Wolterstorff on Calvin and the poor

Hoisted from the comments – er, comment (thanks, Mom) - following my last post on Wolterstorff:

Is therefore Calvinism not only reformation of the church, but also the social order, by nature and natural outpouring of the church’s reform?

In Wolterstorff’s fourth chapter he devotes some space to answering this question – or rather, to allowing Calvin and later Calvinists to answer.  In this post I will review the responses from Calvin.

From Until Justice and Peace Embrace, Chapter 4, beginning on p. 78:

Fundamental to Calvin’s reflections on poverty was his conviction that every human being has been made in the image of God… It is this fact… rather than the fact that we each have some sort of inherent dignity – that is fundamental in determining what our attitude toward each other ought to be.  ‘We are not to consider what men deserve of themselves but to look upon the image of God in all men, to which we owe all honor and love,’ Calvin declares.[1]  ‘God Himself, looking on men as formed in His own image, regards them with such love and honor that He Himself feels wounded and outraged in the persons of those who are the victims of human cruelty and wickedness.’[2]

…The fact that we are all created in the image of God determines the ‘order of nature’ according to which society should be structured.  Unless we live in peace and concord with one another, unless we render assistance to one another, we pervert this order of nature.  This is the basis of our duty to love:  ‘To love one another is to act with humanity in recognition of our common humanity.’[3]…

What follows from this for society is what Calvin sometimes calls ‘mutual communication’:  each is to contribute what he or she can to the enrichment of the common life.  ‘It is not enough when a man can say, “Oh, I labor, I have my craft,” or “I have my trade.”  That is not enough.  But we must see whether it is good and profitable for the common good, and whether his neighbors may fare the better of it.’[4]  Calvin regards both the exchange of goods and the division of labor as concrete manifestations of this mutual communication.  But it is not true communication if exchange is conducted in violation of the order of nature.  If some are poor and others are wealthy, then it is not in fact an exchange of good offices:  ’since God has united men in the bonds of mutual society, hence they must mutually perform good offices for each other.  Here, then, it is required of the rich to succour the poor, and to offer bread to the hungry.’[5]…

It should now come as no surprise to hear Calvin thundering against the rich in his sermons… ‘if the poor souls that have bestowed their labor and travail and spent their sweat and blood for you be not paid their wages as they ought to be, not succored and sustained by you as they should be – if they ask vengeance against you at God’s hand, who shall be your spokesman or advocate to rid you out of his hands?’[6]… ‘those who have riches, whether inherited or won by their own industry and labour, are to remember that what is left over is not meant for intemperance or luxury, but for relieving the needs of the brethren.’[7]

In my next post I will follow Wolsterstorff as he traces the development of Calvin’s though by later Calvinists, including Abraham Kuyper, and will offer some thoughts and critique on the conclusions and prescriptions Wolterstorff offers concerning neo-Calvinisism and liberation theology. 

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[1] Institutes, 1:696 (III, vii, 6).
[2] Paraphrase of a point Calvin made in his sermon on Deut. 4:39-43, by Ronald S. Wallace, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Christian Life (London: Oliver and Boyd, 1959), p. 149.
[3] Formulation of Calvin’s thought by Wallace, Calvin’s Doctrine, p. 151.
[4] Calvin, Sermons on the Epistle to the Ephesians, rev. trans. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1973), p. 457 (sermon on Eph. 4:26-28).
[5] Calvin, Commmentaries on the First Twenty Chapters of the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, trans. Thomas Myers (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1948), 2:224 (Ezek. 18:7).
[6] Calvin, The Sermons of M. Iohn Calvin vpon the Fifth Booke of Moses Called Deuternomie, trans. Arthur Golding (London: H. Middleton for George Bishop, 1583), p. 770 (Sermon on Deut. 22:1-4); orthography modernized by Wolterstorff.
[7] Calvin’s Commentaries: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 114 (2 Cor 8:15).