Luther and Calvin Brigade 914: 470 YEARS AGO – MICHAEL SERVETUS WAS EXECUTED

Wherever we find the Word of God surely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, there, it is not to be doubted, is a church of God. – John Calvin

The Company of Pastors or Venerable Company (French: Compagnie des pasteurs) is an organization, comparable to a classis, of ministers and deacons of the Protestant Church of Geneva. It was established as part of the implementation of John Calvin's Ecclesiastical Ordinances in 1541 and originally consisted of the ministers of Geneva's three city churches and a dozen countryside parishes. It met every Friday morning to examine candidates for ministry and discuss the theological and practical business of the church. In 1559 professors of the Genevan Academy were made members of the company. The company's powers were drastically reduced in the nineteenth century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_of_Pastors

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.auberry.church/blog/john-calvin-a-man-committed-to-promoting-christian-unity]

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/even-calvin-had-a-team

https://www.auberry.church/blog/john-calvin-a-man-committed-to-promoting-christian-unity

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/team-preaching

https://thegracelifechurch.org/2022/06/07/why-we-have-a-preaching-team-at-grace-life/

https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/06/team-preaching-is-like-barn-raising.html

https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/04/konferenz-fur-gemeindegrundung-2026.html

470 years ago on this date, October 27, 1553, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva. He was condemned as a heretic. I, as a Reformed Christian, am split over whether he should die as a heretic. I prefer looking at two sides of the coin, as many claim that John Calvin was a murderer but it is debated.

Let me make two disclaimers:

First, I prefer to be called a Reformed or Protestant Christian than be labelled Calvinist. I do not want to be misunderstood as a follower of John Calvin, though I love his teachings. I do not agree 100% with what Calvin taught or did, as no man is perfect only Christ is. I am not siding John Calvin all the time.

Just like most Lutherans and Mennonites will tell you they do not worship Martin Luther or Menno Simons respectively, Reformed Christians will also agree, we do not worship John Calvin but the God of the Bible.

Second, as Dustin Benge said:

Erase John Calvin and his theology from church history, and I still believe in the absolute depravity of man, the unconditional election of God, the definite atonement of Christ, the efficacious grace of God, and the perseverance of all the saints. Because the Bible tells me so. – Dustin Benge

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2022/07/dustin-benge-on-erasing-john-calvin.html

I still love the Doctrines of Grace, regardless of whether John Calvin and his followers existed or not.

The other side of the story:

Orlen Molina

John Calvin did not murder Michael Servetus. The government of Geneva executed Servetus in 1553 for what it considered capital crimes. Here are some facts to consider:

(1) Michael Servetus was a heretic. Heresy was considered tantamount to treason in Geneva, Switzerland. It was a capital crime there and many other parts of Europe during that era. The penalty for heresy was death per the law of the land (cf. Rom. 13:1-7).

(2) However unjust we may consider this law today, there is a long history of people burned at the stake after being deemed heretics. Some examples: In 1327, Cecco d'Ascoli, an Italian scientist, was burned for having calculated the date of Jesus' birth using the stars. In 1525, Thomas Munzer was burned at the stake. In 1527, Michael Sattler's tongue was cut out, he was mutilated by red-hot pincers, and was finally burned alive. Jan Hus, the Rector of Prague University, was burned on the 6th July 1415. Of the recorded thousands burned at the stake there were at least fourteen recorded in the 1500s alone:

Year

Name

Location

1540 Robert Barnes Smithfield, London England

1540 Thomas Gerrard Smithfield, England

1546 Anne Askew Smithfield, England

1546 John Lascelles Smithfield, England

1546 John Adams Smithfield, England

1550 Joan Bocher Smithfield, England

1551 George van Parris Smithfield, England

1553 Michael Servetus Geneva, Switzerland

1558 Stephen Cotton Brentford, England

1559 Nicola Koehler Smithfield, England

1579 Matthew Hamont Norwich, England

1589 Francis Kett Norwich, England

1612 Bartholomew Legate Smithfield, England

1612 Edward Wightman Lichfield, England

(3) On February 16, 1553, Servetus was denounced as a heretic while in Vienne, France. He was arrested by Roman Catholic authorities on April 4, 1553, but escaped three days later. He was tried in absentia and convicted of heresy on June 17, 1553. En route to Italy, he stopped by Geneva where he was re-arrested by the magisterial council in Geneva on August 13, 1553. An extradition request from France was denied. He was tried in Geneva and was convicted on forty counts of heresy [1]. On October 27, 1553 he was burned at the stake.

(4) Calvin had warned Servetus not to come to Geneva because he would be punished.

(5) Calvin was not the final authority in Geneva; he wasn't even a citizen of the city until six years later. During the proceedings Calvin was simply a witness. The magisterial council, which was a civil authority, decided such cases, and many of the men sentencing Servetus were actually Calvin's enemies. Calvin did not have authority to condemn or save Servetus.

(6) In that era most of Christianity mistakenly believed that heretics should be put to death based upon Deuteronomy 13:1-18. Calvin believed this too. This grievous error in thinking led to social injustices; however, the council was concerned not only about religious matters, but also the moral social order of Geneva.

True and false doctrines influence culture. In the case of Servetus, he believed and taught that God didn't regard that individuals under the age of twenty could commit a moral sin. Thus, the council was fearful that his teaching would give license to the young to commit things such as murder and adultery without fear of punishment (i.e. antinomianism). In addition, though not considered by the council, it was well known that Servetus defended the Koran, the doctrines of which could also erode the social structure of Geneva.

(7) Some accuse Calvin of lighting the match at Servetus' burning because he was an Arminian. But nothing could be further from the truth as Arminianism's founder hadn't even been born yet. It was not listed in the forty-count indictment [1]. But among what was listed is his denial of original sin, his anti-Trinitarian heresy (i.e. see his 1531 book, On the Errors of the Trinity and his 1553 work The Restitution of Christianity) and the denial of the divinity of Christ, pantheism, and the belief that Old Testament saints weren't saved.

( Calvin had conversed by letter with Servetus instructing him in the truth from at least 1546 forward. In one letter he wrote, "I neither hate you nor despise you; nor do I wish to persecute you; but I would be as hard as iron when I behold you insulting sound doctrine with so great audacity." He even sent him a copy of his Institutes, which Servetus returned with his own insulting criticisms written therein.

On one occasion, Calvin even put his own life at risk to speak to Servetus in Paris. Earlier in life, Calvin had lived in Paris and he too was familiar with prisons, having been in and out of them for short stays because of his evangelistic efforts. While there previously, Nicholas Cop, the rector of the University of Paris, on All Souls’ Day 1533, delivered a sermon actually drafted by Calvin, which accused his fellow Catholic theologians of some rather serious errors. One of the lines reads:

They teach nothing of faith, nothing of the love of God, nothing of the remission of grace, nothing of justification, or if they do so, they pervert and undermine it all by their laws and sophistries. I beg of you, who are here present, not to tolerate any longer these heresies and abuses. [2]

This of course didn’t sit well with the Sorbonne, Parliament or the Catholic Church. When word got out that Calvin had drafted the sermon, similar to what had happened to Luther, the hunt was on. He had to escape from College of Fortret, Paris, by tying bed-sheets together and being lowered out a widow. He escaped, hid out for some time, but finally made his way to Geneva in 1541. Thus, to return to Paris was dangerous, yet he did go to meet with Servetus. But Servetus didn’t show up.

In addition, during Servetus’s imprisonment at Geneva, Calvin again talked and prayed with him. As J.I. Packer has commented: "Calvin, for the record, showed more pastoral concern for Servetus than anyone else connected with the episode." Even after the conviction, Calvin requested a lighter sentence, asking the court to allow Servetus to die painlessly by beheading. His request wasn't granted.

None of the above justifies burning at the stake as a just punishment for heresy. Excommunication is the just punishment. Doctrinal error concerning Deuteronomy 13:1-18 within many denominations of that era led to this tragedy.

My third and last point asks a question: Does anyone argue that we should not read the Pentateuch, Psalms, or the Pauline Epistles because Moses, David, and Paul all killed people? Or should we not pay attention to the General Epistles because Peter denied the Lord three times? Calvin consented to the death of lost Servetus, and Paul consented to the death of saved Stephen (Acts 8:1; cf. Acts 7:54-8:3).

As the Westminster Confession of Faith states: "The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture ..." (1.6). So, no matter what we call it or what name it goes by, the truth remains the truth. The writings of Calvin (and others) are not Scripture, but valid interpretation of the Bible are just that — the valid interpretation of Scripture.

See? Calvin did nothing wrong. And could sleep like a baby. Why are you people lying? Also you do not understand what murder is. Most of you are prepapred to be destroyed by atheists in debate, because of your ignorance.

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Proximity to Jesus is not salvation (Hebrews 6 vs 4 to 6)

Hebrews 6:4-6 KJV - For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

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Annihilationist Views:

LEIGHTON FLOWERS UNSURE ABOUT ANNIHILATION

Doomed from the Womb? | Leighton Flowers | Soteriology 101

https://www.youtube.com/live/HblO1ex4tJw?si=v9NyHnKmYn8RPoyV