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A Brief History of John Calvin

By Jeremy Myers
28 Comments

A Brief History of John Calvin

John Calvin
John Calvin was born in France in 1509 and was raised as a Roman Catholic. His father initially intended John to enter the priesthood, but realized later in life that there was more money to be made in law, and so in 1525, sent John to become a lawyer.

The Reformation

It was during this time that the ripple effects of Martin Lutherโ€™s 95 Theses (published in 1517) were beginning to be seen throughout all of Europe. In 1533 John Calvin experienced his conversion, and later that year, one of John Calvinโ€™s close friends, Nicolas Cop, publicly sided with the Reformers in calling for changes in the Roman Catholic Church. As a result, Cop was condemned by the Catholic Church as a heretic, and was forced to flee for his life. Calvin was also implicated in the condemnation and was also forced to go into hiding.

Publishing and Pastoring

In 1536, Calvin published his first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, which was initially intended to be a short explanation and defense of the teachings and ideas of the Reformers. The book went through numerous subsequent expansions over the course of John Calvinโ€™s life.

A short time later, during one of his travels, John Calvin traveled to Geneva, and a man there named William Farel convinced John to stay and help reform the church in Geneva. He agreed, and in 1537 he was selected to be a pastor of the church.

However, by the end of the year, the church council forced Calvin to resign his position and leave Geneva because he wanted to force church members to sign his doctrinal statement and articles of church organization (which few people wanted to do), and because he refused to serve communion with unleavened bread on Easter Sunday.

Calvin traveled to Strasbourg, which was a city of refuge for Reformed people, and over the course of the next three years, preached and taught in three different churches. He also worked on an updated version of the Institutes, and published his Commentary on Romans.

John CalvinDuring the time, the church in Geneva dwindled in size, and was facing pressure by the Roman Catholic Church to return to Catholicism. By way of response, the Genevan church called upon Calvin to write a letter in their defense, which he gladly did. They were so pleased with his letter, they asked him to return to Geneva and take up the pastoral position once again.

In 1541, Calvin returned to Geneva under the condition that the church accept and adopt his proposed reforms. They agreed. Calvin ministered in Geneva for the rest of his life, until he died in 1564. The first few years of his ministry were busy and productive. He preached an average of five sermons a week, and wrote numerous books, tracts, as a well as a set of commentaries on almost every book of the Bible.

Opposition in Geneva

However, his ministry in Geneva was not without opposition.

Not all agreed with Calvinโ€™s teaching and theology, and many accused Calvin of teaching false doctrine. From 1546 to 1553, Calvinโ€™s power and influence steadily waned. There were frequent attempts by both sides of the debate to undermine, arrest, and even kill members of the other party.

As one example, a man named Jacques Gruet was arrested and, under torture, confessed to writing an anonymous letter in opposition to the church leaders. Gruet was beheaded in July of 1547.

Eventually, the opposition to Calvin became so fierce, that in July of 1553, Calvin offered to resign his position a second time. His request was refused, because those who opposed him knew that an uprising and church split would likely occur if they accepted Calvinโ€™s resignation.

Michael Servetus – The Scapegoat Savior

One month later, in August of 1553, all of Calvinโ€™s fortunes changed when a man by the name of Michael Servetus arrived in Geneva. Servetus also was a Protestant Reformer, but had been condemned as a heretic by both Catholic and Protestant church leaders for his writings against the Trinity and infant baptism.

Though Calvin and Servetus had debated these issues by letter for many years, they had never met in person, yet when Servetus stopped in Geneva on his way to Italy, he was recognized and arrested. A trial ensued, in which Servetus was once again condemned as a heretic, and on October 27, 1553, was burned at the stake on top of a pile of his own books.

John Calvin – The Defender of Christianity

As a result of his involvement in the arrest, trial, and execution of Servetus, John Calvin was acclaimed across all of Europe as a defender of Christianity.

John CalvinOver the next two years, his power and fame grew as never before, and in 1555, all who had previously opposed John Calvin either fled Geneva or were rounded up and executed.

From 1555 until his death in 1564, Calvinโ€™s position, power, and reputation went almost completely uncontested. He did experience some controversy with Martin Luther over the issue of consubstantiation, but even this controversy with Martin Lutherโ€”the โ€œfatherโ€ of the Reformation itselfโ€”only solidified Calvinโ€™s position of prominence in the minds of many.

During these final years, he continued to write, preach, and teach, and he also founded several schools, including Calvin College (Collรจge Calvin) in Geneva, Switzerland in 1559.

In 1558, he finished his final edition of the Institutes, and he preached his last sermon on February 6, 1564, before dying on May 27, 1564.

After his death, Theodore Beza took over Calvinโ€™s position in Geneva and helped carry on his work and ideas.

This is obviously a very short and summarized history of John Calvin’s life. For those of you who have studied John Calvin, do you have anything to add? For those who didn’t know much about Calvin, what are your initial impressions from this brief account? Let us know in the comments below.

God is z Bible & Theology Topics: Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, John Calvin, Theology of Salvation

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Join the Bible and Theology Forums!

By Jeremy Myers
16 Comments

Join the Bible and Theology Forums!

bible and theology forum

I used to have a forum. It no longer exists.

God is z Bible & Theology Topics: Bible and Theology Questions, community, forum

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Why Did God Reject Cain’s Sacrifice?

By Jeremy Myers
17 Comments

Why Did God Reject Cain’s Sacrifice?

Yesterday we discussed why Cain attempted to make an offering to God in the first place. God had not yet commanded sacrifices and offerings, so why did Cain give one to God? In today’s post, we look at the question about why God rejected Cain’s sacrifice but accepted Abel’s.

cain abel sacrifice

Various Explanations for why God Rejected Cain’s Sacrifice

Some argue that the problem was with Cainโ€™s offering itself.

God wants blood, we are told, and Cain brought only fruit. Only death atones for sin. Yet nothing is said anywhere in the text about this being a sin offering. And besides, later in the Pentateuch when Moses gives instructions to the Israelites about the sacrificial system, fruit and grain offerings are said to be acceptable to God.

Others take this a step further and point that Abel brought the firstfruits from his flock (whether we understand this to mean the firstborn lamb or the first batch of milk) whereas Cain brought the last portion of his harvest.

But once again, this is not something which is explicitly stated in the text. Since the flood had not yet occurred, it is unlikely that there were seasons, and so fruit would have been produced all year long.

Finally, some argue that it wasn’t fruit from the last harvest of the year (for there was no such thing), but rather, the fruit of the ground, that is, fruit that had fallen off the tree and was lying on the ground, and therefore, not the best part of the harvest.

But again, this explanation is nowhere in the text, and must be read into what is there.

So why then did God accept Abelโ€™s offering but not Cainโ€™s?

God seems to explain why right in the text.

He tells Cain that if he does well, he will be accepted (Genesis 4:7).

We saw yesterday that Cain was trying to give God’s fruit back to Him. God is telling Cain now that acceptance is not dependent upon giving God His fruit back.

The problem with Cain, it appears, was that he was trying to please and appease God by giving God what he thought God wanted, namely, fruit. Cain was apparently trying to manipulate God by giving God back His fruit so that God would allowing Cain and his family back into the Garden of Eden.

By offering fruit to God, Cain was trying to the savior of his family.

Cain's sacrificeGod gently rebukes Cain and tells him he is already accepted and loved, that nothing is required. All God wants is for Cain to live well, to do what is right. If he doesnโ€™t do what is right, rather than being the savior of his family, Cain will fall into the same trap that his parents had fallen into, and will become prey to sin. In fact, God warns Cain that sin is already crouching at Cainโ€™s door, seeking to devour him.

The problem with Cain’s offering wasn’t with what Cain offered. The problem was with Cain’s heart in the offering.

Why then does God accept Abelโ€™s offering?

The text simply doesnโ€™t say. But it seems likely that if Cainโ€™s offering was not accepted because he was trying to please and appease God through an offering of fruit, then maybe Abelโ€™s offering was accepted because he had no ulterior motive. He was simply following his older brotherโ€™s example.

He saw Cain give fruit, and though, โ€œOh, is this how we thank God for what He has provided? Okay. I will give something too.โ€

For Abel, the offering of the firstfruits of his flock (which was probably the first batch of milk) was an act of worship to God and a way of saying โ€œThank you.โ€ He had no desire to control or manipulate God into doing something for him or for his family. This seems to be how his offering differed from Cainโ€™s, and therefore, why his offering was accepted while Cainโ€™s was not (cf. Heb 11:4).

And of course, we all know how the story ends. Cain, the one who wanted to save his family from their sins, ends up taking his family deeper into sin by becoming the first murderer of the human race. Despite Godโ€™s warning about sin seeking to rule over Cain, Cain becomes jealous of his brother Abel, and murders him (Genesis 4:8).

The Sacrificial System in the Bible

Genesis 4 nevertheless begins to lay the groundwork for why the sacrificial system developed and what God thought about it.

Nevertheless, when people give gifts, God is pleased to accept them if they are given with the right motive and intention. He does not want humans to give offerings in an attempt to manipulate or control Him into doing what humans want, or as a way of getting back into Godโ€™s good graces.

As God told Cain, we are already accepted. We donโ€™t need to do anything, other than live our life the way God desires. This is what God wants.

Of course, if we do end up giving something to God out of love and thanks to God for what He has given us, God is fine with accepting it, not because He needs or wants it, but because He recognizes such offerings as the acts of worship that they are.

God is z Bible & Theology Topics: abel, Bible Study, cain, Genesis 4, sacrifice, When God Pled Guilty

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Why Did Cain Offer a Sacrifice to God in Genesis 4?

By Jeremy Myers
22 Comments

Why Did Cain Offer a Sacrifice to God in Genesis 4?

offering of cain and abelThough some believe the first sacrifice in the Bible is found in Genesis 3:21, others say the first sacrifice in Scripture is one chapter later in Genesis 4 when Cain brings an offering of fruit and Abel brings the firstborn from his flock.

But just as people who view Genesis 3:21 as the first sacrifice read a lot of their theology into that verse, we also tend to read a lot of sacrificial and atonement theology into Genesis 4 which is not there. In so doing, we often miss what actually seems to be present in the text itself.

Why Did Cain Make an Offering to God?

Note first of all that nowhere in the text does God command or instruct people to bring sacrifices and offerings to Him. This practice seems to be Cainโ€™s idea.

Why would Cain do this?

Cain, we must remember, was raised with his parents telling him the story about how they disobeyed God and were barred from the Garden of Eden.

Cain knew that the reason his parents were disciplined by God was that they had eaten forbidden fruit. He also knew that when God had explained to Adam and Eve the consequences of their sin, God had told them that the Seed of the woman would set things right (Genesis 3:15). When Eve bore her firstborn son, she named Cain, and said, โ€œI have acquired a man from the Lordโ€ (Genesis 4:1).

From this it appears that Adam and Eve thought that Cain would be the one who would set things right and allow them to return to the Garden of Eden.

This is the story that Cain grew up with. This is the narrative that guided Cainโ€™s life.

So it is not surprising that as he grew older, Cain looked for ways to get his family back into the Garden. Genesis 4 says that he became a tiller of the ground (Genesis 4:2), and he brought an offering of fruit to the Lord (Genesis 4:3).

Why fruit? Not because God had asked for it. God hadnโ€™t asked for anything. Cain brought fruit because this is what his parents had taken from God.

In effect, Cain was trying to give God back His fruit.

Cain was trying to please and appease God, and hopefully, gain a way for himself and his family to reenter the Garden of Eden. He was trying to fulfill the expectations of his parents.

What about the Offering of Abel?

sacrifice of cain abel

The text goes on to say that Abel brought an offering also, but since he was a keeper of sheep, he brought โ€œthe firstborn of his flock and of their fatโ€ (Genesis 4:4).

We must be careful to not read sacrifice into this. The text does not say that Abel killed the firstborn of his flock. The text calls it an โ€œoffering,โ€ which does not necessarily imply a blood sacrifice.

People get the idea of sacrifice from the text because it says that Abel also offered the fat of his flock. How could he have done this if the animal had not been killed?

Some early Jewish and Christian scholars noted that the consonants of the Hebrew word for โ€œfatโ€ are the same as the Hebrew word for milk and curds (Heb., ch-l-v), and so they understood this text to be saying that Abel offered milk products up to the Lord. The Jewish historian Josephus is one such source, who wrote that โ€œCain brought the fruits of the earth, and of his husbandry; but Abel brought milk and the first-fruits of his flocksโ€ (Antiquities 1.2.1).

Some have also noted that the Hebrew word translated โ€œandโ€ could also be translated as โ€œthat is.โ€ When this is taken into consideration as well, Genesis 4:4 could be translated this way: โ€œAbel also brought the firstborn of his flock, that is, of their milk.โ€

Though some might consider such an interpretation to be far-fetched, we must ask ourselves why the text would refer to the โ€œfatโ€ of the flock if what God really wanted was blood. If it truly is blood sacrifice that God desires, and this is why God accepted Abelโ€™s sacrifice over Cainโ€™s, then wouldnโ€™t the text have been clearer if it has emphasized the blood of the flock instead of the fat?

Furthermore, since everybody at this time were vegetarians (cf. Genesis 9:1-4), it would make no sense for Abel to think of offering a dead animal to God. What reason could there be for God to want a dead animal?

Nevertheless, no matter how we understand the offering of Abel, the real question from Genesis 4 is why God accepted Abelโ€™s offering but rejected Cainโ€™s. We will look at this question tomorrow.

What do you think? Do you think Abel killed an animal and gave it to God? Other than tradition, why do you think so?

God is z Bible & Theology Topics: abel, Bible Study, cain, Genesis 4, offering, sacrifice, When God Pled Guilty

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Did God Perform the First Sacrifice in Genesis 3:21?

By Jeremy Myers
134 Comments

Did God Perform the First Sacrifice in Genesis 3:21?

first sacrifice Genesis 3 21

Many believe that the first sacrifice was carried out by God Himself in Genesis 3:21 which says that God made tunics of skin for Adam and Eve so that they could be clothed.

Did God Sacrifice an Animal in Genesis 3:21?

Although the text says nothing about a sacrifice, many believe that a sacrifice is implied.

It is often taught that after the first sin was committed, God wanted to show Adam and Eve that sin has consequences, and so He slew an animal in front of them, and made clothes for them from the hide of the dead animal.

Some have even speculated that the animal was a lamb, thereby presenting a prophetical picture of Jesus, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 5:6; 13:8).

Furthermore, some have argued that in this death of the animal, God was teaching Adam and Eve the theological principle of substitutionary atonement. He had told Adam that if they ate of the fruit they would surely die, and so after they ate of the fruit, God should have killed them, but instead He killed an animal in their place.

But Did God Really Perform the First Sacrifice?

But is any of this really true? Did God really practice the first animal sacrifice? Was it truly a lamb? Did God intend for Adam and Eve to learn about substitutionary atonement?

sacrifice genesis 3 21Frankly, this seems to be an awful lot to read into one single verse which says nothing other than that โ€œGod made tunics of skin, and clothed them.โ€

The death of an animal is never mentioned.

A lamb is never mentioned.

Substitutionary atonement isnโ€™t even inferred.

So where did God get the skin in which he clothed Adam and Eve?

The text simply doesnโ€™t say.

Maybe he made it.

The word for โ€œskinโ€ that is used can refer to either human or animal skin.

There have been some streams of Judaism and Christianity which believed that prior to the event described in Genesis 3:21, humans did not have โ€œskinโ€ the way we see it today, but existed in some other form. They believed that we were โ€œclothed in lightโ€ like God (Psalm 104:2) and that when Adam and Eve sinned, the light left them and they tried to replace the light with leaves (Genesis 3:7), which was an insufficient covering, and so God gave them skin instead.

This view is a little too mystical (or maybe even Gnostic) for most Christians, and yet it cannot be proven or disproven from the text any more than the traditional view that God killed an animal to make clothes for Adam and Eve.

Maybe it was snake skin.

snake skinIt is interesting to note, however, that one of the more common Jewish explanations of this text is that the skin which Adam and Eve were clothed with was snake skin. The Jewish Targum Pseudo-Jonathan says that the Lord made garments for Adam and Eve from the skin which the serpent in the garden had cast off. This seems pretty far-fetched if you have ever seen the papery skin shed by serpents.

A related view is that since God had said to the serpent, โ€œhe will crush your head and you will strike his heelโ€ (Genesis 3:15 NIV), that Adam had taken it upon himself to kill the serpent by crushing its head with his heel, and from the skin of the dead serpent God made clothes for Adam and Eve.

This sounds far-fetched, but it is just as speculative as every other view.

We simply don’t know where the skin came from, or what kind of skin it was.

The simple fact of the matter is that the text simply doesnโ€™t say how God made clothes for Adam and Eve. Therefore, we tread on dangerous ground if we claim that Genesis 3:21 contains the first sacrifice in Scripture, for it says nothing of the sort. All it says is that God gave them skin to wear.

We read substitutionary atonement and the sacrificial system into Genesis 3:21 at our own theological peril.

God is z Bible & Theology Topics: Bible and Theology Questions, Bible Study, Genesis 3:21, sacrfiice, substitutionary atonement, When God Pled Guilty

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