Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 9
On Calvin, the speaker says the reformers treated Jesus as fulfilling sacrifice but “not instituting a higher morality,” and he ties Calvin’s church-state vision to coercion (fines for church, persecution, burnings, Salem/Quaker hangings)—how would early Christians (who emphasized enemy-love and letting wheat/tares grow together) have judged a “Christian society” enforced by law?
Another way to ask: How do you think early Christians—who taught enemy-love and patience with sinners—would have viewed a “Christian society” enforced by laws, punishments, and violence?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript implies early Christians would have rejected a law-enforced “Christian society” as contrary to Jesus’ higher morality, especially enemy-love, and contrary to Jesus’ teaching that this is a time to let “wheat and tares grow together” until God judges. They would likely see coercion and persecution as evidence of a wrong paradigm.
- He says reformers taught Jesus fulfilled sacrifice “but did not institute a higher morality,” minimizing teachings like “loving your enemies.”
- Calvin is portrayed as building “a replica of old Israel,” with church-state enforcement and agencies to check behavior.
- He connects this to coercion in Puritan New England: being “fined… for not being in church,” plus “Salem witch trials” and “hangings of the Quakers.”
- He condemns persecution as anti-Jesus: reformers “burning other guys at the stake” for wrong ideas.
- He cites Jesus’ parables against coercion: “dragnet… wheat and the tares grow together, and God would separate that in the end.”