helpfully informative and clarificatory.

Jonathan Bayes

Stanton Lees, Derbyshire